The Plot Against Jesus
THE PLOT AGAINST JESUS
LUKE 22:1-13
At festival time, crowds were coming into Jerusalem to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from captivity in Egypt.
Verses 1-6. In this sombre narrative note two points. Judas was “of the number of the twelve.” To be numbered with a group can be of small significance. It is sympathy, love and fellowship which bind a man to his fellows. Judas had long been alien in heart. Betrayal opened a way for a successful attack from without. The church can fall only by betrayal from within, the sabotage of standards, the decay of faith. Judas plays his part in all centuries. And “they were glad” (22:5), for Jewry, gathered in vast hordes round Jerusalem, was a formidable force (see Mark 14:2). The one deterrent had been fear. Injustice, false witness, unutterable cruelty wreaked on the innocent and good, treachery—all these vicious and noxious things were taken in their stride by men who feared for comfort and prestige. God was “sifting out the souls of men before his judgment seat,” and these men were demonstrating the depth of their perdition.
22:7-13. The house thus honored was probably that of Acts 12:12, the home of Mark’s mother, or perhaps of both his parents. If Mark’s father was still alive at this time, his cooperation in the Lord’s plan must have been one of the last deeds of his life. The evening cannot be better spent than in such service. The Lord was aware of Judas’ plotting, and was seeking to conceal the place of the Last Supper for as long as possible. It was easy enough for the faithful two, Peter and John, to distinguish their host among the many pilgrims in the crowded streets, for it was quite unusual for a man to be seen carrying a pitcher of water. Women carried pitchers, men skins.
The room shown today as the “cenaculum” in one ancient corner of Jerusalem is medieval, but could occupy the site. It is a blessed home which entertains Christ and keeps open table for his men. Its young people are the likelier to follow Christ, for it was thus that Peter won Mark. (Motto at Oak Hill College, London: “It became known that he was in the house.”)
Notes 22:1: a colloquial explanation; the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted from 14 to 21 Nisan, and 15 Nisan was the Day of Passover. 22:4: “captains”—the Levitic Captain of the Temple and his force.