Mark 14:19

And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

MacLaren's Expositions

Mark

THE NEW PASSOVER

‘IS IT I?’

Mark 14:19.

The scene shows that Judas had not as yet drawn any suspicion on himself.

Here the Apostles seem to be higher than their ordinary stature; for they do not take to questioning one another, or even to protest, ‘No!’ but to questioning Christ.

I. The solemn prophecy.

It seems strange at first sight that our Lord should have introduced such thoughts then, disturbing the sweet repose of that hallowed hour. But the terrible fact of the betrayal was naturally suggested by the emblems of His death, and still more by the very confiding familiarity of that hour. His household were gathered around Him, and the more close and confidential the intercourse, the bitterer that thought to Him, that one of the little band was soon to play the traitor. It is the cry of His wounded love, the wail of His unrequited affection, and, so regarded, is infinitely touching. It is an instance of that sad insight into man’s heart which in His divinity He possessed. What a fountain of sorrow for His manhood was that knowledge! how it increases the pathos of His tenderness! Not only did He read hearts as they thought and felt in the present, but He read their future with more than a prophet’s insight. He saw how many buds of promise would shrivel, how many would go away and walk no more with Him.’

That solemn prophecy may well be pondered by all Christian assemblies, and specially when gathered for the observance of the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps never since that first institution has a community met to celebrate it without Him who ‘walks amid the candlesticks,’ with eyes as a flame of fire marking a Judas among the disciples. There is, I think, no doubt that Judas partook of the Lord’s Supper. But be that as it may, he was among the number, and our Lord knew him to be ‘the traitor.’

In its essence Judas’s sin can be repeated still, and the thought of that possibility may well mingle with the grateful and adoring contemplations suitable to the act of partaking of the Lord’s Supper. In the hour of holiest Christian emotion the thought that I may betray the Lord who has died for me will be especially hateful, and to remember the possibility then will do much to prevent its ever becoming a reality.

II. The self-distrustful question, ‘Is it I?’

It suggests that the possibilities of the darkest sin are in each of us, and especially, that the sin of treason towards Christ is in each of us.

Think generally of the awful possibilities of sin in every soul.

All sin has one root, so it is capable of passing from one form to another as light, heat, and motion do, or like certain diseases that are Protean in their forms. One sin is apt to draw others after it. ‘None shall want her mate.’ Wild beasts of ‘the desert’ meet with wild beasts of ‘the islands.’ Sins are gregarious, as it were; they ‘hunt in couples.’ ‘Then goeth he, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself.’

The roots of all sin are in each. Men may think that they are protected from certain forms of sin by temperament, but identity of nature is deeper than varieties of temperament. The greatest sins are committed by yielding to very common motives. Love of money is not a rare feeling, but it led Judas to betray Jesus. Anger is thought to be scarcely a sin at all, but it often moves an arm to murder.

Temptations to each sin are round us all. We walk in a tainted atmosphere.

There is progress in evil. No man reaches the extreme of depravity at a bound. Judas’s treachery was of slow growth.

So still there is the constant operation and pressure of forces and tendencies drawing us away from Jesus Christ. We, every one of us, know that, if we allowed our nature to have its way, we should leave Him and ‘make shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience.’ The forms in which we might do it might vary, but do it we should. We are like a man desperately clutching some rocky projection on the face of a precipice, who knows that if once he lets go, he will be dashed to pieces. ‘There goes John Bradford, but for the grace of God!’ But for this same restraining grace, to what depths might we not sink? So, in all Christian hearts there should be profound consciousness of their own weakness. The man ‘who fears no fall’ is sure to have one. It is perilous to march through an enemy’s country in loose order, without scouts and rearguard. Rigorous control is ever necessary. Brotherly judgment, too, of others should result from our consciousness of weakness. Examples of others falling are not to make us say cynically, ‘We are all alike,’ but to set us to think humbly of ourselves, and to supplicate divine keeping,’ Lord, save me, or I perish!’

III. The safety of the self-distrustful.

When the consciousness of possible falling is brought home to us, we shall carry, if we are wise, all our doubts as to ourselves to Jesus. There is safety in asking Him, ‘Is it I?’ To bare our inmost selves before Him, and not to shrink, even if that piercing gaze lights on hidden meannesses and incipient treachery, may be painful, but is healing. He will keep us from yielding to the temptation of which we are aware, and which we tell frankly to Him. The lowly sense of our own liability to fall, if it drives us closer to Him, will make it certain that we shall not fall.

While the other disciples asked ‘Is it I?’ John asked ‘Who is it?’ The disciple who leaned on Christ’s bosom was bathed in such a consciousness of Christ’s love that treason against it was impossible. He, alone of the Evangelists, records his question, and he tells us that he put it, ‘leaning back as he was, on Jesus’s breast.’ For the purpose of whispering his interrogation, he changed his attitude for a moment so as to press still closer to Jesus. How could one who was thus nestling nearer to that heart be the betrayer? The consciousness of Christ’s love, accompanied with the effort to draw closer to Him, is our surest defence against every temptation to faithlessness or betrayal of Him.

Any other fancied ground of security is deceptive, and will sooner or later crumble beneath our deceived feet. On this very occasion, Peter built a towering fabric of profession of unalterable fidelity on such shifting ground, and saw it collapse into ruin in a few hours. Let us profit by the lesson! That wholesome consciousness of our weakness need not shade with sadness the hours of communion, but it may well help us to turn them to their highest use in making them occasions for lowlier self-distrust and closer cleaving to Him. If we thus use our sense of weakness, the sweet security will enter our souls that belongs to those who have trusted in the great promise: ‘He shall not fall, for God Is able to make him stand.’ The blessed ones who are kept from falling and ‘presented faultless before the presence of His glory,’ will hear with wonder the voice of the Judge ascribing to them deeds of service to Him of which they had not been conscious, and will have to ask once more the old question, but with a new meaning: ‘Lord, is it I? when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee?’

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:12-21 Nothing could be less the result of human foresight than the events here related. But our Lord knows all things about us before they come to pass. If we admit him, he will dwell in our hearts. The Son of man goes, as it is written of him, as a lamb to the slaughter; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed! God's permitting the sins of men, and bringing glory to himself out of them, does not oblige them to sin; nor will this be any excuse for their guilt, or lessen their punishment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 26:20-35.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 14:12-26. Preparation for, and Last Celebration of, the Passover—Announcement of the Traitor—Institution of the Supper. ( = Mt 26:17-30; Lu 22:7-23, 39; Joh 13:21-30).

See on [1501]Lu 22:7-23; [1502]Lu 22:39; and see on [1503]Joh 13:10, 11; [1504]Joh 13:18, 19; [1505]Joh 13:21-30.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 14:17"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they began to be sorrowful,.... And were so, all but Judas, at this saying of Christ's:

and to say unto him, one by one; even till it came to Judas himself,

is it I? that shall betray thee;

and another said, is it I? This clause is wanting in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, and in two of Beza's copies; and indeed seems to be redundant, since the disciples are said before to express themselves in this manner, one by one; See Gill on Matthew 26:22.

Geneva Study Bible

And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 14:19. εἶς κατὰ εἶς, one by one = εἶς ἕκαστος in Mt.; κατὰ is used adverbially, and hence is followed by εἶς instead of ἕνα. For other instances of this usage of late Greek vide John 8:9, Romans 12:5, and cf. Winer, § xxxvii. 3.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. they began to be sorrowful] The very thought of treason was to their honest and faithful hearts insupportable, and excited great surprise and deepest sorrow.

one by one] Observe the pictorial and minute details of St Mark.

Is it I?] None of them said “Is it he?” So utterly unconscious were they of the treachery that lurked in their midst.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 14:19. Εἷς καθεῖς) So John 8:9, and ὁ δὲ καθεῖς; Romans 12:5.—ὁ καθεὶς δὲ τὼν φίλων; 3Ma 5:31. From κατὰ (not καὶ εἶτα) and εἷς comes καθεὶς, of similar formation to ὀυδεὶς, μηδεὶς, unless you prefer accenting it καθεῖς, in order to distinguish it from the participle καθεὶς; κατὰ is used adverbially, as ἀνὰ μετά.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? The disciples were naturally disposed to be joyful at this great festival. But their Master's sorrow and his words, and the solemnity with which they were uttered, cast a shadow over the whole company; and the disciples began to be sorrowful. The words, "And another said, Is it I?" are omitted by the best authorities. Mark 14:19