Project 119: Mark 14:12-21
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
I have to admit that I can be sentimental; certain dates often stick out to me. I’ve looked back on 2017 with joy as I prepare for marriage: my first date with my fiancé, Matt, happened on February 7, a month before my thirtieth birthday. Matt proposed on October 28 (his grandparents’ wedding anniversary), and we’ll get married six months from that day (on April 28, 2018). I like to think that these dates aren’t just arbitrary; rather, they’ve been specifically appointed by the Lord.
As we continue our readings for Holy Week, I can’t help but notice how our dates for Easter are intertwined with the dates for Passover. Passover was the observance of the Lord’s deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt. It commemorated the night that God’s people were spared from death by the blood of the lamb marking their door frames. Each spring, the Israelites would journey to Jerusalem to observe Passover, remembering what God had done for their ancestors in Egypt.
It wasn’t a coincidence that, right before Christ was crucified, He celebrated the Passover with His disciples. Everything, down to the date of Christ’s crucifixion, has been ordained by the hand of God. Even the way that the room is provided seems mysterious–while it’s possible that Jesus could have arranged this room earlier with other friends in the city, it seems to me like God’s divine fingerprints are all over everything about this dinner (Mark 14:12-16). There’s even fulfillment of a psalm (Psalm 41:9) as Judas and Jesus both dip their bread into the dish. What’s more, as we read about Judas’s betrayal, notice the phrasing Christ chooses to use: “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him” (Mark 14:21). For God, there was never a Plan B. The cross was always the only plan. The Old Testament prophets foretold His death, and every part of this Passover meal was pointing forward to the next fateful day, when the true Passover Lamb would be slaughtered, once and for all, for the sins of mankind–past, present, and future.
And yet we see that Judas is no puppet with his hands tied behind his back, unable to keep himself from such treason. Earlier in Mark 14, we saw Judas turn on Jesus and go to the chief priests to betray Him (Mark 14:10). Jesus confirms the role of human responsibility here with the end of verse 21: “but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!” God’s plan, before the beginning of time, was that Christ would die on that cross that day. And yet Judas would still be held responsible for his actions. Does God work in the midst of our human fallenness and sin? Absolutely! Does He faithfully forgives those who confess their sin (1 John 1:9) and desire that we repent and turn from evil? Of course! But often we must still face the consequences of our sin. God’s heart desires that we would choose good and not evil, and yet He still works in the midst of our broken choices. We hold both of these truths in tension—the sovereignty of God and our own human responsibility.
Lord, we believe that You are in control over every aspect of our lives! We also believe that You desire that we choose good over evil. Help us to trust in Your divine plan and to yield control of our lives to You, believing that You know best for us. When we are tempted, give us the grace to flee from sin and to run to You.
Mark 14:12-21 (ESV):
12 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?” 13 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, 14 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?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 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.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 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.”