14:12 the passover. See Exodus 12:8. The Passover lamb, commemorating the deliverance from Egypt some fifteen centuries earlier, was to be slain and eaten with unleavened bread on the fourteenth day of the first month. The unleavened bread (symbolizing absence of evil) was to be eaten for seven days. The Passover and its supper constituted a type of Christ, who would shortly become “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), as “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7). Apparently, Jesus had already made arrangements with Mark’s family to have the supper there, for it was already “furnished and prepared” (Mark 14:15-16).

14:13 meet you a man. It is possible that Jesus had secretly made these arrangements ahead of time, to be sure that He and his disciples could observe the Passover before Judas could betray His whereabouts to the chief priests. A man bearing a water pitcher could easily be noticed by the two disciples, since this was a task usually done by women.

14:17 cometh. The wording here is significant, perhaps indicating Mark’s own personal perspective on the world-shaking events about to take place, beginning in a “large upper room” (Mark 14:15) in his own mother’s home (Acts 12:12). He described Jesus and the twelve as coming (not going) to the upper room, as though he was there before they arrived. This in turn suggests that he may have been a silent observer, or listener, as Jesus met with His disciples there in Mark’s own upper room.