Today in the first 25 verses of Mark 14 we see some of the worst of humanity: plotting murder, subterfuge, lying, greed, and betrayal. But we also see the relationship between God and man redefined in a way that is beautiful and moving - and symbolism become reality as Jesus decrees a new relationship - a new agreement or covenant that wipes away sin and welcomes man into fellowship with God once again.
1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. 2 "But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot."
The Passover feast commemorated the last great plague on Egypt when the children of Israel were enslaved. The last plague saw every first born son killed - unless they had the blood of a perfect lamb painted on the doorway to the house.
The Angel of the Lord "passed over" those houses. The significance of course is that Jesus came as THE Passover Lamb to die in order that God’s judgment against sin and the resulting death would "pass over" those of us who appropriated the blood of the Lamb in our lives - on our "doorposts" so to speak.
It’s so ironic then that the Jewish religious leaders would be looking for a way to kill Jesus at Passover - their act of rebellion and evil actually fulfilled God’s incredible plan for the saving of the world.
Not that that excuses these men - they attempted to find a "sly" way to arrest Jesus. They wanted to kill Him because He was a threat to their power - but they didn’t want anyone to know about it. So they didn’t want to do it during Passover - but it ultimately wasn’t up to them. God had bigger plans, and merely used these pawns to bring it about. When presented with the opportunity, the religious leaders would kill Jesus at Passover.
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
Exactly when this event took place we don’t know - Matthew and Mark put it before the last supper - John puts it actually before the triumphal entry (its most likely place). But the order of events isn’t as important as the accuracy of them - and gospel writers were not laying down a chronology but telling the account.
This man, who had Jesus over for dinner, had had leprosy at one time, but was now clean. Perhaps even Jesus healed him. Notice that the name stuck - and that Jesus is not ashamed to be with the man, nor is He ashamed to be with us, though we were once diseased with sin before coming to Jesus for healing.
The woman mentioned here is identified in John 12 as likely to be Mary, of Mary and Martha fame - brother of Lazarus. This dinner was after Jesus’ rose Lazarus from the dead.
Mary comes with this jar of perfume - John tells us that it was nard. Nard was imported from the mountains of India and this one jar was worth an entire year’s wages (as it says in verse 5).
We don’t know exactly why Mary anointed Jesus - anointing with oil at feasts was common - but not with expensive nard. She could have been anointing Him as king - later Jesus will tell her exactly what she was doing.
You know - sometimes we don’t know exactly why we do things for the Lord - but if done in sincere devotion to Him and obedience, the Lord will use our acts in His plan.
Now - we do know what the others there were thinking:
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.
The verbs used here evoke the sound of snorting - like that of a horse. There may have been more than one person who was upset - but we know that it was Judas who said the words - John tells us that. It’s a pious covering for an evil intention. Judas, we find out, wanted the money so he could steal it, not so that it could be given to the poor.
6 "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
Even though Judas was a thief - Jesus still answers the pious question. Almsgiving to the poor was very important to the Jews - especially at feast times. But preparing a body for burial was deemed more important than giving alms because it is the ultimate gift for which no return favor would be possible.
Mary wasn’t anointing a King as much as she was preparing a body - a body that would have no other real preparation after the crucifixion.
This isn’t the first time Mary’s actions were misunderstood. Earlier when Jesus was over at her house - Martha got upset at Mary for sitting at Jesus’ feet instead of doing the dishes. Jesus said to Martha:
Luke 10:41-42 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Don’t get upset at someone if their heart is focused on worship and adoration - to the exclusion of the practical. We can’t ignore those things that need to be done - cleaning up and arranging chairs and paying bills - but if those things worry us to the detriment of worship - then we need to realize that only one thing is needed - to worship and adore the Master - and leave the rest to Him to sort out.
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
So why did Judas betray Jesus? From what Mark tells us - Judas apparently looked for Jesus as a political leader - and that he would likely assume a powerful position in the government Jesus would set up. As treasurer perhaps he even thought he would become rich, like the tax gatherers.
But here two things happen that totally change Judas opinion of Jesus. First, the waste of money. Obviously no one was going to get rich around a man who would pour out a year’s wages without a second thought. And secondly the fact that Jesus was preparing to die - not to lead a rebellion and rule the nation.
Judas was with Jesus as long as Judas thought he could get what Judas wanted - to satisfy his greed and lust for power. But Jesus will not become what we want, He will become what we need - a Savior. Many people have claimed to follow Jesus as long as their lust for power, money, fame, or influence was met. But Jesus calls on us to take up our cross and follow Him - to lay down our lives and give up all possibility of anything apart from Him. What will you do if faced with that choice - will you be Mary, or Judas?
By the way - the price paid: 30 pieces of silver, was the price of a slave.
12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a week long - with Passover as the first night. As I mentioned, it came from when God rescued His people from Egypt - and one of the requirements for the children of Israel was to remove all leaven from their houses in preparation for the Passover - and they were supposed to do this year after year. There is some disagreement over whether this event took place on Wednesday or Thursday evening - the actual Passover or the day before - but most scholars seem to agree that it happened on Passover.
So Jesus’ disciples ask Him where they should celebrate Passover.
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ’The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."
We don’t know if Jesus had arranged for this room beforehand or knew supernaturally what to do - but the most likely supposition is that He arranged for this secret place so that He could have the last supper with His disciples without fear of arrest - knowing that Judas was going to betray Him.
Now usually it was the women who went to the well to get water, so a man, probably a servant, would have stood out. Tradition says that the house was actually Mark’s house (the writer of the gospel) so Mark’s father would have been the owner of the house and was a follower of Jesus.
Luke 22 tells us that it was Peter and John that went to make these arrangements.
16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
" Everyone ate in a reclining position (Matt 26:20; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:14; John 13:23). Jews reclined only at Passover. The rest of the time they sat up, thus differentiating themselves from other cultures like the Egyptians and the Romans.
" A traditional Passover contains a hand-washing ceremony that could have been the opportunity for the foot washing (John 13:1-11).
" The use of bread and wine in the seder provided a natural way for Jesus to present the new covenant.
" The dipping of the unleavened bread into the preparation of bitter herbs comes from Passover (Mark 14:20; John 13:26).
" Though eating lamb was not mentioned by any of the Gospel writers, it was not an exact requirement to complete the celebration. A Passover could be celebrated without eating lamb. Those Jews traveling or living away from Jerusalem could not eat the officially slain Passover lambs either. Also, it would be possible to have lamb, but not one of the officially sacrificed ones.
There is some controversy over whether this meal happened on Wednesday or Thursday evening - I’m really not going to go into it, but suffice it to say that in either case Jesus was THE Passover Lamb.
17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me-one who is eating with me."
A lot was said during this supper - but Mark focuses in on only two: the betrayer, and the institution of communion.
There is a lot of significance to the Passover meal, or Seder, and the celebration of Jesus’ death in communion. The meal was organized around drinking four cups of red wine, symbolizing the four-part promise of redemption found in Ex 6:6-7. (1) "I will bring you out"; (2) "I will rid you of bondage"; (3) "I will redeem you"; and (4) "I will take you for my people, and I will be your God."
At one point in the meal - just before the third cup, Jesus makes this startling statement.
19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"
We know from Matthew’s gospel that even Judas asked the question. Jesus answered him by saying "you yourself have said it," a vague enough answer so that only He and Judas would know the truth.
20 "It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me.
That bowl would contain bitter herbs, representing the suffering in Egypt. I think it is significant in two ways - one that Jesus is about to suffer greatly by the hand of Judas - and secondly that it was one of His friends and co-workers that would betray Him - making it all that more bitter.
21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
Jesus had to die - it was part of God’s plan - and not JUST because of the betrayal of Judas. But Jesus knew that Judas would not only betray Him, but also not repent for that betrayal - and that is the main thing that sets him apart from Peter - who will deny Jesus, but later repent. Judas was acting as Satan’s agent, and his fate would be so terrible that Jesus said it would be better than if he had never been born.
Satan had entered Judas, Luke tell us, but that doesn’t absolve him of responsibility for what he did. Satan apparently thought that Jesus’ death would be the end of his mission - but neither Judas, nor Satan knew the real plan.
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
The bread was broken, not cut. A literal translation would be: "this is Myself." Jesus symbolizes a spiritual truth by literal means - that His body would provide spiritual nourishment and salvation. The bread in the Passover represented freedom from the bondage of slavery in Egypt - and in communion it represents freedom from the bondage of sin in Jesus.
23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25 "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."
Jesus picked up the third cup of wine - the one symbolizing "I will redeem you". It’s powerful stuff. After drinking the third cup he said He would not drink again. That fourth cup represented: "I will take you for my people and I will be your God." That cup He will drink at the marriage supper of the Lamb after we are raptured off the earth.
The wine here is a symbol of Christ’s blood - which was shed in order to redeem us from sin - but even more than it represents a new "covenant" or agreement with God.
In the past, God agreed to forgive sins if animals were sacrificed in a prescribed manner and had to repeat day after day - but it was a picture of a new agreement - or New Testament between God and man whereby God Himself would die and forgive sins once and for all. God is the only one who can forgive sins - it wasn’t the animals, but God’s agreement to forgive - now through Jesus it isn’t up to us. We cannot alter this new agreement, we can only accept it or reject it.
Conclusions
Repentance, not sin, is the key
Sometimes we think that there are sins that are too big for God to forgive - but the only sin He will not forgive is the one we won’t repent of. In fact, really the only sin is the rejection of Jesus. Judas did that - He betrayed Jesus, then did not repent. Peter betrayed Jesus too by denying Him - but as we’ll see, Peter realized his sin, then turned to the Savior. We need to do the same.
Is worship your key activity?
Often times there are many things that crowd out our willingness or ability to simply worship at Jesus’ feet like Mary. Concerns about the cost or what activity we need to be engaged in or what will other people think. I hope that this section encourages us to know, as Mary did, that there is really only one thing that is important - our ongoing, vibrant, worshipful relationship with the One who gave His life for us
Speaking of that: Have you pondered the wonder of the New Covenant?
Take some time this week just to meditate on exactly what Jesus was doing for you when He lifted up the cup then lifted up His life on the cross. Everything in the Old Testament pointed forward to that, and everything in the New Testament looks back on that event.
What love, what sacrifice - how could anyone turn away from that?
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