Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 14:17
And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
17 21. Commencement of the Supper. Revelation of the Traitor
17. in the evening ] “It was probably while the sun was beginning to decline in the horizon that Jesus and the disciples descended once more over the Mount of Olives into the Holy City. Before them lay Jerusalem in her festive attire. White tents dotted the sward, gay with the bright flowers of early spring, or peered out from the gardens and the darker foliage of the olive-plantations. From the gorgeous Temple buildings, dazzling in their snow-white marble and gold, on which the slanting rays of the sun were reflected, rose the smoke of the altar of burnt offering. The streets must have been thronged with strangers, and the flat roofs covered with eager gazers, who either feasted their eyes with a first sight of the Sacred City for which they had so often longed, or else once more rejoiced in view of the well-remembered localities. It was the last day-view which the Lord had of the Holy City till His resurrection!” Edersheim’s The Temple and its Services, pp. 194, 195.
he cometh with the twelve ] Judas must have stolen back to Bethany before daylight, and another day of hypocrisy had been spent under the penetrating glance of Him Who could read the hearts of men.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See this passage explained in the notes at Mat. 26:20-35.
Mar 14:31
More vehemently – More earnestly, more confidently.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mat 26:20“, and following verses to Mat 26:25, where is opened whatever is necessary for the understanding of these words, in which nothing of moment is varied, save only that Matthew reports Judas as being at this time particularly discovered. John hath nothing of this, unless the supper mentioned Joh 13:1-38 were this supper, of which more shall be said in its order.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. In the afternoon, as it is very reasonable to suppose, Christ set out from Bethany with the rest of the twelve, with the other nine, and came to Jerusalem; where they were joined by Judas, who had covenanted with the chief priests to betray him, and by Peter and John, who had been sent before to prepare the passover; and when it was night, when the second evening had took place, he went with all twelve of them to the house, where the provision to eat the passover together was made for them; [See comments on Mt 26:20].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He cometh (). Dramatic historical present. It is assumed here that Jesus is observing the passover meal at the regular time and hour, at 6 P.M. at the beginning of the fifteenth (evening of our Thursday, beginning of Jewish Friday). Mark and Matthew note the time as evening and state it as the regular passover meal.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
THE LAST PASSOVER, V. 17-21
1) “And in the evening,” (kai ophilas genomenes) “And when evening came,” the beginning of the 14th day of Nisan, about 6 pm, after preparation had been made about 3 pm for the passover, Mat 26:20.
2) “He cometh with the twelve.” (erchetai meta ton dodeka) “He comes (came) with (in company of) the twelve,” into the city from the area of Bethany, and sat down in the upper room, Mar 14:15; Luk 22:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
122, 124. SUPPER AND INDICATION OF BETRAYAL, Mar 14:17-21 .
(See notes on Mat 26:20-25.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when it was evening he comes with the twelve, and as they reclined and were eating Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, even one who eats with me.” ’
Having taken His precautions to keep the venue secret Jesus waited until evening and then brought the twelve to the house. He then waited until they were eating, and informed ‘the twelve’ that one of them would betray Him (deliver Him up, hand Him over). ‘Even one who eats with me.’ There may be a reference here to Psa 41:9, ‘Yes, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me’, and see Joh 13:18. The thought in the Psalm is of the one who considers the poor, whom God sustains, but who is thought the worst of by His enemies and is rejected by his bosom friend. In the Near East to eat with someone was to make a declaration of friendship and peace. To then act against that person was seen as unforgivable. Thus Judas act in reclining at the table with Him and eating from the same dish was doubly treacherous.
We can imagine the stunned horror, the unbelief that filled the disciples. How could Jesus say this? He had only to tell them who it was and Judas would have been restrained immediately. But Jesus was still trying to reach Judas. He wanted him to know that He knew all about what he was planning to do. He would try to the end to reach him. His words were intended to make Judas aware of the heinousness of what he was doing. This is why in the end Judas loses our sympathy. He was given every opportunity but hardened his heart.
‘Reclined.’ They lay on small carpets with their elbows on cushions.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Warning of Betrayal (14:17-21).
This warning must have come as an unpleasant shock to all present, although they probably did not think in terms of a deliberate betrayal. To Judas, who probably thought that he was undetected, it must have been like a body blow. Two things are, however, emphasised, firstly that what will happen will be in accordance with the Scriptures, and secondly the awful consequences for the betrayer. God’s sovereign will will be done, but that does not mean that the perpetrator can evade his responsibility. What he does, he does by choice.
Analysis.
a
b “Even one who eats with Me” (Mar 14:18 b).
c They began to be sorrowful and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” (Mar 14:19).
b And He said to them, “It is one of the twelve. He who dips with me in the dish” (Mar 14:20 b).
a “For the Son of Man goes even as it is written of Him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be good for him if that man had not been born”
Note that in ‘a’ the warning is given that one of them will betray Him, and in the parallel a woe is declared against that one. In ‘b’ it is ‘one who eats with Me’ who will betray Him, and in the parallel it is, ‘one of the twelve, he who dips with Me in the dish’. Central in ‘c’ is the fear of each one that it might be him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The paschal meal:
v. 17. And in the evening He cometh with the Twelve.
v. 18. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me.
v. 19. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
v. 20. And He answered and said unto them, It is one of the Twelve that dippeth with Me in the dish.
v. 21. The Son of Man indeed goeth as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had never been born. In the evening, after the festival had actually begun, after sundown, Jesus came to the city with the remaining apostles, thus making the number of men in His company, Himself not included, twelve. Judas was brazen enough to keep up appearances to the last; he went with the rest as though nothing were wrong. And so the meal was begun and took its usual course. See Mat 26:20-26. It was during the feast proper, after the singing of the first part of the Hallel, when they had received the bread and were partaking of the roasted lamb, that the Lord said, with deep emotion: Verily I say unto you that one of you will betray Me, one that is eating with Me; a reference to Psa 41:9. This announcement caused the greatest consternation and sorrow in the circle of the disciples. The manner of Christ’s announcement had emphasized the gravity of the offense: And so they all, one after the other, put the worried or reproachful question: Surely it cannot be I? Even Judas, the traitor and hypocrite, coolly adds his voice to the general uproar. But Jesus did not give them the satisfaction of hearing the name of the traitor. His loving Shepherd’s heart was even then yearning for the poor, blinded sheep that had gone astray. It should not be for want of tender solicitude that Judas continued in his transgression. Christ merely declares that it is one of the Twelve, one of those chosen to be apostles of faith, and more exactly, one of those that dipped his bread into the same dish with Him. It was a dish of gravy-like soup, called charoseth , made of raisins, dates, vinegar, and several other ingredients, to which He referred. At just about this time, Jesus, as the head of the little company, dipped a morsel of bread into the dish, and the tremulous hand of Judas was extended, with feigned ease, to receive the sop from Him. But in the excitement, this significant fact was not generally noticed. While Judas reached out his hand, was, in fact, dipping His own hand with that of Jesus into the sauce, Jesus very solemnly declares that the Son of Man, the divine-human Redeemer, would indeed go on with the work, on the path of His Passion, according to Scriptures. But woe to that particular man through whom His betrayal would be brought about; it would have been the best thing for that particular man if he had never been born. To anyone not thoroughly hardened in sin, these words of Christ must have held a powerful appeal. But Judas did not heed the warning; he acted, or tried to act as though nothing unusual were occurring about him, as though. the air were not charged to its utmost capacity with suspended force. His responsibility and guilt at this moment should have been brought home to him with full force; he should have considered the results, the curse of God upon the deliberate transgression, the inevitable punishment, but he saw only the bag of money that was to be his if he was successful in his dastardly undertaking. He was, by his own fault, in the power of Satan.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mar 14:17-25 . See on Mat 26:20-29 . Comp. Luk 22:14-23 .
] Those two are to be conceived as having returned after the preparation.
Mar 14:18 f. ] not said for the purpose of making known the fact, but the expression of deeply painful emotion.
] man by man . See on this expression of late Greek, wherein the preposition is adverbial, Wetstein in loc.; Winer, p. 223 [E. T. 312]; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 27 [E. T. 30].
] an inaccuracy of expression, as though there had been previously said not , but merely . Mark in particular might be led into this inaccuracy by his graphic manner.
Mar 14:20 . .] not at this moment , and so not a definite designation of the traitor (as Bleek will have it), for after Mar 14:19 it is certain that the eating was not immediately proceeded with (comp. on Mat 26:23 ); but neither is it generally: “qui mecum vesci consuevit ,” Beza; but, like , Mar 14:18 , referring generally to this meal , and withal more precisely indicating the traitor to this extent, that he was one of those who reclined nearest to Jesus, and who ate with Him out of the same dish . According to Lange, indeed, the hand of Judas made a “movement playing the hypocrite,” and met the hand of the Lord, while the latter was still in the dish, in order with apparent ingenuousness to receive the morsel. A harmonistic play of fancy, whereof nothing appears in the text.
Mar 14:24 . ] namely, while they drank , not before the drinking. A deviation from Matthew and Luke, but not inappropriate, as Jesus gives the explanation not afterwards (in opposition to de Wette), but at the time of the drinking [164] ( ). A very immaterial difference, to be explained not from Mark’s mere love for alteration (de Wette), but from a diversity of the tradition, in respect to which, however, the greater simplicity and independence on the form of the ecclesiastical observance, which mark the narrative in Mark, tell in favour of its originality (in opposition to Baur).
] my covenant-blood , as Mat 26:28 . The definition, “the new covenant,” came in later; as also “ for the forgiveness of sins ” is a more precise specification from a further stage of development. [165] Comp. on Mat 26:28 . And the direction, “ Do this in remembrance of me ,” is first added in Paul (twice over) and in Luke. See on 1Co 11:24 .
[164] Comp. also Rckert, Abendm. p. 72.
[165] But observe how the idea of reconciliation is already in the case of Mark implied in the simple . Even Baur ( neut. Theol. p. 102) acknowledges this, but thinks that these very words contain a later modification of the narrative.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1457
THE SELF-DIFFIDENCE OF THE APOSTLES
Mar 14:17-19. And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
EVERY particular relative to the sufferings of our blessed Lord was the subject of prophecy. The Psalmist, in different parts of his inspired compositions, specifies many minute occurrences which should take place at the time of our Saviours death. In some of his expressions, the primary reference is to himself; in others, he refers to the Messiah alone. The passage to which there is an allusion in our text is of the former kind. It evidently is applicable, in the first instance, to David, whose life was sought by his friend Ahithophel [Note: Psa 41:9. with 2Sa 16:23.]. But, inasmuch as David was an eminent type of Christ, as Ahithophel was of Judas, the passage is declared, by our blessed Lord himself, to have been a prediction of the event which was just about to be accomplished in the traitor Judas. Whilst all the Disciples were with their Lord, celebrating the Passover, Jesus declared to them what was about to take place; that one of them, even one of his twelve Apostles, who were with him, would betray him. This declaration filled them all with astonishment and grief. They all looked one upon another, to see whether any one would avow such an intention as that: and when no one seemed conscious of any such purpose, all began to suspect themselves, and to ask, Lord, is it I? Is it I?
We shall find it not unprofitable to consider,
I.
The self-diffidence of the Apostles
If ever there was an occasion when self-confidence might justly be expressed, methinks it was at that hour, and in reference to that point
[Methinks the Apostles might well have said, Lord, how can it be that any one of us should so forget his obligations to thee, as to deliver thee up into the hands of thy blood-thirsty enemies, that they may put thee to death? We trust that the principles which we have imbibed from thee are too deeply rooted in our hearts to admit of our ever perpetrating such an act of wickedness, unheard-of wickedness, as that. We acknowledge that we are both weak and sinful; but no consideration under heaven could ever induce us to commit such an abomination as that; and we do hope that, during the years thou hast known us, thou hast seen no reason to suspect us of it.]
But amongst them all there was no feeling but of self-diffidence and self-distrust
[No one doubted the truth of our Lords assertion, or questioned, for a moment, the certainty of the event. Nor did any one give way to unkind and uncharitable suspicions respecting his brethren. It might have been supposed that each, conscious of his own integrity, would begin to think which of the Apostles was the most likely to act so base a part; and to fix the accusation upon one or upon another, as the prejudices of his own mind might lead him. But nothing of this kind appeared in any one of them. Each began to suspect himself, rather than any other: each said, as it were, within his own bosom, I know more evil of myself than I do of any one else; and therefore I have more reason to be jealous over myself, than over any other person: Lord, am I the unhappy person of whom thou speakest? I am not, indeed, conscious of any such intention: but thou knowest what is in man: thou knowest what evils I may yet commit: tell me, Lord, is it I? Thus, with the deepest grief, and the most painful anxiety, every one of them in succession asked, Is it I? Is it I?
At last the traitor Judas himself, fearing lest his very silence should mark him out as the one to whom the guilt must attach, presumed also to put the question, Master, is it I [Note: Mat 26:25.]? And our Lord told him plainly that it was; and afterwards pointed him out also to the other Apostles, by giving to him a sop in, the presence of them all; that so, when the act should have been committed, and all the distressing consequences should have ensued, the other Apostles might remember, that the whole had been foretold by the prophets, and foreseen by our Lord himself [Note: Joh 13:18-19; Joh 13:25-26.].]
Let us now attend to,
II.
The instruction to be derived from it
Truly, it must have been a most affecting scene. From it we learn,
1.
That there is no evil which fallen man is not capable of committing
[There are some evils against which our nature utterly revolts; and, if we were supposed capable of committing them, we should be ready to say, with Hazael, Is thy servant a dog, that he should do such a thing as this [Note: 2Ki 8:11-13.]? But so think all, till the fact is proved upon them. Suppose it had been said, The God of heaven and earth will become incarnate, and in his own person display, as far as human eyes are capable of beholding it, all the glory of his perfections [Note: Joh 1:14.]. The whole period of his existence upon earth shall be occupied in the exercise of the sublimest virtue, and in acts of the most unbounded beneficence. But he shall be hated, reviled, persecuted even unto death, the accursed death of the cross. But where shall we find men base enough to accomplish it all? Where shall we find rulers impious enough to promote such wickedness, or people base enough to carry it into effect? Where shall we find a favoured Disciple to betray him? Where soldiers impious enough to seize him? Where a judge either unjust or timid enough to condemn him? Where shall we find a man hardy enough to stretch his sacred limbs upon the cross, and nail them to the accursed tree? Where, in short, shall we find agents capable of acting all the different parts in this bloody tragedy? If we were to ask of every individual ruler, and judge, and soldier in the universe, Will you be the person to execute such an office against your incarnate God, and more especially after you have had all his glory displayed, as it were, before your eyes in every quarter of the land? you would think that the prophecy must fail, for want of persons to fulfil it. But it did take place, according to the predictions concerning it: and the Apostles shewed a just consciousness of the depravity of our fallen nature, when each, believing that the words of Jesus would be fulfilled, inquired whether he himself were the person destined to fulfil them.]
2.
That there is no person so eminent, but he has reason to distrust himself
[Had our Lord said, that some alien from his family should betray him, it might have been supposed that a person impious enough should be found. But shall such an one be found amongst his own Disciples, who have heard all his public discourses, and been instructed also by him in private, and beheld all his miracles, and been distinguished by him above all others amongst the sons of men? Yes, even amongst them shall this traitor be found. Not all the advantages that ever were enjoyed by mortal man, nor all the grace that was ever given to mortal man, will be sufficient to uphold him, if God, for one moment, withdraw from him his everlasting arms. A more holy man than David cannot be found: yet, after years of most distinguished piety, he fell, as you well know, into sin of the deepest die. Who that had seen Solomon, too, at the dedication of the temple, would have supposed it possible that he should abandon himself to such a course as he pursued during the greater part of his life? And who are we, that we should think ourselves beyond the reach of temptation and sin? Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. To the most devout and holy amongst you all will I say, Be not high-minded, but fear. And when the most hateful picture of human deformity is exhibited to your view in the ministry of the word, do not begin to say with yourselves, I wish that such or such an one were here to behold it! but rather, with holy jealousy over yourselves, lift up your hearts to God, and say, Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? Then pour out your souls before him; and with fervent supplication cry, Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting [Note: Psa 139:23-24.].]
3.
That the foreknowledge of God does not at all lessen the criminality of our acts
[The Apostles did not, for a moment, entertain the absurd and impious thought, that the impiety predicted would be less criminal because it was foreseen. The action would be not a whit the less voluntary on this account; and the woe denounced by our Lord against the perpetrator of it was not, in any degree, the less merited or less severe.
Now, who shall say what Almighty God foresees respecting us? The probability is, that were futurity now to be disclosed to our view, it would be said, One in that assembly will betray me, and, for the sake of some present gain, will sacrifice my honour and interests in the world. Another will commit such or such an enormity, and afterwards will terminate his own life with suicide. Suppose, now, that such a prediction were uttered, shall any one of us presume to say, It cannot relate to me: I am not within the reach of such evils as those? No: rather let every one, with holy fear, suspect himself; and say, Lord, is it I? O that it may not be me! Lord, grant that I may never be left so to dishonour God, and so to ruin my own soul!
But I will suppose that God foresees such an event in any one of you; Are you the less free agents in all that you do? God has foreseen all that you have hitherto done: but did he ever impose upon you a necessity to do it? or will your conscience acquit you of having contracted guilt by means of it? Learn, then, neither to deny Gods foreknowledge on the one hand, nor to make it an occasion of questioning your own responsibility, on the other. God knows, at this moment, who will dwell with him for ever in heaven; and who will take up his abode in hell for ever, as much as if our doom had already taken place. But this must not affect our conduct in the least; nor are we at liberty to make his prescience a ground either of presumption or despair. We must look to our ways, and run with holy diligence the race that is set before us: Gods final decision will be the result of our conduct, and not of his decrees. He will never save any one purely because he had decreed to save him; nor condemn him because he had decreed to make him a vessel of his wrath: if He award eternal life to any one, it will be because he had sought it in Christ, and by a patient continuance in well-doing: and, if any one be made a monument of Gods indignation and wrath, it will be altogether on the ground of his evil deeds, and of his having rejected that Gospel whereby alone he could be saved [Note: Rom 2:6-10.]. Let us rest assured, that in the last day no one will have reason to complain of the divine decrees; but that, both in those that are saved and those that perish, the wisdom and equity of our God will eternally be glorified.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(17) And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. (18) And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. (19) And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? (20) And he answered, and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. (21) The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed? good were it for that man if he had never been born. (22) And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. (23) And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to their; and they all drank of it. (24) And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. (25) Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. (26) And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives,
Some have thought that Judas did not partake of this Passover, but to me, I confess, there doth not seem the shadow of a doubt but that he did. This first verse is decidedly in confirmation. And in the evening JESUS cometh with the twelve; consequently Judas included: and as they sat and did eat JESUS said, etc. But having very largely dwelt upon this subject, in my Poor Man’s Concordance, under the article Judas, I rather refer to what is there said, than enlarge upon it here.
Though I shall reserve the more striking circumstances concerning the traitor Judas, for one collected point of view, in what is said of him, Joh 13:18 , etc. yet I cannot help remarking to the Reader in this place, the hardened state of this man’s mind, which could so coolly and deliberately return and take his place among the disciples, as though equally loving of his LORD, when he had then entered into an engagement with the Chief Priests to betray him. And when, one by one, the disciples put the question to what JESUS had said, that one of them would betray him, though conscious of his infamy, he should dare to brave the question also, and say, is it I? Oh! the obduracy which sin occasions! Matthew, in his relation of this solemn scene hath observed, that while the other disciples every one of them, in putting the question to JESUS, called him LORD; Judas called him Rabbi. And certain it is, that in the original the words are different: the one is LORD, and the other Rabbi or Master. See Mat 26:25Mat 26:25 . And as Rabbi or Master implies a nearness and affection which the more distant name of LORD doth not convey, to what an unequalled degree of infamy was the traitor by this time arrived?
I refer to Mat 26:26 , etc. for observations there offered on the interesting view of the LORD JESUS and his disciples at this last supper. But in addition to those, I would just remark, that the institution of the holy supper seems to have been immediately made, as soon as the paschal feast was finished; as if to intimate the superseding of the one, in the establishment of the other. And it should be particularly remembered, that in the LORD’s appointment of this ordinance, in the breaking of the bread, and administering of the wine, the LORD most expressly designed to convey the spiritual signification that his body being broken and his blood shed, the emblems shewed forth the twofold blessings intended, of pardon, mercy, and peace, in and through the offering of the body of JESUS CHRIST once for all.; and also all the blessings of the covenant set forth and sealed in his blood, and hence called the New Testament in his blood.
There is somewhat truly interesting in the hymn the LORD and his disciples sung at the table. JESUS knew what the events of that night would be. He had in contemplation Gethsemane, and all his sorrows. But these things stopped not the Hallel the Jews always used at the Passover. Some have thought that this Hallel was the 114th Psalm, which celebrates the night of the Passover, and the going forth from Egypt. Reader! Ought not our celebration of the LORD’s Supper, in the contemplation of the LORD’s love, be always accompanied with our Hallel; our song of Moses and the LAMB?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
Ver. 17. See Trapp on “ Mat 26:20 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 21. ] JESUS, CELEBRATING THE PASSOVER, ANNOUNCES HIS BETRAYAL BY ONE OF THE TWELVE. Mat 26:20-25 .Luk 22:14Luk 22:14 ( Luk 22:21-23 ). Joh 13:21 ff.
The account of Luke ( Luk 22:16 ) supplies the important saying of our Lord respecting the fulfilment of the two parts of the Passover feast see notes there. After our Mar 14:17 , comes in the washing of the disciples’ feet by the Lord , as related in Joh 13:1-20 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 14:17-21 . The presence of a traitor announced (Mat 26:20-25 , Luk 22:21-23 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mar 14:17 . : after sunset He cometh to the place appointed for the feast, presumably after the two who had been sent to make arrangements had rejoined the company.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mark
THE NEW PASSOVER
Mar 14:12 – Mar 14:26
This passage falls into three sections-the secret preparation for the Passover Mar 14:12 – Mar 14:17, the sad announcement of the betrayer Mar 14:18 – Mar 14:21, and the institution of the Lord’s Supper Mar 14:22 – Mar 14:26. It may be interesting to notice that in the two former of these Mark’s account approximates to Luke’s, while in the third he is nearer Matthew’s. A comparison of the three accounts, noting the slight, but often significant, variations, should be made. Nothing in the Gospels is trivial. ‘The dust of that land is gold.’
I. The secret preparation for the Passover.
Thus instructed, the two trusted Apostles left Bethany, early in the day, without a clue of their destination reaching Judas’s hungry watchfulness. Evidently they did not return, and in the evening Jesus led the others straight to the place. Mark says that He came ‘with the twelve’; but he does not mean thereby to specify the number, but to define the class, of His attendants.
Each figure in this preparatory scene yields important lessons. Our Lord’s earnest desire to secure that still hour before pushing out into the storm speaks pathetically of His felt need of companionship and strengthening, as well as of His self-forgetting purpose to help His handful of bewildered followers and His human longing to live in faithful memories. His careful arrangements bring vividly into sight the limitations of His manhood, in that He, ‘by whom all things consist,’ had to contrive and plan in order to baffle for a moment His pursuers. And, side by side with the lowliness, as ever, is the majesty; for while He stoops to arrange, He sees with superhuman certitude what will happen, moves unconscious feet with secret and sovereign sway, and in royal tones claims possession of His servant’s possessions.
The two messengers, sent out with instructions which would only guide them half-way to their destination, and obliged, if they were to move at all, to trust absolutely to His knowledge, present specimens of the obedience still required. He sends us out still on a road full of sharp turnings round which we cannot see. We get light enough for the first stage; and when it is traversed, the second will be plainer.
The man with the water-pot reminds us how little we may be aware of the Hand which guides us, or of our uses in His plans. ‘I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me,’-how little the poor water-bearer knew who were following, or dreamed that he and his load would be remembered for ever! The householder responded at once, and gladly, to the authoritative message, which does not ask a favour, but demands a right. Probably he had intended to celebrate the Passover with his own family, in the large chamber on the roof, with the cool evening air about it, and the moonlight sleeping around. But he gladly gives it up. Are we as ready to surrender our cherished possessions for His use?
II. The sad announcement of the traitor Mar 14:18 – Mar 14:21.
Our Lord answers the questions by a still more emphatic repetition of the distinctive mark, and then, in Mar 14:21 , speaks deep words of mingled pathos, dignity, and submission. The voluntariness of His death, and its uniqueness as His own act of return to His eternal home, are contained in that majestic ‘goeth,’ which asserts the impotence of the betrayer and his employers, without the Lord’s own consent. On the other hand, the necessity to which He willingly bowed is set forth in that ‘as it is written of Him.’ And what sadness and lofty consciousness of His own sacred personality and judicial authority are blended in the awful sentence on the traitor! What was He that treachery to Him should be a crime so transcendent? What right had He thus calmly to pronounce condemnation? Did He see into the future? Is it the voice of a Divine Judge, or of a man judging in his own cause, which speaks this passionless sentence? Surely none of His sayings are more fully charged with His claims to pre-existence, divinity, and judicial authority, than this which He spoke at the very moment when the traitor’s plot was on the verge of success.
III. The institution of the Lord’s Supper Mar 14:22 – Mar 14:26.
The Lord’s Supper is a visible symbol of the Christian life, which should not only be all lived in remembrance of Him, but consists in partaking by faith of His life, and incorporating it in ours, until we come to the measure of perfect men, which, in one aspect, we reach when we can say, ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’
There is a prophetic element, as well as a commemorative and symbolic, in the Lord’s Supper, which is prominent in Christ’s closing words. He does not partake of the symbols which He gives; but there comes a time, in that perfected form of the kingdom, when perfect love shall make all the citizens perfectly conformed to the perfect will of God. Then, whatsoever associations of joy, of invigoration, of festal fellowship, clustered round the wine-cup here, shall be heightened, purified, and perpetuated in the calm raptures of the heavenly feast, in which He will be Partaker, as well as Giver and Food. ‘Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.’ The King’s lips will touch the golden cup filled with un-foaming wine, ere He commends it to His guests. And from that feast they will ‘go no more out,’ neither shall the triumphant music of its great ‘hymn’ be followed by any Olivet or Gethsemane, or any denial, or any Calvary; but there shall be ‘no more sorrow, nor sin, nor death’; for ‘the former things are passed away,’ and He has made ‘all things new.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 14:17-21
17When it was evening He came with the twelve. 18As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Meone who is eating with Me.” 19They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, “Surely not I?” 20And He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who dips with Me in the bowl. 21For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”
Mar 14:17 “When it was evening” The Jewish day begins at twilight (cf. Gen 1:5; Gen 1:8; Gen 1:13; Gen 1:19; Gen 1:23; Gen 1:31). This was the Passover meal because usually Jewish evening meals were in late afternoon. Only the Passover meal was eaten after 6:00 p.m.
Mar 14:18 “reclining” Originally the Passover was eaten standing because of Exo 12:11. The Jews of the first century did not use chairs, a custom which they learned from the Persians (cf. Est 1:6; Est 7:8). They ate at low cushions, usually three in number, at a table in the shape of a horseshoe (so servers could bring food easily), reclining on pillows on their left elbow with their feet behind them.
“‘Truly'” This is literally “amen.” See Special Topic at Mar 3:28.
“‘that one of you will betray Meone who is eating with Me'” This is an allusion to Psa 41:9. This was a cultural way of accentuating Judas’ guilt (cf. Joh 13:18). Table fellowship was a significant cultural symbol of friendship and commitment. To betray someone with whom you had eaten would be appalling to an easterner.
Mar 14:19 “one by one, ‘Surely not I'” Each disciple thought it might be himself. This shows that at this point in time, none of them suspected Judas. Each of them was unsure of his own standing.
Mar 14:20 “‘who dips with Me in the bowl'” This was a special dish of gray colored fruit dip, which resembles brick mortar. Judas was sitting right next to Jesus in the place of honor! Jesus was still, even at this late hour, trying to spiritually reach Judas.
Mar 14:21 “‘but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born'” Joh 13:27 ff implies that Judas left after the third cup of blessing before the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Judas is an enigma. His motives for betraying Jesus are never revealed. Some see him as a noble Jewish patriot (i.e., zealot) trying to force Jesus to act militarily against Rome. Others see him as a committed Jew who was upset with Jesus’ rejection of the Oral Tradition and His fellowship with the outcasts and sinners of Jewish society. The Gospel of John depicts him as a thief from the beginning, someone who was driven by his love of money. However, Judas’ actions after Jesus’ arrest do not fit this characterization. Whatever the true motive or rationale, whatever the involvement of Satan, whatever the foreknowledge involved in predictive prophecy, Judas is responsible for his actions, as are all of us (cf. Gal 6:7).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
in the evening = the evening having come.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17-21.] JESUS, CELEBRATING THE PASSOVER, ANNOUNCES HIS BETRAYAL BY ONE OF THE TWELVE. Mat 26:20-25. Luk 22:14 (Luk 22:21-23). Joh 13:21 ff.
The account of Luke (Luk 22:16) supplies the important saying of our Lord respecting the fulfilment of the two parts of the Passover feast-see notes there. After our Mar 14:17, comes in the washing of the disciples feet by the Lord, as related in Joh 13:1-20.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 14:17-21
5. THE BETRAYAL PREDICTED
Mar 14:17-21
(Mat 26:20-25; Luk 22:21-23; Joh 13:21-30)
17 And when it was evening–When the sun was set, some-time after six o’clock.
he cometh with the twelve.–[It says here “with the twelve.” As Peter and John already are here, he likely means the remainder of the twelve–ten disciples. Luke says, “He sat down” with the twelve, and it only means that after the others had come he, with the twelve, sat down at the table.]
18 And as they sat and were eating,–The Passover feast. Luke quotes Jesus as saying, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.”
Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray me, even he that eateth with me.–An announcement that none could possibly be prepared for but Judas. [They really reclined at the table, after the manner of the Jews. John leaned on the bosom of Jesus, which shows they were so reclining. (Joh 13:23.) While eating, Jesus told them, “One of you shall betray me, even he that eateth with me.” This came as an astounding revelation to the great number. It is thought Judas had, the day before, covenanted to betray him. Jesus, in telling this, showed his knowledge of that transaction. John (Joh 13:21-29) gives a circumstantial account of his telling this, and of his pointing out who should betray him.]
19 They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I?–Never was a more fateful question asked, for its answer would point out “the son of perdition,” and send him “to his own place.” The question seems to have gone the round, even Judas with solemn hypocrisy said: “Is it I, Rabbi?” In reply, Jesus said: “Thou hast said.” (Matt. 26 25.) Yes, Judas, you are the man. This was a dagger thrust into his heart, though it did not change his evil course.
20 And he said unto them, It is one of the twelve,–This makes it certain that it is one of the apostles. We do not wonder at their anxiety to know which would be so corrupt as to betray the Master.
he that dippeth with me in the dish.–[Matthew (Mat 26:23) records it: “He that dipped his hand with me in the dish.”] God has in all ages selected men who are in heart and character prepared to do the work to be done. If it is a clean work, he selects a clean man to do it. If an unclean work, he selects an unclean man to accomplish it. He wills that all men do the clean work. But if they refuse and will not, then God has decreed they shall do the unclean work. Judas was selected for the clean work–he was numbered with the apostles. He was a lump of clay which marred in the Potter’s hand. God then took the same lump and used it as an unclean vessel to do the unclean work–betraying the Son of God. By and through him, together with the aid of the wicked hands that crucified the Savior, came the greatest of all blessings to the human family–salvation. Good clean men could not have done the work. Judas fitted and prepared himself for the dirty work when he opened his heart and let the devil in. He was then selected to do the work.
21 For the Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him –[Jesus says he goes, or dies as it is written in the prophets. It is for the good of the world that he should die. He came into the world to die.]
but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not been born.–[Here is work rendered necessary to be done by the sins of the world. Nobody save a vile sinner can do it, because it is the blackest of crimes. Yet God overrules the treason of Judas’ heart to lead him to do work needful for the salvation of man. God overrules the wickedness of man frequently to do work made necessary by sin for man’s good. John (13:30) says “He then having received the sop went out straightway: and it was night.”]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Last Supper
Mar 14:17-31
The two disciples made their preparations, returned to Bethany, and later the whole company came in together. The simple meal, consisting of the Passover lamb, unleavened cakes, bitter herbs, and wine, proceeded in the usual way, interspersed with the singing of the Hallel, Psa 113:1-9; Psa 114:1-8; Psa 115:1-18; Psa 116:1-19; Psa 117:1-2; Psa 118:1-29. How well it is when we do not need the accusation, Thou art the man, because we utter the inquiry, Is it I? Those whose hearts misgive them are not likely to commit the deed of treachery. At the institution of the Lords Supper, Mar 14:22-25, Jesus gave thanks for the bread and the wine, Luk 22:19; 1Co 11:24. We must understand His words in Mar 14:22 in the same sense as when He says, I am the door of the sheep. Those who receive the outward elements worthily partake, at the same time, spiritually of the things which they signify. Let us never fail to remember at the Lords Supper, that it is the sign and seal of the new covenant into which God has entered with Christ on our behalf. See Heb 8:1-13. For Mar 14:27 compare Zec 13:7. The energy of our own resolution is not enough to carry us through the supreme ordeals of trial. We need the Holy Spirit for that. Mark alone mentions the warning of the double cockcrow.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 65
Lessons from the Last Supper
And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. (
Mar 14:17-25)
In the verses before us we have Marks inspired account of the last supper our Savior ate with his disciples the night before he as crucified. No doubt, we have all wondered what that last meal must have been like. What solemnity, what anxiety, what fears must have filled the disciples hearts! What love, what grace, what compassion dropped from the Saviors every word and gesture! What demonic hypocrisy, what cold hatred, what spiritual hardness possessed the betrayer! What reverence the picture before us in this passage of Scripture demands! May God the Holy Spirit teach us the things revealed in this portion of Holy Scripture.
A Question To Face
As the Lord Jesus and his disciples sat together at the passover table, the Master announced that one of them would betray him. When he did, they all asked, Is it I? (Mar 14:17-20).
And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.
Matthew informs us that, after hearing all the others ask, Lord, is it I?…Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? (Mat 26:21-25).
Judas is held before us throughout the gospels as a beacon, warning us to beware of religion without Christ. Judas was a man whose heart was as hard as it was hypocritical, as stony as it was sinful, and as proud as it was base. His religion gave him a cloak for his wickedness. His barren familiarity with the things of God made him twofold more the child of hell than he was before. But do not forget, this hellish man appeared to be very pious to all who observed him. Even after he agreed to betray the Son of God with a kiss, he kept up the appearances of sincerity. Judas convinced all the disciples that he was a true believer, one truly devoted to the Savior. None were even slightly suspicious of him. To the very end they all thought Judas was alright. Perhaps Judas even convinced himself that he was genuine. He knew he had done wrong; but he may not have known he was a lost man, a child of hell, the son of perdition. The Scripture says, Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
The betrayers heart was hard beyond imagination. He had just returned from his meeting with the chief priests, with whom he arranged to betray the Son of God with a kiss. Yet, he took his place with the other apostles at the table, pretending to be one of them, pretending to be a true worshipper of God, utterly devoted to Christ. What obduracy of heart hypocrisy produces!
Matthew tells us that the other disciples asked, Lord, Is it I? But Judas did not call him Lord. Judas called him Master, saying, Master, Is it I? The word Master is a title implying a closeness and affection that is not conveyed by the more reverential title Lord. While asking the question merely to give the appearance of sincerity, Judas chose the word Master, rather than Lord, because he wanted to show his love for and allegiance to the one he was arranging to betray!
Judas behavior should convince us to examine ourselves continually and honestly. I do not know how to deal with the matters of examination and assurance as they ought to be dealt with; but I do know that faith in Christ is neither proud presumption nor dread despair. Assurance is neither a fleshly familiarity with God, nor a slavish fear of God. The believers hope lies somewhere between that carnal security that says, Once saved always saved, and that blind, stoic fatalism that says If Im one of the elect, Ill be saved, if not I wont.
In the Word of God we are constantly hedged in on two sides. On the one side, we have the many promises of God, lest we despair. But on the other side are countless warnings, lest we presume. On the one side, we see sinful men and women kept by the power of grace, assuring us of immutable grace. On the other side, we see apostate after apostate, warning us that we must endure to the end if we would be saved. Therefore we are to examine ourselves and make our calling and election sure (2Co 13:5; 2Pe 1:2-11).
A Conflict Resolved
The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born (Mar 14:21; Mat 26:24; Luk 22:22). The question is often asked, Did Judas have a choice in this matter? The Scriptures clearly state that our Lord Jesus died according to the purpose and decree of God. The Scriptures manifestly prophesied Judas betrayal of the Lord Jesus. Surely, then, he cannot be blamed and held accountable for what he did. Such reasoning may suit our puny brains; but such reasoning is entirely wrong. Whether we can understand it or not, we must bow to the Word of God. These two are facts plainly revealed in Holy Scripture: (1.) God almighty is totally sovereign and always does exactly what he will (Isa 14:26-27; Isa 46:9-10; Eph 1:11); and (2.) Every man is totally responsible for his own sin. While the actions of wicked men and women never thwart, but only fulfill the purposes of God, God does not compel, coerce, entice, or tempt any man to evil (Jas 1:13-18). Reprobation and judgment are always presented to us in the Word of God as matters of justice and divine retribution. Salvation, grace, and eternal life are always presented as the sovereign prerogative and gift of God (Rom 6:23).
The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the will, decree and Word of God (1Co 15:1-3). He died according to the purpose of God revealed in the Word, according to the promises of God throughout the Word, according to the prophecies of God in the Word, and according to the pictures of grace in the Word. And one of the means used by our God to accomplish his purpose of grace in redemption was Judas willful betrayal of the Lord Jesus (Act 2:23).
A Picture of Redemption
And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many (Mar 14:22-24).
The Lord Jesus did not bless the bread and wine in the sense of consecrating them, making them holy, or changing their substance. He blessed them in exactly the same way we bless them, or bless a meal, in the sense of giving thanks to God for them.
The breaking of the bread and distribution of the wine, by the Lord Jesus was expressly intended to convey the spiritual lessons of his body being broken and his blood shed. Peace and pardon come to sinners in and through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all his people.
The unleavened bread represented our Redeemers holy humanity, his body, which was especially prepared by God the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary to put away our sins (Heb 10:1-5). It was a body without sin, in which righteousness was established by our Lords obedience, and the body sacrificed for us.
The cup of wine represented the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by which we are redeemed (Heb 9:22). It is the blood of the new covenant, the blood by which all the blessings of the covenant of grace flow to chosen sinners (Heb 9:11-16; Heb 13:20). The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely meritorious, effectual, sin-atoning, precious blood. All the blessings of the covenant were set forth and sealed in his blood. And we are specifically told by Christ himself that his precious blood was shed not for all, but for many. It was not shed for those who are forever lost in hell. It was shed for Gods elect, those who were actually redeemed by his blood when he died to redeem them. The words Joseph Irons penned 200 years ago on this subject accurately describe the common delusion of our day.
The common delusion of the day in which we live is to think of and speak of Christ as if He were merely a Savior who had done all he could to save all mankind, but after all, had left it quite uncertain whether any will be eventually saved; whereas, his official character (Prophet, Priest, King, Messiah, Redeemer, Mediator, Covenant Head, Surety, Lord), and consequent covenant engagements, render the salvation of all his church a matter of infallible certainty.
Eating the bread and drinking the wine is a picture of that God given faith by which we personally receive Christ for ourselves (Joh 6:51-58). All who eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Son of God live forever. It is written, Believe n the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!
An Ordinance to Keep
And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God (Mar 14:22-25).
The institution of the Lords Supper as soon as the paschal feast was finished, as Robert Hawker observes, intimates the superseding of the one, in the establishment of the other. We are not left to guess about this. The apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, tells us that our Savior here established the blessed ordinance of the Lords Supper (1Co 11:23-29).
The Lords Supper is not a sacrament, a means by which we obtain grace. It is an ordinance by which we celebrate grace bestowed upon us through the precious blood of Christ. Justin Martyr wrote, The Lords Supper is food made up all of thanksgiving. As often as we come together to observe the Lords Supper, let every believer examine himself, and then eat the bread and drink the wine in faith, Discerning the Lords body, understanding what Christ accomplished for us by his incarnation and death as our Substitute. Let us eat the bread and drink the wine with humility, gratitude, love and hope, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (Jud 1:21). There is a day coming when we shall drink new wine with our Savior in the kingdom of God.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
And in
For the order of events on the night of the last passover, (See Scofield “Mat 26:20”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mat 26:20, Luk 22:14
Reciprocal: Luk 22:56 – a certain maid
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Chapter 6.
The Announcement of the Betrayal
“And in the evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him, one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? And He answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.”-Mar 14:17-21.
We come now to that paragraph, that poignant little paragraph, which tells how, when Christ and the Twelve had taken their places for the festal meal, He made the announcement that it was one of the chosen band who should betray Him.
The Context.
But before I begin the study of the paragraph itself, let me say again that Mark’s account is not a complete account of what happened in the Upper Room. Mark’s is the briefest of all the Gospels. He picks out what seem to him the salient parts of the story, and these he narrates for us in an incomparably vivid way. But if you want the complete story, an accurate scheme of the sequence of events, you must compare Mark’s Gospel with the other three, and insert here and there with his abbreviated narrative various scenes and incidents passed over by him but preserved for us in the records of the other evangelists. At this point, e.g. the announcement of the betrayal follows immediately upon the verse in which Mark describes their assembly in the Upper Room. Had we been left to Mark we should have concluded that this was the very first thing that happened when they had gathered together in that quiet chamber. But, when we compare the accounts of the other evangelists, we find Mark has passed over without notice a good many things, such, e.g. as the strife among the disciples as to which of them was greatest, and that most moving and pathetic incident of the washing of the disciples’ feet. You must insert all that between Mar 14:17 and Mar 14:18 if you would have the full and complete sequence of events before you.
The Things Unrecorded.
It must also be remembered, as Dr Glover points out, that a good many things had happened which are mentioned by none of the evangelists. They had gathered in that Upper Room for the Paschal meal, and the Paschal meal was observed with a certain amount of fixed and definite ritual. Jesus, no doubt, had taken His place at the head of the table as the Master of the Feast. Following the usual practice He had explained the significance of the Passover, and spoken of the mighty deliverance of which it was the memorial-with what thoughts of that grander and more glorious Exodus which He was about to accomplish for all mankind on the morrow who shall tell? And then they had sung some of the appointed Psalms-Psalms breathing of gratitude and rest and hope. Very likely they had already passed round that cup which was so essential a part of the Passover celebration. All these things had happened in the Upper Room, before there fell from the lips of Christ this tragic announcement which changed their festal gladness into grief and fear.
The Prediction of the Betrayal.
Why did Christ make the announcement at all? Some commentators suggest that He had a design in making it. He was just about to institute the feast of the Supper. “He had gathered the Twelve in the Upper Room,” says Dr David Smith, “not merely that He might eat the Passover with them, but that He might institute a sacred rite which should perpetuate the remembrance of His immortal love.” Now the Supper is the family feast, at which only those who really and sincerely love the Lord have any right to sit. That is the reason why the Apostle says, “Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1Co 11:28). It is no feast in which a traitor has any right to participate. Our Lord could not celebrate that first Passover with Judas present, and so He makes this fateful announcement in order to be freed from Judas’ oppressive presence, and to be at liberty to celebrate His love-feast with those who were really and sincerely His own. There is a good deal of plausibility about the suggestion, but personally I do not feel inclined to accept it. For you have to assume that Judas left before the Supper, which is itself a very doubtful point. And it seems to me to artificialise the whole narrative.
Not a Disclosure but a Cry.
If you ask how I think this tragic announcement came to be made, I reply, Christ could not bear the awful burden a moment longer. I do not think there was any design in it. I do not think it was meant to cure the pride of the disciples. I do not even think it was meant to give Judas a glimpse of the perdition before him and thus awake repentance. I think Dr Chadwick comes nearest the truth when he says this was not so much a disclosure as a cry! A cry from the Lord’s bruised and wounded spirit! He could not help Himself! After all, our Lord was not only “very God” but also “very Man,” a man with an exquisitely sensitive soul! And just as when He came in sight of Jerusalem, the pity of His heart showed itself in tears which He could not suppress, so now the sorrow of His soul broke out in this agonising cry. Dr David Smith suggests that at the very moment He may have had the bitter herbs of the Passover Feast in His hand. And the bitter herbs in His hands reminded Him of the bitterness in His soul. And as He thought of it, it was more than He could bear, and this cry, involuntarily almost, broke from His lips, “Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth with Me.”
The Sorrow of Lost Opportunities.
And that is the first thing I find in this bitter cry. I find in it a hint of the measureless sorrows of the Lord. You can find other things in it I know. Read it like this: “One of you shall betray Me,” and I think I could preach a sermon from it upon opportunities lost and privileges abused. “One of you!” It was not one of Christ’s foes who was to do this thing! It was not one of the Scribes or Pharisees with whom He had been so often in conflict. It was not one of the priests whose anger He had incurred by His exposure of their evil deeds. It was not one of the indiscriminate multitude who had only seen Christ from afar and had never felt the compelling power of His goodness or the charm of His love. It was “one of you!” One of the Twelve men who had been chosen to be Christ’s intimates, who had seen Him at close quarters, who knew best how good and holy and gracious He was! “One of you!” Judas spent two years in close company with Christ and turned traitor at the finish! Privileges will save no man. Opportunities and privileges were wasted upon Judas. “One of you shall betray Me.”
The Sorrow of Wilful Sin.
Read it again like this, “One of you shall betray Me,” and from that text I think I could preach a sermon upon the awful and unspeakable lengths to which human wickedness can go! “Shall betray Me!” It was not some man of evil life that Judas was selling to the priests; it was not some one whose influence was a blight; it was not a political malefactor; it was not a disturber of the nation’s peace. “One of you shall betray Me!” Me! the Man Who had never done an evil deed, or spoken an evil word! The Man Who had gone about doing good! The Man Who had carried a blessing with Him whithersoever He had gone! The Man Who had given cleansing to the leper, and sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and power to the palsied, and life to the dead! The Man Who had blessed innumerable homes, and brought new hope and courage into innumerable lives! Sin a light thing? This is the length of wickedness to which sin can go-it can sell and scourge, and kill the Christ! But it is neither of these things that I see primarily and chiefly in this startling and tragic announcement.
The Sorrow of the Lord.
I see in it-above everything else-the sorrow of the Lord. The vision of that overwhelming sorrow allows me to see scarcely anything else in this bitter cry. You remember the old prophetic word in which Jeremiah bids the people turn aside and see if there was any sorrow like unto his sorrow. Well, the sorrow of Jeremiah, no doubt, was deep and bitter, for he too was rejected and despised by his own; but the deep unfathomable sorrow of the world is not the sorrow of Jeremiah but the sorrow of Christ. There was not a single ingredient of bitterness left out of His bitter cup. It was not, as Dr Chadwick says in his commentary, the physical sufferings of our Lord that constituted His immeasurable Passion. We have thought too much perhaps of the scourging, and the thorn crown, and the nails, and the agonising thirst. What hurt Christ most-the really unfathomable sufferings of our Lord-were His sufferings of soul. And amongst those sufferings of soul was that inflicted by the treachery of one of His chosen friends. It bit deep. It wounded to the quick. “One of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth with Me.” Our Lord passed through that bitter experience of the Psalmist, “Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psa 41:9). There are two passages in Shakespeare’s great play of “Julius Caesar” which illustrate by contrast the bitterness of being betrayed by a friend. The first is a sentence Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Brutus himself. Brutus had seen his cause overwhelmed with disaster and he was just upon the point of falling upon his sword. But with ruin overtaking him and death staring him in the face he had one deep source of joy. “Countrymen,” he said,
The Bitter Thought
“My heart doth joy that yet in all my life,
I found no man but he was true to me.”
Now turn by way of contrast to the scene in which Shakespeare describes the assassination of great Caesar himself. You remember how, under pretence of presenting a petition, the conspirators crowded round Caesar’s seat. Decius, Cassius, Casca-they were all there. When the petition was refused, Casca gave the sign for attack by saying, “Speak, hands, for me.” He aimed his dagger at Caesar’s breast; and at once Decius and Cassius, and China had their daggers out too. Caesar resisted for a time until he saw Brutus-one of the most cherished of his friends-also with his dagger raised to strike. But when he saw Brutus-his friend-he ceased to struggle. “Et tu, Brute,” he cried, “And thou, Brutus.-Then fall Caesar.” And through that bitter experience our Lord had to pass. He had not the joy of feeling that however much his enemies might rage, his friends had been true to Him. It was a friend who betrayed Him: it was a friend who sold Him. It was one who ate His bread who lifted his heel against Him. The very thought of it wrung Christ’s heart with anguish, and provoked this cry from His lips. “One of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth with Me.” “Behold, and see, if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow” (Lam 1:12).
Does Judas stand Alone?
I am tempted, before I pass on, to ask a question like this-“Is Judas the only friend who has ever betrayed the Lord?” Is he the only one who has eaten the Lord’s bread, and then lifted up his heel against Him? Of course I know that there is a sense in which the crime of Judas can never be again committed. Never again can Christ be betrayed into the hands of men. Never again can He be sold to the shame of the whipping-post and the tree. And yet, from another point of view, He is not beyond the reach of wounds and treachery and shame. Why, one of the sacred writers declares that it is in our power to “crucify Christ afresh.” And we do it. Yes, we often do it; we, His so-called friends crucify Him afresh and put Him to an open shame. What Christ suffers from most, is not the attacks of his foes. There are certain miserable people in the world who make it their business to attack Christ. They fight against Him and His cause. They stand at street corners and vilify Him. They write in the papers, and caricature and blaspheme Him. But these are not the people who do Christ harm. The blasphemies of Hyde Park orators, the coarse caricatures of the Free-thinker-these are not the things that impede the progress of Christianity. We can afford to laugh at them. They do not count. They are beneath contempt. But I will tell you what it is that injures Christ and impedes His cause-not the attacks of His foes but the failures of His friends. We profess to belong to the circle of His disciples, and there out in the world yonder we deny Him, and sell Him, and betray Him. We call Him Lord, and then we turn our backs upon Him. We come to His table and eat His bread, and then we lift up our heel against Him. Christ suffers still from treachery and betrayal. The most grievous wounds which He ever endures, are the wounds which He receives in the house of His friends.
The Fear of the Disciples.
And now let me ask you to notice the effect of this solemn announcement upon the disciples. “And they began to be sorrowful,” says Mark. Up to that moment they had been a glad and happy company-but upon this announcement their sunshine went out in dark and bodeful gloom. Their hearts were filled with a chilly sense of fear and dread. And one by one with blanched lips and tremulous voices they began to say to Christ, “Is it I? Is it I?” Now it seems almost callous to analyse this heartbreaking question. But I see two things in it that are infinitely to the credit of these disciples. I see first of all their trust and hope for one another, and I see in the second place their fear and distrust of themselves. I see, first of all, their trust and hope for one another. Not a man apparently suspected Judas! I know it speaks volumes for the circumspectness and prudence with which Judas must have conducted himself. But it speaks volumes for those disciples too. They never suspected Judas. They thought Judas every whit as good a disciple as themselves. They never suspected any one of their little band. We have often had occasion to notice faults and failings in these disciples of our Lord. We shall have to notice many a fault and failure still. They were indeed full of faults and failings. But here is something that must be set down to the credit side of their account. They had a splendid faith in one another. They believed the best of one another. Not a man of them had dreamed that another could turn traitor. These disciples blundered often-they were proud, they were self-seeking, they were materialistic in their notions; but when I hear them cry, “Lord, is it I?” suspecting no one but themselves, I am quite sure they had caught from their Lord some of that “love which suffereth long and is kind; which is not easily provoked and thinketh no evil; which rejoiceth not in iniquity but which rejoiceth in the truth, which beareth, believeth, hopeth and endureth all things.”
-Their Fear of Themselves.
I see, secondly, in this question their fear and distrust of themselves. When the Master said, “One of you shall betray Me,” these disciples did not cast their eyes round their little company to try and discover who of their number looked most like a traitor. They did not listen-as we often do-for somebody else. They did not try to fit the cap on to somebody else’s head. They listened for themselves. They took the warning home to their own souls. When Christ said, “One of you shall betray Me,” every man of them looked into his own heart. And it was what they saw there, that brought this cry to their lips, “Lord, can it be I?” For when they looked within, they saw the prince of this world had something in every one of them-there was weakness there and timidity there and cowardice there, and love of the world and of life there! And the sight struck terror to their souls. “Lord,” they cried in broken accents, “Can it be I?” And this distrust of themselves is also to be set down to the disciples’ credit. I like them better distrusting themselves like this, than when boasting that neither prison nor death can daunt them. I have more hope for them when taking this humble estimate of themselves than when bragging of their courage and their constancy. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted; he that exalteth himself shall be abased. Mr Fearing wins his way at last to the Heavenly City but the last sight we get of Presumption is lying fast by the heels in a hollow far from the journey’s end.
A Question for All.
“Lord, is it I?” it is a question that often leaps to the lips of a man who has looked into his own heart. Who really knows the enormities of which he may be guilty? Who knows what possibilities of evil lie latent within? This much I know; we find it easy still to sell Christ; we sell Him in order to succeed in business; we sell Him for pleasure; we sell Him for social position. We crucify Him afresh and put Him to an open shame by forgetting Him, repudiating His authority, bringing disgrace upon His name. “One of you,” He says to us in these latter days “shall betray Me.” I cannot treat that warning as if it did not concern me. Like the disciples, knowing my own weakness, I know that one may be myself. All I can do is to give myself and this treacherous heart of mine into the keeping of Almighty Love, and say with the Psalmist, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression (Psa 19:13).
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary
7
Let it be noted that the twelve (apostles) were still with Jesus.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THESE verses contain Mark’s account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. The simplicity of the description deserves special observation. Well would it have been for the Church, if men had not departed from the simple statements of Scripture about this blessed sacrament! It is a mournful fact that it has been corrupted by false explanations and superstitious additions, until its real meaning, in many parts of Christendom, is utterly unknown. Let us however, at present, dismiss from our minds all matters of controversy, and study the words of Mark with a view to our own personal edification.
Let us learn from the passage before us, that self-examination should precede the reception of the Lord’s Supper. We cannot doubt that this was one object of our Lord’s solemn warning, “One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.” He meant to stir up in the minds of his disciples, those very searchings of heart which are here so touchingly recorded: “They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?” He meant to teach His whole Church throughout the world, that the time of drawing near to the Lord’s table should be a time for diligent self-inquiry.
The benefit of the Lord’s Supper depends entirely on the spirit and frame of mind in which we receive it. The bread which we there eat, and the wine which we there drink, have no power to do good to our souls, as medicine does good to our bodies, without the co-operation of our hearts and wills. They will not convey any blessing to us, by virtue of the minister’s consecration, if we do not receive them rightly, worthily, and with faith. To assert, as some do, that the Lord’s supper must do good to all communicants, whatever be the state of mind in which they receive it, is a monstrous and unscriptural figment, and has given rise to gross and wicked superstition.
The state of mind which we should look for in ourselves, before going to the Lord’s table, is well described in the Catechism of the Church of England. We ought to “examine ourselves whether we repent truly of our former sins-whether we steadfastly purpose to lead a new life-whether we have a lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ-and a thankful remembrance of His death-and whether we are in charity with all men.” If our conscience can answer these questions satisfactorily, we may receive the Lord’s supper without fear. More than this God does not require of any communicant. Less than this ought never to content us.
Let us take heed to ourselves in the matter of the Lord’s supper. It is easy to err about it on either side.-On the one hand, we are not to be content with staying away from the Lord’s table under the vague plea of unfitness. As long as we so stay away, we are disobeying a plain command of Christ, and are living in sin. But, on the other hand, we are not to go to the Lord’s table as a mere form, and without thought. As long as we receive the sacrament in that state of mind, we derive no good from it, and are guilty of a great transgression. It is an awful thing to be unfit for the sacrament, for this is to be unfit to die. It is a no less awful thing to receive it unworthily, for this is most provoking to God. The only safe course is to be a decided servant of Christ, and to live the life of faith in Him. Then we may draw near with boldness, and take the sacrament to our comfort.
Let us learn, in the second place, from these verses, that the principal object of our Lord’s Supper, is to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. The bread is intended to bring to our recollection the “body” of Christ, which was wounded for our transgressions. The wine is intended to bring to our recollection the “blood” of Christ, which was shed to cleanse us from all sin. The atonement and propitiation which our Lord effected by His death as our Surety and Substitute, stand out prominently in the whole ordinance. The false doctrine which some teach, that His death was nothing more than the death of a very holy man, who left us an example how to die, turns the Lord’s supper into an unmeaning ordinance, and cannot possibly be reconciled with our Lord’s words at its institution.
A clear understanding of this point is of great importance. It will place us in the right position of mind, and teach us how we ought to feel in drawing near to the Lord’s table. It will produce in us true humility of spirit. The bread and wine, will remind us how sinful sin must be, when nothing but Christ’s death could atone for it. It will produce in us hopefulness about our souls. The bread and wine will remind us that though our sins are great, a great price has been paid for our redemption. Not least, it will produce in us gratitude. The bread and wine will remind us how great is our debt to Christ, and how deeply bound we are to glorify Him in our lives. May these be the feelings that we experience, whenever we receive the Lord’s supper!
Finally, we learn from these verses, the nature of the spiritual benefits which the Lord’s supper is intended to convey, and the persons who have a right to expect them. We may gather this lesson from the significant actions which are used in receiving this sacrament. Our Lord commands us to “eat” bread and to “drink” wine. Now eating and drinking are the acts of a living person. The object of eating and drinking is to be strengthened and refreshed. The conclusion we are meant to draw, is manifestly this, that the Lord’s supper is appointed for “the strengthening and refreshing of our souls,” and that those who ought to partake of it are those who are lively, real Christians. All such will find this sacrament a means of grace. It will assist them to rest in Christ more simply, and to trust in Him more entirely. The visible symbols of bread and wine will aid, quicken, and confirm their faith.
A right view of this point is of the utmost moment in these latter days. We must always beware of thinking that there is any way of eating Christ’s body, and drinking Christ’s blood, but by faith-or that receiving the Lord’s supper will give any man a different interest in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross from that which faith gives. Faith is the one grand means of communication between the soul and Christ. The Lord’s supper can aid, quicken, and confirm faith, but can never supersede it, or supply its absence. Let this never be forgotten. Error on this point is a most fatal delusion, and leads to many superstitions.
Let it be a settled principle in our Christianity, that no unbeliever ought to go to the Lord’s table, and that the sacrament will not do our souls the slightest good, if we do not receive it with repentance and faith. The Lord’s supper is not a converting or justifying ordinance, and those who come to it unconverted and unjustified, will go away no better than they came, but rather worse. It is an ordinance for believers, and not for unbelievers, for the living and not for the dead. It is meant to sustain life, but not to impart it-to strengthen and increase grace, but not to give it-to help faith to grow, but not to sow or plant it. Let these things sink down into our hearts, and never be forgotten.
Are we alive unto God? This is the great question. If we are, let us go to the Lord’s supper, and receive it thankfully, and never turn our backs on the Lord’s table. If we do not go, we commit a great sin.
Are we yet dead in sin and worldliness? If we are, we have no business at the communion. We are on the broad way that leadeth to destruction. We must repent. We must be born again. We must be joined to Christ by faith. Then, and not till then, we are fit to be communicants. [Footnote: There are two expressions in the passage now expounded, which deserve a special notice. One is, the “fruit of the vine.” The other is “the kingdom of God.”
1. The words, “fruit of the vine,” applied by our Lord to the cup of wine which He had just been giving to His disciples, in the institution of the Lord’s supper, appear entirely to overthrow the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation. The wine, it appears, did not really and literally become Christ’s blood, as the Roman Catholics say. Our Lord himself speaks of itas the juice of grapes, “the fruit of the vine.” It is clear therefore, that when He said of that cup of wine before, “this is my blood,” He meant nothing more than this, “this represents-is an emblem of-my blood.”
2. The words, “kingdom of God,” applied by our Lord to a time and state of things yet future, appear to show plainly that He did not consider God’s kingdom to have come, when he spoke. Moreover, the words have not yet received a fulfilment, as it is not known, that our Lord administered the Lord’s supper to His disciples after His resurrection. The words therefore are meant to turn our minds towards the time of our Lord’s second advent. Then, and not till then, “the kingdom of God” will be fully set up. Then, and not till then, we shall sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and drink the new wine in the kingdom.]
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mar 14:17-21. THE PASSOVER CELEBRATION. See on Mat 26:20-25; comp, the parallel accounts of Luke and John.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The unexampled boldness of this impudent traitor Judas; he presumed, as soon as he had sold his Master, to sit down at the table with him, and did eat the passover with the disciples: had the presence of Judas polluted this ordinance to any but himself, doubtless our Saviour would ever have suffered him to approach unto it.
But hence we learn, 1. That nothing is more ordinary than than for unholy persons to press in unto the holy ordinances of God, which they have no right, while such, to partake of.
2. That the presence of such persons doth pollute the ordinance only to themselves; holy persons are not polluted by their sins, therefore ought not to be discouraged from coming by their presence there.
Observe, 2. What a surprising and astonishing word it was which dropt from our Saviour’s mouth amongst his disciples; One shall betray me; yea, one of you; shall betray me. Can any church upon earth expect purity in all its members, when Christ’s own family of twelve had a traitor and devil in it?
Yet though it was very sad to hear of one, it was matter of joy to understand that there was but one. One hypocrite in a congregation is too much, but there is cause of rejoicing if there be no more.
Observe, 3. Christ did not name Judas, and say, “Thou O perfidious Judas! art the traitor, but one of you shall betray me,” Doubtless it was to draw him to repentance, and to prevent the giving him any provocation.
Lord! how sad is it for any of thy family who pretend friendship to thee, to conspire with thine enemies against thee! for any that eat of thy bread to lift up their heel against thee!
Observe, 4. The disciples sorrow uponn these words of Christ, and the effect of that sorrow. Their sorrow was (as well it might be) exceeding great; well might innocent disciples be overwhelmed with sorrow, to hear that their Master should die, that he should die by treason, that the traitor should be one of themselves. But though their sorrow was great, yet was the effect of their sorrow very good, it wrought in them an holy suspicion of themselves, and caused every one to search himself, and say, Master, Is it I?
Learn hence, That it is possible for such secret wickedness to lodge in the heart as we never suspected, till time and temptation draw it forth. None of the disciples suspected, nay, Judas himself never apprehended that depth of iniquity and hypocrisy which was found lodging in him.
Yet note, That though the disciples were jealous and suspicious, yet was it of themselves, not of one another; nay, not of Judas himself: everyone said, Master, Is it I? Not, Master , Is it Judas? True sincerity and Christian charity will make us more suspicious of ourselves than of any other: it hopes the best of others, and fears the worst of ourselves.
Observe, 5. That though Judas sees himself pointed at by our Saviour, and hears the dreadful threatenings denounced against him, that it had been better for him that he had never been born, yet he is no more blanked than innocence itself.
Resolute sinners run on desperately in their evil courses, and with open eyes see and meet their own destruction, without being either dismayed at it, or concerned about it.
This shameless man had the impudence to say to our blessed Saviour, Master, Is it I?
Our blessed Saviour gives him a direct answer. Thou sayest it.
Did not Judas, think we, blush extremely, cast down his guilty eyes, and let fall his drooping head, at so galling an intimation? Nothing less, we read of nothing like it.
Lord! how does obduracy in sin steel the brow, and make it incapable of all relenting impressions!
Observe lastly, How our Saviour prefers non-entity before damnation; It had been better for that man he had never been born. A temporal, miserable being, is not worse than no being; but eternal misery is much worse than non-entity; better to have no being, than not to have a being in Christ, It had been better for Judas that he had never been born, than to lie under everlasting wrath.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mar 14:17-25. In the evening he cometh with the twelve See notes on Mat 26:20-29. This is my blood of the new testament Or, covenant; that is, this I appoint to be a perpetual sign and memorial of my blood, as shed for establishing the new covenant, that all who shall believe in me, may receive all its gracious promises. I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, &c. That is, I shall drink no more before I die: the next wine I drink will not be earthly, but heavenly.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE PASSOVER
Mat 26:20; Mar 14:17; Luk 22:14-18. It is now about 6 P. M. on Thursday preceding our Lords crucifixion, when they proceed to eat the Passover meal. And when the hour arrived, He and His twelve apostles along with Him sat down at the table. And He said to them, With desire I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffered; for I say unto you, that I no more eat of it until it may be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. This is really not only His last Passover meal, but the last of all that He ate before He laid down His life. I do not wonder that He intensely desired to enjoy this Passover with His disciples, an institution so significant to every faithful Jew, commemorative of their national birth, and of course pre-eminently significant to the Savior, because it emblematized His expiatory death, then looking Him in the face, as the swift hours rolled on and brought the bloody morrow. As the lamb died to provide that meal for the teeming thousands of Israel to feast upon, so the Lamb of God must die in order that the millions of earth may not starve through all eternity, but feast upon that Passover meal through the flight of eternal ages. The Passover was fulfilled in the kingdom of God when Jesus bled and died on the cross, the Great Antitype typified by the millions of bleeding lambs the last fifteen hundred years. O what rivers of blood quantity symbolizing quality!
And receiving the cup, blessing it, He said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I say unto you, that I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God may come. There is a sense in which the kingdom of God has been in the world from the days of Eden, as the redemptive scheme was launched before the expulsion out of Paradise. The advent of Jesus into the world was a glorious epoch in the kingdom; but you must remember He came to die to redeem the lost. Hence His first advent culminates at Calvary, the grandest and most important epoch in the kingdom of God, and here denominated the coming of the kingdom.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 14:17-21. Jesus Reveals the Treachery of Judas.The other evangelists regard Judas as present at this meal. Mk. implies it, but does not explicitly state it. The reference to the Twelve in Mar 14:17 may be simply conventional (cf. 1Co 15:5). He that eateth with me (Mar 14:18) may not point to the immediate feast, but to Psa 41:9 (HNT), and Mar 14:20 may simply strengthen this. Mk. does not describe an actual discovery of Judas, nor indicate how Judas departed, if he was present. With Mar 14:21; cf. Mar 9:42.
Mar 14:18. as they reclined (mg.): it was no longer the custom to stand at the Passover.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
THE REVELATION
17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. 18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. 19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? 20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
Christ announces to the twelve that one of them would betray him. They asked “Is it I?” Can you imagine what Judas felt like when they began to do this? Did all the apostles ask the question? We do not know but if they did Judas must have had some uneasy times.
John gives a little more detail on this and indicates that Jesus spoke directly to Judas and told him to do his work quickly and that Judas left. It seems in the context of John that he may have left early in the celebration. Joh 13:27 ff “Jesus therefore saith unto him, What thou doest, do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 29 For some thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said unto him, Buy what things we have need of for the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 He then having received the sopwent out straightway: and it was night.”
This speaking to Judas was another indication of Christ controlling the entire situation. He knew of the coming cross and the events prior to it. How Christ knew of Judas and his activities we do not know. The Spirit may have revealed this to him or someone in the Jewish leadership/household might have told him of Judas and the leaders having met.
Imagine the uneasiness in Judas as the Lord leaned to speak to him of these things. There must have been some fear of the other apostles if not fear of the Lord Himself. Judas knew that this man could walk on water and control nature; it must have given him some great fear of what Christ would do in anger. No anger was evident; it was God’s will working out in Christ’s life.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
The announcement of Jesus’ betrayal 14:17-21 (cf. Matthew 26:20-25; Luke 22:14, 21-23; John 13:21-30)
Mark did not record all that happened in the upper room. He stressed the announcement of Jesus’ betrayal and Jesus’ explanation of the significance of the bread and wine.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
This would have been Thursday evening. Because the Jews began their days at sundown this incident would have happened at the beginning of the fifteenth of Nisan. Jesus came with the Twelve to the upper room. Luk 22:15-16; Luk 22:24-30 and Joh 13:1-20 record what happened next.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 14:17-21 (Mar 14:17-21)
THE SOP
“And when it was evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth with Me. They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? And He said unto them, It is one of the twelve, he that dippeth with Me in the dish. For the Son of man goeth, even as it is written of Him: but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not been born.” Mar 14:17-21 (R.V.)
IN the deadly wine which our Lord was made to drink, every ingredient of mortal bitterness was mingled. And it shows how far is even His Church from comprehending Him, that we think so much more of the physical than the mental and spiritual horrors which gather around the closing scene.
But the tone of all the narratives, and perhaps especially of St. Mark’s, is that of the exquisite Collect which reminds us that our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, as well as to suffer death on the cross. Treason and outrage, the traitor’s kiss and the weakness of those who loved Him, the hypocrisy of the priest and the ingratitude of the mob, perjury and a mock trial, the injustice of His judges, the brutal outrages of the soldiers, the worse and more malignant mockery of scribe and Pharisee, and last and direst, the averting of the face of God, these were more dreadful to Jesus than the scourging and the nails.
And so there is great stress laid upon His anticipation of the misconduct of His own.
As the dreadful evening closes in, having come to the guest chamber “with the Twelve” — eleven whose hearts should fail them and one whose heart was dead, it was “as they sat and were eating” that the oppression of the traitor’s hypocrisy became intolerable, and the outraged One spoke out. “Verily I say unto you, one of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth with Me.” The words are interpreted as well as predicted in the plaintive Psalm which says, “Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did also eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against Me.” And perhaps they are less a disclosure than a cry.
Every attempt to mitigate the treason of Judas, every suggestion that he may only have striven too willfully to serve our Lord by forcing Him to take decided measures, must fail to account for the sense of utter wrong which breathes in the simple and piercing complaint “one of you . . . even he that eateth with Me.” There is a tone in all the narratives which is at variance with any palliation of the crime.
No theology is worth much if it fails to confess, at the centre of all the words and deeds of Jesus, a great and tender human heart. He might have spoken of teaching and warnings lavished on the traitor, and miracles which he had beheld in vain. What weighs heaviest on His burdened spirit is none of these; it is that one should betray Him who had eaten His bread.
When Brutus was dying he is made to say —
“My heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life,
I found no man, but he was true to me.”
But no form of innocent sorrow was to pass Jesus by.
The vagueness in the words “one of you shall betray Me,” was doubtless intended to suggest in all a great searching of heart. Coming just before the institution of the Eucharistic feast, this incident anticipates the command which it perhaps suggested: “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat.” It is good to be distrustful of one’s self. And if, as was natural, the Eleven looked one upon another doubting of whom He spake, they also began to say to Him, one by one (first the most timid, and then others as the circle narrowed), Is it I? For the prince of this world had something in each of them, — some frailty there was, some reluctance to bear the yoke, some longing for the forbidden ways of worldliness, which alarmed each at this solemn warning, and made him ask, Is it, can it be possible, that it is I? Religious self-sufficiency was not then the apostolic mood. Their questioning is also remarkable as a proof how little they suspected Judas, how firmly he bore himself even as those all-revealing words were spoken, how strong and wary was the temperament which Christ would fain have sanctified. For between the Master and him there could have been no more concealment.
The apostles were right to distrust themselves, and not to distrust another. They were right, because they were so feeble, so unlike their Lord. But for Him there is no misgiving: His composure is serene in the hour of the power of darkness. And His perfect spiritual sensibility discerned the treachery, unknown to others, as instinctively as the eye resents the presence of a mote imperceptible to the hand.
The traitor’s iron nerve is somewhat strained as he feels himself discovered, and when Jesus is about to hand a sop to him, he stretches over, and their hands meet in the dish. That is the appointed sign: “It is one of the Twelve, he that dippeth with Me in the dish,” and as he rushes out into the darkness, to seek his accomplices and his revenge, Jesus feels the awful contrast between the betrayer and the Betrayed. For Himself, He goeth as it is written of Him. This phrase admirably expresses the co-operation of Divine purpose and free human will, and by the woe that follows He refutes all who would make of God’s fore-knowledge an excuse for human sin. He then is not walking in the dark and stumbling, though men shall think Him falling. But the life of the false one is worse than utterly cast away: of him is spoken the dark and ominous word, never indisputably certain of any other soul, “Good were it for him if that man had not been born.”
“That man!” The order and emphasis are very strange. The Lord, who felt and said that one of His chosen was a devil, seems here to lay stress upon the warning thought, that he who fell so low was human, and his frightful ruin was evolved from none but human capabilities for good and evil. In “the Son of man” and “that man,” the same humanity was to be found.
For Himself, He is the same today as yesterday. All that we eat is His. And in the most especial and far-reaching sense, it is His bread which is broken for us at His table. Has He never seen traitor except one who violated so close a bond? Alas, the night when the Supper of the Lord was given was the same night when He was betrayed.