Mark 14:10-16 Betrayal and Preparations
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 8, 2018, Mark 14:10-16
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Note 2: I left in the part where I was speculating about the arrangements that were made ahead of time for the upper room for two reasons. One reason is that I am trying to leave these devotions in their original format as much as possible so that you can have authentic samples of the actual process that I am teaching rather than an artificially revised example. The second reason is that I want you to realize that while it is important to think through the various ideas that start to affect your logic as you read more and more of the Bible, it is also important that you reserve judgment and do not put too much stock in your personal opinions when they do not affect your walk with Jesus. In other words, it is important to form opinions and ask questions, but it is also important to keep an open mind to the possibility that you are wrong and reserve judgment until you have more information.
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the high priests to betray Jesus to them. After they had listened to him, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he began to look for a good opportunity to betray him. On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?” He sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a jug of water. Follow him. When he goes into a house, say to its owner that the Teacher asks, ‘Where is my room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ Then he will show you a large upstairs room that is furnished and ready. Get everything ready for us there.” So the disciples left and went into the city. They found everything just as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
(Revelation of God) Just like with the donkey for the triumphal entry, this situation shows the careful advanced preparations that Jesus has made for this final week of His ministry. He has prearranged with someone for the use of a room for this last supper with His disciples. It says that the room was already furnished and ready to go. He has already planned the new symbol of covenant that He will implement at this time. Thus, He will change the Passover meal which symbolized release from slavery in Egypt into the symbols of His death which released us from slavery to sin and death. In many ways, Jesus was not changing the symbol, but just expanding its meaning. He was taking one symbolic act among the many that were a part of the Jewish traditional ceremonies and telling His disciples to keep this symbolic act even after the others were left behind.
(Understanding the Text) Several places that I read speculate that this might be the home of Mary the mother of John Mark. There are several reasons for this. We know from Acts that her home was big enough for people to gather with a servant girl to prepare the space. “When Peter realized what had happened, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where a large number of people had gathered and were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer it. On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she didn’t open the gate but ran back inside and announced that Peter was standing at the gate” (Acts 12:12-14). Some have speculated that the young boy in Gethsemane who is only spoken of in the gospel of Mark is Mark himself. “A certain young man, who was wearing nothing but a linen sheet, was following Jesus. When the men grabbed him, he left the linen sheet behind and ran away naked” (Mark 14:51-52). This would make sense if the upper room was a room in Mary’s house and John Mark secretly followed the group to Gethsemane. On the other hand, Matthew says “He said, “Go to a certain man in the city and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near. I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”‘” (Matthew 26:18). As Jesus tells them to say this to the owner, the owner must have been a man. Either Mark’s father was still alive, or this was simply not Mary’s house.
(Idle Speculation) I used to wonder why Jesus didn’t just tell the disciples to go to a certain place. I thought that there was some kind of miracle involved. “Oh, at this place you will see a stranger with a water jar. You’ll tell him what you want and WALAH! He will know just the place that will fill your needs.” In those days, I did not think deeply about context so a lot of scripture was just God performing miracles, somehow having secret knowledge and affecting people and events with a touch of power. Now, I look at the context of the situation and think about the practical aspects of how events come about. I also know more about the character of God who would never magically make someone do something. The power of God is not magic. Some have said that our modern technology would seem like magic to someone from thousands of years ago. In the same way, our lack of understanding of God’s power makes it into magic. Some might say that there is no difference, but there is a world of difference. Magic makes no logical sense. It just makes things happen. God’s power is the basis upon which everything in this world operates. God’s power is the logic of life in this world. I am not alone in my previous magical interpretation. F. F. Bruce’s commentary disagrees with my present opinion that Jesus had secretly arranged a meeting place without His disciples’ knowledge. “It was probably by means of Jesus’ supernatural knowledge than on account of a prior arrangement that Jesus was able to tell His disciples that, on entering Jerusalem, a man carrying a jar of water would meet them” (page 1176). Thus, many Christians still hold with the magical viewpoint which may have had something to do with my original ideas. My early Biblical education as a teenage Christian came from Youth For Christ and Baptists, which would have been more in line with Bruce’s commentaries. My childhood education by the Methodists would have simply said that it happened without speculation as to how. However, I am confident that my present understanding more accurately reflects the Bible’s description than Bruce’s does. On the other hand, I am not so arrogant as to think that I know a lot more than everybody else, so I will keep an open mind to both possibilities since whether there was a pre-arrangement or not is not important as far as I can see.
(Understanding the Text) When the verses about Judas going to the high priests to betray Jesus and how he started looking for ways to accomplish this are taken into consideration, the secrecy that Jesus was employing makes perfect sense. He knew what was going on, so He made preparations for the Passover meal without even letting any of His disciples know. He could not warn them away from Judas and indeed He planned to have Judas with Him at the Last Supper to give one last appeal to Judas. Thus, He could not give Judas a chance to interrupt this last meeting with His disciples with betrayal. Jesus was planning a farewell meal with last-minute instructions and a new covenant symbol, so He needed the location to be secret and secure from the Jewish leaders.
(Revelation of God) I imagine sometime in the weeks preceding Passover (or maybe even months) Jesus made arrangements for this last supper. I think that it was sometime after the Transfiguration. I see a change in pattern in the gospel of Mark after that event. Before that event, Jesus’ travel seems relaxed and almost aimless, as if He is wandering around without needing to be in one definite place at one definite time. He was sometimes almost last minute in His decisions about where to go next as if He had only learned what the next step was in consultation with His Father in prayer. For example, such a situation is described in Mark 1 at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. “In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went to a deserted place and prayed there. Simon and his companions searched frantically for him. When they found him, they told him, “Everyone’s looking for you.” “Let’s go to the neighboring town,” he replied, “so I can preach there, too, because that’s why I came.” So he went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons” (Mark 1:35-39). However, after the Transfiguration, there is a new purposefulness in the way that Jesus travels and there are signs of secret advanced preparations. There is a focus and intensity in Jesus’ interactions that was not there before. He knows the end is near, and He needs everything to fall in place in the limited time that He has left.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus limits the information that could get back to the high priests by sending only two of His disciples into town keeping the rest with Himself. Thus, any watchers would remain focused on Jesus. According to Luke the two disciples were Peter and John. “So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover meal.” (Luke 22:8). This might explain why Mark has the details about the sign of the water jar and following the man to a house.
We know that the high priests did not really want to arrest Jesus during Passover when all the people might cause problems, but they were desperate and willing to take any private chance that they could get. This is why they were overjoyed when Judas came to them since it was the first ray of hope in their previously frustrated attempts. I picture them as being stressed out by Jesus’ elusiveness just as the King of Aram felt about trying to attack Israel. “The king of Israel confirmed the matter about which the man of God had warned him. Having been forewarned, he was able to protect himself there on more than one or two occasions. The king of Aram flew into a rage over this, so he called in his advisors and asked them, “Will you please tell me which of us has joined the king of Israel?” “No, your majesty!” One of his servants said. “Elisha the prophet, who lives in Israel, tells the king of Israel what you talk about in your bedroom!” (2Kings 6:10-12). Jesus had been a continuous thorn in the high priests’ sides, and they had been unable to touch Jesus until now.
I imagine the disciples wondering where they were going to eat the Passover meal that night. When Peter and John are called over to speak with Jesus and then sent away on an errand, I imagine that the disciples are relieved that something is happening, or maybe they just always took it for granted that Jesus was in control and had everything in hand. I imagine Judas sticking as close to Jesus as he could ever since his conversation with the high priests trying to overhear anything that he could take back to the high priests. I imagine Jesus being aware of Judas listening and phrasing His words so that Judas would have no way to know where the meal was to take place. As Judas remained at Jesus’ side, Peter and John left to follow Jesus’ strange instructions. They may have felt confusion about the convoluted manner in which they were to begin the preparations. Maybe, they felt frustrated that they were being sent to be servants instead of staying at the right hand of their Master. Maybe, they were resenting being servants when in fact, Jesus was sending them because they were His trusted right-hand men upon whom He knew that He could depend.
I imagine the man with the water jar waiting impatiently for Peter and John to appear. Maybe, Jesus sent those two because their faces were well-known to the man. Bruce’s commentary says that the sign given would be easy to follow because it would be unusual. “The man would be readily identifiable because whilst men of the east carried wine-skins commonly, it was unusual for them to carry water-jars, this being regarded as women’s work.” (page 1176). Thus, when Peter and John entered the city and saw a man holding a water jar, it was obvious that he was the one they were to follow. As previously arranged, the man began walking home as soon as he knew that the disciples would follow. To anyone watching it would appear that the disciples knew where they were going without any guidance. Maybe, Peter and John enjoyed this little game of intrigue. At this point, they might have considered that Jesus’ was in danger and the secrecy was to keep everyone safe. Maybe, they started thinking of themselves as spies like the ones that Rahab hid. When they reached the house, they said the words that Jesus had told them to say, ” the Teacher asks, ‘Where is my room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?'” The man would have led them to the upper room where everything was furnished and ready just as their Master had said. I wonder what they talked about as they prepared the meal.
If this was Mark’s house, he may have been tasked with assisting them in the preparations. Maybe, the servant Rhoda was helping too, or maybe it was the two disciples only. I sort of think that either Mark was helping or he was peeking in at them. If this was Mark’s house, I think he would have wondered at the secrecy and confusion of preparation that was happening in his house. As a child, he would not have been let in on the details, so he became intrigued at the mysterious happenings. Thus, I could see his excitement mount as first the two disciples came in and started their preparations, and later as the rest of the men came in and gathered in the upper room of his home. If he was allowed to be in the same room during the preparations, I can see him asking excited questions to Peter and John. Later, Peter would call Mark his son. Was this their first interaction together? Once the other men arrived, Mark would be shooed off to bed. He would have lain there unable to sleep for the excitement of the day. When he heard them leaving, he would have been unable to resist following behind to find out what would happen next.
(Application) My application to myself is that there are many times that I think that the role that Jesus has given me is unimportant, and I do not understand how my actions fit in the overall scheme of the plans of God. Just as Peter and John would have thought that they were simply performing the role of servants when they could be where the action was with their Master, so I think that the actions that I am performing are mundane and irrelevant to God’s plans. They did not see that they were chosen because of the trust that Jesus had in them. In the same way, I do not see Jesus placing me in certain positions because He trusts me to take care of them for Him. I should view every situation that Jesus places me in as a place of importance to His plan that I am uniquely qualified for. I should be thankful for every act Jesus requests from me because it shows that He trusts me to be His good and faithful servant.
(Prayer) I pray that You can depend on me to accomplish the tasks that You set before me. At the same time, I know that I can only accomplish those tasks through humble dependence upon You and the power of the Holy Spirit working in me.