"On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples *said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He *sent two of His disciples and *said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, "Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there." The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
When it was evening He *came with the twelve. As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me—one who is eating with Me." They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, "Surely not I?" And He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who dips with Me in the bowl. For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."
Good Morning my beloved,
The Passover was instituted when God instructed Moses as to how the people could escape the Angel of Death, killing your firstborn and be rescued from slavery. The unblemished one year old lamb had to be selected on the tenth of Nisan, which was on Monday, then kept until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel was to kill it at twilight, and take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses. God kept His word and every house that was marked by blood was spared by God and rescued by God. You can read more about that in the book of Exodus chapter 12. Since the Exodus, Passover has been celebrated by Jews for centuries, they would celebrate the Passover meal on the 14th of Nisan and then for seven days, they would celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, making the combination of the two an eight-day festival.
However, the Passover in our text today, is unlike any other Passover celebration, there is conspiracy and betrayal at work and it would be celebrated as the last legitimate Passover, because the true Passover Lamb would be slain, our Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrificial system would be ended. No other sacrifice satisfied God until His own perfect sacrifice, His Son. Jesus wanted to have the Passover with His disciples, not only was it commanded, it was also very important, so that He could make the transition from the final legitimate Passover to the first Communion, as defined by our Lord Himself. He also needed this critical time to instruct His disciples, which is recorded in John chapters 13 through 16, followed by His high priestly prayer in John chapter 17.
In the New Testament Jesus is called Savior less than ten times, while He is called Lord more than 700 times. That should clearly demonstrates the priority of His position He is to have in one's live. Many people confess Jesus as Lord and Savior without having any knowledge of what that actually means.
When you confess Jesus Christ is Lord, you are fully, completely and totally surrendering to the reign and rule of His Lordship in your life, it is an acknowledgement of His total takeover of your life. You're no longer free to live as you want.
Any one who thinks they can superficially confess Jesus is Lord and Savior and still have the right to run their own life is horribly deceived! You need to understand that the only thing your running is your life right into hell. That's why Jesus says the only way you'll ever save your life is to "die to self," to completely abandon your own will, your own desires, your own ambitions and plans for your life, even your former relationships that are sinful by God's standards.
In other words, the priority in your life is no longer what you want, and what pleases you, it's giving all that up to live a life that is pleasing to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Jesus then makes it even clearer in Matthew 7:13-14, when He says "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
In Matthew 10:32-33, He says "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." The idea here is if you don't deny yourself and confess My Lordship, then you are qualified to be one who truly belongs to Me and I will also deny you before My Father who is in heaven. Jesus doesn't accept anything less than that.
Matthew 16:24-25, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
In Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter." The
language of the Gospel is unmistakably clear, you cannot be saved and
refuse to give up anything in your life, your friends, your family, your
possessions, or sinful lifestyle. Any pastor who is preaching another
Gospel is preaching a perverted message that is designed by men,
authored by Satan and not following the teaching of Christ. Therefore,
it's not from God and is completely worthless for true salvation. Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
Lets us pray
Heavenly Father,
In Christ's precious Name we ask and pray.
Amen
Today's Message: So Close, Yet So Far
Open our Bibles if you will, as we return to the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 14, verse 12-21. I trust you will be following along with me as I read these ten verses, as we listen to hear what the Spirit of God has to say to us today. Mark 14:12-21.
"On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples *said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He *sent two of His disciples and *said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and
wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says,
"Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My
disciples?" And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there." The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
When it was evening He *came with the twelve. As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me—one who is eating with Me." They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, "Surely not I?" And He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who dips with Me in the bowl. For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."
Let's look at verse 12, "On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples *said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?" The law required that Passover be celebrated within the city limits of Jerusalem, and His disciples were ready and willing to prepare it for Him, the problem is they don’t know where, they all are without a home. Still, there has to be a Passover. I believe the reason Jesus had not told them anything yet is because knowing Judas’ thoughts, He knew Judas was seeking an opportunity to betray Him, and He didn’t want
him to tip off the religious leaders until after He has this last, very important meal with
them to transition the Passover meal into the Lord’s Supper. Judas is sure they’re going to have it, he's no doubt listening carefully to learn the location, thinking no one suspected him. That helps explain Jesus' secretive language in the next verse.
Verse 13, "And He *sent two of His disciples and *said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him." He sent two of His disciples, Luke 22 tells us it was Peter and John, who were the two most intimate to Christ. Notice they never came back, they stayed and made the preparation for the Passover meal. Why all the secrecy? Why didn't He just tell them who the man was and where to find him? If Judas had known where the location where this was going to take place, he would have betrayed him then and there, it was too good for him to pass up, the chief priests needed a private, secluded place where He wouldn’t be around a crowd. Jesus wasn't about to give Judas that opportunity, leaving the Garden as his first opportunity. The details might sound pretty ambiguous, but in those days carrying a pitcher of water was women’s work, so it would be very unusual to find a man carrying a pitcher of water, so that's really the only sign they needed, it would be apparent to them. The Galileans and Pharisees calculated the beginning of Passover from
sunrise to sunrise, the Judeans and Sadducees calculated the Passover
from sunset to sunset, making it from Thursday evening at sunset, and running until Friday evening at sunset. Jesus had to die on Friday at
the Passover, God made it possible for both to accomplish their goal, in
keeping with the perfect divine plan of God. Remember the time of His death was near, but it had not yet come.
In verse 14, Jesus tells them after they've followed the man carrying a pitcher of water "and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, "Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" Notice they were instructed not even to use the name "Jesus" just in case somebody’s listening. The Teacher tells us two things, first that the man was apparently familiar with Jesus and that we will always find what we need when we need it, if we will only do exactly as Jesus says! There's nothing here to indicate that Jesus already prearranged this, but because it all worked out, we know it was part of God’s perfect plan, in His time. Let me remind you that God's Word is just as reliable today as it was over 2000 years ago!
Verse 15-16, "And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there. The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover." That tells us they had no idea where they were going till they got there, so that the rest of the disciples couldn't let it slip, Jesus cannot allow Judas to learn the location of the unknown place until He and the rest of the disciples would arrive. Once they all arrived Judas couldn’t leave until Jesus initiated it, by taking the morsel, He had dipped He and gave it to Judas, it would have been too obvious. When he did, the rest thought "because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, "Buy the things we have need of for the feast"; or else, that he should give something to the poor," according to John 13:29. In John 19:14, John says, "Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover," they were getting the meal ready, for the meal they would eat that night. God is directing every detail so it would happen on the His timetable. By the way, the disciples would use this same upper room when they gathered after the resurrection and again on the Day of Pentecost. The owner of the house wasn’t one of the 12, we know we don’t have any information about who he was but he was faithful to use what he had for God’s glory.
Verse 17, "When it was evening He *came with the twelve." After all the preparations were made Jesus arrives with other the ten, remember Peter and John remained there, but technically, when they all came together there would be twelve. The Passover meal would officially begin after sunset, when evening begins and it would go on for many hours, it is a long meal. We don’t have a fixed chronology order recorded in the four gospels, that's not really important, what is important is the series of events that take place that evening, all the things that needed to be accomplished without interruption; the discussion among the apostles about who of them will be the greatest, the exposure of Judas, the action of Satan entering him, the washing of their feet, and the confrontation of Peter about his denial and our Lord's critical teaching. I love John's says in his Gospel, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." I can’t emphasize that enough, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end, take some time to contemplate that profound statement and examine yourselves, preparing your heart the next time you come to the Lord's Table. We are never to observe Communion ritualistically, with indifference, the sin in our lives should never be treated lightly, it must be dealt with, through confession and repentance. When you truly begin to understand the nature of sin, the human inclination toward depravity, you start recognize the ugliness of our sin. All sinners are good at self deception, and even better at justifying their sin, in order to feel good about themselves. Don't do that, deal with it! The problem is, even those who claim to follow Christ, who are bent on living for self- fulfillment, they tend to
focus on others sin but not their own.
When the Lord Jesus Christ first began
His earthly ministry, He echoed the startling words of John the
Baptist, "Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It's
interesting that neither John nor Jesus ever attempted to explain the
phrases meaning. The word repent is the Greek verb "metanoeó," meaning to think
differently or a change of mind, after becoming conscious of their sins;
particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God, to
receive God's pardon; to feel a deep sense of regret for one's past
offenses having offended God.
Merriam-Webster defines
the word repent as "to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the
amendment of one's life, to feel regret or contrition." Today, many pastors have eliminate the call to repentance from their messages to prevent people from feeling guilt or shame about living in open rebellion against God. Christians today need to understand that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven apart from repentance and living a transformed life! Jesus illustrates this perfectly in the Parable of the two sons recorded in Matthew 21.
In 1 Corinthians 11:27-32, Paul writes, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world."
Verse 18, "As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me—one who is eating with Me." Obviously, Da Vinci didn’t get the details quite right in his painting of the Last Supper, did he, because they weren’t sitting on chairs, they were reclined on a cushion or pillow of some sort. That's what they did when they wanted to enjoy a prolonged experience at a meal. Which interesting if you remember the first Passover in Exodus 12, in which they were required to eat the Passover meal before midnight, standing up with their loins girded, sandals on their feet, and their staff in their hand, and to eat it in haste, with
nothing left over, ready to move as it liable to be interrupted at any
moment. If anything was leftover, it had to be burned with fire.
However, after that first Passover, it was no longer necessary to be
ready to flee Egypt in a moments notice, the custom of being reclined,
eating leisurely was adopted as we see here with Jesus and His twelve
disciples.
The Passover meal would begin with a prayer of thanks, a followed by the first cup of red wine doubly diluted with water. Then there was a ceremonial washing of the hands, because they ate with their hands, symbolizing the need for cleansing and holiness. It is very likely that it was at that time that Luke tells us the dispute among them began as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest, or maybe Jesus noticed their feet were still dirty, since it was customary that feet were to be washed whenever you came into a home. Again, the chronology order isn't important, it's the profound lesson of humility.
In John 13,
John writes "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into
His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to
God, *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a
towel, He girded Himself. Then He *poured water into the basin, and
began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with
which He was girded." This would have been a perfect time for them to confront that sinfulness and the need for cleansing.
In the original text, betray is the verb "paradídōmi," meaning to hand over or deliver, most translations use the word betray because Judas was a betrayer. In 1 Samuel 16:7, he tells us "God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Jesus initiates a conversation that would change the entire atmosphere of the meal and shakes everything up, "Oh, by the way, one of you will betray Me" would be it. I can imagine the deafening silence, as the disciples wrestled with this shocking news that Jesus delivered, they knew they had enough residual sin that remained in their lives, that it could very easily be any one of them.
Verse 19, "They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, "Surely not I?" The verb "sphódra," means exceedingly, with total effort. It
is a strong way to indicate their deep agonizing sorrow, they knew that
Jesus always spoke the truth, but this was unthinkable! Which one of them could do such a thing?There's a beautiful honesty in the fact they didn’t even trust
themselves but each hoped surely it was not "I" who was the one who will
betray the Lord. Of course Judas already knew, because he had made the
deal with the Jewish leaders to betray Jesus. I believe Judas is the perfect illustration of how people can be in
the presence of Christ, how well they can fit in with the people of God, giving the illusion of being redeemed and yet,
still be under the influence of Satan. Perhaps, that's true of even some of you today, if so, I pray that the Holy Spirit would expose that to you.
Verse 20, "And He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who dips with Me in the bowl." Notice that He still doesn't say specifically who it is, I believe He is graciously giving
Judas the opportunity to repent before he actually goes through with
his plan to betray Him. I can't help but to think about all the many times the Lord
uses a preacher to confront someone who is betraying Him, that
everybody considers to be part of the group, and like Judas, they reject
the opportunity to come clean and repent, before He returns to pronounce judgement and damnation on the one who is guilty. Judas knows that he is the guilty one, but like every self-righteous
sinner, he doesn’t want to admit it, so he had to say something, because
everybody else was. Matthew tells us "Judas, who was betraying Him, said, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" Jesus *said to him, "You have said it yourself." Notice, that Judas does not call Him "Lord." but rather, he calls Him "rabbi" meaning teacher. Let be very clear, Judas made his own choices, God simply used his decision to betray Jesus
to fit perfectly into His own sovereign plan. God’s plans can not be
stopped, man simply chooses to become part of them, whether for good or
evil. God controls both the righteous and the unrighteous and uses them to accomplish His divine plans.
That brings us to verse 21, "For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." This is a damnation of judgment pronounced on the one who is guilty. Luke tells us "And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." What a dramatic ending to the final Passover, which had been celebrated
for over fifteen hundred years. No Passover celebrated after this one is
authorized by God, because Christ ended the Passover to institute the
Lord's Supper, which we still celebrate today to stimulate in our hearts remembrance of the person and work of Jesus, until He comes again. Will there ever be another legitimate Passover? Yes, but it's not going to happen until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. What a tremendous encouragement to know that we will one day celebrate the Passover meal with our Lord in the kingdom, as a memorial to the true, perfect Passover Lamb, reinforcing our fellowship together!
I know many churches that tell their people in the spirit of inclusiveness,
that "All are welcome, but participation is not required," allowing all
people to participate in the Lord's Table, that's not biblical. Scripture doesn't prescribe the frequency in which it must be done, or the specific elements that are to be used, but it does dictate who is commanded to participate, in remembrance of our salvation, our forgiveness, our fellowship and our glorious future that is to come, I believe we must be mindful of that. Unbelievers haven't received forgiveness. That's why I believe sound biblical teaching of the New Covenant, backed up by God's Word, not the opinions of man, is so important. That said, we also must do a spiritual inventory of our own lives, remembering why we needed Jesus in the first place, continuing to let it change lives, instead of disregarding it's significance. Because without Him, we're no better than Judas, it’s only by God’s grace!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2024 All Rights Reserved