Mark 14:17 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 14:17

Comments

As they sit and eat the passover, the shocking news comes. Mark covers it very briefly; Luke says more: ‘But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. ²² And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!’, and they are of course deeply troubled. The disciples were ready to believe it could be any one of them. ‘Is it I?’ Could I be a person, who would so let the Lord down and would do something terrible? Their spiritual state and condition is very good. They are not carried away by self-righteousness. They are people who have learned to search their hearts; they want to be genuine. But Matthew records that Judas uses the same words: ‘Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.’ There was fearful hypocrisy in this question, for Judas knew what he had already agreed with the chief priests, and he had probably got the thirty pieces of silver on his person even then. He has practised hypocrisy for years. He does not want to stand out as different to the other disciples, so he asks the same question that they ask, but the words consume him as he utters them. Perhaps he is also testing the Lord to see if he really knows it is him, but if so he is sailing very close to the wind, playing games with deceit. The same thing happens when he disguises his betrayal in Gethsemane with a kiss. He seems to think he can hide his intention from the Lord.Is it right to notice little things? The others, they say, ‘Lord, is it I?’, but Judas says, ‘Master, is it I?’ The others said, ‘Lord’. He was to them, the Son of God, but Judas says, ‘Rabbi’, translated here, ‘Master’. It appears he can't bring himself to say, ‘Lord’, even in his hypocrisy. He has to say, ‘Rabbi, teacher, is it I?’ Could it possibly be me? And Christ said unto him, Thou hast said.’ Yes, it is you, as you know full well, but the others don't yet pick that up.

Application

It is good for us all to ask ourselves, ‘Will I be unfaithful to him? Will I be silent at times of great opportunity and never utter words of witness? Will I perhaps by wickedness and foolishness fall into immorality? Will I become worldly and discredit the Gospel? Will I be an ignorant believer, never studying, never listening, never deepening, never developing? Will I be swallowed up in pride? Will I be the gossip who hurts and spoils a church? Will it be me?’ We admire those disciples. When they heard, ‘One of you shall betray me’ – and yes, one of them would – the other eleven were ready to say, ‘I know my weaknesses, I hope it won’t be me. Perhaps he means we are going to be tortured. Will I be the one to give way?’ That is what our attitude should be: to call upon the Lord to give us strength and deliver us and keep us faithful and close to himself, and to strive for that. It would have been a sad day, if the eleven had said, as Peter ultimately did say, ‘It would never be me! I am strong. I am spiritual. It would never be me!’ We must never have that attitude, because when we are not dependent upon him and examining our hearts and praying for help, that is exactly when we fall.

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Mark 14:17 Commentary and Bible Study