Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 14:13
And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.
13. he sendeth forth two of his disciples ] The Apostles Peter and John (Luk 22:8).
and there shall meet you ] Observe the minuteness of the directions and of the predictions as to the events which would happen. It is the same mysterious minuteness which distinguishes the preparations for the Triumphal Entry.
a man ] It was generally the task of women to carry water. Amongst the thousands at Jerusalem they would notice this man carrying an earthen jar of water drawn from one of the fountains. We need not conclude, because it was a slave’s employment to do this (Deu 29:11; Jos 9:21), that he was a slave. The Apostles were to follow him to whatever house he entered.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mar 14:13; Mar 14:15
Go ye into the city.
The finding the guest chamber
We might expect that Christ, knowing to how great effort the faith of His followers was about to be called, would, in His compassionate earnestness for their welfare, keep their faith in exercise up to the moment of the dreaded separation. He would find or make occasions for trying and testing the principles which were soon to be brought to so stern a proof. Did He do this? And how did He do it? We regard the circumstances which are now under review, those connected with the finding the guest chamber in which the last supper might be eaten, as an evidence and illustration of Christs exercising the faith of His disciples. Was it not exercising the faith of Peter and John-for these, the more distinguished of the disciples, were employed on the errand-to send them into the city with such strange and desultory directions? There were so many chances, if the word may be used, against the guest chamber being found through the circuitous method prescribed by our Lord, that we could not have wondered had Peter and John showed reluctance to obey His command. And we do not doubt that what are called the chances were purposely multiplied by Christ to make the finding the room seem more improbable, and therefore to give faith the greater exercise. Again, there would have been risk enough of mistake or repulse in accosting the man with the pitcher; but this man was only to be followed; and he might stop at many houses before he reached the right. But Christ would not be more explicit, because, in proportion as He had been more explicit, there would have been less exercise for faith. And if you imagine that, after all, it was no great demand on the faith of Peter and John that they should go on so vague an errand-for that much did not hinge on their finding the right place, and they had but to return if anything went wrong-we are altogether at issue with you. There was something that looked degrading and ignoble in the errand, which required more courage and fortitude than to undertake some signal enterprise. And the apparent meanness of an employment will often try faith more than its apparent difficulty; the exposure to ridicule and contempt will require greater moral nerve than the exposure to danger and death. We believe that it is very frequently ordered that faith should be disciplined and nurtured for its hardest endurances, and its highest achievements, through exposure to petty inconveniences, collisions with mere rudeness, the obloquy of the proud, the sneer of the supercilious, and the incivility of the ignorant. Nowhere is faith so well disciplined as in humble occupations; it grows great through little tasks, and may be more exercised by being left to the menial business of a servant than by being summoned to the lofty standing of a leader. And we do earnestly desire of you to bear this in mind; for men, who are not appointed to great achievements and endurances, are very apt to feel as though there were not enough in the trials and duties of a lowly station for the nurture and exercise of high Christian graces. Whereas, if it were by merely following a man bearing a pitcher of water that apostles were trained for the worst onsets of evil, there may be no such school for the producing strong faith as that in which the lessons are of the most everyday kind. But there is more than this to be said in regard of the complicated way in which Christ directed His disciples to the guest chamber where He had determined to eat the last supper. He was not only exercising the faith of the disciples by sending them on an errand which seemed unnecessarily intricate, and to involve great exposure to insult and repulse-He was giving strung evidence of His thorough acquaintance with everything that was to happen, and of His power over the minds whether of strangers or of friends. You must consider it as a prophecy on the part of Christ that the man would be met bearing a pitcher of water. It was a prophecy which seemed to take delight in putting difficulties in the way of its own precise accomplishment. It would not have been accomplished by the mere finding the house-it would have been defeated had the house been found through any other means than the meeting the man, or had the man been discovered through any other sign than the pitcher of water; yea, and it would have been defeated, defeated in the details, which were given, as it might have seemed, with such unnecessary and perilous minuteness, if the master of the house had made the least objection, or if it had not been an upper room which he showed the disciples; or if that room had not been large; or if it had not been furnished and prepared. And whatever tended to prove to the disciples their Masters thorough acquaintance with every future contingency, ought to have tended to the preparing them for the approaching days of disaster and separation. Besides, it was beautifully adapted to the circumstances of the disciples that Christ showed that His foreknowledge extended to trifles. These disciples were likely to imagine that, being poor and mean persons, they should be overlooked by Christ when separated from them, and, perhaps, exalted to glory. But that His eye was threading the crowded thoroughfares of the city, that it was noting a servant with a pitcher of water, observing accurately when this servant left his masters house, when he reached the well, and when he would be at a particular spot on his way back-this was not merely foreknowledge; this was foreknowledge applying itself to the insignificant and unknown. Then, again, observe that whatever power was here put forth by Christ was put forth without His being in contact with the party on whom it was exerted. Christ acted, that is, upon parties who were at a distance from Him, thus giving incontrovertible proof that His visible presence was not necessary in order to the exercise of His power. What a comfort should this have been to the disciples. It is easy to imagine how, when His death was near at hand, Christ might have wrought miracles and uttered prophecies more august in their character. He might have darkened the air with portents and prodigies, but there would not have been in these gorgeous or appalling displays the sort of evidence which was needed by disquieted and dispirited men. But to ourselves, who are looking for the guest chamber, not as the place where the Paschal lamb may be eaten, but as that where Christ is to give of His own body and blood, the pitcher of water may well serve as a memento that it is baptism which admits us into Christian privileges; that they who find a place at the supper of the Lord must have met the man with the water, and have followed that man-must have been presented to the minister of the Church, and have received from Him the initiatory sacrament, and then have submitted meekly to the guidance of the Church, till introduced to those deeper recesses of the sanctuary where Christ spreads His rich banquet for such as call upon His name. Thus may there have been, in the directions for finding the guest chamber, a standing intimation of the process through which should be sought an entrance to that upper room, where Christ and His members shall finally sit down, that they may eat together at the marriage supper. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Providential meetings
There are no chance meetings in this world. They all are providential. They are in Gods plan. On many of them great possibilities hinge. You enter a railroad car, and take your seat among strangers. A proffered courtesy brings you into conversation with a fellow traveller. An acquaintance is the result. Years of helpful Christian co-work follow in the train of that first meeting. You visit a place of winter resort for health seekers. At the dinner table you meet a man unknown to you until then. An entire change in the aim and conduct of his life is one consequence of that meeting; and his labours for good may be far more effective than yours in your whole lifetime. You look in upon a celebrated preparatory school, where two hundred young men are at their studies. One face impresses you. Your meeting with him affects your course and his for all time, and involves the interests of a multitude. Your meeting of another young man in a Sunday school where you are present only for that one session has more influence over his life than all other agencies combined-and scarcely less over yours. You may even meet on the street one whom you wished not to see, one whom at that moment you were seeking to avoid; and as a result more lives than one are affected in all their human course, and in their highest spiritual interests. All these illustrations are real incidents; and there are thousands like them. It behooves us to consider well our duty in every meeting with another. We can fail to improve our opportunity and lose a blessing. We can fill our place just then, and have reason to rejoice eternally that we did so. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do-when next I meet one whom thou hast planned for me to see? (Sunday School Times.)
The Masters question
The Master saith! Has the charm of the Masters name vanished in these latter days? Are we, men and women of the nineteenth century, children of a modern life and civilization which is ever extending itself with feverish restlessness and painful throes of new birth, are we grown familiar with strange voices, with forces unknown in that ancient world, and those ancient days spent under the blue Syrian sky; are we become superior to the claims, the force, the beauty, and the authority of a great personal life? Have we relegated Jesus of Nazareth merely to a place, however great, in the development of history? Is He merely the product of social forces and political and historical traditions? The Master saith! Being dead, doth He yet speak; yet so as through the faint vibrations of memory-of memory which grows weaker as the ages roll behind us into the eternity of the past; or is it a living voice still which I hear-a voice which no results of time can shake with the tremulousness of age? Do not our own hearts-we who have become disciples, we who, constrained by a force which we could not resist, have exclaimed, Master, Thou art the Christ who hast conquered me, Thou art the Christ who hast died for me-do not our own hearts passionately exclaim, He liveth still to make intercession for us, and to rule us with the supremacy of perfect love? Will ye also admit the Master within? Will ye hear Him? Will ye let Him talk with you? This night, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bring the word to you also: The Master saith! The voices of all His disciples are but weak echoes of the mightier and abiding voice which is His. The Master saith! But where? Hath His voice a local habitation and a name? Doth He reach me through the channel of my senses, or how doth He touch my living spirit? It is here that the Master saith!-even now. These poor temples of ours, they are for the most part but shapeless structures of stone and lime, yet they are clothed with the spiritual and unfading beauty of a Divine guest chamber; a voice which is not my voice overpowers my struggling will, subdues by gentle and beautiful processes my efforts to make my own will my law and arbiter of duty, and speaks through me. And most of all is it of infinite moment to know that there is one called Master, and who does speak. This is what I need to know and feel. In Jesus of Nazareth life and duty are reconciled. In Him I recognize the Master whom I need. To Him, in whom gentleness was so perfectly blended with strength, I come, craving to touch but the hem of His garment, contented in that I have seen my Lord. The Master saith! If His voice is the voice of an authority, sublimely enforced through self-denial, patience, gentleness, suffering, and death, why should I crave more? Shall I not say, It is enough; He calleth me, and I must answer? He bids me arise, and I must arise. For me the highest virtue is obedience, for it is the Master who saith. (J. Vickery.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Bearing a pitcher of water] How correct is the foreknowledge of Jesus Christ! Even the minutest circumstances are comprehended by it! An honest employment, howsoever mean, is worthy the attention of God; and even a man bearing a pitcher of water is marked in all his steps, and is an object of the merciful regards of the Most High. This man was employed in carrying home the water which was to be used for baking the unleavened bread on the following day; for on that day it was not lawful to carry any: hence they were obliged to fetch it on the preceding evening.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And he sendeth forth two of his disciples,…. Peter and John, as appears from Lu 22:8;
and saith unto them, go ye into the city; the city of Jerusalem; for there only the passover might be eaten, De 26:2;
and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; a servant of the master of the house that was sent for water, to mix with the wine, at the passover:
follow him; into the house to which he goes.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Two of his disciples ( ). Lu 22:8 names them, Peter and John.
Bearing a pitcher of water ( ). This item also in Luke, but not in Matthew.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
A man. A slave probably, whose business it was to draw water. See Deu 19:11.
Pitcher. Of earthenware : keramion from keramov potter ‘s clay.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And He sendeth forth two of His disciples,” (kai apostellei duo ton matheton autou) “And He sent (on a mandated mission) two of His disciples,” named by Luke only as Peter and John, Luk 22:8.
2) “And saith unto them, go ye into the city,” (kai legeis autois hupagete eis ten polin) ”And He instructed or directed them, you (two) go into the city,” of Jerusalem, from Bethany where they resided, Mat 26:17-18; Luk 22:10.
3) “And there shall meet you a man,” (kai apantesei humin anthropos) “And a man will meet you,” (Mat 22:18) A man who will respond to my wish, act in the providence of my will, as follows:
4) “Bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.” (keramion hudatos bastason akolouthesate auto) “Carrying a pitcher, an earthen pitcher, of water: Follow him,” into the house where he is going, Luk 22:10. Water carrying was traditionally the occupation of women, naturally a man carrying water would draw the attention of the two disciples.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(13) And he sendeth forth two of his disciples.The number is given by St. Mark; the names, Peter and John, by St. Luke only. The sign of the pitcher of water is common to both Gospels, but not to St. Matthew.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Meet you a man As the apostles enter the city from the east the water carrier with his filled pitcher is returning home from the west. Hence Dr. Barclay well argues that the tradition which places the coenaculum or last supper on the western part of Zion is incorrect. The two apostles having passed through the temple grounds, and crossed the great bridge, would not proceed far before they would meet him bringing his jar of fresh water from Gibon or Etham.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he sends two of his disciples and says to them, “Go into the city and there a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. And wherever he will enter in say to the goodman of the house, ‘The Teacher says, where is my guest room where I will eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready. And there make ready for us.” ’
In one way or another Jesus knew that Judas was planning to betray Him. It was quite possible that He, or John who knew people in the high priestly house, had been informed by people well disposed towards Him that there had been a visitor there who was planning to betray Him. Alternately it may have been His understanding of men that had convinced Him of the same, combined with insight from His Father. Either way He knew.
So He was determined to control events and that meant keeping the venue where they would eat the Passover a secret until the last moment. Here we learn that He had made careful arrangements to this end. The two who were to prepare the Passover would be shown where it was to be held by a secret sign known only to them. Luk 22:8 says that they were Peter and John. (It is unlikely that this is to be seen as a miracle, otherwise we would have expected Matthew to mention it as well).
‘A man carrying a pitcher of water.’ This would have been an unusual sight, for carrying water in pitchers was the province of women. Men would normally carry water skins. The man would clearly know the disciples and would meet them. It has been suggested that it may even have been John Mark himself (compare the young man who fled from the arrest of Jesus (Mar 14:51-52). See also Act 12:12) . Whereas such a task would normally be the work of a servant or slave, secrecy may have demanded that only the son of the house should know.
It may be that there is an indication here that the new refreshing water of the Spirit, or the new salvation, was shortly to be made available to His disciples as a result of the covenant to be sealed in that room. Compare the water carrier in Isa 55:1-3, who offers the waters of life and the sealing of the everlasting covenant..
‘Follow him and wherever he will enter in –.’ This need not mean that they followed at a distance, although in the circumstances it may have been felt discreet. Nobody could be sure who was watching and if their destination was known the time when everyone was eating the Passover could be a time to ensure a secret and clean arrest. So they did not want to be noticed.
Entering the house they were to request to be shown the guest room which Jesus had booked. All accommodation in Jerusalem was free at Passover time. (‘Guest room’ is kataluma – literally ‘resting place’. It is the same word as that translated (possibly wrongly) ‘inn’ in Luk 2:7. There also it should probably be guest room).
‘My guest room.’ Just as a hotel visitor will speak of ‘my room’, so Jesus sees this temporarily as ‘His’ guest room.
‘And he will himself show you –.’ Again the secrecy. The master of the house would personally conduct them to the room to avoid servant gossip.
‘Furnished and ready.’ Strewn with carpets and cushions, with the necessary low tables and all the extras needed for the Passover meal. Payment for the room would traditionally be made by giving the owner the skin of the Paschal lamb and the vessels used at the meal. But in this case the latter probably belonged to him anyway.
‘There make ready for us.’ The two disciples would take the lamb to the Temple in the afternoon and offer it there as a sacrifice. Then they would return and the lamb would be roasted and later eaten after sunset. Nothing must be left of it by morning. It had to be pure and without blemish, not a bone should be broken. It was roasted on a spit and if any part of the lamb touched the side of the oven that part had to be cut off. The emphasis was thus on completeness, purity and sanctity, a symbol, although inadequate, of ‘Christ our Passover’ (1Co 5:7).
The detailed description of the guest room might well have been seen by Mark and the early church as a reminder of how well Jesus always prepares for His own, for we will learn shortly of the new wine that He prepares for them in the Kingly Rule of God (Mar 14:25), while in Joh 14:2, in that guest room, He will declare, ‘in My Father’s house are many resting places, — I go to prepare a place for you’. The word for the guest room means ‘resting place’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mar 14:13. There shall meet you a man, &c. This is set in opposition to the good-man, or master of the house, Mar 14:14 and consequently means a servant of the lowest rank, or a slave, (Luk 12:36.) it being a servile office to draw water, as appears from Deu 29:11. Jos 9:21. As Samuel, having anointed Saul, for the confirmationofhisfaithgavehimseveral predictions relating to some very contingent occurrences that he was to meet with in his journey (see 1Sa 10:2-7.); so our Lord seems by these predictions to have intended thesame with regard to his disciples; and also to give them a most important hint, that he foresaw all the particular circumstances which were to befal him at Jerusalem, when he went up thither for the next and last time before his sufferings. The sending them to Jerusalem in this manner seems to intimate, that he did not go thither himself that morning; so that it is probable he spent most of the day in retirement, for meditation and prayer.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.
Ver. 13. See Trapp on “ Mat 26:17 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 26:18 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 14:13 . : more exact than Mt.; of course all the disciples would not be sent on such an errand. Lk. names the two. , etc.: the instructions in Mk. are sufficient to guide the messengers. Mt.’s is manifestly too vague, and could not have been spoken by Jesus. : water-carrying was generally the occupation of women; hence a man performing the office would be more noticeable. (neuter of adjective , earthen), an earthen pitcher, here and in Luk 22:10 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
into. Greek. eis. App-104.
a man. Greek. anthropos. App-123.
man bearing a pitcher. Most unusual, for women carry pitchers, and more carry skin bottles.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mar 14:13. , there shall meet) A wonderful sign: 1) that a person is about to meet them: 2) that person a man: 3) that man alone: 4) that too, immediately: 5) he should be bearing a vessel: 6) and that vessel, one of earthenware []: 7) and containing water: 8) and that, too, going to the house which the disciples were looking for [It was in deep humiliation, even like as an ordinary Israelite, that Christ ate the Passover Lamb; wherefore He put forth His glory into exercise in the preparation for it.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Go: Mar 11:2, Mar 11:3, Mat 8:9, Mat 26:18, Mat 26:19, Luk 19:30-33, Luk 22:10-13, Joh 2:5, Joh 15:14, Heb 4:13, Heb 5:9
Reciprocal: Exo 4:14 – cometh 1Sa 9:15 – the Lord Jer 32:7 – Behold Mat 21:2 – General Mar 11:1 – he Luk 22:8 – he Act 8:27 – he arose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
The pitcher of water was merely an item by which the disciples were to contact the right man, who would be going to a certain house.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 14:13. Two of his disciples. Luke gives their names: Peter and John.
A man bearing a pitcher of water. This was the sign by which they should know him. The vessel was earthen, but the fact has no necessary significance.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 13
Into the city; Jerusalem.
Mark 14:13-16. Special precautions were necessary in order that the place where Jesus was to eat the passover might be concealed; otherwise the solemn services of the last supper might have been broken in upon by a band of armed men.–Good man of the house; the master of the house, the man whom they met with the pitcher being a servant.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The two disciples were Peter and John (Luk 22:8). Normally women carried water, so a man carrying a water jar would not be hard to find. Perhaps the man carrying a water jar was a prearranged signal. Obviously Jesus had made arrangements to provide for His disciples’ needs, but the Twelve had certain responsibilities in addition, namely, the preparation of the food.
"He Who was born in a ’hostelry’-Katalyma-was content to ask for His last Meal in a Katalyma." [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:483.]
The whole record shows Jesus’ sovereign control over the destinies of Himself and His disciples. Even as He approached the Cross Jesus was aware of and caring for His disciples. Nevertheless they had responsibilities as well. All of this is instructive for the teachable disciple who reads this account.