Mark Vol. 3 - Week 10 (14:12-26)
Mark 14:12-26
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The Passover Lamb
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Mark 14:12-26 〰️ The Passover Lamb 〰️
This week's passage contains a pivotal shift between Jesus and His disciples. As they are reclining to eat a Passover meal, Jesus tells the Twelve, "one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me." (v18). We know now that Judas was the one to betray Him, but it's not difficult to imagine what the rest of the disciples must have thought or felt at these words.
This passage begins with Jesus instructing two disciples for their Passover meal. Luke identifies these two disciples as Peter and John (Luke 22:8). The directions are very similar to that of Mark 11, where Jesus gives instructions for acquiring a colt before entering Jerusalem (11:1-13). What is culturally significant about these instructions from Jesus is that there is a man who is carrying a jar of water when it was much more commonplace for a woman to do so. A man with a guest room large enough for a dozen people to participate in a Passover meal would never fetch water himself and would have servants do so. It would have been easy for Peter and John to spot this man, because the sight was so culturally abnormal.¹
And so, Peter and John were able to find this man, enter his home, and begin to prepare a Passover meal for Jesus and the other disciples. This is when Jesus breaks the news: one of the Twelve would betray Him. The phrase "one who is eating with me" (v18) is unique to Mark's gospel account where Jesus alludes to Psalm 41:9:
"Even my friend in whom I trusted,
one who ate my bread,
has raised his heel against me." (Psalm 41:9)
Again, the disciples would have likely known this reference and felt uncomfortable at the thought of treachery such as this. To share a meal with someone and then betray him was the greatest form of betrayal. This was unthinkable to the disciples, as they "began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, "Surely not I?" (v19). In the gospel of Matthew, Judas is singled out as the one asking this question: Judas, his betrayer, replied, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" (Matt. 26:25a). The Greek phrase "Surely not I?" which appears in both Mark and Matthew expected both a negative response ("No") and reassurance from Jesus,² but here, He says "You have said it" (v25b).
Neck deep in the reality of betrayal, Jesus then breaks bread, offering communion to them. This is the first of The Lord's Supper.³ Overflowing with symbolism, Jesus shares the Passover meal with his disciples. "Jews ate lamb to commemorate the lamb whose blood protected firstborn Israelites from the death plague before the exodus. Bitter herbs were reminiscent of their enslavement. Unleavened bread symbolized the haste of their departure from Egypt (Ex 12). Jesus invested the meal with new symbolism: the unleavened bread symbolized his own body, which would be torn by scourging and crucifixion. His sacrifice would begin a new exodus in which people were liberated from slavery to sin."⁴ The term "blood of the covenant" was understood by many, as they knew that a covenant agreement entailed the sacrifice of an animal as a reminder to both parties of the consequences of breaking said covenant (Exodus 24:8). But here, Jesus is the sacrificial animal (lamb), the intermediary between humanity and their Creator. But this time, God promises to forgive sins because of the perfect Lamb's sacrifice.
How beautiful is it that two thousand years later, we today can live in the freedom and benefits of Christ's sacrifice? We can often forget the weight of Jesus' death on the cross, but here, in communion with Christ, we are reminded of the love God has for us, in that His Son died the death we deserve and made a covenant in which He will never let us down.
Discussion Questions
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does anything in this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
Reread v13-15. What does Jesus tell them they will find? What is the significance of this?
Does anyone know what Passover is and why it's significant to the Jewish people?
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34. Why was there a need for a new covenant?
What does communion (The Lord's Supper) mean for us today? Why do you think we participate in it today, 2000 years later?
1. John D. Grassmick, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 176.
2. Ross H. McLaren, CSB Study Bible: Notes - Mark (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1587.
3. While “The Lord’s Supper” isn't explicitly in Scripture, as the titles for sections of the Bible have been added after the fact, broken up by sections to make readability easier. These titles are not divinely inspired Scripture, but serve as a tool for our study and reading of God's Word.
4. Charles L. Quarles, CSB Study Bible: Notes - Matthew (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1547.