Sharing in The Lord or Denying Him?

Mark 14:12-31

Jesus Celebrates the Passover with His Disciples

12 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?"

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. 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?"' 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."

16 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.

17 In the evening He came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."

19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?" And another said, "Is it I?"

20 He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish. 21 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."

Jesus Institutes the Lord's Supper

22 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial

27 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:

I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered.'

28 "But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."

29 Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."
30 Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."

31 But he spoke more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"
And they all said likewise.

The disciples set about preparing for the Passover celebration with the Lord and needed to find a quiet place to gather.  Jesus told them to find a certain man carrying water and follow him.  There they would ask the owner of that house in His name where they could eat the Passover meal with them.  They did not ask if it was possible but where they would eat together to share that meal celebrating deliverance from the wages of sin, death, as in Egypt long ago by the blood of the lamb sacrificed for His chosen people (Exodus 12:27).  The man showed them the upper room of the house already prepared for them as if he knew what was planned by the Master but not communicated or arranged except in a supernatural manner.  They prepared the Passover and then Jesus came with the disciples to that place where they shared in the Lord as their Lamb slain before the foundation of the world for their sin to deliver them as no previous Passover celebration ever could.  Then the Lord dropped the news that one of them was about to betray Him to the religious leaders out to stop Him.  They all were shocked and began asking and wondering who this could be.  Jesus made it clear that the path to the cross was set in stone yet also that the one who betrayed Him would have been better off never to have been born.  He is sovereign but we are still each accountable.  Jesus then related the acts of the traditional Passover meal to the new supper of the Lord which we call communion because we are communing or sharing in the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:16) Himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  The bread now symbolizes the body broken in the suffering of the Lord in place of the slaughtered lamb in Egypt as the destroyer approached, and the wine now represents His blood shed and marking the doorposts of our souls to be set aside for eternal salvation from the penalty of sin which is spiritual death and exclusion from His eternal presence in the New Jerusalem.  His suffering allowed Jesus to take our place of eternal punishment and His blood covers our sin as the sacrifice once and for all, not needing to be repeated every year by a human high priest.  The Passover was therefore transformed into our Lord’s supper of communion with Him as we share in His suffering and death on our behalf (1 Corinthians 5:7).  We will drink that wine of the New and eternal Covenant with Him when He returns into His kingdom and brings us there to be with Him forever!  We then either share in communion with Christ or deny and reject Him as the betraying Judas had done.  Even for those who did not reject Him there was faltering and failure as we see the disciples swearing to never deny the Lord and yet Peter later did so because he was frail as we all are and yet was also forgiven afterwards.  Yes, Jesus had told them ahead of time so they could look back to His sovereign omniscient statement of the Shepherd being struck down and they as the sheep running for the hills in fear.  We are like them also at times in avoiding identifying and sharing in His sufferings (2 Timothy 1:8) because we are weak, but because He is strong we can find forgiveness and grace to carry on and grow in faithfulness and stay behind the Shepherd of our souls (1 Peter 2:25) as He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death and into green pastures (Psalm 23:4, 1-3).  Are we sharing in the Lord or denying Him?  May we therefore learn to faithfully follow Him through our faltering failures as we learn to trust Him more.