Talk of Betrayal. Mark 14:13-21.
And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at the 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 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.”
Dear Pilgrims and Sojourners,
The Passover was celebrated after sunset, as the first Passover had been. Jesus came to the venue in the evening.
Core (v. 17-18). It seems that the only people with Jesus at this Passover meal were the twelve. This was the inner circle of disciples. Jesus makes it clear that he will be betrayed by one of the twelve because he states that it is “one who is eating with me.” Jesus had given his disciples all the evidence they needed to believe, but one still did not believe. Even after Jesus revealed that he was aware of it, Judas would go ahead with plan shows what dabbling in sin can do to us. Judas was not moved, even by the fact that his secret was no longer secret.
Concern (v. 19). The disciples were saddened by this revelation and each sought to know from Jesus if he might be the one. That none of them doubted Judas is indicative of what a near-perfect hypocrite he had been. It is possible to fool everyone outwardly, so that they will not doubt one, in fact, they may doubt themselves, as the other eleven did.
Curse (v. 20-21). Abandoning Christ for personal material gain was going to end tragically. In fact, the tragedy was so great that Jesus said it would have been better if Judas had not been born. The suffering and death of Jesus had been foretold by the Old Testament prophets and was going to happen (Isaiah 53:1-12), but Judas in his greed had placed himself at the disposal of the devil, and with that, the greatest crime against the Son of God. The combination of greed and hypocrisy is lethal. We would do well to stay away from the love of money and to openly cry out to God for deliverance, should we find ourselves drifting in the direction of the love of money.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.