Context No. 3322 of 4322 · Mark

Mark 14:17-21: in context

17When it was evening he came with the twelve. 18As they sat and were eating, Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.” 19They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?” 20He answered them, “It is one of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish. 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

At the Last Supper, in the intimacy of a shared meal, Jesus speaks piercing words: one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. And notice the disciples' response. They do not point fingers at one another; each asks, is it I? Each looks inward, aware that his own heart might be capable of such a thing.

There is wisdom in that self-searching. The honest response to the possibility of betrayal is not suspicion of others but examination of oneself. And Jesus' grief over the betrayer is heavy: woe to that man; it would have been better for him had he not been born. This is not a curse hurled in anger but a lament over a soul destroying itself. The betrayal came from within the circle of friends, from one who shared the bread at the same table. The nearness of the betrayer is a warning to every disciple to watch his own heart rather than assume the danger is always someone else.

When I hear of betrayal or falling away, is my first response to search my own heart, asking "is it I?", rather than to suspect others?

Sources

Mark 14:18: "Most certainly I tell you, one of you will betray me, he who eats with me."
Mark 14:19: "They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, Surely not I?"
Mark 14:21: "Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born."