Mark 14:12-22 Every Step is Joy: Christ Prepares His Own Death For Us

The Text

Mark 14:12–22 (CSB)
¹² On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?”

¹³ So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

¹⁴ Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’

¹⁵ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.”

¹⁶ So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷ When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve.

¹⁸ While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹ They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰ He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me.

²¹ For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”

²² As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.”

The Devotion

If the people were not actors, then the stage was set in a real historical places. The location of Jesus' birth was prophesied in Micah:

Micah 5:2 (CSB) Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.

While the location of Jesus' death was not prophesied, his assassination and betrayal were certainly prophesied:

Psalm 31:13 (CSB) I have heard the gossip of many; terror is on every side. When they conspired against me, they plotted to take my life.

Psalm 41:9 (CSB) Even my friend in whom I trusted, one who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me.

Christ himself set the stage for his death. But he did so for celebrating the Passover--which we will all find out that he himself is the Passover Lamb.

He picked the room. He picked the table. His disciples gathered the food for the feast. Jesus announces his betrayal. But then Jesus announces the breaking of his body.

²² As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.”

The disciples did not know it yet. But Christ must die so that they can live. And it was not going to be a simple death.

Every step that Christ took towards the cross was in complete joy and satisfaction because every step he took was one step closer to completely, satisfactorily, perfectly, definitely, absolutely, forever "save his people from their sins."