Mác 14

A plot two days before the Passover

¹Two days remained before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to take him by a trick and put him to death. ²For they kept saying, “Not at the feast, in case the people raise an uproar.”

Anointed at Bethany

³Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper. While he lay at the meal, a woman came with an alabaster flask of pure nard, a perfumed oil of great value. She broke the flask and poured the oil over his head. ⁴Some of those present were angry and said to one another, “What is the point of wasting this perfume? ⁵It could have fetched more than a year’s wages, and the money could have gone to the poor.” So they turned on her with harsh words. ⁶But Jesus said, “Let her be. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ⁷The poor will be with you at all times, and you can help them any time you wish. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what was in her power. She has poured perfume on my body ahead of time, to make it ready for burial. ⁹Truly I tell you, in every place in the whole world where the gospel is proclaimed, people will tell what she has done, and remember her.”

Judas goes to the chief priests

¹⁰Then one of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, went off to the chief priests to betray him to them. ¹¹They were delighted to hear it and promised to pay him. So Judas looked for a good chance to betray him.

Preparing the Passover

¹²On the first day of Unleavened Bread, the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where would you like us to go and make ready for you to eat the Passover meal?” ¹³So he sent off two of his disciples with these instructions: “Go into the city. A man carrying a water jar will come to meet you. Follow him, ¹⁴and when he goes into a house, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Which is my guest room, where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ ¹⁵He himself will show you a big upper room, set out with couches and ready. Get things ready for us there.” ¹⁶So the disciples set out, came into the city and found it all as he had said, and there they prepared the Passover.

One of you will hand me over

¹⁷When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸As they lay at the table and ate, Jesus told them, “Truly I tell you, one of you here, eating with me, will betray me.” ¹⁹They were deeply hurt, and one after another they said to him, “It is not I, is it?” ²⁰He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who dips bread into the bowl with me. ²¹The Son of Man is going as it stands written about him, but how terrible for the man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be good for that man if he had never been born.”

My body, my blood of the covenant

²²During the meal he took bread, spoke the blessing, broke it and handed it to them, saying, “Take it. This is my body.” ²³He also took a cup, and after giving thanks he passed it to them, and every one of them drank from it. ²⁴He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many.^{a 25}Truly I tell you, I will never again drink the fruit of the vine until the day I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Peter’s denial foretold

²⁷Jesus told them, “All of you will stumble and fall away, for it stands written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ ²⁸But after I am raised up, I will lead the way ahead of you into Galilee.” ²⁹Peter told him, “They may all fall away, but I will not.” ³⁰Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, before a rooster crows twice today, this very night, you yourself will deny me three times.”^{b 31}But Peter kept saying all the more firmly, “Should I have to die with you, still I will never deny you.” And every one of them said the same.

Gethsemane

³²Then they came to a place by the name of Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Stay seated here while I pray.” ³³He took Peter, James and John with him, and horror and anguish came over him. ³⁴He said to them, “My soul is filled with grief, grief enough to die. Wait here and stay awake.” ³⁵He went on a little way, threw himself to the ground and prayed that the hour might pass him by, if that could be. ³⁶He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible. Remove this cup from me. Yet let it be what you will, not what I will.” ³⁷Then he came back and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Did you not have the strength to stay awake a single hour? ³⁸Stay awake and pray that you will not come into temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.” ³⁹He went away again and prayed, using the same words. ⁴⁰Coming back again, he found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open, and they had no answer to give him. ⁴¹He came a third time and said to them, “Still asleep? Still resting? Enough of that! The hour is here. See, the Son of Man is being handed over into the power of sinners.^{cd 42}Get up; we must go. Look, the one who betrays me is near.”

Arrested with a kiss

⁴³Right then, as he was still talking, Judas came up, one of the Twelve. A crowd came with him carrying swords and clubs. They had been sent by the chief priests, the scribes and the elders. ⁴⁴Judas, the betrayer, had given them a signal beforehand. “The one I kiss is him,” he had said. “Take hold of him and lead him away under close guard.” ⁴⁵As soon as he arrived, he went straight up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. ⁴⁶They then laid hands on him and took him prisoner. ⁴⁷But one of the bystanders pulled out his sword, hit the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear. ⁴⁸Jesus said to them, “Have you come with swords and clubs to seize me, as you would a bandit? ⁴⁹Day after day I was among you in the temple, teaching, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is happening so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰And they all left him and ran.

⁵¹A certain young man had been going along with him, with only a linen sheet thrown around his bare body. They seized him, ⁵²but he slipped out of the linen sheet and ran away naked.

Before the council

⁵³Jesus was led off to the high priest’s house, where all the chief priests, elders and scribes came together. ⁵⁴Peter kept well back, but followed him all the way inside the high priest’s courtyard. He sat down among the guards and warmed himself by the firelight. ⁵⁵Meanwhile the chief priests and the entire Council searched for testimony against Jesus that would let them have him executed, but they could not find any. ⁵⁶Plenty of people testified falsely against him, but what they said did not match. ⁵⁷Then some of them got up and brought a false charge against him: ⁵⁸“We heard him declare, ‘I will pull down this temple that human hands have made, and in three days I will put up another that no hands have made.’” ⁵⁹But even on this point what they said did not match. ⁶⁰The high priest rose, stepped into the middle and put a question to Jesus: “Have you no answer at all? What is this that these people are saying against you?” ⁶¹But he kept silent and made no answer at all. Again the high priest put a question to him: “Are you Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” ⁶²Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”^{e 63}The high priest ripped his clothes. “What more do we need witnesses for? ⁶⁴You heard the blasphemy for yourselves. What is your verdict?” Every one of them condemned him: he deserved to die. ⁶⁵Some of them started spitting on him. They covered his face, punched him and taunted him: “Prophesy!” The guards, too, took charge of him and struck him with open hands.

Peter denies knowing him

⁶⁶Meanwhile Peter was below in the courtyard. One of the high priest’s servant girls came along, ⁶⁷and when she noticed Peter warming himself, she studied his face and said, “You, too, were with the man from Nazareth, Jesus.” ⁶⁸But Peter denied it: “I have no idea what you are talking about; I do not understand you.” Then he went out to the entrance, and a rooster crowed.^{f 69}The servant girl caught sight of him there and started saying again to the people standing around, “He is one of them.” ⁷⁰Again he denied it. A little later the bystanders again said to Peter, “You really are one of them. You are from Galilee, after all; the way you talk gives you away.”^{g 71}Then he started calling curses down and swearing oaths: “This man you speak of, I do not know him.”^{h 72}At that moment a rooster crowed for the second time. Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” Then Peter broke down in tears.^ij