Lange Commentary - Mark 14:12

Lange Commentary - Mark 14:12 - 14:31

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Lange Commentary - Mark 14:12 - 14:31

(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

2. The Feast of the Passion, and of Victory.—The Paschal Lamb and the discovered Traitor. The Last Supper and the Lord’s Triumph over the Traitor. The Prediction of the Disciples being offended, and of their denying Him. Mar_14:12-31

(Parallels: Mat_26:17-35; Luk_22:7-38; John 13-17)

A. The Disciples’ Passover-thought.—Unguardedness and Foresight; or, the Jewish Custom and Christ’s Spirit. Mar_14:12-16

¹²     And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou mayest eat the pass over? ¹³And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. ¹⁴And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? ¹⁵And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. ¹⁶And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

B. The Lord’s Passover-thought.—The Passover, and the hardened and discovered Traitor in the circle of Disciples. The Lord’s clear perception of the secret designs of the Traitor. Mar_14:17-21

¹⁷And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. ¹⁸And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. ¹⁹And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, is it I? and another said, Is it I? ²⁰And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dip peth with me in the dish. ²¹The 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.

C. The new Passover.—The Lord’s fulness of Love on the night of the Betrayal. Mar_14:22-25

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. ²³And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. ²⁴And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many. ²⁵Verily 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.

D. A new Passover upon a new Night of Terror, and upon the Death of the First-born. Mar_14:26-31

²⁶     And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. ²⁷And 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. ²⁸But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. ²⁹But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. ³⁰And 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. ³¹But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Comp. Matthew and Luke.—The unity of these sections is to be found in the contrast between the disciples’ unprepared state of mind, and the ever clear perception which the Lord had of what lay before Him. Next, we have the opposition between the Passover and the Supper, the great institution of love, and of treachery; finally, the contrast between the faithful care with which the Lord warned the disciples, and their presumptuous self-deception respecting the fact of their own weakness. Peculiarities of Mark:—Exact statement of the day, Mar_14:12, with Luke. He brings forward (what is passed over by Matthew) the sending of the two disciples, but does not name them, as Luke does; and this again is to be traced back to Peter’s modesty, for Peter was one of those sent. The direction of Jesus also,—in Matthew, Go ye ðñὸò ôὸí äåῖíá ,—is given here in a more expanded form, as also in Luke: the description of the man with the water-pitcher, who should meet them at the gate of the city, and the directions which they were to follow. He passes over, in his description of the Passover, the special narrations of Luke and John, and hastens forward with Matthew to the detection of the traitor. The indication of the betrayer has been already given: He who eateth with Me, Mar_14:18. The peculiar ἤñîáíôï again, Mar_14:19. The audacious question of Judas, Is it I? which Matthew introduces, Mark omits, as he has previously omitted his words to the chief priests. In the celebration of the Supper, he agrees, excepting in a few trifling deviations, with Matthew. Peter has, through Mark, directed attention to the fact concerning the cup, “And they all drank of it.” In recording, “Shed for many,” Mark allows, “For the remission of sins,” to fall out. The words concerning the new cup in the kingdom of God he causes to follow the words of the institution of the Supper, as is the case in Matthew, but more briefly expressed. The remark (recorded by John) to the disciples, “Ye cannot follow Me now,” in Mark (and Matthew), runs, “All ye shall be offended because of Me.” Peter’s vow, “I will follow Thee,” as given by John, is extended in Mark, “Although all shall be offended, yet will not I;” shorter than in Matthew. The statement in John, “I will lay down my life for Thy sake,” stands in Mark, “If I should die with Thee,” etc., as in Matthew. The prediction that they would deny Him follows this asseveration in John, but precedes it in Mark and Matthew; in this latter case, the asseveration was, of course, more presumptuous. Mark alone has the more definite signal, “Before the cock crow twice.” The particular features which are introduced by Luke before this transaction, and which bring Peter still more prominently into view, are not related by Mark. He and Matthew present the strongest statement of the occurrence (an affirmation of faithfulness after the declaration of the denial).

Mar_14:13. Two of His disciples.—Peter and John. Comp. Luke.—And there shall meet you.—The description is as mysterious as in the despatching of the disciples to bring the colt. So, again, is the prominence given to the talismanic word åἰðåῖí , to be noticed. Quite groundless is the view of Meyer (rationalizing), that we find in the wonderful manner in which the supper is ordered, as recorded by Mark and Luke, an evidence of the later origin of this account. In this passage Matthew has only hinted at what the other two have explicitly stated. See Matthew.—A man.—It is a very mistaken conclusion, if, from the fact that it was a slave’s employment to carry water (Deu_29:11; Jos_9:21), we conclude this man was a slave.

Mar_14:14. Guest-chamber, ôὸ êáôÜëõìÜ ìïõ .—The reception-room, which is appointed for Me. With the word lodgings, the conception of a separate house is united. Much nearer the idea is, “My quarters.”

Mar_14:15. A large upper room.—The form ἀíÜãáéïí is best supported. Meyer: “In meaning, it is equivalent to ὑðåñῷïí , òִַìִéָä , upper room, place for prayer, and assembling together.” But, we must undoubtedly conceive of the “upper room” as being on the second floor: the Alijah, on the contrary, is a tower-like erection upon the flat house-roof (see 2Ki_4:10; comp. Act_10:9). The learned Winer, too, has no clear idea of the Alijah. Comp. articles, “Houses, Roof.” On the contrary, Gesenius: “ òֲìִéָּä , cubiculum superius, conclave, super tectum domus eminens; ὑðåñῷïí ;” and De Wette, Archäol. p. 146.—Furnished (provided with pillows).—That is, with pillow-beds laid around the table, as the custom of reclining at meals required.

Mar_14:17. With the Twelve.—The two messengers have returned and announced that all is ready.

Mar_14:18. One of you which eateth with Me.—The expression of grief. See Joh_13:18. Reference to Psa_41:10.

Mar_14:20. That dippeth with Me in the dish.—Meyer: “He was one of those lying closest to Jesus, eating, namely, out of the same dish.” Therefore, no very definite description. Yet the Passion meal was not the ordinary eating from a dish. The nead of the family distributed the portions. The case is thus to be conceived: Jesus was about to hand Judas his portion. Now it is a psychological fact, that an evil conscience causes the hand to move with an uneasy motion, even at the moment when one succeeds in showing a hypocritical face full of innocence and calmness. The hand, in opposition to the steady countenance, makes a hypocritically tremulous motion. So, accordingly, does the traitorous hand of Judas, betraying him, hastily extend itself, it would appear, to meet the Lord’s hand, as it is still in the dish, in order with feigned ease to receive the sop. The three statements—He who dippeth with Me in the dish (Matthew, and almost identically Mark); To whom I shall give the sop (John); and, The hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table (Luke),—agree, therefore, as regards the actual state of the case.

Mar_14:24. And He said unto them, This is My blood.—That our Evangelist makes this expression follow the drinking creates no difference between Matthew, and Luke, and Mark. Because Mark, namely, wished to make this the prominent fact, that all the company in rotation drank of the cup, he represents the Lord as speaking these important words while the act of drinking was being performed; from which it is self-evident, that He speaks them while the cup was passing round.

Mar_14:31. Spake the more vehemently.—We understand this not quantitatively,—he made regarding this many additional statements,—but qualitatively, of the increasing force in expressing himself, as the following sentence shows.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See Matthew.

2. As the first Old Testament Passover was celebrated before the actual exemption and deliverance of the Israelites in the Egyptian night of terror, in the believing certainty of their salvation, so was also the New Testament Passover, the Supper, celebrated in the certainty of actual preservation and deliverance, before the outward fact, the death and resurrection of Christ. Exactly thus, in the justification of the individual sinner, does the celebration of his salvation from condemnation precede the completion of his salvation in sanctification.

3. The way and manner in which Jesus unites with the celebration of the Supper the announcement that His disciples should be offended because of Him, and His solicitude for their preservation and restoration, brings before us the relation subsisting between this preservation and that of the first-born in Egypt, for whom atonement had been made. The disciples, too, must the destroying angel pass by. No doubt, because Christ, who is the First-born in an especial sense, presents Himself a sacrifice for them. But this First-born, too, wins back His life from death.

4. Three Passovers: The typical Passover of the typified deliverance; the actual Passover of the real deliverance, finished in principle, pointing to the completion in life; the coming Passover in the kingdom of God, the celebration of the perfected salvation.

5. The detection of Judas, and the announcement of the stumbling of the disciples after the Supper, is a sign that the Supper is appointed to exclude the apostate and the hypocritical, to strengthen, establish, and restore the weak.

6. The celebration of the Supper: 1. The external preparation, and the internal (“One of you”); 2. the celebration itself; 3. the practical improvement (“In this night”).

7. The Lord changes the Passover into the Supper: Christ’s disciples now make with great willingness a Passover out of the Supper, in various ways. A simply ecclesiastical meal of custom; a simply memorial meal; a dogma-teaching meal; a meal falsely alleged to be capable of removing guilt.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See Matthew.—The pious recollection of the disciples, and the holy thought of the Lord (paschal lamb, the Last Supper).—The quiet, hidden friend of Christ in the city of His foes, and the concealed enemy of Christ in the disciple-band.—Both brought to view by Christ.—The Lord’s Supper a celebration of salvation in the confidence of faith: 1. Outwardly, a pre-celebration; 2. inwardly, an after-celebration.—The holy appointment and efficacy of the Supper: 1. Revelation of hearts (acknowledgment of sins, and confession of faith); 2. the affrighting of sinful consciences; 3. the exclusion of the wicked; 4. the celebration of the pardon and the establishment of believers; 5. the determining of the future path; 6. the restoration of the erring.—The self-exaltation with which Peter goes forth after the Supper, is a sign that he had not yet properly understood it.—Peter, before and after the Supper, and during its progress; pointing to a mistaking of the Supper in its symbolic import.—The disciples forget too soon after Judas’ departure how much they have in common with him.—The consciousness of success, with which the Lord looks to the coming season of the perfect reunion of His disciples and Himself, being fully assured that all their temptations and conflicts could not prevent this result.

Hedinger:—At the approach of death, life-endangering perils, and other misfortunes, God’s word and sacrament are the best anointing and refreshment. Happy is he who consecrates his room to Jesus as a household church, or entertains Him oft in His poor members.—If we hazard all to obey God, we shall find it as the Lord hath promised before.—Osiander:—Who serves, believes, and obeys Christ, shall be deceived in nothing.—Canstein:—Whosoever receives the holy Supper aright, receives in it an assurance of the coming eternal glory.—Osiander:—In suffering and trouble look at redemption.—He will not break the bruised reed. So gracious is Jesus, that he promises consolation to, and addresses in the language of promise, even the stumbling disciples.—Hedinger:—He who relies too much on self, is building on sand.—Whosoever in a deliberative assembly introduces anything evil, may easily (in a greater or less degree) bring all the others over to his own side, so that they all express the same views.

Braune:—If amongst His friends there was a secret foe, there were many secret friends amongst His foes.—The traitor proceeds to complete his transgression, and Jesus proceeds to the institution of the sacrament of the Atonement.—Ignatius:—The Supper is a remedy bringing immortal life, an antidote to death.—Mark, who was most intimate with Peter, gives Jesus’ words thus: Before the cock crow twice, thou wilt thrice deny Me. The third part of the night, from twelve to three, was called the cock-crowing: before this should end, Peter would have thrice denied the Lord.

Brieger:—In the Passover, Christ is shadowed forth from every side. According to the law, the paschal lamb must be set apart on the tenth day of the month Nisan. And upon the tenth of this month, upon the so-called Palm Sunday, Christ made His triumphal entry, etc. (Add to this, that Jesus died about the ninth hour, almost the time when the paschal lamb was usually slain; that all the people put Him to death, as every head of a family slew a lamb; that the roasting-spit for the lamb had the form of a cross; that no bone of the lamb should be broken.)—How precious the promise, that He, as the Risen One, should go before them into Galilee! But they have ears for nothing. They regard only that word which charges them so hardly, and so deeply wounds. The Apostles were now occupied so entirely with themselves, that they were unmoved by what was immediately to befall their Lord.—However, if they had not observed the statement that the sword should fall on Him, they could not have had regard to the promise of His resurrection.—Gossner:—Christ can raise the hymn of praise, although He knows His disciples are about to betray Him, etc. We must not be restrained from praising God because of anything.—Bauer:—His body, His blood; that is, receive His life.

Footnotes:

Mar_14:19.— Êáὶ ἄëëïò , ìÞôé ἐãþ ; omitted by B., C., L., Versions, Vulgate, &c.; probably because the words were deemed superfluous, and that the construction was inadmissible. (We suppose åἶò to be supplied with the first ìÞôé ἐãþ .)

Mar_14:20.—The evidence against ἀðïêñéèåßò is quite conclusive; [rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf.]

[Mar_14:20.—Lachmann, after A. and Versions, reads ôὴí ÷åῖñá after åìïῦ .]

[Mar_14:22.—‘O Ἰçóïῦò is wanting in B., D., Versions; bracketed by Lachmann; rejected by Tischendorf.]

Mar_14:22.— ÖÜãåôå must be struck out, on the authority of A., B., C., &c.

Mar_14:24.— Êáéíῆò is wanting in B., C., D., L., &c. Tischendorf rejects it, but it is retained by Lachmann. The uncertainty of the reading even in Matthew excites suspicion, that the Pauline tradition gave rise to it; for “the blood of the testament [covenant]” can mean nothing else than “of the new testament.”

[Mar_14:27.—’ Åí ἐìïὶ ἐí ôῇ íõêôὶ ôáýôῃ . B., C.*, D. want these words. A. has them. Lachmann retains ἐí ἐìïὶ , and brackets ἐí ôῇ íõêôὶ ôáýôῃ .]

[Mar_14:31.—B., D., L., Lachmann, Tischendorf read ἐëÜëåé for ἔëåãå .]

[Mar_14:31.—B., C., D., L. want ìᾶëëïí ; Lachmann, Tischendorf omit it.]