And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

See how none, save Yeshu, knew the plan of Judas, the plan of a man who enjoyed the friendship of Yeshu and shared their intimate meal! But betrayal of Messiah by a friend was foretold in scripture.

Yeshu does not name Judas, so that the other disciples do not know what soon will happen that very same night.

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his desciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Yeshu had made arrangements for a family room large enough to seat 13 grown men. It was his secret plan; none – Judas included – other than those two disciples, would know where to find the house. And Mark also keeps secret the name of the householder. The two men were to prepare the meal and the wine.

But how was it that Yeshu knew of the unusual sight of a man carying water?  Being God’s Son, see how he was in control of the last events before his death.

Read on to learn how he let himself be arrested at the right time, and then be unjustly condemned to execution.

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Judas loved money. We may suppose that earlier he had hoped to make himself rich as Messiah Yeshu’s Chief Minister for Finance in Jerusalem.

But now he sees no hope for gain save in a small betrayal price.

When we firmly choose our own desires instead of Yeshu’s, he does not stop us from acting in a self-interested way. Rebellion against God causes bad karma of a kind from which there will be no escape unless we repent. (Read on for the meditation on verses 17-21)