Mark 14:12-31 - The Passover and the Kingdom

Please turn with me to Mark, chapter 14.

In today’s passageJesus shares the passover meal with his disciples just hours before his betrayal.

We’ll see that before the meal, Jesus reveals that he has prepared the place where the disciples will celebrate the passover ahead of time. During the meal, Jesus reveals that He knows who is going to betray him. Again during the meal, Jesus reinterprets the elements of the passover as pointing to him, just as everything in the Old Covenant did, and he reveals that a new covenant is now being made. And finally after the meal, Jesus reveals that he knows they will all fall deny him.

In the passage, Jesus shows his absolute knowledge and control over the circumstances of his denial and betrayal at the hands of his closest followers, in spite of their protestations. In the midst of it all, He declares the gospel hope that though he will be be betrayed and killed, he will rise again and usher in a new covenant, and one day, fully usher in the new kingdom. From this we can find confidence and hope because Jesus, knowing our betrayals, embraced the cross anyway, and secured our forgiveness, forever.

Let’s read the passage, and then we’ll go through each scene.

Mark 14:12–31 (CSB)
12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?” 13 So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” 16 So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

17 When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”

22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. 28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.” 30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.

Jesus Reveals a Prepared Place - vv.12–16

Our passage opens with Jesus and his disciples in the town of Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, and it is a major Israelite holiday or festival, Unleavened bread, which marks the rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt in The Exodus. They are about to celebrate the Passover, the most significant meal in the festival, which commemorates God’s final plague on Egypt: the death of the firstborn of everyone in Egypt, except for those who had, according to God’s instruction, painted their doorway with lamb’s blood. You can find this story in Exodus 12. The angel of death would pass through Egypt, and would pass over anyone who was covered in the blood of the lamb. Does that sound familiar? God’s people are rescued by the blood of a lamb!

The passover meal was to be celebrated in the city of Jerusalem, which is what they were doing there in the first place, and the disciples have a question: “so where are we going to eat it?”Their question was reasonable. They were now a band of outlaws, and we learned in our passage last week that the religious rulers had effectively started placing “wanted posters” all over.

But we find out that Jesus has already made arrangements. He has prepared a place for them to celebrate the feast. (That should also be a familiar echo for you if you are familiar with the storyline of the new testament… after his resurrection, Jesus rose to heaven to prepare a place for us to celebrate a feast with him in the new kingdom!)

Jesus had arranged a signal. You’ll see a man carrying a jar of water (which would have been unusual, that was usually a woman’s job), follow him to the house, and give him the pass phrase: “The teacher says: where is my guest room where I may eat the passover with my students?” So they go and eat the meal.

Jesus Reveals His Betrayer - vv.17–21

If you remember from our passage last week, Jesus’s disciple Judas has made a bargain to betray him and turn him over to the religious authorities who want to kill him. While they are eating, Jesus reveals to them that he knows about Judas’s secret plan. The other disciples don’t, but Jesus does. Look at verse 21: Jesus knows it will happen, but not because of some accident that he didn’t see coming. He says it will happen because God has planned it. And wrote about it beforehand, see Psalm 41:9.

Judas, out of his lust for power, disappointment that things are not unfolding the way he thought they would, and because of his greed, is going to betray the Messiah, the savior of the world, who has taken him in as a close companion. And Jesus announces that judgement is coming for such a betrayal. It would be better for Judas to never have been born than to allow himself to be overtaken by slavery to greed and power and disappointment. These things lead him to commit the worst betrayal in history, one for which he will suffer for eternity.

Jesus Reveals That They Will Abandon Him - vv.27–31

I’m going to skip ahead to the end of the passage. Because Judas is not alone. While the rest of the disciples will not betray Jesus and hand him over to be arrested, Jesus reveals to them that they will not, as they boast, make a valiant stand with him till the end. But rather that they will all go in to hiding when he is arrested and crucified.

This is not Jesus being emotionally manipulative. “None of you like me. You all hate me. You’re going to betray me aren’t you?” We know people like that who would use those words to force sympathy from us. No. Jesus is rather telling the plain facts about what is going to happen.

But he tells them this to give them hope. Jesus quotes the prophet Zechariah, chapter 13:7, about this day. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Again, God planned this, sees it coming and wrote it down hundreds of years prior.

Note also Peter’s confident assertion: “Even if everyone else falls away, I will not.” Even if all these other losers do, I certainly won’t! I wonder how many of us can resonate with Peter. “I wouldn’t have abandoned Jesus if I were there. What was their problem!?” — And to Peter, and to us, Jesus doubles down, and calls out the severity and specifics of Peter’s betrayal with what I can only imagine would have been stunning precision: “this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

All along in Jesus’s ministry, he has been telling them clearly that he will be arrested and killed by the authorities, and that he will rise from the dead, and all along they don’t get it. Here at the end, the final hours, Jesus is reminding them that he is going to be arrested and killed. But don’t miss verse 28! He also tells them he is going to rise from the dead! And he gives them directions: meet me in Galilee!

And the reason he tells them that he knows that they are going to fall away is to give them courage when they do it. Jesus sees it coming, and doesn’t hate them for it. Which is why the part we just skipped, Jesus instituting the Lord’s supper, is so amazing. Jesus knows that he is going to be betrayed and still he offers a way to be redeemed and forgiven!!

Jesus Reveals The Meaning of Passover - vv.22–26

The disciples were eating The Passover meal. The passover meal contained four primary elements: wine, bread, bitter herbs (which were often dipped, with bread, in vinegar, or a fruit paste), and roasted lamb, the passover sacrifice. Interestingly, all four gospel accounts mention this scene, and they all mention bread and wine and dipping (which implies the herbs), but there is one part of the meal that is not mentioned in any of them. Have you caught it yet? The lamb. The passover lamb. Jesus himself is that passover lamb, and it is his blood that we must be covered with.

The disciples would have been expecting a particular set of words at the passover meal. They had a script that was followed. Those of you with Lutheran background like myself might remember the green book with all the words in it. Other denominations have similar scripts, liturgies, that are read. Its like that here. But Jesus doesn’t give the familiar words that explain how the bread and wine and herbs and lamb remind them of the Exodus and how God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. Jesus gives them a new script. A new liturgy, a new interpretation of the passover. The bread is Jesus’s body, He offers himself to all who come to him in faith. The wine, is a new covenant, a new promise, secured by Jesus blood, which will be shed in a few short hours, in payment for their sin. No longer will the sins of God’s people be covered by the blood of a sacrificial lamb, they will be washed clean for ever by the blood of the final sacrifice, Jesus the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And that forgiveness can be had by any denier or betrayer!

Romans 5:6–11 (ESV)
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

In our passage today, Jesus has mentioned his betrayal, his death, and his resurrection. But there is one more piece of the story that Jesus reveals. And he’s saving the best for last.

Jesus also mentions that after this passover meal, he will no longer drink the fruit of the vine until the day he drinks it “new in the kingdom of God” - he is referencing Old Testament prophetic imagery like in Isaiah 25, which looks forward to the Kingdom of God, finally come in its fullness when Jesus returns to right every wrong.

On that day, this is how it will be. (There will be steak in heaven!)

Isaiah 25:6–9 (CSB)
6 On this mountain,
the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat,
a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.
7 On this mountain he will swallow up the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations.
8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all,
the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God;
we have waited for him, and he has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

What We Learn

Let’s reflect on what today’s passage shows us about our God.

1. Jesus is in control—even in chaos…

Jesus isn’t reacting—he’s orchestrating. He prepared the place. He knew the plan. He knew his betrayer. He knew they would deny and leave. He quoted Zechariah before it happened. That means in your life, when things feel like they’re unraveling, they’re not outside his hands. God is in control, you can trust his sovereignty in your story.

2. Jesus knows your failures—and still offers you a place at the table!

He knows what’s in you. Your pride, your fear, your hidden sins. But even knowing that, he still passes the bread and pours the cup. He still goes to the cross. He still calls you to follow him. Bring your failure to him—he’s not surprised, and he offers grace.

3. Jesus is the Passover Lamb—trust in his finished work.

The blood of lambs covered sin temporarily. The blood of Christ washes it away forever. You don’t have to try harder to be worthy. Trust in the sacrifice that is worthy. Rest in the righteousness that is given, not earned.

4. Jesus will return - and we will feast with him forever!

A kingdom is coming. And there will be a feast that the Last Supper only hints at. A day when every betrayal is undone, every denial is forgiven, every tear is wiped away, and death is swallowed up.

In this passage, Jesus sits at a table surrounded by weak, confused, fearful followers.

He knows one of them is going to sell him out for silver.
He knows the rest will scatter like sheep when the pressure hits.
He knows Peter will deny him with cursing, not once, but three times.
And still—He breaks the bread.
He pours the wine.
He offers himself.

He is not surprised by our sin. He sees it. He names it. And then he goes to the cross to die for it. And in so doing, secures a place in the new kingdom for all who come to him in faith for forgiveness.