Mark 14:10

14:1-11 Did Christ pour out his soul unto death for us, and shall we think any thing too precious for him? Do we give him the precious ointment of our best affections? Let us love him with all the heart, though it is common for zeal and affection to be misunderstood and blamed; and remember that charity to the poor will not excuse any from particular acts of piety to the Lord Jesus. Christ commended this woman's pious attention to the notice of believers in all ages. Those who honour Christ he will honour. Covetousness was Judas' master lust, and that betrayed him to the sin of betraying his Master; the devil suited his temptation to that, and so conquered him. And see what wicked contrivances many have in their sinful pursuits; but what appears to forward their plans, will prove curses in the end.

Mark 14:10-16 . Judas went unto the chief priests, &c. — Immediately after this reproof, having anger now added to his covetousness. See these verses explained in the notes on Matthew 26:14-19 . There shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water — It was highly seasonable for our Lord to give them this additional proof, both of his knowing all things, and of his influence over the minds of men; follow him — If our Lord meant that the man would be coming out of the city as the disciples were going in, his order implied, that they were to turn back with him, the house whither he was carrying the water being somewhere in the suburbs; but if he meant that the man would meet them at the crossing of a street, or the turning of a corner, they were to go with him perhaps farther into the city. The expression used by Luke, συναντησει υμιν , seems to favour this supposition. Say ye to the good man of the house — To the master of the family; The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber, &c. — Commentators on this passage tell us, from the Talmudists, that in Jerusalem, at the passover, the houses were not to be let, but were of common right for any one to eat the passover in them. He will show you a large upper room furnished — Greek, εστρομενον , stratum, spread, namely, with a carpet; and prepared — Having beds or couches placed to recline on. “The English word,” says Dr. Campbell, “which comes nearest the import of the Greek, is carpeted.

But when this term is used, as here, of a dining-room, it is not meant only of the floor, but of the couches, on which the guests reclined at meals. On these they were wont, for the sake both of neatness and of conveniency, to spread a coverlet or carpet. As this was commonly the last thing they did in dressing the room, it may not improperly be employed to denote the whole.” There make ready for us — There provide the unleavened bread, the lamb, and the bitter herbs, and make all things ready against the time of our coming. Christ does not order one or both of these disciples to return and inform him and the others where they had made this preparation, and to direct them to the house. This was unnecessary; for the same prophetic gift which enabled Jesus to predict these circumstances, would easily guide him to the house; and it is a beautiful modesty in the sacred historian not to notice it. His disciples went forth — After our Lord had given these particular instructions, the two disciples whom he sent went out from thence, came into the city, and found all the circumstances as Jesus had predicted. It is justly observed by Mr. Scott here, that “nothing could be less the object of natural sagacity and foresight than the events here mentioned. Had the two disciples come to the place specified rather sooner or later than they did, the man bearing the pitcher of water would either not have arrived, or would have been gone.

10, 11 . The Compact of Judas with the Chief Priests 10 . And Judas Iscariot ] The words “ to the burying ” must have fallen like the death knell of all his Messianic hopes on the ears of Judas Iscariot, “the only southern Jew among the Twelve,” and this, added to the consciousness that his Master had read the secret of his life ( John 12:6 ), filled his soul with feelings of bitterest mortification and hostility. Three causes, if we may conjecture anything on a subject so full of mystery, would seem to have brought about his present state of mind, and precipitated the course which he now took: (1) avarice; (2) disappointment of his carnal hopes; (3) a withering of internal religion . (i) Avarice . We may believe that his practical and administrative talents caused him to be made the almoner of the Apostles. This constituted at once his opportunity and his trial. He proved unfaithful to his trust, and used the common purse of the brotherhood for his own ends ( John 12:6 ). The germs of avarice probably unfolded themselves very gradually, and in spite of many warnings from his Lord ( Matthew 6:19-34 ; Matthew 13:22-23 ; Mark 10:25 ; Luke 16:11 ; John 6:70 ), but they gathered strength, and as he became entrusted with larger sums, he fell more deeply. (ii) Disappointment of his carnal hopes ] Like all his brother Apostles, he had cherished gross and carnal views of the Messianic glory, his heart was set on the realization of a visible kingdom, with high places, pomp, and power

. If some of the brotherhood were to sit on thrones ( Matthew 19:28 ), might he not obtain some post, profitable if not splendid? But the issue of the Triumphal Entry, and the repeated allusions of his Master to His death and His burying, sounded the knell of all these temporal and earthly aspirations. (iii) A withering of internal religion ] He had been for three years close to Goodness Incarnate, but the good seed within him had become choked with the thorns of greed and carnal longings. “The mildew of his soul had spread apace,” and the discovery of his secret sin, and its rebuke by our Lord at Bethany, turned his attachment to his Master more and more into aversion . The presence of Goodness so close to him ceasing to attract had begun to repel , and now in his hour of temptation, while he was angry at being suspected and rebuked, and possibly jealous of the favour shewn to others of the brotherhood, arose the question, prompted by none other than the Evil One ( Luke 22:3 ), Why should he lose everything? Might he not see what was to be gained by taking the other side? ( Matthew 26:15 ). went unto the chief priests ] Full of such thoughts, in the darkness of the night he repaired from Bethany to Jerusalem, and being admitted into the council of the chief priests asked what they would give him for betraying his Master into their hands.

Verse 10. - And Judas Iscariot, he that was one of the twelve ( ὁ εῖς τῶν δώδεκα ), went away unto the chief priests, that he might deliver him unto them . The betrayal follows immediately after the anointing by Mary. We may suppose that the other disciples who had murmured on account of this waste of the ointment, were brought to their senses by our Lord's rebuke, and felt its force. But with Judas the case was very different. The rebuke, which had a salutary effect on them, only served to harden him. He had lost one opportunity of gain; he would seek another. In his cupidity and wickedness he resolves to betray his Master, and sell him to the Jews. So while the chief priests were plotting how they might destroy him, they found an apt and unexpected instrument for their purpose in one of his own disciples. Judas came to them, and the vile and hateful bargain was concluded. It marks the tremendous iniquity of the transaction that it was "one of the twelve" who betrayed him - not one of the seventy, but one of those who were in the closest intimacy and nearness to him. Mark 14:10