Jesus - Unbelievably Faithful to the Benefit of Betrayers and Deniers - Mark 14:12-31

Sermon Series: Spare Me the Details - Just Give Me Jesus

While we will begin our examination of this text in verse 12 we are going to focus primarily on the narratives of verses 17 through 31.  The emphasis of verses 12-16 should not go ignored, but the weight of verses 17 through 31 is far more significant, which is why we are going to spend most of our time in those verses.  But rather than skipping right over verses 12-16 let’s make a couple of quick observations. In verse 12 the disciples ask Jesus where He would have them go to prepare the Passover meal for Him and for those with Him.  In verse 13 Jesus directs two of the disciples into the city, that is, into Jerusalem.  According to Deuteronomy 16:5-8 Passover could only be celebrated within Jerusalem.  So while Jesus and His disciples had been in Bethany Jesus now directs them back into Jerusalem.  Once these two disciples had entered Jerusalem they were to look for “a man carrying a jar of water.”  Typically this would have been an easy sign to spot because collecting and carrying jars of water was the job of women.  Finding a man carrying a jar of water would have definitely stood out.  But finding any one particular person at this time of year in the town of Jerusalem would have been an incredibly difficult task, regardless of how much the individual stood out.  At this time tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Jews who had come to celebrate Passover were filling the streets of Jerusalem.  So finding any one particular person in the overly crowded streets would have been difficult.  But Jesus instructs these two disciples to find this man and then follow him to the home he enters.  There they will inquire of the master of the home and he would show them and provide for them a large upper room that Jesus and those with Him could use.  While this may sound a little unusual, the Jewish people who made their residence in Jerusalem were actually expected to make the spare rooms of their homes available for use by those who lived outside of Jerusalem but had traveled there for the Passover celebration.  Verse 16 then becomes key for those of us who are reading Mark’s gospel.  Verse 16 says, “And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover.”  Jesus had foreseen who the disciples would cross paths with and knew that that individual would lead them to a place where they could celebrate the Passover meal together.  Jesus’ foreknowledge in this instance reveals to the readers of Mark’s gospel that Jesus both knew what was awaiting Him in the hours to come and that while those events may seem outside of Jesus’ authority and control, they were not – He had control over the coming events just as He did in the present example.  Don’t lose sight of this!  In the verses and chapters ahead it will look as if Jesus has lost authority and control.  He has not!  If we can remember that it will give us a much greater appreciation for who He is and what He does.

Some time has lapsed between verses 16 and 17.  As we get into verses 17-21 the room has been secured, the preparations for the Passover have been made, and we find Jesus and some others in the room, around the table, partaking in the meal together.  Then in verse 18, with Jesus surrounded by His very closest followers, those who would have been like His family, He makes a shocking and sobering announcement, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”  Jesus announces that one of those who are the closest to Him will be a betrayer.  But Jesus doesn’t narrow down the field yet.  Everyone in the room was eating with Him.  So in verse 19 we see all of those who were present with Jesus begin to do some soul searching and to sorrowfully ask Jesus for clarification, as Mark tells us that one after another they asked Him, “Is it I?”  Jesus then narrows the field down some but He doesn’t dismiss the least likely, His twelve disciples.  Rather Jesus dismisses those who are the most likely suspects (those in the room who weren’t His closest companions) and says that the betrayer will come from one of the twelve – one of the men He had poured His life and ministry into over the past three years.  This announcement would have seemed almost unbelievable.  But not only was it true, Jesus proclaims that it was part of God’s sovereign plan for salvation working itself out.   In verse 21 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him.”  As a result of the betrayal Jesus will suffer and die which will ultimately fulfill God’s plan as it was laid out in the OT.  But God’s sovereign hand working to carry out His plan doesn’t excuse Judas’ free choice to betray Jesus, or relieve him from its consequences.  Jesus continues in verse 21, “but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”  Jesus declares that Judas’ choice was one made out of his own free will and that his choice would result in tragic consequences.  Even though that betrayal would lead to the fulfillment of God’s sovereign plan for salvation, it was still a sinful choice and would still bring about the wrath of God.  (It’s worth noting that while Jesus only identifies one of the disciples as one who will officially betray Him, it would be wrong for us to conclude that Judas was the only betrayer.  In the verses that come later we will see that all of the disciples will betray Jesus in a sense.  Judas will turn Jesus over to the religious authorities out of greed, but the others will flee from Him because of weakness and fear.  Although Jesus only speaks of one betrayer, Jesus’ betrayal will become a reality for all of them.)

In verse 22 Mark interrupts his narrative about betrayal and denial with a solemn and important teaching of Jesus.  As they were eating the meal Jesus took a loaf of bread, prayed a blessing for the bread, and then purposefully and symbolically broke the bread.  As He distributed the bread to each of those who was present He said to them, “Take; this is my body.”  What Jesus said at that moment was incredibly important.  There are two words in the Greek language that can be translated ‘body.’  One word, ‘sarx,’ literally means flesh.  But this was not the word Jesus used.  Jesus used the Greek word, ‘soma’ which is more of a reference to a person’s being.  When Jesus said, “Take; this is my body,” He was literally saying, “Take; this is my whole being, my whole person, my whole self.”  Jesus was symbolically proclaiming and demonstrating what would happen to Him.  Jesus’ whole person, His whole being, was going to be broken, just as Jesus had taken the loaf of bread and broken it.  Then verse 23 tells us that Jesus took a cup of wine, prayed a blessing over it, and then gave it to all of those who were present, and all of them drank from it.  Mark tells his readers that while all those who were present with Jesus were drinking some of the wine that Jesus declared, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”  This was also a very significant statement which Jesus made.  James Edwards says, “In Hebrew thought the life of a creature resided in its blood; Jesus’ reference to the cup [of wine] as ‘my blood’ thus implies His very life.”  Jesus was again symbolically proclaiming and demonstrating what would happen to Him at the cross.  Not only would His blood be poured out in a very literal sense, but also His very life would be poured out there at the cross.  We also must understand the word ‘many’ and how it is used in the NT.  It is often used in the NT as it is here to designate a group in its entirety.  Jesus’ blood would be shed and His life would be poured out on the cross for humanity in its entirety.  And the reality of this event had drawn incredibly close.  Jesus’ suffering and death had actually drawn so close that Jesus was able to say, “Truly, I say to you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”   

We’ve already seen from Jesus a pronouncement that one of His closest followers would betray Him.  In the next set of verses that we go over we’ll see Jesus make a pronouncement that another one of His closest followers would deny Him.  On both sides of these verses we see the unfaithfulness of Jesus’ closest followers.  But in the midst of pronouncements of their coming unfaithfulness we also find a pronouncement of Jesus’ coming faithfulness – a faithfulness that would come at a great cost to Him.  Are you beginning to sense the irony here?  The only One deserving of complete faithfulness, the righteous Son of God, was the One who wasn’t shown any.  And on the other hand, the sinners who were going to abandon and betray Him were the ones who would become the recipients of Jesus’ love and faithfulness.  In the context of the coming betrayal and denial Jesus makes it clear that He is going to give His life to be broken and His blood to be shed, not for the righteous, but for those who would turn to their own ways – to sinners who had turned their backs on God the Father and His Son.

Verse 27 begins the final portion of Mark’s sandwich narrative.  And in verse 27 Jesus shares yet another bit of discouraging news.  He says to some of those who had shared the Passover meal with Him and had now followed Him to the Mount of Olives, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.’”  In verses 22-26 Jesus used the symbols of the broken bread and the wine to foreshadow His coming death, where His body would be broken and His blood spilled out for all of humanity.  Jesus tells those with Him that when that first strike takes place, it will be like a shepherd being struck.  Then His followers, those who appear to be loyal to Him, will all scatter.  They will all sense danger and fear that the shepherd will be over-powered, leaving them with no one to watch after and protect them.  They will run off, each one of them, having given up on Jesus and none of them will remain faithfully with Him.  But Jesus reminds them in the very next sentence that though the Shepherd may appear to be struck down, He will be raised up and will continue to go before them, leading them and watching after them.  Peter responds to Jesus announcement with great arrogance, saying, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.”  Peter believed whole-heartedly in his loyalty to Jesus.  Peter believed so much in his own righteousness and commitment to Jesus that he was willing to say in the midst of all the others who were present that he would surpass them in his faithfulness and loyalty to Jesus.  Jesus’ response to Peter wasn’t what Peter was expecting though.  While Peter was probably looking for Jesus to thank him for his commitment and to recognize his loyalty, that wasn’t how Jesus answered Peter’s arrogance.  Instead Jesus told Peter that that very night, before the rooster crowed twice, that Peter would deny Him a total of three times.  Verse 31 suggests that Peter can’t believe that Jesus would say such a thing about his loyalty towards Him.  So Peter attempts to convince Jesus of His loyalty by telling Him of the extent to which he is committed to Him.  Peter tells Jesus that even if he must die with Him, he is not going to deny Jesus.  And then Mark tells us that all of those who were with Him said the same thing.  They all believed in their commitment to Jesus.  They all believed in their loyalty.  They all drank the cup which Jesus gave to them to drink, a cup which was a picture of Jesus’ loyalty and dedication to them.  But in verse 50 we will find that Jesus was right.  Verse 50 says that after Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane that “they all left Him and fled.” 

Our passage this morning reveals to us some incredible truths.  Even those who were the closest to Jesus, including the twelve men that He poured Himself into throughout the course of His three year public ministry were not completely faithful or completely loyal to Jesus.  One of them betrayed Him to the religious leaders for money.  The others fled when it appeared that He might not be in control and when it appeared that He might not have the power to protect them from their opponents.  Jesus’ closest friends abandoned Him and went their own way.  If Jesus’ closest friends betrayed, denied, and abandoned Him, then those things must certainly be true of us.  Each of us, like Jesus’ disciples, have betrayed, denied, and abandoned Him.  And that would be an utterly hopeless condition if the middle part of this passage were not true.  But Mark tells us that Jesus remained faithfully committed to His Father, to carry out His Father’s plan, by giving Himself and shedding His blood for all of humanity. 

Small Group Questions for Discussion:

1. Read Mark 14:12-16.  If Jesus knew what would take place and who these two disciples would encounter when they entered the crowded streets of Jerusalem, what does this reveal to us about Jesus' knowledge of the future?  Was Jesus' knowledge of the future limited only to this occassion?  If not, what are some other examples of Jesus demonstrating knowledge of the future?  How should Jesus' knowledge of the future impact the way we look at and read the accounts of His suffering and death on the cross? 

2. Read Mark 14:17-21.  In these verses Jesus announced that one of the twelve disciples would betray Him.  During the course of this announcement we also learned that this betrayal would ultimately lead to the fulfillment of God's plan to have His Son become the bearer of our sin punishment.  If God is able to use the consequences of our sinful choices to help fulfill His divine plans, does that excuse us from consequences of our sin?  Why or why not?  Merriam-Webster defines the word 'betray' as "to lead astray; to deliver to an enemy by treachery; to fail or desert especially in a time of need."  Do we ever act as betrayers of God and if so, how?

3. Read Mark 14:22-26.  Is Jesus supposed to be faithful first and foremost to mankind?  If not, then who?  Is there any group of people to whom Jesus is faithful to and if so who are they?    

4. Read Mark 14:27-31.  In these verses we saw Jesus announce to His disciples that all of them would flee from Him, and to Peter that he would deny Him.  Are there times that we, as disciples of Jesus, flee from Him or deny Him.  If so, what does that look like?  Is there hope for us if we flee from Jesus or deny Him?  If so, what is it?  What do we need to do this week to guard ourselves from fleeing from or denying Jesus?

4. What step of faith does this passage of Scripture require us to take as individuals and as a small group?  How do we work this out on mission?