Mark 14:19-31 comments: Is it I?

19  And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? 20  And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 21  The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

 

Jesus refers to the prophecies such as Isaiah 53 that talk of the Messiah’s suffering and death and then shows that the person who will be responsible for making it happen would have been better never to have been born.

 

See Matthew 26:22-24.

 

Judas has agreed and consented to being used to fulfill this prophecy. We choose whom we will serve but we have no control over what happens like we think we do. Once you have chosen evil and sin, it will consume you.

 

How is that the other disciples don’t know if they are the traitor?  

 

22  And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 23  And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

 

The two Alexandrian manuscripts remove “Jesus” and “eat” from this verse.

 

Including Judas. So much for closed communion.

 

Psalm 41:9  Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

 

24  And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

25  Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

 

By erasing “new” from verse 24 the two Alexandrian manuscripts and the modern Bibles they support blur the distinction between the Old and the New Testaments thereby inviting in the legalism and confused doctrine.

 

Jesus did not say that the bread becomes His body or that the wine became His blood. He said it was His body and blood. He is making an allegorical reference. The wine and bread are in type, His blood and body. They represent His blood and His body. Don’t get confused.

“New wine” can be understood here.

 

Isaiah 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

 

It is freshly squeezed from the grapes. Here is the “wine of the condemned”.

 

Amos 2:8  And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

 

Micah 2:11  If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

 

26  And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

 

I am imagining that these will be from the Psalms, this hymn He is singing with His disciples.

 

27  And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

 

The two Alexandrian manuscripts delete “because of me this night.”

 

Zechariah 13:7  Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

 

28  But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. 29  But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.

 

Jesus tells them right up front that He will rise from the dead but Peter isn’t listening to that. He’s still back on the “offended” part.

 

Peter was sincere but, like me, and everyone else, found it impossible to live up to his words. It is easier to become a martyr in one blaze of glory than it would be to live for Christ day to day, rejecting sin, or to be tortured continually. Richard Wurmbrand, the Pastor who founded Voice of the Martyrs, was tortured by the communist regimes in Eastern Europe for well over a decade.

 

We dream that we are always the hero but in our day to day lives we fail Christ continually. Christ knows this. That is why we can only have hope by depending upon Christ’s righteousness, not our own.

 

30  And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31  But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

 

One of the most dedicated Pastor’s I have ever met is a sadist when it comes to women without husbands in his congregation. His son is even worse. I have repeatedly made promises to God about what I would and wouldn’t do and have failed repeatedly because of the weakness of my flesh. Everywhere around us are examples of people who at one time made a bold promise before God and, at some point, denied Christ with their behavior. There was a famous preacher in Jacksonville, Florida who was found to have a sexual perversion abusing children he had practiced for years. Christians fail Christ, and thereby deny Him by their actions every day.

 

Jesus knows the shallowness of our promises when we say them.