Why did Jesus choose to die during Passover? The timing wasn't coincidental but purposeful. Jesus orchestrated every detail of his final days, forcing the religious leaders' hand despite their reluctance to arrest him during the feast.
Mark 14:12-21 reveals how Jesus arranged his last meal with extraordinary precision. When the disciples asked where to prepare the Passover, Jesus gave them specific instructions: find a man carrying water (culturally unusual, as this was women's work) who would lead them to a fully furnished upper room. This wasn't luck but divine providence at work—God arranging circumstances down to the minute. The unnamed homeowner who prepared that space played a crucial role in salvation history, providing the setting for Jesus' profound final teachings to his disciples.
The Passover itself held deep symbolism Jesus deliberately fulfilled. The unleavened bread represented removing sin from one's life, while the sacrificial lamb pointed to Jesus himself—the ultimate sacrifice whose blood would save people from death and free them from bondage. During this meaningful meal, Jesus predicted his betrayal, prompting soul-searching from each disciple who asked, "Is it I?" Rather than confidently asserting their loyalty, they questioned their own steadfastness—a model of spiritual humility we should emulate.
Most moving is how Jesus identified his betrayer as "one who dips with me in the bowl"—a gesture of intimacy and fellowship. Even knowing Judas would betray him, Jesus extended this final act of love. What a profound picture of grace toward enemies! This passage reminds us Jesus wasn't a helpless victim but the divine orchestrator of salvation history, walking deliberately toward the cross to fulfill scriptural prophecies and establish a New Covenant.
Have you considered how God might be orchestrating circumstances in your life? Take time today to reflect on where divine providence might be at work, even in details you've overlooked.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
In our teaching through Mark we have Jesus, who
has gone through a series ofconfrontations with the Jewish
leaders.
He has been very blunt.
He's confronted them in thetemple every day and at night
he's been going out to Bethanyoutside the city.
He gave a series of verydetailed teachings about the
(00:43):
destruction of the temple andhis second coming.
Now, in chapter 14 of Mark,we're going to see where he goes
into the upper room and has ameal.
As we open today, he'spreparing for that.
So open your Bibles to Mark,chapter 14, starting in verse 12
(01:04):
, and we see here Jesuspreparing his disciples for the
Passover meal and the Feast ofUnleavened Bread.
Steve, can you start at verse12 and read down through verse
21?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
On the first day of unleavened bread, when the
Passover lamb was beingsacrificed, his disciples said
to him when do you want us to goand prepare for you to eat
Passover?
And he sent two of hisdisciples and said to them Go
into the city and a man willmeet you carrying a pitcher of
water.
Follow him and, wherever heenters, say to the owner of the
(01:39):
house the teacher says when ismy guest room on which I may eat
the Passover with my disciples?
And he himself will show you alarge upper room, furnished and
ready.
Prepare for us there.
The disciples went out and cameto the city and found it just as
he had told them, and theyprepared the Passover.
(01:59):
When it was evening he camewith the twelve.
As they were reclining at thetable and eating, jesus said
Truly, I say to you that one ofyou will betray me, one who is
eating with me.
They began to be grieved and tosay to him one by one Surely
not I.
And he said to them it is oneof the twelve, one who dips with
(02:23):
me in the bowl, for the Son ofman is to go, just as it is
written of him.
But woe to that man by whom theSon of man is betrayed.
It would have been better forthat man if he had not been born
.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
As this starts, mark is giving a timeline of what
Jesus is doing prior to the lastfew days and last few hours of
his life.
It opens up talking about thisday of unleavened bread, or
period of unleavened bread.
Steve, what is this holiday andwhere did it come from?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, the holiday of the unleavened bread encompasses
both the Passover and thenafter that there was another
seven days that was calledactually the Feast of Unleavened
Bread.
So together it was a eight-dayholiday that started with the
actual Passover.
Then the proper name of thenext seven days was the Feast of
(03:16):
the Unleavened Bread, butpeople would combine that and
talk about the unleavened breadas being all of these eight days
and talk about the unleavenedbread as being all of these
eight days.
But it's clearly here talkingabout the actual Passover itself
, because that is the daywhenever they prepared the lamb
that was eaten on the Passoverday.
Its origins came from the exodusfrom Egypt.
(03:37):
That was the last plague thatGod had over the Egypt and that
was the one where the deathangel passed by the houses that
had the blood of the lamb on thedoorpost and the lentil and
killed all of the firstbornwithin the land of Egypt.
After that that forced thePharaoh to go ahead and let the
(04:01):
Israelite people go as they wentfrom Egypt over into their
promised land.
This day again is a feast ofcomprising eight days.
The first one is the Passoveritself, and then the next seven
days were the Feast ofUnleavened Bread.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And as part of that, if you go back and read the
commands that God had given onhow to prepare for that, one of
the things they were supposed todo was to get all of the leaven
out of the house.
They were supposed to remove itall and eat unleavened bread
for that week, and of course itgoes back to when the Jews were
(04:37):
being brought out of Egypt.
They had to leave very quicklyand the bread didn't have time
to rise and as part of thatceremony God instituted for
every year, they were supposedto eat unleavened bread.
Get all of the leaven out ofyour house.
Even now, the observant Jewsstill do this.
But what is the spiritualsignificance, what's the
(04:59):
symbolism of the leaven, and howdoes that apply to us today?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Leaven is what we today would call yeast.
It's one and the same.
The yeast is something thathelps the bread rise.
It also gives it a little bitmore flavor.
The significance of getting allthe leaven out was that they
didn't have time to wait for thebread to rise in order to bake
(05:23):
it.
They were to cook it withoutthe leaven and it was known as
flatbread.
It didn't have the taste thatyou would have with the leaven
or yeast in it.
The purpose was to signify sin.
Yeast or leaven was always beendepicted as something as sin
(05:43):
throughout all of Scripture.
So getting it all out of yourhouse so that there's no leaven
there, getting it out of thisbread so there's not there.
The spiritual significance isof getting sin out of your life
so that it's not there to affectyour life.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Exactly, Leaven is always a symbol of sin.
In the Passover ceremony theywere supposed to get the leaven
out.
It mentions here in verse 12that it's the start of
unleavened bread, which they'respeaking in a general term of
the entire eight days.
Of course, since this wouldfall on a Sabbath, then I'm sure
(06:23):
they would have to get theleaven out a day or two at a
minimum in advance.
So I'm sure the common thinkingof was there was this period of
time here where it was longerthan the actual holiday, where
we had to go through thisprocess of cleaning the house
and getting the leaven out.
Then it talks about thePassover lamb and of course that
(06:44):
has great significance as well.
What is the spiritualapplication?
It says in verse 12, thePassover lamb was being
sacrificed.
What's the spiritualsignificance there of the
Passover?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
lamb During Passover.
They had to take the lamb intotheir house on the 10th of Nisan
and have it there for threedays to inspect it, make sure
that it didn't have anyblemishes and didn't get any
blemishes so that it would bepure whenever they sacrificed it
on the 14th of Nisan.
We've mentioned this in some ofour former sessions related to
(07:18):
Jesus's coming into the city onthe 10th of Nisan during this
whole Passover feast.
It was done on purpose, but thelamb was sacrificed and then
the blood from the lamb was tobe put over the doorpost and the
lentils, so in other words theside post, and over the head
post.
That was to signify that thedeath angel was to pass over
(07:40):
that house, that they had donewhat God had told them to do and
that they believed and trustthat God was going to pass over
and not affect any of thefirstborn that were in that
house.
It was a symbol of shedding ofblood.
And if you go back to John,whenever John first introduced
Jesus to the people around, hesaid behold the Lamb of God that
(08:02):
takes away the sin of the world.
The people around he saidbehold the lamb of God that
takes away the sin of the world.
This was one of the areas ofJesus himself was known as the
lamb.
He's the Passover lamb thatthrough his sacrifice, the blood
that he sheds on the cross, andthrough his resurrection, he
then takes our sin away, he paysour sin debt that we have.
(08:23):
It's through that symbology ofthe Passover lamb, of an actual
lamb and the Passover lamb asfar as Jesus Christ being our
Passover lamb.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Just as you said, the original Passover was when God
was bringing Israel out of Egyptand the death angel would pass
over your house if you had theblood on your doorpost.
That was a symbol of beingfreed or passed over from death.
It's also a reminder to theJews of coming out of slavery in
(08:56):
Egypt.
Israel was under the cruel handof the Egyptian pharaoh with
all of his false gods.
In the Exodus, there's astruggle between Israel and the
Egyptian gods, and God comes inand shows that he is the
superior one.
He is the true God, and becauseof that, israel was freed from
(09:19):
slavery.
The Passover lamb is the symbolof being freed from slavery,
freed from bondage, brought intothe promised land of salvation,
and of God's wrath through thedeath angel passing over you.
All this was encompassed in thePassover ceremony that is still
celebrated to this day.
(09:39):
So that's the whole thing.
That's all wrapped up here inthat first phrase in verse 12,
unleavened bread, when thePassover lamb was being
sacrificed.
Now, steve, what a coincidencethat Jesus' death on the cross
is at exactly the same periodthat all that's going on.
And, of course, it's not acoincidence at all, because who
is it that arranged for thedeath on the cross to happen.
(10:03):
We've been talking about thisas we've been going through Mark
.
First question is who wasreally in charge here, and then,
who was our true Passover?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
lamb we have been talking about this that Jesus is
in control of this wholesituation.
The leadership explicitly theydon't want to arrest him during
this feast period because peoplefrom all over have come in.
This was one of the feastswhere everybody was supposed to
come into Jerusalem to celebrate.
So the leadership didn't wantto arrest Jesus and of course,
(10:35):
their idea is to kill him andthey're going to have a plot of
a way to do that.
That.
We'll see a little bit later.
But they specifically said wedo not want to do it during this
feast time because we're afraidof the people.
They didn't want to upset thepeople.
They didn't want to upsetJesus's followers.
That was their desire.
(10:57):
However, we see Jesus at everystep, forcing their hand.
He chose to come into Jerusalemduring this Passover time and
he is choosing to die duringthis Passover time and this
Passover day.
He has announced here what weread that there's going to be
(11:17):
someone that's going to betrayhim.
He has been preparing hisdisciples for the last few
months at least, if not maybethe previous year, telling them.
He began to teach them that theMessiah must suffer first and
be handed over to the Gentilesand die and then raise again on
(11:39):
the third day.
He had told him before that hewould be betrayed.
Now it is all coming tofruition.
It's all coming to a point.
Jesus is the one that isforcing this to happen at the
correct and appointed time.
The leadership thinks thatthey're in control, but they're
(11:59):
really not.
Jesus is orchestrating thiswhole scenario.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
He was orchestrating all of this because he was the
Passover lamb.
It says there in verse 12, whenthe Passover lamb was being
sacrificed.
Well, the true Passover lambwas Jesus.
They were out sacrificingactual lambs for a meal when
Jesus was preparing himself todie on the cross as the Passover
(12:25):
.
Then this is the preparation.
At the end of verse 12, thedisciples go to the Lord and ask
where do you want us to go toeat the Passover?
In 13 and 14 and 15, jesusdescribes okay, go into the city
.
You're going to see a man witha pitcher of water on his head.
Follow him and he'll lead youinto a house there.
(12:45):
Ask the owner where can wecelebrate the meal?
Of course, my mind goesautomatically back to chapter 2
earlier, where Jesus told them.
Automatically back to chapter 2earlier, where Jesus told them
go and you'll find a donkey tiedwith a colt that nobody's
ridden.
If anybody asks you, tell them.
The Lord needs it.
This is yet another one ofthose instances where he's
(13:08):
telling them to go and you willactually find something.
Steve, what's the big dealabout the man with the water on
his head?
Why would God take precioustime in his word for such a
detail?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Because it is this time when tens of thousands of
people have come into the city.
How in the world are they goingto be able to pick out and find
this one person that Jesusdescribes, that Jesus describes
Well, even to this day in theMiddle East?
(13:42):
There, women are the ones whocarried water.
They're the ones who went outto the trough to get it.
We have stories of the woman atthe well when Jesus met her at
Jacob's well.
We have the stories back in theOld Testament of whenever the
servant went to find a bride forIsaac and you had both Rebecca
and then Rachel for Jacob comingto the well the women were the
(14:02):
ones that traditionally went tothe well and carried water.
The significance that you havea man carrying water would be
somebody that would be easilyseen and be easily found,
because it would be out of theordinary for him to do it.
To me, it's just another way ofshowing how all of this is
(14:23):
being once again the word I useis orchestrated by Jesus and by
God.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I think it's highly orchestrated by God.
This is divine providence atwork here.
If you're going to go and get apitcher of water, they're heavy
.
That's why they put them ontheir head to carry it.
But you're not going to walkaround all day long with a
pitcher of water on your head.
You're going to go out and getthe water and come back.
So the disciples just happenedto get there exactly the time
(14:51):
when the man is returning withthe pitcher of water and not
going out there.
So it was really down to theminute that they found this man
with the water.
So it's another divineappointment and, of course,
there's no circumstance to it.
It's a divine appointment.
God arranged this.
As you said, steve, mentypically didn't have water on
their heads.
Typically it was the women, andthere's several lessons here
(15:15):
that can be learned.
One is God works out divineprovidence, even sometimes down
to the minute.
Secondly, he's also teaching,like the story with the donkey,
he's teaching the disciples totrust him.
Go and do what I ask, and it'llturn out like I say.
I think many times in our liveswe struggle what should I do?
And the Bible tells us okay, dothis.
(15:37):
And we say well, that soundsunusual, I might want to go
follow human wisdom.
I think what he's teaching ushere is that if we follow the
divine wisdom, if we just dowhat God tells us, then life
will turn out just like he says.
Just like going and finding aroom or finding a man with water
on his head.
It actually turns out exactlylike he says, just like going
and finding a room or finding aman with water on his head.
It actually turns out exactlylike God says.
(15:59):
Every other thing in the Biblewill turn out like God says.
If we just merely follow hiscommands and follow his
teachings, then our lives willturn out just like he says.
If we're a child of God and wejust go through life doing what
he wants us to do, we'll seethese wonderful circumstances
(16:21):
just appear like magic in ourpath.
Of course, it's not magic.
It's the Lord arranging thesethings.
An obedient Christian life is agreat adventure, wondering what
God is going to bring into ourlives.
Next Then, steve, in the nextverse, verse 16,.
How do the disciples react tothese instructions?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, they went out, just as he told them to do, and
they found it just as he haddescribed it.
So then they went in and theyprepared the Passover from there
.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
We could ask ourselves do we ever see God
moments?
Do we ever just go through life?
Suddenly there just happens tobe this circumstance where I
could do the Lord's work.
Well, of course those happen ifwe just open our eyes.
Now I want to talk about thisman that has prepared this room.
They go into the city, theyfind the man with the water,
(17:16):
they follow him and they saywhere can we have our meal?
They find there a room that'salready been prepared.
God, through this man, hasarranged a fully furnished room.
Nobody else had reserved it.
As you said, steve, this was atime when many people came into
the city and so it was very busy.
(17:37):
But yet here is a fullyfurnished room with everything
prepared, nobody else there.
Jesus and his disciples can geta moment of quiet where they
can sit down and have their meal.
First question does Jesus havea place prepared for us?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
He does Glenn have a place prepared for us Over in
John, chapter 14, verses I thinkit's one through three, it says
do not, this is Jesus speaking.
Do not let your heart betroubled.
Believe in God, believe also inme.
In my Father's house are manydwelling places.
If it were not so, I would havetold you For that.
(18:17):
He is preparing a place for us,glenn.
I don't know about you, but Iam really looking forward to see
(18:42):
that place that he's preparedfor me.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
The disciples came to Jesus and asked him where
should we go?
Well, he already had a placeprepared.
He had a place fully furnished,a whole meal there, it was
quiet and they could sit withthe Lord and get some teaching
from him.
I find that tremendous.
That's a great lesson.
Another one is this owner ofthis house.
(19:06):
We don't know him, we don'tknow his name.
It's very possible that there'sa lot of things this man could
not do.
Maybe he's not a great preacherthis man could not do.
Maybe he's not a great preacher, or maybe he's not a musician
that could sing in front of thechurch, or maybe he's not a good
pastor or a church leader.
There's a lot of things heprobably could not do, but he
(19:27):
could prepare a room.
He could prepare a room for theLord.
That's a great thing.
All of us are like that, don'tyou think, in the sense that
there's a lot of things I can'tdo, and I know the people
listening to me.
There's things you can't do,but, just like this man, he
could prepare a room.
Preparing that room allowedJesus and his disciples to get
the last moment of quiet beforehe goes and gets arrested and
(19:52):
dies on the cross.
It was the final moments duringthat time.
Because this man prepared thisroom, jesus was able to give the
upper room discourse, which isJohn, chapters 13 through 16,
which is tremendous teachingthat we have recorded for us
here.
Because this man could preparea room and set up a meal that
(20:16):
was ready.
Then Jesus had the finalmoments with his disciples.
These wonderful teachings werepassed on to all of us through
all the ages and it was such agreat blessing to all of us as
well as the disciples.
I think that's a great lesson.
Maybe we're not great preachers, maybe we're not great church
(20:36):
leaders, maybe we're not greattheologians, maybe we're not
singers or have all these othertalents, but we could do
something for the Lord and eachof us has something we can do.
None of us has the ability tojust sit on the sidelines and
let God's kingdom happen.
All of us should do what we can.
Steve, don't you think it'simportant for all people in the
(20:59):
church to do at least one thingthat they can do for the Lord?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
One of the things, glenn, as you mentioned before,
of preparation for the Passoverwas to get all of the leaven out
of the house, and what thatentailed was for them to take
everything out of the househouse, and what that entailed
was for them to take everythingout of the house, everything
no-transcript.
(21:25):
Here is this man when the wordjust says prepare to place.
It's something that took workfor him to do, that he has laid
out the furniture and the tablefor them to recline at in this
upper room.
While we might think thatsometimes it's mundane things
that were given to us that theLord leaves us to do the Holy
(21:48):
Spirit, the real question is canGod depend on us to do it?
This was something that Jesushad depended on this man to
prepare it and to have itprepared in the right way, and
he did it.
Because there they are, theyend up having the supper.
When we're led by the HolySpirit to do certain things, we
(22:11):
should heed those certain thingsand not let ourselves get in
the way of thinking, forinstance, oh, this is just
something that's very minor,that the church has asked me to
do, or that somebody else hasasked me to do, a fellow
Christian has asked me to dodrive them somewhere or take
them somewhere but the realquestion is can they depend on
(22:33):
you whenever you're approachedby the Holy Spirit or another
Christian?
Here is something that I wouldlike for you to do.
There are things that we canstill do today, in our day and
age in order to serve God.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
All of us have a role in the church.
Paul made the analogy to thebody and he said the hands can't
tell the feet that we have noneed of you.
Moving on in the passage verse18, they start the Passover meal
and of course Jesus is thefocus of the Passover.
The whole Passover ceremony isstill today.
The observant Jews celebratethis every year.
(23:07):
They call it a Seder service,but Jesus is the focus of that
whole ceremony.
He is the Passover lamb.
The meal itself also points toChrist.
1 Corinthians 5-7 compares Jesusto the Passover ceremony, where
we are to purge out the oldleaven out of our lives and
(23:29):
Christ is the Passover sacrifice.
It also says in verse 18 thatJesus talks to the twelve and
says that one of you will betrayme.
Jesus knew the future.
He's predicting it here.
Judas had not yet betrayed him,but Jesus, in verse 18,
(23:49):
predicts it will happen.
Jesus knew the future.
He knew that it would happenwith certainty and he knew who
would do it.
Jesus knows everything, eventhe future.
He knows with certainty.
The future acts of freecreatures.
Yet the person is the onemaking the free decision and
that's not an issue eitherlogically or theologically.
(24:13):
Each of the 12 then says oh, isit I?
They were all doubtingthemselves, saying was it me
that's going to betray you?
They all doubted theirfaithfulness to Christ.
My lesson here is that if weknow we're weak and I think
that's what these men were doingthey were saying is it me
(24:33):
that's going to betray you?
If we know we're weak, thenwe'll go to him and ask for more
faith.
If, on the other hand, we thinkwe're strong, then we won't go
to him and we're going to betempted into a prideful fall.
Each of us should ask ourselvesis it I?
Am I the one that's going tofail the Lord?
(24:54):
Am I capable of disappointingthe Lord?
I think I know I am in my weakflesh and without the power of
the Holy Spirit keeping me ontrack, I would Steve any lessons
on that.
That's just kind of atremendous situation here.
He knows somebody's going tobetray him.
All of the disciples ask is itI?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Let's camp out there for just a little bit, glenn,
because what you've brought outis something that we should
pause on and really think about.
There's two aspects of that Onethat you've been talking about
that they all doubted amongstthemselves.
I find that really curious thathere they are, following him
for three plus years, yet whenhe says this somebody of course
(25:37):
he knows the actual personSomebody is going to betray me.
They, like you said, they doubtthemselves.
They ask well, is it me?
I mean, really think about whatthat's saying about them.
And as a person, is it me, am Igoing to betray you?
I just about what that's sayingabout them.
As a person, is it me?
Am I going to betray you?
I just find that that'sinteresting.
And the second part of it is isthat Judas actually knew it was
(25:58):
him, because he had been outalready plotting with the
leadership to help them to beable to seize Jesus, and of
course, the leadership waswanting to kill him.
So we have this situation whereJesus says somebody he knows
it's Judas, judas knows it'sJudas, but yet these other
(26:18):
disciples say is it me?
I don't know about you, glenn,but I would hope that if Jesus
said something like thatsomebody here is going to betray
me, that my immediate reactionwill be well, I know it's not me
, because I would never betrayyou, but yet they all ask well,
is it me?
I just find that a little bitcurious, and we should pause on
(26:39):
that and really ponder on it alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, I think so.
We should have someself-introspection.
Like I said, if we think we'restrong, oh, I'd never deny the
Lord, that's when we're weak.
But if we know we're weak andwe go to the Lord and say, lord,
I'm capable of doing any sinthat anybody else has ever done,
then please, lord, keep me fromthat.
That that's when we're actuallystronger, is when we go to him.
(27:05):
He says in verse 20, he saysit's the one who dips with me in
the bowl, whereas in verse 20,he says it's the one who dips
with me in the bowl.
That's where I think when hedoes, that is when Judas knows,
hey, the jig is up.
That's when he's going to leave, that's when he's going to go
out and do the betrayal.
I find the dipping of the breadwas a tender moment, it was an
(27:27):
affectionate moment.
They would dip bread in as likea sopping and it was like a
tasty morsel.
It was a tender part, it was apoint of affection.
So, even till the very end,jesus is loving.
He gives a loving, gentlegesture towards Judas, even
though Judas was the one thatwas betraying him and he knew it
(27:49):
.
Finally, in verse 21, he saysthere the Son of man is to go,
just as it is written of him,and I find it interesting he
uses the soft term go, insteadof tortured, to death in a very
hard term.
He's always saying here thingsthat are so profound.
He says his death was afulfillment of prophecy.
(28:12):
He does a very soft, tenderthing to Judas, who is the one
that he knows is going to betrayhim.
So, steve, the tension ismounting in the drama here.
We have this tender moment inthe upper room, but there's
going to be conflict rightaround the corner.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I was just looking here at the last part and
thinking of what might have beengoing through Judas's mind
because he says it would havebeen good for that man if he had
not been born.
In that statement coming fromJesus, judas knows it's directed
at him, yet he is still goingto go through with this betrayal
(28:52):
of Jesus.
There's just so muchinteresting things here that we
find out whenever we slow downand read the text with a purpose
and go through it verse byverse.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
I think that's why Mark slows down and goes through
more detail here in the lastpart of his book.
But we'll still be seeing nexttime we'll see where Judas
actually does the betrayal andwe'll see what happens in the
garden as we continue to reasonthrough the book of Mark.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
In our teaching through Mark we have Jesus, who
has gone through a series ofconfrontations with the Jewish
leaders.
He has been very blunt.
He's confronted them in thetemple every day and at night
he's been going out to Bethanyoutside the city.
He gave a series of verydetailed teachings about the
(00:43):
destruction of the temple andhis second coming.
Now, in chapter 14 of Mark,we're going to see where he goes
into the upper room and has ameal.
As we open today, he'spreparing for that.
So open your Bibles to Mark,chapter 14, starting in verse 12
(01:04):
, and we see here Jesuspreparing his disciples for the
Passover meal and the Feast ofUnleavened Bread.
Steve, can you start at verse12 and read down through verse
21?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
On the first day of unleavened bread, when the
Passover lamb was beingsacrificed, his disciples said
to him when do you want us to goand prepare for you to eat
Passover?
And he sent two of hisdisciples and said to them Go
into the city and a man willmeet you carrying a pitcher of
water.
Follow him and, wherever heenters, say to the owner of the
(01:39):
house the teacher says when ismy guest room on which I may eat
the Passover with my disciples?
And he himself will show you alarge upper room, furnished and
ready.
Prepare for us there.
The disciples went out and cameto the city and found it just as
he had told them, and theyprepared the Passover.
(01:59):
When it was evening he camewith the twelve.
As they were reclining at thetable and eating, jesus said
Truly, I say to you that one ofyou will betray me, one who is
eating with me.
They began to be grieved and tosay to him one by one Surely
not I.
And he said to them it is oneof the twelve, one who dips with
(02:23):
me in the bowl, for the Son ofman is to go, just as it is
written of him.
But woe to that man by whom theSon of man is betrayed.
It would have been better forthat man if he had not been born
.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
As this starts, mark is giving a timeline of what
Jesus is doing prior to the lastfew days and last few hours of
his life.
It opens up talking about thisday of unleavened bread, or
period of unleavened bread.
Steve, what is this holiday andwhere did it come from?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, the holiday of the unleavened bread encompasses
both the Passover and thenafter that there was another
seven days that was calledactually the Feast of Unleavened
Bread.
So together it was a eight-dayholiday that started with the
actual Passover.
Then the proper name of thenext seven days was the Feast of
(03:16):
the Unleavened Bread, butpeople would combine that and
talk about the unleavened breadas being all of these eight days
and talk about the unleavenedbread as being all of these
eight days.
But it's clearly here talkingabout the actual Passover itself
, because that is the daywhenever they prepared the lamb
that was eaten on the Passoverday.
Its origins came from the exodusfrom Egypt.
(03:37):
That was the last plague thatGod had over the Egypt and that
was the one where the deathangel passed by the houses that
had the blood of the lamb on thedoorpost and the lentil and
killed all of the firstbornwithin the land of Egypt.
After that that forced thePharaoh to go ahead and let the
(04:01):
Israelite people go as they wentfrom Egypt over into their
promised land.
This day again is a feast ofcomprising eight days.
The first one is the Passoveritself, and then the next seven
days were the Feast ofUnleavened Bread.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And as part of that, if you go back and read the
commands that God had given onhow to prepare for that, one of
the things they were supposed todo was to get all of the leaven
out of the house.
They were supposed to remove itall and eat unleavened bread
for that week, and of course itgoes back to when the Jews were
(04:37):
being brought out of Egypt.
They had to leave very quicklyand the bread didn't have time
to rise and as part of thatceremony God instituted for
every year, they were supposedto eat unleavened bread.
Get all of the leaven out ofyour house.
Even now, the observant Jewsstill do this.
But what is the spiritualsignificance, what's the
(04:59):
symbolism of the leaven, and howdoes that apply to us today?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Leaven is what we today would call yeast.
It's one and the same.
The yeast is something thathelps the bread rise.
It also gives it a little bitmore flavor.
The significance of getting allthe leaven out was that they
didn't have time to wait for thebread to rise in order to bake
(05:23):
it.
They were to cook it withoutthe leaven and it was known as
flatbread.
It didn't have the taste thatyou would have with the leaven
or yeast in it.
The purpose was to signify sin.
Yeast or leaven was always beendepicted as something as sin
(05:43):
throughout all of Scripture.
So getting it all out of yourhouse so that there's no leaven
there, getting it out of thisbread so there's not there.
The spiritual significance isof getting sin out of your life
so that it's not there to affectyour life.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Exactly, Leaven is always a symbol of sin.
In the Passover ceremony theywere supposed to get the leaven
out.
It mentions here in verse 12that it's the start of
unleavened bread, which they'respeaking in a general term of
the entire eight days.
Of course, since this wouldfall on a Sabbath, then I'm sure
(06:23):
they would have to get theleaven out a day or two at a
minimum in advance.
So I'm sure the common thinkingof was there was this period of
time here where it was longerthan the actual holiday, where
we had to go through thisprocess of cleaning the house
and getting the leaven out.
Then it talks about thePassover lamb and of course that
(06:44):
has great significance as well.
What is the spiritualapplication?
It says in verse 12, thePassover lamb was being
sacrificed.
What's the spiritualsignificance there of the
Passover?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
lamb During Passover.
They had to take the lamb intotheir house on the 10th of Nisan
and have it there for threedays to inspect it, make sure
that it didn't have anyblemishes and didn't get any
blemishes so that it would bepure whenever they sacrificed it
on the 14th of Nisan.
We've mentioned this in some ofour former sessions related to
(07:18):
Jesus's coming into the city onthe 10th of Nisan during this
whole Passover feast.
It was done on purpose, but thelamb was sacrificed and then
the blood from the lamb was tobe put over the doorpost and the
lentils, so in other words theside post, and over the head
post.
That was to signify that thedeath angel was to pass over
(07:40):
that house, that they had donewhat God had told them to do and
that they believed and trustthat God was going to pass over
and not affect any of thefirstborn that were in that
house.
It was a symbol of shedding ofblood.
And if you go back to John,whenever John first introduced
Jesus to the people around, hesaid behold the Lamb of God that
(08:02):
takes away the sin of the world.
The people around he saidbehold the lamb of God that
takes away the sin of the world.
This was one of the areas ofJesus himself was known as the
lamb.
He's the Passover lamb thatthrough his sacrifice, the blood
that he sheds on the cross, andthrough his resurrection, he
then takes our sin away, he paysour sin debt that we have.
(08:23):
It's through that symbology ofthe Passover lamb, of an actual
lamb and the Passover lamb asfar as Jesus Christ being our
Passover lamb.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Just as you said, the original Passover was when God
was bringing Israel out of Egyptand the death angel would pass
over your house if you had theblood on your doorpost.
That was a symbol of beingfreed or passed over from death.
It's also a reminder to theJews of coming out of slavery in
(08:56):
Egypt.
Israel was under the cruel handof the Egyptian pharaoh with
all of his false gods.
In the Exodus, there's astruggle between Israel and the
Egyptian gods, and God comes inand shows that he is the
superior one.
He is the true God, and becauseof that, israel was freed from
(09:19):
slavery.
The Passover lamb is the symbolof being freed from slavery,
freed from bondage, brought intothe promised land of salvation,
and of God's wrath through thedeath angel passing over you.
All this was encompassed in thePassover ceremony that is still
celebrated to this day.
(09:39):
So that's the whole thing.
That's all wrapped up here inthat first phrase in verse 12,
unleavened bread, when thePassover lamb was being
sacrificed.
Now, steve, what a coincidencethat Jesus' death on the cross
is at exactly the same periodthat all that's going on.
And, of course, it's not acoincidence at all, because who
is it that arranged for thedeath on the cross to happen.
(10:03):
We've been talking about thisas we've been going through Mark
.
First question is who wasreally in charge here, and then,
who was our true Passover?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
lamb we have been talking about this that Jesus is
in control of this wholesituation.
The leadership explicitly theydon't want to arrest him during
this feast period because peoplefrom all over have come in.
This was one of the feastswhere everybody was supposed to
come into Jerusalem to celebrate.
So the leadership didn't wantto arrest Jesus and of course,
(10:35):
their idea is to kill him andthey're going to have a plot of
a way to do that.
That.
We'll see a little bit later.
But they specifically said wedo not want to do it during this
feast time because we're afraidof the people.
They didn't want to upset thepeople.
They didn't want to upsetJesus's followers.
That was their desire.
(10:57):
However, we see Jesus at everystep, forcing their hand.
He chose to come into Jerusalemduring this Passover time and
he is choosing to die duringthis Passover time and this
Passover day.
He has announced here what weread that there's going to be
(11:17):
someone that's going to betrayhim.
He has been preparing hisdisciples for the last few
months at least, if not maybethe previous year, telling them.
He began to teach them that theMessiah must suffer first and
be handed over to the Gentilesand die and then raise again on
(11:39):
the third day.
He had told him before that hewould be betrayed.
Now it is all coming tofruition.
It's all coming to a point.
Jesus is the one that isforcing this to happen at the
correct and appointed time.
The leadership thinks thatthey're in control, but they're
(11:59):
really not.
Jesus is orchestrating thiswhole scenario.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
He was orchestrating all of this because he was the
Passover lamb.
It says there in verse 12, whenthe Passover lamb was being
sacrificed.
Well, the true Passover lambwas Jesus.
They were out sacrificingactual lambs for a meal when
Jesus was preparing himself todie on the cross as the Passover
(12:25):
.
Then this is the preparation.
At the end of verse 12, thedisciples go to the Lord and ask
where do you want us to go toeat the Passover?
In 13 and 14 and 15, jesusdescribes okay, go into the city
.
You're going to see a man witha pitcher of water on his head.
Follow him and he'll lead youinto a house there.
(12:45):
Ask the owner where can wecelebrate the meal?
Of course, my mind goesautomatically back to chapter 2
earlier, where Jesus told them.
Automatically back to chapter 2earlier, where Jesus told them
go and you'll find a donkey tiedwith a colt that nobody's
ridden.
If anybody asks you, tell them.
The Lord needs it.
This is yet another one ofthose instances where he's
(13:08):
telling them to go and you willactually find something.
Steve, what's the big dealabout the man with the water on
his head?
Why would God take precioustime in his word for such a
detail?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Because it is this time when tens of thousands of
people have come into the city.
How in the world are they goingto be able to pick out and find
this one person that Jesusdescribes, that Jesus describes
Well, even to this day in theMiddle East?
(13:42):
There, women are the ones whocarried water.
They're the ones who went outto the trough to get it.
We have stories of the woman atthe well when Jesus met her at
Jacob's well.
We have the stories back in theOld Testament of whenever the
servant went to find a bride forIsaac and you had both Rebecca
and then Rachel for Jacob comingto the well the women were the
(14:02):
ones that traditionally went tothe well and carried water.
The significance that you havea man carrying water would be
somebody that would be easilyseen and be easily found,
because it would be out of theordinary for him to do it.
To me, it's just another way ofshowing how all of this is
(14:23):
being once again the word I useis orchestrated by Jesus and by
God.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I think it's highly orchestrated by God.
This is divine providence atwork here.
If you're going to go and get apitcher of water, they're heavy
.
That's why they put them ontheir head to carry it.
But you're not going to walkaround all day long with a
pitcher of water on your head.
You're going to go out and getthe water and come back.
So the disciples just happenedto get there exactly the time
(14:51):
when the man is returning withthe pitcher of water and not
going out there.
So it was really down to theminute that they found this man
with the water.
So it's another divineappointment and, of course,
there's no circumstance to it.
It's a divine appointment.
God arranged this.
As you said, steve, mentypically didn't have water on
their heads.
Typically it was the women, andthere's several lessons here
(15:15):
that can be learned.
One is God works out divineprovidence, even sometimes down
to the minute.
Secondly, he's also teaching,like the story with the donkey,
he's teaching the disciples totrust him.
Go and do what I ask, and it'llturn out like I say.
I think many times in our liveswe struggle what should I do?
And the Bible tells us okay, dothis.
(15:37):
And we say well, that soundsunusual, I might want to go
follow human wisdom.
I think what he's teaching ushere is that if we follow the
divine wisdom, if we just dowhat God tells us, then life
will turn out just like he says.
Just like going and finding aroom or finding a man with water
on his head.
It actually turns out exactlylike he says, just like going
and finding a room or finding aman with water on his head.
It actually turns out exactlylike God says.
(15:59):
Every other thing in the Biblewill turn out like God says.
If we just merely follow hiscommands and follow his
teachings, then our lives willturn out just like he says.
If we're a child of God and wejust go through life doing what
he wants us to do, we'll seethese wonderful circumstances
(16:21):
just appear like magic in ourpath.
Of course, it's not magic.
It's the Lord arranging thesethings.
An obedient Christian life is agreat adventure, wondering what
God is going to bring into ourlives.
Next Then, steve, in the nextverse, verse 16,.
How do the disciples react tothese instructions?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, they went out, just as he told them to do, and
they found it just as he haddescribed it.
So then they went in and theyprepared the Passover from there
.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
We could ask ourselves do we ever see God
moments?
Do we ever just go through life?
Suddenly there just happens tobe this circumstance where I
could do the Lord's work.
Well, of course those happen ifwe just open our eyes.
Now I want to talk about thisman that has prepared this room.
They go into the city, theyfind the man with the water,
(17:16):
they follow him and they saywhere can we have our meal?
They find there a room that'salready been prepared.
God, through this man, hasarranged a fully furnished room.
Nobody else had reserved it.
As you said, steve, this was atime when many people came into
the city and so it was very busy.
(17:37):
But yet here is a fullyfurnished room with everything
prepared, nobody else there.
Jesus and his disciples can geta moment of quiet where they
can sit down and have their meal.
First question does Jesus havea place prepared for us?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
He does Glenn have a place prepared for us Over in
John, chapter 14, verses I thinkit's one through three, it says
do not, this is Jesus speaking.
Do not let your heart betroubled.
Believe in God, believe also inme.
In my Father's house are manydwelling places.
If it were not so, I would havetold you For that.
(18:17):
He is preparing a place for us,glenn.
I don't know about you, but Iam really looking forward to see
(18:42):
that place that he's preparedfor me.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
The disciples came to Jesus and asked him where
should we go?
Well, he already had a placeprepared.
He had a place fully furnished,a whole meal there, it was
quiet and they could sit withthe Lord and get some teaching
from him.
I find that tremendous.
That's a great lesson.
Another one is this owner ofthis house.
(19:06):
We don't know him, we don'tknow his name.
It's very possible that there'sa lot of things this man could
not do.
Maybe he's not a great preacherthis man could not do.
Maybe he's not a great preacher, or maybe he's not a musician
that could sing in front of thechurch, or maybe he's not a good
pastor or a church leader.
There's a lot of things heprobably could not do, but he
(19:27):
could prepare a room.
He could prepare a room for theLord.
That's a great thing.
All of us are like that, don'tyou think, in the sense that
there's a lot of things I can'tdo, and I know the people
listening to me.
There's things you can't do,but, just like this man, he
could prepare a room.
Preparing that room allowedJesus and his disciples to get
the last moment of quiet beforehe goes and gets arrested and
(19:52):
dies on the cross.
It was the final moments duringthat time.
Because this man prepared thisroom, jesus was able to give the
upper room discourse, which isJohn, chapters 13 through 16,
which is tremendous teachingthat we have recorded for us
here.
Because this man could preparea room and set up a meal that
(20:16):
was ready.
Then Jesus had the finalmoments with his disciples.
These wonderful teachings werepassed on to all of us through
all the ages and it was such agreat blessing to all of us as
well as the disciples.
I think that's a great lesson.
Maybe we're not great preachers, maybe we're not great church
(20:36):
leaders, maybe we're not greattheologians, maybe we're not
singers or have all these othertalents, but we could do
something for the Lord and eachof us has something we can do.
None of us has the ability tojust sit on the sidelines and
let God's kingdom happen.
All of us should do what we can.
Steve, don't you think it'simportant for all people in the
(20:59):
church to do at least one thingthat they can do for the Lord?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
One of the things, glenn, as you mentioned before,
of preparation for the Passoverwas to get all of the leaven out
of the house, and what thatentailed was for them to take
everything out of the househouse, and what that entailed
was for them to take everythingout of the house, everything
no-transcript.
(21:25):
Here is this man when the wordjust says prepare to place.
It's something that took workfor him to do, that he has laid
out the furniture and the tablefor them to recline at in this
upper room.
While we might think thatsometimes it's mundane things
that were given to us that theLord leaves us to do the Holy
(21:48):
Spirit, the real question is canGod depend on us to do it?
This was something that Jesushad depended on this man to
prepare it and to have itprepared in the right way, and
he did it.
Because there they are, theyend up having the supper.
When we're led by the HolySpirit to do certain things, we
(22:11):
should heed those certain thingsand not let ourselves get in
the way of thinking, forinstance, oh, this is just
something that's very minor,that the church has asked me to
do, or that somebody else hasasked me to do, a fellow
Christian has asked me to dodrive them somewhere or take
them somewhere but the realquestion is can they depend on
(22:33):
you whenever you're approachedby the Holy Spirit or another
Christian?
Here is something that I wouldlike for you to do.
There are things that we canstill do today, in our day and
age in order to serve God.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
All of us have a role in the church.
Paul made the analogy to thebody and he said the hands can't
tell the feet that we have noneed of you.
Moving on in the passage verse18, they start the Passover meal
and of course Jesus is thefocus of the Passover.
The whole Passover ceremony isstill today.
The observant Jews celebratethis every year.
(23:07):
They call it a Seder service,but Jesus is the focus of that
whole ceremony.
He is the Passover lamb.
The meal itself also points toChrist.
1 Corinthians 5-7 compares Jesusto the Passover ceremony, where
we are to purge out the oldleaven out of our lives and
(23:29):
Christ is the Passover sacrifice.
It also says in verse 18 thatJesus talks to the twelve and
says that one of you will betrayme.
Jesus knew the future.
He's predicting it here.
Judas had not yet betrayed him,but Jesus, in verse 18,
(23:49):
predicts it will happen.
Jesus knew the future.
He knew that it would happenwith certainty and he knew who
would do it.
Jesus knows everything, eventhe future.
He knows with certainty.
The future acts of freecreatures.
Yet the person is the onemaking the free decision and
that's not an issue eitherlogically or theologically.
(24:13):
Each of the 12 then says oh, isit I?
They were all doubtingthemselves, saying was it me
that's going to betray you?
They all doubted theirfaithfulness to Christ.
My lesson here is that if weknow we're weak and I think
that's what these men were doingthey were saying is it me
(24:33):
that's going to betray you?
If we know we're weak, thenwe'll go to him and ask for more
faith.
If, on the other hand, we thinkwe're strong, then we won't go
to him and we're going to betempted into a prideful fall.
Each of us should ask ourselvesis it I?
Am I the one that's going tofail the Lord?
(24:54):
Am I capable of disappointingthe Lord?
I think I know I am in my weakflesh and without the power of
the Holy Spirit keeping me ontrack, I would Steve any lessons
on that.
That's just kind of atremendous situation here.
He knows somebody's going tobetray him.
All of the disciples ask is itI?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Let's camp out there for just a little bit, glenn,
because what you've brought outis something that we should
pause on and really think about.
There's two aspects of that Onethat you've been talking about
that they all doubted amongstthemselves.
I find that really curious thathere they are, following him
for three plus years, yet whenhe says this somebody of course
(25:37):
he knows the actual personSomebody is going to betray me.
They, like you said, they doubtthemselves.
They ask well, is it me?
I mean, really think about whatthat's saying about them.
And as a person, is it me, am Igoing to betray you?
I just about what that's sayingabout them.
As a person, is it me?
Am I going to betray you?
I just find that that'sinteresting.
And the second part of it is isthat Judas actually knew it was
(25:58):
him, because he had been outalready plotting with the
leadership to help them to beable to seize Jesus, and of
course, the leadership waswanting to kill him.
So we have this situation whereJesus says somebody he knows
it's Judas, judas knows it'sJudas, but yet these other
(26:18):
disciples say is it me?
I don't know about you, glenn,but I would hope that if Jesus
said something like thatsomebody here is going to betray
me, that my immediate reactionwill be well, I know it's not me
, because I would never betrayyou, but yet they all ask well,
is it me?
I just find that a little bitcurious, and we should pause on
(26:39):
that and really ponder on it alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, I think so.
We should have someself-introspection.
Like I said, if we think we'restrong, oh, I'd never deny the
Lord, that's when we're weak.
But if we know we're weak andwe go to the Lord and say, lord,
I'm capable of doing any sinthat anybody else has ever done,
then please, lord, keep me fromthat.
That that's when we're actuallystronger, is when we go to him.
(27:05):
He says in verse 20, he saysit's the one who dips with me in
the bowl, whereas in verse 20,he says it's the one who dips
with me in the bowl.
That's where I think when hedoes, that is when Judas knows,
hey, the jig is up.
That's when he's going to leave, that's when he's going to go
out and do the betrayal.
I find the dipping of the breadwas a tender moment, it was an
(27:27):
affectionate moment.
They would dip bread in as likea sopping and it was like a
tasty morsel.
It was a tender part, it was apoint of affection.
So, even till the very end,jesus is loving.
He gives a loving, gentlegesture towards Judas, even
though Judas was the one thatwas betraying him and he knew it
(27:49):
.
Finally, in verse 21, he saysthere the Son of man is to go,
just as it is written of him,and I find it interesting he
uses the soft term go, insteadof tortured, to death in a very
hard term.
He's always saying here thingsthat are so profound.
He says his death was afulfillment of prophecy.
(28:12):
He does a very soft, tenderthing to Judas, who is the one
that he knows is going to betrayhim.
So, steve, the tension ismounting in the drama here.
We have this tender moment inthe upper room, but there's
going to be conflict rightaround the corner.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I was just looking here at the last part and
thinking of what might have beengoing through Judas's mind
because he says it would havebeen good for that man if he had
not been born.
In that statement coming fromJesus, judas knows it's directed
at him, yet he is still goingto go through with this betrayal
(28:52):
of Jesus.
There's just so muchinteresting things here that we
find out whenever we slow downand read the text with a purpose
and go through it verse byverse.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
I think that's why Mark slows down and goes through
more detail here in the lastpart of his book.
But we'll still be seeing nexttime we'll see where Judas
actually does the betrayal andwe'll see what happens in the
garden as we continue to reasonthrough the book of Mark.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.