GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 14:1
Guard the Heart
Following his lesson on the Mount of Olives, Mark continues his story by focusing on Jesus’ last trip to Jerusalem during some of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which were two days away.
Passover was the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, and pilgrims from distant regions came to Jerusalem to commemorate the Jews’ deliverance from Egypt. The roads were cleaned, the bridges repaired, and the necessary items were gathered. One tradition holds that very Jew within fifteen miles of Jerusalem was required to come to the temple. The Jewish historian Josephus estimated that the population of Jerusalem could swell to around 3 million, a figure some question. Rooming was free, and all the surrounding villages were packed with pilgrims. The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread began the day after the Passover on the 14th of Nisan, or about April 14.
Mark said that in the midst of this most sacred religious event, there were people whose minds focused on treachery and murder. “Now the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were after two days, and the chief priests and scribes were seeking how, after seizing him by stealth, they might kill him.” (Mark 14:1) Those whose mind should have been on Yahweh were instead plotting evil of the most vile sort—murder.
This is a dark picture, but it reminds readers that externals—titles, positions, garments, reputations, acclamations, and so on—do not make a man’s heart, his essence. A man’s heart exalts or shames those external symbols—the difference between appearance and reality. These high priests and scribes, leaders whom Matthew calls elders (Matt. 26:2), would kill the Paschal lamb and eat the unleavened bread while participating in treachery and the murder of the Paschal Lamb.
After he learned that the affable, outgoing King of Denmark had murdered his father, Hamlet cried out, “That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”
Scripture reminds readers again and again to guard the heart.
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