Mark 14:16-26 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.

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

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

26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

What Is The “Feast Of The Passover?”

The Feast of the Passover was an annual celebration held in Israel, a celebration commanded by God. It commemorated the night that God “passed over” Egypt, looking for the Blood of the Lamb. The Israelis were to take, “on the tenth day of the month, a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year. The lamb was to be kept until the 14^th day of the month, when it was then killed. The Blood of the Lamb was to be put on the sidepost and upper door post of the home. The lamb was to be roasted with fire, eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs” (see Exodus 12:1-10). God told Israel:

Exodus 12:12-14 I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

God did exactly as He promised He would do. He “passed over” Egypt, looking for the Blood of the Lamb.

Where God found the Blood of the Lamb, God did not execute judgment, but mercy.

The Passover commemorated the judgment of God on sin. The Passover celebrated the mercy of God to sinners. The Passover was also a foreshadowing of what God would one day do in Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he saw the Passover. He said:

John 1:29 … Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (also vvs 36)

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 … Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: 8 therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The Passover lamb was pierced, and it’s blood drained.
Jesus was pierced on the Cross, His Blood shed.
The Blood of the Passover was put on the doorway of the home.
The Blood of Christ is applied to the heart of the person.
The Passover Lamb was mounted on a stick, roasted on fire.
Jesus was mounted on the Cross, roasted by God’s judgment on sin.
The Passover lamb was eaten fully – (Exodus 12:10).
Jesus Christ is to be received fully, both Lord & Savior.

Jesus said:

John 6:53-58 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

There are many who want Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord. They say, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it” (John 6:60). They walk away from Jesus.

John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Jesus as the Lamb of God, “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). But Jesus is also Lord of His people. “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever” (Revelation 5:13; 6:16; 7:10). See His Throne! “For the Lamb which is IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONE shall feed them; and lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). Jesus is both Lamb and Lord. He must be received AS HE IS, or not at all.

The Lord Prepares To Become The Lamb,
While Judas Prepares To Betray The Lamb

Every one of the Gospels tell us more about Jesus’ final preparations to fulfill His duty as the Lamb of God. For instance, John tells us:

John 13:1-5 …. before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Jesus wanted His disciples to remember that Love is the mark of His Kingdom. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, a job that only a servant would do. Jesus modeled the love that He wants us to have. We are a people SAVED TO SERVE. We are to GO OUTSIDE OUR COMFORT ZONE, and love. Jesus said:

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

You must HAVE love. Not RECEIVE love, but HAVE love. Jesus modeled how to HAVE love. Jesus also began to expose what FALSE LOVE LOOKS LIKE.

Six days before the Feast of the Passover

… Mary took “a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair” (John 12:3). This is Christlike love. This is what God through Christ saves us to do. Not to be served, but to serve one another, just as Christ serves us. The King in the Kingdom of God is not ME, but Christ. When John F. Kennedy was inaugurated to be our 35^th President (January 20^th, 1961 … I was 3 years old!), part of his speech had the famous line,

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”

Selfishness and a “me first” attitude has, in the last 20 or so years, taken over our country. God the Son is calling a people to HIS Kingdom, not to OUR kingdom.

In stark contrast to what Mary did to Jesus, Judas Iscariot stood on the outside looking in, complaining …

John 12:5-6 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

Jesus gently rebuked Judas for his murmuring and selfishness. What was his response? The Bible says:

Matthew 26:14-16 … Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Jesus knew the state of Judas’ heart. When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, – Judas included – our Lord said:

John 13:10 … ye are clean, but not all. 11 For {Jesus} knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

Jesus told His disciples:

John 13:15-18 I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. 18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, {Jesus now quotes Psalm 41:9} “He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me”.

Happiness is what our Savior and Lord wants for us. We will only have this when we emulate Jesus, not Judas.

Jesus “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of NO REPUTATION, and TOOK UPON HIMSELF the form of a SERVANT, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7). Judas, on the other hand, chose to serve not God but money. In Luke 16:13 Jesus said “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. Jesus knew who Judas was. He knew from the beginning. He said:

John 6:70-71 … Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

In Grace, Jesus calls Judas. Will he repent? Will he turn to God? No, Judas had a god. He had himself.

Jesus goes to the Cross, He once more wants to show us what love is. He wants to show us His love for us.

Judas Iscariot Must Leave The Room

I have not forgotten our focal text, but had to go to the other Gospels to give you the background. Now we return to our focal text. Jesus and the disciples – all twelve – are celebrating the Passover meal. Then Jesus drops a bombshell on the little group. Jesus exposes evil at the table. We read:

Mark 14:18-21 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. 19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? 20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 21 The 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.

When Jesus declared that one of those at the table with Him would betray Him, several disciples started to ask, “Is it I?” We at the Table should “examine ourselves, whether we are walking by faith or not” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Am I in Jesus, or am I in Judas? The Gospel of John gives us another view of the Table. When the eleven asked “Is it I, Lord?”, Jesus tells them:

John 13:26-30 He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

It was normally a great honor – like a modern “toast” – to be given the sop. It is not an honor today. It is a sign, a trigger.

Judas must leave the Table. Jesus is going to give us another example of love, a perpetual Feast that will replace the Feast of the Passover.

Beloved, Judas Must Leave The Table

In a moment we will celebrate “the Lord’s Table” (1 Corinthians 10:21), also called “Communion” (1 Corinthians 10:16), and “The Lord’s Supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20). Before we celebrate, Judas must leave the Table. I tell you, dear ones, a lost person who partakes of the Bread and the Cup will eat a cracker and drink an unsatisfying amount of grape juice. If you come to the Table lost, you will leave the Table lost. You who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior are welcomed to partake, but it will mean nothing to you. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is IN YOU, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). I am not your judge, nor am I called to be. But Judas must leave the Table. Judas will not understand nor enjoy the Table. Come to Jesus if you do not know Him as Lord and Savior. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus said,

John 10:10 … I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

If you but confess with your heart that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You need to leave Judas and come to Jesus. Judas must leave the Table.

And CHRISTIAN. If you have examined yourselves, if you are in the faith, have you active sin in your life. Jesus said to us who believe:

John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Do you have sin in your life? JUDAS MUST LEAVE THE TABLE. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 11:28-32 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Confess your sins unto God. Not to a Priest, for YOU are Priests, YOU are Kings and Priests unto God because of Christ (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). Jesus Christ is your HIGH PRIEST (Hebrews 2:17). Confess your sins unto God. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Judas must leave the Table. He must. Now, will our servers come forward as we celebrate the Lord’s Table.

Mark 14:22-26 And as they {the eleven} did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. 24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. 25 Verily 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.

26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen!