Mark 14

vs 13

Seriously, I need to remember these sorts of instructions for my D&D games. This is so out there.

vs 14

A lot of people call Jesus 'Teacher', so it's likely the man knows who they're talking about. Still, just saying to some guy with a jar of water is pretty risky.

vs 15

Now, whether Jesus had a guy come up to him earlier in the week and say, "Hey, Jesus, I've got the perfect room for you and your disciples to celebrate passover," or whether Jesus is just getting his disciples to talk to a person with the inferred message, "The Lord needs your passover room, find somewhere else to celebrate," it's still cool. I mean, they're not given a name, and they're told only to look for a guy carrying water - and while I would assume that was mostly women's work, who knows, it would only take two men to confuse them.

vs 16

Unsurprising, since Jesus told them so. And so they make preparations for passover as they would normally, having no idea it's going to become the last supper.

vs 17

So it's not even the Twelve that go and prepare - Jesus arrives with them, and the other disciples... leave? Stay? Sounds like the Twelve get pride of place.

vs 18

Too late... Judas already betrayed Jesus. But now he's calling him out on it. Or is he? Could he be talking about Peter?

vs 19

They all deny it, of course, except that since Judas already has, that makes him a liar. Perhaps he rationalised it saying, "Jesus said it in the future tense, and I've already done it, so he can't mean me."

vs 20

That really gives it away, given the Greek triclinium eating practice. It's whoever is sitting next to him.

vs 21

Yeah, I've heard people try and re-interpret this as if it were not a bad thing. Jesus would not say 'Woe' if it were neutral. It's bad.

vs 22

Now this seems a slightly odd thing to say just out of the blue at passover.

vs 23

Apparently, it is a specific cup. I have had the whole "how the Lord's Supper links with Passover meal" thing explained to me, and no doubt if you want a better explanation, you can ask a Jew for Jesus. Sufficed to say, they all do it - even Judas. I wonder if that counts as "drinking judgment on one's self" a la 1 Corinthians?

vs 24

Here Jesus marks this as the sign of a new covenant. He may or may not have said 'new', but it is a new covenant. That's a big deal. It's a revisioning of the agreement, a restatement of the principles. Epic.