Today, we return to our study of Mark 14. The setting was Thursday night in the upper room where the Lord Jesus was celebrating the last Passover with His disciples. It was the day before He was to be crucified. In that day, when they ate a meal with others, they reclined on one elbow and laid on their side at a table that had three sides. They laid diagonal from the center of the table with their feet toward the side and the back. For 1,500 years, since the Exodus, the Passover had been celebrated at that time of year, by the Jews, without a break. This would be the last Passover, because the Lord Jesus would fulfill all the righteous requirements of the Law. This final Passover marked the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New.
In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 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.'"
Somewhere in the middle of the Passover meal, the Lord Jesus made this prediction. As predicted in Psalm 55, the Lord Jesus was about to be betrayed by one of His own disciples who was at the table with Him in the upper room.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, 'Surely you don’t mean me?'"
Saddened at the idea, each disciple asked the Lord the obvious question. The word translated "saddened" means to be distressed, sorrowful, profoundly pained. One by one, each of them agonized. They knew their hearts. They knew they were capable of doing such a thing.
Knowing that His betrayer was Judas, the Lord Jesus allowed each of the disciples to wrestle with the possibility because it could have been any of them. It is in all of our hearts to betray the Lord. He was probing their hearts for their benefit. In so doing, the Lord Jesus made them aware of their total depravity apart from His involvement in their lives.
This reminds me of the song, In the Light, written by Charlie Peacock and performed by DC Talk. They sang, "This disease of self runs through my blood, it's a cancer fatal to my soul. Every attempt on my behalf has failed to bring this sickness under control." We all are fully aware that we are potential Judas'.
In v.20-21 of today's passage we read, 20 "It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 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."
I find it very instructive when I consider the responses of the twelve disciples. A study of Matthew 26 enables us to see this. Every one of the disciples responded with, "Is it I?" The 11 responded with, "Is it I, Lord?," whereas Judas responded with, "Is it I, Rabbi?" It is never recorded in the Gospels that Judas ever one time referred to the Lord Jesus as "Lord." For the 11, they existed for the Lord. For Judas, the Lord existed for him.
Judas, like anyone who rejects God's free gift of salvation, made his own choice that night. It appears that he acted on greed, but he received so little, 30 pieces of silver, about $200 in today's currency. Everything Judas did that night fit into God’s plan. And, Judas played a crucial role in the death of Christ, but, God is not to be blamed.
The word translated "woe" in v.21 means cursed and damned to hell. Sadly, Judas, hanged himself, the rope broke, and his bowels were exploded on the rocks below, and he was thrown into the dump, the trash heap outside Jerusalem, and worse, into the eternal lake of fire.
There is no stronger statement in Scripture on human responsibility than this statement the Lord made concerning Judas: "It would be better for him if he had not been born." That is the strongest statement in Scripture on human responsibility. Better never born than damned forever. The most severe punishment of hell is for those who knew the most about Christ and yet rejected Him.
But, it does not have to be that way.
In John 3:16-21 we read, "16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God."
