Day 36 – Jesus gives his body (even for a betrayer)
Mark 14:12-26
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So, they prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Liz Nixon writes:
Betrayal is a popular theme within many movies! I watch a film and know that the common formula is for the bad guy to masquerade as a good guy! But when the bad guy, the traitor, is revealed towards the end of the film, I end up feeling a sense of personal betrayal that the person who's been on the scene, appearing as a good guy wanting to help out, has actually been hatching a secret plan for evil! He was not who I thought he was and it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Filmmakers love to play on our emotions, to get us emotionally invested in the characters so that we carry on watching, and a shocking twist creates drama from the whiplash of having the truth suddenly revealed!
The religious leaders have had enough of Jesus and have been looking for ways to kill us. It's shocking because they are religious men - you wouldn’t expect them to stoop to the level of murderous acts. But in this passage, Jesus reveals an even bigger plot twist - one of His own disciples, one of the 12 men who have been with Him through the highs and the lows will betray Him. How shocked must the disciples have been? Jesus has been talking about His imminent death for a while. I'm not sure they really took it in and believed Him, but this latest revelation caused them great pain. Verse 19 says they were deeply grieved, heavy with sorrow at the news that one of Jesus' own friends would betray Him. Jesus suffered much physical pain and sorrow in the last week of life, but I can imagine that the pain of betrayal from a much loved friend would have cut the deepest.
You may have experienced betrayal yourself, and that wound may go deep. Betrayal is painful because it involves someone with whom you had a relationship. Give your pain to Jesus - He knows betrayal. He knows what it feels like. And He will bring something good out of it.