Mark 14
14
Anointing His Head
1-2In only two days the eight-day Festival of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. “We don’t want the crowds up in arms,” they said.
3-5Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. “That’s criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.” They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her.
6-9But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.”
10-11Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the cabal of high priests, determined to betray him. They couldn’t believe their ears, and promised to pay him well. He started looking for just the right moment to hand him over.
Traitor to the Son of Man
12On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the day they prepare the Passover sacrifice, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations so you can eat the Passover meal?”
13-15He directed two of his disciples, “Go into the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him. Ask the owner of whichever house he enters, ‘The Teacher wants to know, Where is my guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-story room, swept and ready. Prepare for us there.”
16The disciples left, came to the city, found everything just as he had told them, and prepared the Passover meal.
17-18After sunset he came with the Twelve. As they were at the supper table eating, Jesus said, “I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators, one who at this moment is eating with me.”
19Stunned, they started asking, one after another, “It isn’t me, is it?”
20-21He said, “It’s one of the Twelve, one who eats with me out of the same bowl. In one sense, it turns out that the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense, the man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!”
“This Is My Body”
22In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said,
Take, this is my body.
23-24Taking the chalice, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. He said,
This is my blood,
God’s new covenant,
Poured out for many people.
25“I’ll not be drinking wine again until the new day when I drink it in the kingdom of God.”
26They sang a hymn and then went directly to Mount Olives.
* * *
27-28Jesus told them, “You’re all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it’s my fault. There’s a Scripture that says,
I will strike the shepherd;
The sheep will scatter.
“But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee.”
29Peter blurted out, “Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won’t be.”
30Jesus said, “Don’t be so sure. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
31He blustered in protest, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.
Gethsemane
32-34They came to an area called Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him. He sank into a pit of suffocating darkness. He told them, “I feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”
35-36Going a little ahead, he fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: “Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?”
37-38He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”
39-40He then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t have a plausible excuse.
41-42He came back a third time and said, “Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let’s get going. My betrayer has arrived.”
A Bunch of Thugs
43-47No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Judas, the one out of the Twelve, showed up, and with him a bunch of thugs, sent by the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders, brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a signal with them: “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him. Make sure he doesn’t get away.” He went straight to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. The others then grabbed him and roughed him up. One of the men standing there unsheathed his sword, swung, and came down on the Chief Priest’s servant, lopping off the man’s ear.
48-50Jesus said to them, “What is this, coming after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. What you in fact have done is confirm the prophetic writings.” All the disciples bailed on him.
51-52A young man was following along. All he had on was a bedsheet. Some of the men grabbed him but he got away, running off naked, leaving them holding the sheet.
Condemned to Death
53-54They led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard, where he mingled with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
55-59The high priests conspiring with the Jewish Council looked high and low for evidence against Jesus by which they could sentence him to death. They found nothing. Plenty of people were willing to bring in false charges, but nothing added up, and they ended up canceling each other out. Then a few of them stood up and lied: “We heard him say, ‘I am going to tear down this Temple, built by hard labor, and in three days build another without lifting a hand.’” But even they couldn’t agree exactly.
60-61In the middle of this, the Chief Priest stood up and asked Jesus, “What do you have to say to the accusation?” Jesus was silent. He said nothing.
The Chief Priest tried again, this time asking, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?”
62Jesus said, “Yes, I am, and you’ll see it yourself:
The Son of Man seated
At the right hand of the Mighty One,
Arriving on the clouds of heaven.”
63-64The Chief Priest lost his temper. Ripping his clothes, he yelled, “Did you hear that? After that do we need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. Are you going to stand for it?”
They condemned him, one and all. The sentence: death.
65Some of them started spitting at him. They blindfolded his eyes, then hit him, saying, “Who hit you? Prophesy!” The guards, punching and slapping, took him away.
The Rooster Crowed
66-67While all this was going on, Peter was down in the courtyard. One of the Chief Priest’s servant girls came in and, seeing Peter warming himself there, looked hard at him and said, “You were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”
68He denied it: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went out on the porch. A rooster crowed.
69-70The girl spotted him and began telling the people standing around, “He’s one of them.” He denied it again.
After a little while, the bystanders brought it up again. “You’ve got to be one of them. You’ve got ‘Galilean’ written all over you.”
71-72Now Peter got really nervous and swore, “I never laid eyes on this man you’re talking about.” Just then the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had said, “Before a rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.” He collapsed in tears.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Mark 14
14
1Now the passover and the feast of unleavened bread was after two days. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might seize him by subtlety and kill him. 2For they said, Not in the feast, lest perhaps there be a tumult of the people. 3And when he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he lay at table, there came a woman having an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly; and having broken the alabaster flask, she poured it out upon his head. 4And there were some indignant in themselves, and saying, Why has this waste been made of the ointment? 5for this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they spoke very angrily at her. 6But Jesus said, Let her alone; why do ye trouble her? she has wrought a good work as to me; 7for ye have the poor always with you, and whenever ye would ye can do them good; but me ye have not always. 8What she could she has done. She has beforehand anointed my body for the burial. 9And verily I say unto you, Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, what this woman has done shall be also spoken of for a memorial of her. 10And Judas Iscariote, one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests that he might deliver him up to them; 11and they, when they heard it, rejoiced, and promised him to give money. And he sought how he could opportunely deliver him up.
12And the first day of unleavened bread, when they slew the passover, his disciples say to him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou mayest eat the passover? 13And he sends two of his disciples, and says to them, Go into the city, and a man shall meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14And wheresoever he enters, say to the master of the house, The Teacher says, Where is my guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples? 15and he will shew you a large upper room furnished ready. There make ready for us. 16And his disciples went away and came into the city, and found as he had said to them; and they made ready the passover. 17And when evening was come, he comes with the twelve. 18And as they lay at table and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say to you, One of you shall deliver me up; he who is eating with me. 19And they began to be grieved, and to say to him, one by one, Is it I? and another, Is it I? 20But he answered and said to them, One of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish. 21The Son of man goes indeed as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is delivered up; it were good for that man if he had not been born. 22And as they were eating, Jesus, having taken bread, when he had blessed, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, Take this: this is my body. 23And having taken the cup, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank out of it. 24And he said to them, This is my blood, that of the new covenant, that shed for many. 25Verily I say to you, I will no more drink at all of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. 26And having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives. 27And Jesus says to them, All ye shall be offended, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad. 28But after I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. 29But Peter said to him, Even if all should be offended, yet not I. 30And Jesus says to him, Verily I say to thee, that thou to-day, in this night, before the cock shall crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me. 31But he said so much exceedingly the more, If I should have to die with thee, I will in no wise deny thee. And likewise said they all too.
32And they come to a place of which the name is Gethsemane, and he says to his disciples, Sit here while I shall pray. 33And he takes with him Peter and James and John, and he began to be amazed and oppressed in spirit. 34And he says to them, My soul is full of grief even unto death; abide here and watch. 35And, going forward a little, he fell upon the earth; and he prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. 36And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: take away this cup from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt. 37And he comes and finds them sleeping. And he says to Peter, Simon, dost thou sleep? Hast thou not been able to watch one hour? 38Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak. 39And going away, he prayed again, saying the same thing. 40And returning, he found them again sleeping, for their eyes were heavy; and they knew not what they should answer him. 41And he comes the third time and says to them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough; the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is delivered up into the hands of sinners. 42Arise, let us go; behold, he that delivers me up has drawn nigh.
43And immediately, while he was yet speaking, Judas comes up, being one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd, with swords and sticks, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44Now he that delivered him up had given them a sign between them, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he; seize him, and lead him away safely. 45And being come, straightway coming up to him, he says, Rabbi, Rabbi; and he covered him with kisses. 46And they laid their hands upon him and seized him. 47But a certain one of those who stood by, having drawn his sword, struck the bondman of the high priest, and took off his ear. 48And Jesus answering said to them, Are ye come out as against a robber, with swords and sticks to take me? 49I was daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye did not seize me; but it is that the scriptures may be fulfilled. 50And all left him and fled. 51And a certain young man followed him with a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men seize him; 52but he, leaving the linen cloth behind him, fled from them naked.
53And they led away Jesus to the high priest. And there come together to him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. 54And Peter followed him at a distance, till he was within the court of the high priest's palace; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself in the light of the fire. 55And the chief priests and the whole sanhedrim sought testimony against Jesus to cause him to be put to death, and did not find any. 56For many bore false witness against him, and their testimony did not agree. 57And certain persons rose up and bore false witness against him, saying, 58We heard him saying, I will destroy this temple which is made with hands, and in the course of three days I will build another not made with hands. 59And neither thus did their testimony agree. 60And the high priest, rising up before them all, asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? What do these testify against thee? 61But he was silent, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and says to him, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62And Jesus said, I am, and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. 63And the high priest, having rent his clothes, says, What need have we any more of witnesses? 64Ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. 65And some began to spit upon him, and cover up his face, and buffet him, and say to him, Prophesy; and the officers struck him with the palms of their hands.
66And Peter being below in the palace-court, there comes one of the maids of the high priest, 67and seeing Peter warming himself, having looked at him, says, And thou wast with the Nazarene, Jesus. 68But he denied, saying, I know not nor understand what thou sayest. And he went out into the vestibule; and a cock crew. 69And the maid, seeing him, again began to say to those that stood by, This is one of them. 70And he again denied. And again, after a little, those that stood by said to Peter, Truly thou art one of them, for also thou art a Galilean. 71But he began to curse and to swear, I know not this man of whom ye speak. 72And the second time a cock crew. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus said to him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice; and when he thought thereon he wept.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.