Handling Judas (Part A)

It is the Passover.

Their day went from sundown to sundown. I do not believe in a Friday crucifixion. I believe in a Thursday crucifixion. Jesus said it's three days and three nights.

There's a lot of evidence. I don't want to go into it right now, but suffice it to say that I believe this is now our Wednesday evening, which is now their beginning of Thursday because they go from Sunday to Sunday. We go from sundown to sundown and that's where we are and this starts the Passover. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover? And he sent out two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

Follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared.

There make ready for us. So his disciples went out and came into the city and found it just as he had said to them. And they prepared the Passover.

In the evening, he came with the 12. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me. And they began to be sorrowful and say to him, one by one, is it I? And another said, is it I?

And he answered and said to them, it is one of the 12 who dips with me in the dish. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had never been born. Handling Judas. That's this morning's title. And I think it's a very exciting passage. There are some gems in here that we would miss. Handling Judas by Jesus, incidentally.

And again, some really hidden truths in here that hopefully I can bring them out. Because the enemies of Christ, they always think that they're in control. This has been the case since he walked the earth. They are in control of their choices.

That much is sure. If they choose to side with evil, then that is their decision. In less than 20 hours from this 12th verse, Jesus will be crucified. His remaining hours are spent with his 12 disciples.

Well, then it will be down to 11. Mostly in this upper room in Jerusalem. And he conceals on purpose the location of this room as he does conceal the identity of his betrayer. And he will, of course, let that develop and they will find out who this traitor is.

And he does this for very good reason. So let's look at verse 12 now. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover? Speaking of killing the Passover, when they say when they killed the Passover lamb, well, if we look back at verses 10 and 11, then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. So they sought how they might conveniently betray him. And that is, of course, to kill him. They did not see him as God's Passover lamb.

That is who he is. And so Mark is not incidentally saying that the sacrifices were taking place at this very moment here in verse 12, where he says now on the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, he's not saying that killing the Passover lamb as they're meeting. That will come actually the next day. But it is the Passover. Their day went from sundown to sundown. I do not believe in a Friday crucifixion. I believe in a Thursday crucifixion. Jesus said it's three days and three nights.

There's a lot of evidence. I don't want to go into it right now, but suffice it to say that I believe this is now our Wednesday evening, which is now their beginning of Thursday, because they go from sundown to sundown, and that's where we are. And this starts the Passover. So again, within 24 hours would be our Thursday evening when the sacrifices would be completed by the Jews.

But the sacrifices of the Passover have not yet, the priests have not yet started to slaughter them. Every meal that day was a Passover meal, once the sun went down and Thursday was in effect. For us, breakfast is a Christmas breakfast on Christmas Day.

Every meal on Christmas Day is a Christmas meal, and so it is with the Passover. There were other meals. The people did not starve all day.

They did eat, and this is what they're going to have in a little bit. And I'll give you a few scripture verses to support this. John's Gospel, chapter 13, verse 29. For some thought, because Judas had the money box that Jesus had said to him, buy those things we need for the feast. Well, I thought they were at the feast.

I thought everything was prepared. Well, that's because it's not the Passover meal. It is a Passover meal. Again, John 18, verse 28. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.

So there's Jesus. He's arrested, and they still haven't eaten the Passover. So you understand why this reference to the Passover meal is not the one where they take the lamb that was indicative of the lamb that was slaughtered in the days of Moses while they were in Egypt, whose blood they put on the threshold of the door.

Where do you want us to go prepare that you may eat the Passover? They don't know where the place is, and he doesn't give them an address. He gives them indications of what to look for, what they can expect. And the reason why he is doing this is because he does not want Judas Iscariot to know where this upper room is going to be, where they're going to meet, because he knows that if Judas finds out, Judas will have him arrested there. And that's not how he's going to let it happen. Verse 13, and he sent out two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

Follow him. So there's the, he's concealing it. They have to go there, and he's keeping an eye on Judas.

He's not sending Judas. And they're going to see a man carrying a pitcher of water, which was extremely rare. In those days, the women carried pitchers of water. If a man wanted to carry water, he would use a wine skin or a water skin, but he typically would not do that. So this man is going to be outstanding to them, and when they see it, they'll know immediately. Well, how often do you see that? That's the guy the Lord was talking about.

So they'll have no difficulty spotting him. Verse 14, wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? This is going to be the last acceptable Jewish Passover ever. Once Christ is crucified, the Passover of the Jewish people is now obsolete, and which is why Paul writes the letter to the Hebrews. He stopped going down to the temple. You have an offering in Christ. He is our Passover, and to go and still pretend that you have to offer animal blood sacrifices when the Son of God has offered himself a sacrifice is to trample the blood of Christ, and there remains no forgiveness for you after that.

And it's a very serious business. These disciples, evidently following the servant, the man with the pitcher is the servant who leads them to the owner, the master of the house, who will then take them upstairs where everything is ready. Verse 15 now, then they will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared, and there make ready for us. There would be the couches and the cushions, the low table furniture there.

For 13 men, this was arranged for. They're not sitting at tables like we sit at tables, and chairs like we sit in chairs. They are going to be largely in a prone position, dining and reclining, which is why we read of John leaning back on the chest, the bosom of the Lord, because they were in that position, whereas the guy next to you is on his right elbow, and you're on your right elbow, and you lean back, well, his chest is going to be there. All that Jesus needed was provided by friends throughout his ministry, and he just lived in such a way. He just trusted God and was who he was, and that is an example for us. Someone loaned him once a boat to preach from, and he did just that. He preached from the boat. Another loaned him a donkey to enter into Jerusalem as the king in fulfillment of the prophecies, especially from Zechariah. Someone loaned him this evening a large upper room to dine in, and someone is going to loan him an empty grave for a few days.

That's all he'll need. And so here in the upper room, the Lord is now going to pour out his love. John 13 gives us details about the initial phases of their entry into this upper room.

He's 13 men. John chapter 13, verse 1, now before the feast of the Passover, when you see it there, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, and that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And that's the big part of that 13th chapter. He loved them to the end. It does not say he loved only them to the end. He loves us just as much.

The love does not fade. John 13 again, verses 3 and 4, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself, and there we know he washed the disciples' feet. Mary, a few days earlier in Bethany, had a fragrant spikenard oil that she broke and anointed his feet, and that fragrance from the spikenard filled the room.

It was her expression of love. But his love for his own, loving them to the end, is filling the room with the fragrance of his love. In this atmosphere of love, he is teaching them servanthood. So it's a critical part when we're told he washes the disciples' feet. You know, Peter, of course, resisted, no way am I going to let my master wash me the servants' feet. And Christ said, if I don't wash you, you have nothing with me. But if I wash you, you will be clean. And Peter says, pour it all over me. He's absolute surrender. But he loved them to the end.

In that environment, he taught them humility and servanthood. And we miss that today. We miss that.

I've missed it over the years. You get upset with someone whom the devil has tripped up. But if we remember that God loves them and that it is the devil tripping them up, then we're not so ready to be resentful and bitter. It takes, it shaves off the carnality of what's going on in this world.

Because we're supposed to live not as though we figured it out, but that it has been revealed to us what is going on. So the Lamb of God reminded them of the blood that would be on the doorpost there when they were in Egypt. And this is what this Passover was all about. Here he is, this great servant that loves his people, is saying, God loves you so much, he is going to be the, his son is going to be the Lamb of God. It is in this atmosphere of love that he taught servanthood and gave us the communion table.

It came from this room at this very time. He washes their feet and then he will institute what we call communion. And there while dining together, Judas Iscariot would be released to betray him.

He's going to wash the feet of Judas too. The greatest teachings on the Holy Spirit took place in this upper room. John chapter 14 through 17 is, well 17 is the Lord's prayer which took place in this room also. But the teachings on the Holy Spirit are just unmatched in the scripture, the details given by Christ himself to us.

I'll not leave you orphans. And in this room, he did sing his last song while on earth. We'll get that in a few sessions later. In verse 14 it says, so that his disciples went out and came into the city and found it just as he said to them and they prepared the Passover, which was a process again that would be into the next evening. His directions, incidentally, are similar to those given in Mark 11 when he sent them to find the, to get the donkey that he was going to ride into Jerusalem on. But back to this Passover, the Jewish Passover at this time. It consisted of the roasted lamb, the flatbread, bread without leaven, and bitter herbs. The lamb was to remind the people in every generation about the blood applied to the doorposts while they lived in Egypt as slaves, that God was delivering them, and that blood would be the indication to the angel of death that these were God's people.

And this is still the way it is. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sins. And judgment is removed from us as sinners because of our faith. God says, listen, I know you're sinners by nature in this life. You're going to sin. You're born in iniquity. As cute as you might be when you're born, you are born a sinner.

But you can be born again so that when you carry out those sins, the judgment will be passed over you because of the Lamb of God. The bread reminded the people of the haste made to get out of slavery, to get out of Egypt. And it is to remind the believer of the haste to turn away from the old life, to turn to Christ. They didn't have time for the bread to rise.

They had to get out of there. This was an urgent matter to God. Salvation is a bloody matter, it is an urgent matter, and there is bitterness connected with the whole affair.

And so the bitter herbs, which spoke of the sufferings that they endured while slaves in Egypt, a reminder for us. It speaks about our bitterness experience when we were slaves of Satan. And this is what God has delivered us to. So Jesus talks about joy, which we have to fight for in this life.

He says, and he'll say it in this upper room, we won't get it here in Mark, but it's in John, in the world you're going to have tribulation. You're going to have hard times, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Well, that be of good cheer part.

Maybe it comes easy to one of you, I doubt it. It may at times, but overall it's a long, hard haul. And if you're serving the Lord, there are going to be things that are going to attack that cheer, and that is Satan. And we learn this, and we learn not to give it up to him, but to fight to retain it. And this is one reason why Christians love singing to the Lord.

It gives you a pit stop sort of thing to get, you know, sort of shut out everything else and sing to the one whom you believe in. Now centuries later, the Jews bloated this simple ceremony from God. The lamb, the bread, the herbs. But they've added to it napkins and eggs and going outside. This is not from God.

This is something the Jews put into it. And in fact, there were not even napkins in though. They didn't use napkins. They wiped their hands on their bread or they licked their fingers.

Then they wiped their hands on their bread, and then they ate the bread sometimes. So, but this is what I, you know, I know Christians mean well when they have these rabbis come and teach on the cedar. It means nothing to us. They miss the Messiah. We have the Christ.

We don't need to find out what the egg means and Elijah's down the block or something looking for him. I know, I don't want to be too hard because I know some of you have probably attended churches where they did these things and you were so impressed. But they really have nothing to do with us at all.

And if the Jews had just retained the simplicity of it, maybe they would see the Messiah fulfilling these emblems that are given to us. Well, no hate mail on that, please. I'll read it and then I'll say, God, can you get them?

Because I'm special to you and they're not. It really doesn't work that way. Anyway, verse 17. Let me just pause to add a little bit more to that. We don't need to sensationalize our faith. It is sensational.

Just the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a big deal. I mean, there is nowhere on earth like the Church of God. Well, you know, no place like home.

Sure, that's true. And there are believers there in God's work. But when he brings a bunch of believers together and says, get along in love, there's no place like it. And it is a tragedy that so many Christians have a low opinion of the church.

They think the church is their social club, that they can go in and do this. And it's not. It's God's house.

And he has appointed overseers of this house and they will enforce the policies. And this is a good thing, something to embrace. I think when you come to this church, everything's pretty much done for you, except, you know, well, sometimes you're even assisted to sit. You come in, you worship, you fellowship, then you go home if you want.

Well, eventually we're going to send you home or at least out of here. But we've not come here. We've come to worship God.

And it is very powerful. And if it wasn't, Satan wouldn't hate it so much and work so hard to leaven the church, to corrupt the pastors, to weaken them so that the pastors begin to be led by you instead of you being led by the pastor. That is perversion. And there's nothing to boast that you got your will done with the pastor. The pastor should be saying, God, that your will be done, my Father in heaven.

You know the drill. So back to this verse 17. In the evening, he came with the twelve and he's going to only leave with eleven of them. But between verses 17 and the next verse, 18, that's when Jesus will wash their feet. It appears that way. Sometimes hard to figure these things out because the apostles just, you know, it's kind of like if you ever come to church and say, you know, the pastor doesn't stay on point. Sometimes he goes down these little rabbit trails. Well, look at the Gospels.

They did it all the time. And don't stop there. Go back to Genesis and work your way to Revelation.

Revelation doesn't even stay on cue. Because there's so much to say about God. How can you just, you know, outline it?

You can try, but you'll find out the outline. Paul is notorious, notorious for doing what I just did. Talking about one thing. And then goes down this whole two or three chapters more on something else.

And then comes back to it. And if the reader is not careful, you say, I lost the point. Well, verse 18. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, foot washing is over, but surely I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me. That was a bombshell to them and it should not have been. This is not the first time he's brought this up with them. Earlier he warned them on this very thing. He preached a sermon that people didn't like.

We don't have that problem today. John chapter 6. This is after, you know, unless you, you know, eat of my flesh and drink of my blood. And they of course took it literal, which is so dumb. Because if it was literal, he would hold his arm out and say, here, take a bite.

He was spiritualizing his points that they would never forget what he was saying. Because it's pretty intense to say to someone, first of all, who is saying it? Who is qualified to say it?

No angel could say this. He must be God the Son. And so of course he says this, and this is a hard saying, which is another way of saying we don't like your sermons, nor you anymore. Verse 70 of John 6, Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas Iscariot.

So why are they so shocked now? Because of course, whenever Christ spoke of hard things, they kind of like tuned him out. He's going to release Judas to do his wicked work, and it will be at the hour of his choosing. We talked about this last session. The Pharisees did not want Jesus to be betrayed. While the multitudes were in Jerusalem for the Passover feast, they wanted the crowds to die down.

In fact, when the crowds are asleep, that's when they're going to arrest him. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross Reference Radio.