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
1And the passover and the unleavened food were after two days, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how, by guile, having taken hold of him, they might kill him;
2and they said, ‘Not in the feast, lest there shall be a tumult of the people.’
3And he, being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, at his reclining (at meat), there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment, of spikenard, very precious, and having broken the alabaster box, did pour on his head;
4and there were certain much displeased within themselves, and saying, ‘For what hath this waste of the ointment been made?
5for this could have been sold for more than three hundred denaries, and given to the poor;’ and they were murmuring at her.
6And Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why are ye giving her trouble? a good work she wrought on me;
7for the poor always ye have with you, and whenever ye may will ye are able to do them good, but me ye have not always;
8what she could she did, she anticipated to anoint my body for the embalming.
9Verily I say to you, wherever this good news may be proclaimed in the whole world, what also this woman did shall be spoken of — for a memorial of her.’
10And Judas the Iscariot, one of the twelve, went away unto the chief priests that he might deliver him up to them,
11and having heard, they were glad, and promised to give him money, and he was seeking how, conveniently, he might deliver him up.
12And the first day of the unleavened food, when they were killing the passover, his disciples say to him, ‘Where wilt thou, [that,] having gone, we may prepare, that thou mayest eat the passover?’
13And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith to them, ‘Go ye away to the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water, follow him;
14and wherever he may go in, say ye to the master of the house — The Teacher saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where the passover, with my disciples, I may eat?
15and he will shew you a large upper room, furnished, prepared — there make ready for us.’
16And his disciples went forth, and came to the city, and found as he said to them, and they made ready the passover.
17And evening having come, he cometh with the twelve,
18and as they are reclining, and eating, Jesus said, ‘Verily I say to you — one of you, who is eating with me — shall deliver me up.’
19And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him, one by one, ‘Is it I?’ and another, ‘Is it I?’
20And he answering said to them, ‘One of the twelve who is dipping with me in the dish;
21the Son of Man doth indeed go, as it hath been written concerning him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is delivered up; good were it to him if that man had not been born.’
22And as they are eating, Jesus having taken bread, having blessed, brake, and gave to them, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’
23And having taken the cup, having given thanks, he gave to them, and they drank of it — all;
24and he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the new covenant, which for many is being poured out;
25verily I say to you, that no more may I drink of the produce of the vine till that day when I may drink it new in the reign of God.’
26And having sung an hymn, they went forth to the mount of the Olives,
27and Jesus saith to them — ‘All ye shall be stumbled at me this night, because it hath been written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad,
28but after my having risen I will go before you to Galilee.’
29And Peter said to him, ‘And if all shall be stumbled, yet not I;’
30And Jesus said to him, ‘Verily I say to thee, that to-day, this night, before a cock shall crow twice, thrice thou shalt deny me.’
31And he spake the more vehemently, ‘If it may be necessary for me to die with thee — I will in no wise deny thee;’ and in like manner also said they all.
32And they come to a spot, the name of which [is] Gethsemane, and he saith to his disciples, ‘Sit ye here till I may pray;’
33and he taketh Peter, and James, and John with him, and began to be amazed, and to be very heavy,
34and he saith to them, ‘Exceeding sorrowful is my soul — to death; remain here, and watch.’
35And having gone forward a little, he fell upon the earth, and was praying, that, if it be possible the hour may pass from him,
36and he said, ‘Abba, Father; all things are possible to Thee; make this cup pass from me; but, not what I will, but what Thou.’
37And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith to Peter, ‘Simon, thou dost sleep! thou wast not able to watch one hour!
38Watch ye and pray, that ye may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is forward, but the flesh weak.’
39And again having gone away, he prayed, the same word saying;
40and having returned, he found them again sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and they had not known what they might answer him.
41And he cometh the third time, and saith to them, ‘Sleep on henceforth, and rest — it is over; the hour did come; lo, the Son of Man is delivered up to the hands of the sinful;
42rise, we may go, lo, he who is delivering me up hath come nigh.’
43And immediately — while he is yet speaking — cometh near Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude, with swords and sticks, from the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders;
44and he who is delivering him up had given a token to them, saying, ‘Whomsoever I shall kiss, he it is, lay hold on him, and lead him away safely,’
45and having come, immediately, having gone near him, he saith, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi,’ and kissed him.
46And they laid on him their hands, and kept hold on him;
47and a certain one of those standing by, having drawn the sword, struck the servant of the chief priest, and took off his ear.
48And Jesus answering said to them, ‘As against a robber ye came out, with swords and sticks, to take me!
49daily I was with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not lay hold on me — but that the Writings may be fulfilled.’
50And having left him they all fled;
51and a certain young man was following him, having put a linen cloth about [his] naked body, and the young men lay hold on him,
52and he, having left the linen cloth, did flee from them naked.
53And they led away Jesus unto the chief priest, and come together to him do all the chief priests, and the elders, and the scribes;
54and Peter afar off did follow him, to the inside of the hall of the chief priest, and he was sitting with the officers, and warming himself near the fire.
55And the chief priests and all the sanhedrim were seeking against Jesus testimony — to put him to death, and they were not finding,
56for many were bearing false testimony against him, and their testimonies were not alike.
57And certain having risen up, were bearing false testimony against him, saying —
58‘We heard him saying — I will throw down this sanctuary made with hands, and by three days, another made without hands I will build;’
59and neither so was their testimony alike.
60And the chief priest, having risen up in the midst, questioned Jesus, saying, ‘Thou dost not answer anything! what do these testify against thee?’
61and he was keeping silent, and did not answer anything. Again the chief priest was questioning him, and saith to him, ‘Art thou the Christ — the Son of the Blessed?’
62and Jesus said, ‘I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power, and coming with the clouds, of the heaven.’
63And the chief priest, having rent his garments, saith, ‘What need have we yet of witnesses?
64Ye heard the evil speaking, what appeareth to you?’ and they all condemned him to be worthy of death,
65and certain began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say to him, ‘Prophesy;’ and the officers were striking him with their palms.
66And Peter being in the hall beneath, there doth come one of the maids of the chief priest,
67and having seen Peter warming himself, having looked on him, she said, ‘And thou wast with Jesus of Nazareth!’
68and he denied, saying, ‘I have not known [him], neither do I understand what thou sayest;’ and he went forth without to the porch, and a cock crew.
69And the maid having seen him again, began to say to those standing near — ‘This is of them;’
70and he was again denying. And after a little again, those standing near said to Peter, ‘Truly thou art of them, for thou also art a Galilean, and thy speech is alike;’
71and he began to anathematize, and to swear — ‘I have not known this man of whom ye speak;’
72and a second time a cock crew, and Peter remembered the saying that Jesus said to him — ‘Before a cock crow twice, thou mayest deny me thrice;’ and having thought thereon — he was weeping.
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