Care for the poor. - Mark 14:7
Jesus made it clear both here and elsewhere (Mark 10:21; Luke 6:20, 21; 7:22; 12:33; 14:13; 16:14) that care for the poor was important. Here he also makes it clear that no amount of charity will eradicate poverty until Christ returns.
Annointed - Mark 14:8
Jesus knew his death was coming soon and interpreted the woman's act of devotion as unknowingly she
annointed him for his burial.
Judas - Mark 14:11
The
chief priests promised to give Judas money. Matt. 26:15 mentions that the amount was 30 silver coins. That probably was much less than the cost of the perfume that he had complained about.
The Passover Meal - Mark 14:12-26
The Last Supper. After three years of eating together Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples. He continued to prepare them for the days ahead when he would no longer be with them.
Preparation for the Meal - Mark 14:12
The
Passover commemorated the delivery of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Jesus used that moment to institute the Lord's Supper as the commemoration of Jesus' delivering his people from the slavery of sin.
A man bearing a pitcher - Mark 14:13-15
A
man bearing a
pitcher of water would have been unusual. Normally that would have been the work of a woman. Some have suggested that Jesus knew this through his divine omniscience. More likely it was a prearranged signal. Jesus took precautions to avoid arrest until the moment of his choice. Note that the disciples didn't even need to mention Jesus' name and that the room was
ready for them (vv. 14, 15). Jesus and the disciples had been spending the evenings that week in Bethany. It is doubtful that they all found accommodations in any one home. To eat the Passover meal together they needed a
large room.
Lying Down - Mark 14:18- 20
Lying down on a couch was the typical way to eat a meal. The guests would lean on their elbow with their heads near the low table and their feet extended toward the walls of the room. Jesus already had told them that he would be betrayed (9:31; 10:33). Jesus' announcement that one of their own small group would
betray him surprised and the disciples were
sorrowful.
Dipping bread or meat into a common
bowl of broth or sauce was typical of an ancient meal.
Betrayal by a friend - Mark 14:21
It is difficult to decide if Jesus' words,
scripture says refers to the general theme of the suffering messiah (as in 9:12), or more specifically to his betrayal by a friend (Ps. 41:9).
Bread - Mark 14:22
At some point in the Passover meal Jesus referred to the
bread that he
broke as,
my body. The broken bread would become a remembrance of Jesus' body that was sacrificed in death for his people.
Blood of the Covenant - Mark 14:23-24
Similarly the wine of the feast was the
blood of the
covenant. These words alluded to the blood of the Passover lamb that had been spread on the doors of the Israelites and protected them from God's judgment on the Egyptians (Exod. 12:7-13; 24:8). The connection of Jesus' sacrificial death with the imagery of Passover and Mark's use of the word
covenant stress the unity of God's saving provision throughout the history of his redeeming work. Jesus seems to have taken the phrase
blood of the covenant from Exod. 24:6-8. God did not spend history looking for new and different ways to save his people. Jesus' death had been at the center of it from the very beginning. The Passover and all the other Old Testament displays of God's saving grace were pointers to the greater reality of Jesus' sacrifice.
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