On
the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
Mark 14:12
Mark 14 [6.] But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.”
Mark 14 [10.] Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them. They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him. On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
Mark 14 [13.] He sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and there you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and wherever he enters in, tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ He will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Get ready for us there.”
Meaning:
After the anointing at Bethany and Judas’ secret agreement with the chief priests, Mark moves to the day of the Passover itself. The verse seems simple, a practical question about arrangements, but it is full of meaning. It tells us that Jesus’ last meal with his disciples was a Passover meal, and it places his death in the setting of the feast that celebrated God’s great rescue of Israel from slavery.
- “On the first day of unleavened bread”
By the time of Jesus, the Passover day and the seven days of Unleavened Bread that followed were treated as one festival. On the fourteenth day of the first month, called Nisan, every Jewish home searched out and removed all leaven, and from that evening only unleavened bread was eaten. The bread recalled the haste of the night when Israel left Egypt, with no time for dough to rise. So Mark can call the day of preparation “the first day of unleavened bread”.
- “When they sacrificed the Passover”
God commanded that each household take a lamb “without defect, a male a year old”, keep it until the fourteenth day, and kill it at evening; then “They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread” (Exodus 12:5-8). In Jesus’ day the lambs were slaughtered in the temple courts on the afternoon of the fourteenth, while the Levites sang psalms of praise. The head of each group brought the lamb, the priests caught its blood and poured it at the altar, and the lamb was carried home to be roasted for the evening meal.
Mark’s words “when they sacrificed the Passover” quietly point forward. On the very next afternoon, Jesus himself would die. Paul draws the connection directly: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
- “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
The Passover had to be eaten inside Jerusalem, and with so many pilgrims in the city every room was in demand. Jesus and the twelve had been staying out at Bethany, so the disciples needed to know where the meal would be held. Their question also shows that they saw Jesus as the head of their household. In a Jewish family the father presided at the Passover, explained its meaning, and gave thanks over the bread and cup. Jesus would take that role, and in doing so he would give the familiar meal a new meaning.
The disciples were thinking of a lamb, a room and a table. They did not yet understand that Jesus was the true Lamb, and that his blood would be the sign of a new covenant (Mark 14:22-24).
The Significance of Mark 14:12
- Jesus, the Lamb of God
John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Every Passover lamb pointed to him. As the blood on the door posts protected Israel from judgment, so Christ’s blood shelters all who trust in him.
- Redeemed at great cost
Peter reminds believers that they were redeemed “with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). The price of freedom was the life of the spotless Lamb.
- Preparing to meet with Jesus
The disciples asked where to prepare, and then did what Jesus told them. Believers too are invited to prepare their hearts to share fellowship with Christ, and to follow his directions rather than their own plans.
Cross-References:
Exodus 12:5: "Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old." The requirement for the Passover lamb.
1 Corinthians 5:7: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place." Christ, the true Passover.
John 1:29: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Jesus identified as the Lamb.
1 Peter 1:19: "but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ;" The price of redemption.
Conclusion: On the day when the Passover lambs were sacrificed in the temple, the disciples asked Jesus where he wanted them to prepare the Passover meal. The question was practical, but Mark’s setting is profound. Jesus would eat the Passover with his disciples and then, as the true Passover Lamb, give his own life the next day for the deliverance of his people.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible