A Turning of the Other Cheek: Daily Thoughts from Mark (Mark 14:12-21)

Jesus gives us the godly model of how to handle personal betrayal, or betrayal of any kind, for that matter.  And it is as much what he doesn’t do as what he does.  His response seems to flow from a surety about himself and his relationship to God.  It’s not simply a method.  It is a way of being.  Jesus is possessed by grace.

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us 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 carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, 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.” (Mark 14:12-21, ESV)

The Passover festival was a commemoration of Israel’s last meal before they left enslavement in Egypt and traveled as a people together through the wilderness to Israel (Canaan) under the leadership of Moses.  The night before they left they ate a sacrificed lamb, put its blood on their doorposts so the death angel would pass over their homes as it visited with death the firstborn of every Egyptian family, and they purged their homes of leavened (yeast-involved) dough for bread.

Every year after that they were to celebrate and remember God’s great deliverance.  When Jerusalem became their capital it was designated as the place where they would gather as a nation to conduct this religious festival.  This was the week Jesus was in Jerusalem for this very purpose and the week he would be crucified as the true Passover lamb.

Because he is being watched for an opportunity to arrest him, his plans for the Passover are secretive.  It is possible that he pre-arranged this man carrying a pitcher on his head (normally only women did that) as a signal for his disciples to follow him and find their arrangements, or the Spirit may have revealed this to him that this was going to happen and so a miracle is intended.

But that night he reveals the disturbing news that one of them will betray him into the hands of the chief priests.  No doubt Judas pretended to be sorrowful, no doubt with the others he also asked, “Is it I?”  But then he left to do his dirty job.  Jesus pronounced a woe upon him.  The stage was set for Jesus’ arrest.

How could Jesus have reacted to Judas’ betrayal?  He could have confronted him in front of everyone, talked about him with the other apostles, expelled him from the circle of the apostles, or even found some way to discredit or destroy him.  But instead, he announced to the apostles that one of them would betray him.  This was basically an invitation to Judas to repent.  He knew that Jesus knew, and he heard the consequences Jesus anticipated for his betrayer, and he could have confessed to Jesus personally or publically and changed his course.  He did not.

We don’t read anger, fear or self-pity in Jesus’ remarks, only disappointment and a gracious opportunity to undo what was done.  Jesus is our model for dealing with betrayal.