The main feature of this pericope is the unusual method by which Jesus' directed His disciples.
14:12 The Jews commonly referred to the first day of the combined Passover and Unleavened Bread feasts as the feast of Unleavened Bread.334Mark clarified for his Gentile readers that this was the day the Jews slew the Passover lamb, namely the fourteenth of Nisan. This would have been Thursday, April 2. Mark could say the Passover was two days away on Wednesday (v. 1) because the Jews ate the Passover lamb between sunset and midnight on the evening of the day they slew the lamb. For the Jews this was two days later since they began each day with sunset. The disciples had to prepare to eat the Passover within Jerusalem (Deut. 16:5-6) that very evening.
14:13-16 The two disciples were Peter and John (Luke 22:8). Normally women carried water, so a man carrying a water jar would not be hard to find. Perhaps the man's carrying a water jar was a prearranged signal. Obviously Jesus had made arrangements to provide for His disciples' needs, but the Twelve had certain responsibilities in addition, namely the preparation of the food.
The whole record shows Jesus' sovereign control over the destinies of Himself and His disciples. Even as He approached the Cross Jesus was aware of and caring for His disciples. Nevertheless they had responsibilities as well. All of this is instructive for the teachable disciple who reads this account.
Mark did not record all that happened in the upper room. He stressed the announcement of Jesus' betrayal and Jesus' explanation of the significance of the bread and wine.
14:17 This would have been Thursday evening. Because the Jews began their days at sundown this incident would have happened at the beginning of the fifteenth of Nisan. Jesus came with the Twelve to the upper room. Luke 22:15-16, 24-30 and John 13:1-20 record what happened next.
14:18 Originally the Jews ate the Passover standing (cf. Exod. 12:11). However in Jesus' day they customarily reclined to eat it.335
"To betray a friend after eating a meal with him was, and still is, regarded as the worst kind of treachery in the Middle East [cf. Ps. 41:9]."336
The disciples heard for the first time that one of them would betray Jesus. Mark's account stresses Jesus' identification of His betrayer as one of the Twelve.
14:19-20 The disciples' grief expressed sadness at this announcement. Their question was a protestation of innocence but with a tinge of self-distrust. It expected a negative answer, but it was a question. Judas' motive in asking was obviously different from the others. Jesus' answer again implied the treachery of the betrayer. It also gave him an opportunity to repent since Jesus did not name him.
14:21 Jesus explained that His betrayal was part of divine purpose that the Old Testament had predicted (e.g., Ps. 22; Isa. 53). Nevertheless the betrayer would bear the responsibility for his deed and would pay a severe penalty.
"The fact that God turns the wrath of man to his praise does not excuse the wrath of man."337
The seriousness of Judas' act was in direct proportion to the innocence of the person he betrayed (cf. v. 9). "By whom the Son of Man is betrayed"(NASB) views Judas as Satan's instrument.
Matthew and Mark's accounts of this event are similar, but Paul's is more like Luke's.
14:22 The bread Jesus ate would have been the unleavened bread that the Jews used in the Passover meal. The blessing Jesus pronounced was a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the bread, not a consecration of the bread itself.338Jesus' distribution of the bread to the disciples was more significant than His breaking of it. By passing it to them He symbolically shared Himself with them. When Jesus said, "This is my body,"He meant the bread represented His body (cf. Luke 12:1; John 10:7). The disciples could hardly have eaten the literal flesh of Jesus since He was standing among them. Moreover the Jews abhorred eating human flesh and did not drink even animal blood much less human blood (cf. Lev. 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-14).339
14:23-24 The common cup likewise symbolized Jesus' sharing Himself with the disciples and their unity as disciples.340Jesus' viewed His blood as the ratifying agent of the New Covenant (cf. Jer. 31:31-34) as animal blood had made the Old (Mosaic) Covenant valid (Exod. 24:8). The Greek word translated "covenant"is diatheke, a word that describes an agreement made by one person for others. A different word, syntheke, describes an agreement that two parties made in which both had obligations to each other. The diluted wine in the cup was also a reminder of the covenant's existence.341Jesus' blood poured out is an obvious allusion to His death. "For"translates the Greek preposition hypermeaning "in behalf of"or "instead of,"a clear reference to vicarious atonement (cf. Matt. 26:28). "Many"means all (cf. 10:45; Isa. 53:11-12).
"By the word manyhe means not a part of the world only, but the whole human race."342
14:25 The phrase "the fruit of the vine"may have been a liturgical formula describing wine used at a feast.343In any case Jesus was saying He would not drink wine again until He did so in the kingdom. Jesus was anticipating the messianic banquet at the beginning of His kingdom (cf. Isa. 25:6). This was a welcome promise in view of Jesus' announcement of His coming death.
"Jesus seldom spoke of His death without also speaking of His resurrection (8:31; 9:31; 10:34)."344
"New"or "anew"means in a qualitatively different way (Gr. kainon). Now Jesus and the disciples anticipated suffering and death, but then they would anticipate joy and glory.
14:26 The hymn was probably the second part of the Hallel(lit. praise, Ps. 115-118) that the Jews sang antiphonally at the end of the Passover. The other evangelists recorded more that Jesus said and did in the upper room (e.g., John 13-16). By the time they left, it was probably quite late at night.
(NT only) to listen to the NET Bible 
