Today was a good day because I remembered to do my Bible Study, a bonus for coordinating my Bible Reading by lying on my yoga mat. It is incredibly peaceful. I’m reading through the book of Mark which I can’t study without thinking of a sermon series at my childhood church in Mark, which if you don’t know is the shortest gospel and is written with the intention of conciseness and fast-paced structure. Ironically this series took years, literal years with a lot of repetition and I just find it amusing. But focusing on what is important here – I was struck by something new while I was reading Chapter 14, a couple new things actually.

This is not my first time through Mark or the Gospels or the whole Bible actually, I read through the entire book from 2020-2021. Today when I was reading through Chapter 14 which is all about Mary Magdalene anointing Jesus for burial, the Last Supper, the plot to kill Jesus, Jesus’ arrest, and Peter’s denial, I noticed something that I had added to the story by paraphrasing in my previous study. Like clearly was not listening or comprehending what I was reading, which I get distracted easily so no surprise there! Thankfully I have started praying before I study and asking God to help me focus only on Him and guide me to what He wants to teach me.

“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.”

Mark 14:17-21 ESV

This is where I was adding something! I was reading it as this sign that Jesus would offer the bread and the cup around and each disciple was going to have the chance to dip and only Judas does in this ultimate sign of his transformation. Revealing his true identity in a bold betrayal like a movie or a strategy reality TV show. This was his mic drop of shadiness!

It doesn’t say that or imply that at all, it says one of the twelve who is eating with Jesus. I totally read into that and added a whole bunch of cinematic drama that isn’t what God intended here. I was struck by how convinced I was that this was in the Bible when it’s not at all. Judas betrays Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane a few verses later.

I was shook by how I could be so familiar with a story and not know the actual details of the events! It shows why you read the Bible more than once, and you continue to study it because there is a lot in here and it is hard to remember everything as I should. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try though!