The Word Made Fresh
1Two days before the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and scribes were looking for an opportunity to arrest Jesus secretly and have him killed. 2They said, “We can’t do it during the festival; the people will riot.”
3Jesus was at the house of Simon the leper in Bethany and, while he was at the table with Simon, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive spikenard. She opened the jar and poured the ointment over his head. 4Some of the others who were there whispered together, wondering why the ointment was wasted. 5They said, “It could have been sold for three hundred days’ wages and the money given to the poor,” and they criticized her sharply.
6But Jesus said, “Stop criticizing her. She has done something very touching for me. 7The poor will always be with you and you can help them out whenever you wish, but you won’t always have me. 8She has done what she could for me; she has prepared my body for burial. 9I’ll tell you this, wherever in the whole world the good news is proclaimed, what she has done will be remembered.”
10Around that time Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, met with the chief priests and offered to help them arrest Jesus. 11They were pleased with his plan and promised to pay him. Then Judas began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
12On the first day of the festival of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him where he wished for them to make preparations for the Passover dinner. 13He appointed two of them to arrange it, and told them, “Go into the city. You will be met by a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him. 14When he enters a house, ask the homeowner, ‘The Teacher wants to know, “Where is the guest room for me to enjoy the Passover meal with my disciples?”‘ 15He will show you a room upstairs that is fully furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” 16They went into the city and followed Jesus’ directions and found everything as he had told them. Then they began to prepare the Passover meal.
17That evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. 18They took their places around the table. While they were eating, Jesus said, “I am telling you the truth; one of you who is eating with me will betray me. 19They were distressed and each one began to ask him, “You don’t think it is I, do you?” 20Jesus said, “It is one of you twelve who is dipping from the same bowl as I. 21What has been written about the Son of Man will take place, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had never been born.”
22While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, blessed it, then broke it and gave it to them. He said, “Take it. This is my body.” 23Then he took a cup, gave thanks over it, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24He said, “This is my blood. It is the new promise that is being poured out for many. 25I tell you the truth; I will not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it freshly made in the kingdom of God.”
26After they had sung the Passover hymn, they went together to the Mount of Olives. 27Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me; it is written, ‘Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28But after I rise, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”
29Peter said, “Even if the rest of us desert you, I never will!”
30“Before the rooster crows twice this very night,” Jesus said, “you will deny me three times.”
31Peter replied angrily, “Even if I have to die for you, I will not turn my back on you.” And all the disciples said the same.
32Then they went to a place called Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33He took Peter and James and John aside with him, and began to be troubled and agitated. 34He told them, “I am grieving deeply, and distressed to the point of death. Stay here, but stay awake.”
35He went alone a little further, then threw himself on the ground and prayed that this hour might pass away from him if it were possible. 36He said, “All things are possible for you, Father. Please take this cup from me! But don’t do what I want; do what you want.”
37He returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you stay awake for a single hour? 38Wake up! Pray that you won’t be brought to trial. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39He went off by himself again and prayed as he had before. 40Then he came again and found them still asleep; they couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t know what they could say to him. 41He came a third time and said, “Are you still asleep? Have you rested enough? The time has come, and the Son of Man has been betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42Get up! Let’s go! My betrayer is approaching!”
43He was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve, arrived with a crowd of people wielding swords and clubs led by the chief priests and elders and experts in the Law of Moses. 44Judas had told them, “The one I kiss is the man – arrest him and lead him away under guard.” 45So, when they came, he approached Jesus and greeted him, “Rabbi,” and kissed him. 46Then they arrested him and took him into custody. 47But one of those who were standing near Jesus drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest.
48Then Jesus asked them, “Have you come here with swords and clubs to arrest me as if I were a dangerous bandit? 49Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you left me alone. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.” 50And all his followers deserted him and ran away.
51A certain young man was following Jesus, wearing nothing but a linen sheet wrapped around him. They grabbed him, 52but he slipped out of the sheet and ran away naked.
53They took Jesus to the high priest. All the chief priests and elders were gathered, along with the scribes. 54Peter had followed Jesus at a distance into the high priest’s courtyard, and sat with the guards who were warming themselves by a fire. 55The chief priests and all the council members were looking for anything against Jesus they could use to sentence him to death, but nothing was forthcoming. 56A number of the witnesses lied in giving evidence against him, and their charges were not in agreement. 57Some stood up and told false stories about him, things like, 58“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with human hands, and in three days I will build another one, one that is not made with human hands.’” 59But even on this charge their stories didn’t agree.
60Finally, the high priest stood up and asked Jesus, “Can’t you answer them? What is it they are accusing you of?” 61But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Hallowed One?”
62Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Mighty One on the clouds of heaven.”
63Then the chief priest tore his robes and cried, “Why do we need any other witnesses!? 64You heard him uttering his blasphemy! What is your verdict?”
And all of them voted that he was guilty and deserved to die. 65Some of them spat on him. He was blindfolded, and they beat him, demanding that he prophesy. The guards then took him into custody and they, too, beat him.
66Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard. One of the high priest’s servant girls happened to pass by. 67When she saw Peter warming himself she looked at him closely and said, “You were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth!”
68But Peter denied it. “I don’t understand you; I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He got up and went out and stood by the gate. And a rooster crowed.
69The servant girl saw him there and began to tell the bystanders, “This man is one of them!”
70Peter denied it again, but a little later some of the bystanders noticed him and said, “Of course, you’re one of them. You’re a Galilean.”
71Peter began to curse, and swore, “I don’t know the man you’re talking about!” 72At that moment the rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered Jesus saying, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will have denied three times that you know me.”
And Peter broke down and wept.
Commentary
1-2: Mark has gradually built up the growing conflict between Jesus and the authorities. This is on Wednesday. The Passover begins at sundown on Friday. They want to have Jesus killed before Friday evening.
3-9: This story, or a variation of it, is told in all four gospels. Mark’s account is most like Matthew’s except that Matthew specifies that the disciples are the ones who see the woman’s action as an extravagant waste (Matthew 26:8). Luke tells a similar story, but in a much different setting in which the woman is a sinner seeking redemption and no mention is made of anointing Jesus for burial (Luke 7:36-39). John sets the story 6 days before the Passover at the home of Lazarus in Bethany, and it is Lazarus’ sister Mary who anoints him, and Judas Iscariot is the one who objects. In Mark, the incident is clearly presented as a pre-crucifixion ritual; a sign that the events about to unfold are irrevocable.
10-11: The pieces are all falling into place as Judas provides the authorities with the opportunity they’ve been seeking.
12-16: Jesus was crucified on a Friday and was buried before sundown, that is, before the Sabbath began (the Jewish sabbath begins at sundown on Friday). All accounts agree on that point. Mark’s chronology is a bit problematic, and scholars have long sought for a solution, including speculation that different groups of Jews may have been using different ways of reckoning the Day of Preparation and the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Another puzzle is that Jesus is observing the Passover meal with his disciples, when it was intended to be a family observance. Once again, however, we see that Jesus has made some advance preparations to arrange for a final meal with his disciples; a man carrying a water jar in the city would have been conspicuous.
17-21: Jesus gets right to the point; one of them will betray him. Mark’s description of the last supper tells us that the main purpose of it was to give Jesus an opportunity to once again prepare his disciples for what was about to happen. His pronouncement of woe to the one who betrays him doesn’t sound like Jesus, and I wonder if he says it not so much as a judgment but simply as a prediction that the betrayer will not be able to live with himself.
22-25: The actions we call the institution of the Lord’s Supper are not in keeping with the traditional Passover meal, another indication that Jesus intends this meal to be a last lesson for his disciples. Instead of individual cups and pieces of bread, he has them share one loaf broken for them and a common cup, a beautiful symbol of their connectedness in him.
26-31: The meal was in a house in Jerusalem. Jesus was staying in the nearby village of Bethany, so after the meal they head in that direction, to the gate that leads out of the city toward the Mount of Olives. On the way Jesus informs them that they will all desert him, quoting a line from the prophets (Zechariah 13:7). Once again, he insists that he will be raised up, and now informs them that he will return to Galilee, implying that they should join him there. Peter, of course, denies that he will desert Jesus, and Jesus tells him that before the night is over he will have denied him three times. In a sense, they are both right: Peter doesn’t completely desert him, but follows him to Caiaphas’ house where he denies three times that he knows Jesus.
32-42: Gethsemane is an olive grove on the Mount of Olives. For the third time, Jesus singles out Peter, James, and John, and takes them with him to pray. He prays that his crucifixion might be avoided, but offers himself willingly if God so chooses. The disciples, predictably, can’t stay awake. You could argue that they haven’t fully been awake through the whole gospel.
43-50: Judas arrives with the temple guards to arrest Jesus. He had been with the disciples at the last supper (see verse 17), and Mark doesn’t tell us at what point he left them to go make his arrangements with the chief priests (but see John 13:27). There is a skirmish, and the high priest’s servant is wounded. Jesus calls a halt to the fighting and surrenders to his captors. The disciples do exactly what Jesus told them they would do. They run.
51-52: There is, however, someone else in the shadows, a “certain young man” who is otherwise unidentified. Who is he, and why does Mark alone mention him? Some have speculated that the young man is none other than Mark himself, which makes him an eyewitness to the arrest of Jesus.
53-65: There is a gathering at the high priest’s house, obviously in anticipation of Jesus’ arrest. This is probably not the official Jewish court known as the Sanhedrin, but rather an informal gathering of conspirators who, with the high priest, have determined that Jesus must be killed. Peter follows, bless his heart. An unofficial trial ensues, with conflicting testimony against Jesus. The high priest finally asks Jesus point-blank, “Are you the Messiah?” Jesus replies with the same reply Moses received from God at Mt. Sinai; “I am” (see Exodus 3:14). He then makes the statement that gives them the charge to take to Pilate, that he will be exalted at the right hand of God and come with “the clouds of heaven,” the angelic host. This would have been seen as a threat to the ruling authorities. In response Jesus is condemned to death; that is to say, they decide that they now have evidence to demand his execution. His suffering begins at their hands; he is blindfolded and beaten before Pilate ever sees him.
66-72: Mark now returns to the saga of Simon Peter. In spite of his vow to the contrary he simply cannot bring himself in the pressure of the moment to admit that he is a follower of Jesus. Three times he brushes off approaches from bystanders, and then the rooster crows and he remembers what Jesus told him only hours before. He is finally overwhelmed by the stress of the situation and breaks down and cries. He has denied Jesus; and yet, somebody must survive to tell the story, to carry on the movement Jesus started. What could he have accomplished by dying with Jesus?
Takeaway
Would you profess that you believe in Jesus if your life or well-being were at stake? I think the lesson in this chapter is that, even when we deny Christ (as Peter did, three times), he won’t deny us. God knows how difficult faith can be sometimes. We don’t have to be perfect; all we must do is return after we discover we have left the path.