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.
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