Mar 14 | EE | STEP | It was now two days before the Passover festival and the days when the Jews eat flat bread. The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God’s Law wanted to kill Jesus. But they wanted to take hold of him secretly. So they tried to decide how they could do that.

Mark 14

The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God’s Law want to kill Jesus

1 It was now two days before the Passover festival and the days when the Jews eat flat bread. ^{▼▼14:1 flat bread was bread which had no yeast in it.}The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God’s Law wanted to kill Jesus. But they wanted to take hold of him secretly. So they tried to decide how they could do that. 2 They said to each other, ‘We do not want to do it during the festival. If we do that, the people will be angry, and they may fight against us.’

A woman pours oil with a nice smell on Jesus’ head

3 Then Jesus went to Bethany, and he visited Simon at his house. At one time, Simon had had a bad illness of the skin. While Jesus was eating a meal there, a woman came into the house. She brought a small stone jar that contained expensive oil with a very nice smell. The oil is called nard. The woman broke the jar to open it. Then she poured the oil over Jesus’ head. ^{▼▼14:3 Nard is a plant that people use to make expensive oil. The plant grows in the country called India. People kept the oil in a special stone jar. The woman had to break the jar so that she could pour out the oil.}

4 But some people became angry. They said to each other, ‘This woman should not have wasted the oil. 5 She could have sold it and she could have given the money to poor people. She could have sold it for more than 300 coins. A man would have to work for a year to get that much money.’ So, they spoke angrily to the woman.

6 But Jesus said, ‘Do not speak to her like that! Do not cause trouble for her. She has done a good thing to me. 7 You will always have poor people with you. You can help them at any time that you want. But you will not always have me with you. 8 This woman did what she was able to do. She poured oil over my body. So now, my body will be ready for people to bury me. 9 What I say to you is true. Everywhere in the world, people will speak about God’s good news. At the same time, they will also tell people about the good thing that this woman has done. And so they will remember her.’

Judas agrees to help the leaders of thepriests

10 Then Judas Iscariot went to the leaders of the priests. He said that he would help them to catch Jesus. (Judas was one of Jesus’ 12 apostles.) 11 The leaders of the priests were very happy about this. They promised to give Judas money. Then Judas waited for the right moment to help them to take hold of Jesus.

Jesus eats his last meal with his 12 disciples

12 The first day of the festival when the Jews eat flat bread arrived. On this day, each family kills a young sheep for the Passover meal. Jesus’ disciples said to him, ‘We will go to prepare the Passover meal for you. Where do you want us to do that?’

13 So Jesus sent two disciples to prepare the meal. ‘Go into the city,’ he said to them. ‘A man, who is carrying a jar of water, will meet you. Follow him. 14 He will go to a house. You must say to the master of that house, “The Teacher sends this message to you: ‘Where is the room for visitors? I will eat the Passover meal there with my disciples.’ ” 15 Then the man will show you a large room upstairs. The room will have in it all the things that you will need. You should prepare the Passover meal for us there.’

16 Then the two disciples left and they went into the city. They found everything as Jesus had told them. So, they prepared the Passover meal there.

17 When it was evening, Jesus arrived with the 12 apostles. 18 While they were eating the meal, Jesus said, ‘What I say to you is true. One of you will help the Jewish leaders to take hold of me. It is someone who is eating this meal with me.’

19 The disciples became very sad. Each one of them said to Jesus, ‘I am sure that you do not mean me!’

20 Jesus said to them, ‘It is one of you 12 apostles. That man is eating from the same dish as I am. ^{▼▼14:20 There was a dish on the table with some food in it. They all put their bread into this dish and they ate the food with the bread.} 21 The Son of Man must die in the way that the Bible says. But it will be very bad for the man who gives the Son of Man to his enemies. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’

The Passover meal

22 While Jesus and his disciples were eating, he took a loaf of bread. He thanked God for it. Then he broke the bread into pieces. He gave some of it to each of his disciples. ‘Take this bread and eat it,’ he said to them. ‘This is my body.’

23 Then Jesus took a cup. He thanked God for the wine in the cup. Then he gave the cup to them and they all drank from it.

24 Jesus said to them, ‘This is my blood that shows God’s promise. When I die, my blood will pour out of my body. In that way God will save many people. That is the promise that God makes because of my death. 25 I tell you this. I will not drink wine again until God rules in his kingdom. Then it will be new wine.’

26 Then Jesus and his disciples sang a song to praise God. Then they went out to the hill that is called the Mount of Olives. ^{▼▼14:26 Judas was not still with the other disciples. He left earlier. See John 13:29-30.}

Jesus tells the disciples what will happen

27 Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘All of you will go away from me. It will happen as the Bible says:

God says, “I will kill the shepherd who leads the sheep.
Then the sheep will run away in different directions.” ’ ^{▼▼14:27 See Zechariah 13:7.}

28 Jesus went on to say, ‘But after that happens, I will become alive again. Then I will go to Galilee and you will follow.’

29 Peter said to Jesus, ‘Even if everyone else runs away, I will not leave you.’

30 ‘What I say to you is true,’ Jesus replied to Peter. ‘Even tonight, you will say that you do not know me. You will say that three times before the cockerel sings for the second time in the morning.’

31 But Peter said very strongly, ‘I will die with you if I need to. But I will never say that I do not know you.’ All the other disciples said the same thing.

Jesus prays in the garden called Gethsemane

32 Then they arrived at a garden called Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ 33 Jesus took Peter, James and John with him. He started to feel very sad and upset. 34 He said to them, ‘I am very sad. I feel as if I could die because I feel so sad. Wait here and stay awake.’

35 Jesus went a short way beyond them. He went down on the ground. He prayed that, if possible, God would save him from this time of trouble. 36 He said, ‘Abba, my Father, you can do all things. Please take this great pain away from me. But I do not ask you to do what I want. Do what you want for me.’

37 Jesus returned to his 3 disciples. Now they were sleeping. He said to Peter, ‘Simon, you are asleep! You could not stay awake for even one hour! 38 You must keep awake and you must pray. Then you will not want to do something wrong. You really want to do the right thing, but your body is weak.’

39 Jesus went away again and he prayed in the same words. 40 Then Jesus returned again to Peter, James and John. He saw that they were sleeping. They could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him.

41 Then Jesus returned a third time to the disciples. He said to them, ‘You should not still be sleeping and resting. That is enough! The moment has arrived. Look! Someone will now give me, the Son of Man, to my enemies. 42 Stand up, we will go now. Look! The man who will give me to my enemies is here.’

Judas leads the men who will take Jesus away

43 Jesus was still speaking when, immediately, Judas arrived. He was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. A crowd came with him. They were carrying long sharp knives and heavy sticks. The leaders of the priests, the teachers of God’s Law and the important Jews had sent these men.

44 Before this, Judas had told these men, ‘I will kiss one of the men. You must take hold of that man. Lead him away and do not let him go.’ 45 When they arrived, Judas went immediately to Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said to Jesus. Then he kissed Jesus in a friendly way. 46 So the men took hold of Jesus to lead him away. 47 But a certain man who was standing there took hold of his sword. He hit the servant of the leader of the priests with it and he cut off the servant’s ear.

48 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd. He said, ‘You have come out here with long sharp knives and heavy sticks to take hold of me. Do you really think that I am leading people to fight against our country’s rulers? 49 No! I was with you every day when I was teaching people in the yard of God’s Great House. You did not try to take hold of me then. But this must happen in the way that the Bible says it would happen.’ 50 Then all Jesus’ disciples left him and they ran away.

51 A certain young man was following Jesus. He was wearing only one piece of cloth to cover himself. The men tried to take hold of this young man. 52 But the young man left the piece of cloth behind, and he ran away. So when he ran away, he was not wearing anything. ^{▼▼14:52 We think that this young man was called Mark. Mark wrote this book.}

The most important priest asks Jesus questions

53 The men took Jesus to the most important priest. All the leaders of the priests met together there with the important Jews and with the teachers of God’s Law. ^{▼▼14:53 The most important priest was called Caiaphas. When all these important Jews met together, they were called the Sanhedrin. They decided together about how to rule the people. There were 71 men in the Sanhedrin. The most important priest ruled the meeting. The Sanhedrin had a lot of power, but they could not decide to kill a bad person. Only the Roman rulers could decide that.}

54 Peter followed Jesus into the yard of Caiaphas’ house. But he did not go near Jesus. He sat down in the yard with the guards and he made himself warm by the fire.

55 The leaders of the priests and all the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to die. So they tried to find some people who would say things against Jesus. But they did not find anyone who could help them. 56 Many people said things against Jesus that were not true. But they did not agree with each other in what they said. ^{▼▼14:56 In Jewish rules, two or more people had to say the same thing about a person. Then the judge would believe that their words were true. He would agree that the person had done something wrong.}

57 Then some men stood up and they said something else against Jesus that was not true. 58 They said, ‘We heard Jesus say, “I will destroy God’s Great House, which men have built. In 3 days I will build another House for God. It will not be people who build this new house.” ’ 59 Even then, these people who were speaking against Jesus did not say the same thing.

60 Then Caiaphas stood up in front of everyone. He said to Jesus, ‘You must reply now to what these men have said against you. Are the things that they are saying true?’ 61 But Jesus did not reply. He did not say anything.

So again, Caiaphas asked Jesus, ‘Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?’

62 ‘I am,’ Jesus replied. ‘And you will all see the Son of Man. He will be sitting in the most important place at the right side of the Most Powerful God. You will see him coming to earth. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky.’

63 Then the most important priest, Caiaphas, tore his own clothes to show that he was angry. ‘We do not need anyone else to speak against Jesus,’ he said. 64 ‘You have heard the bad words that he has spoken against God. What do you decide that we must do with him?’

Everyone agreed that Jesus must die because of his bad words. ^{▼▼14:64 Caiaphas tore his own clothes to show other people that he was very angry.}

65 Then some of the men began to spit on Jesus. They covered his eyes with a cloth and they hit him many times with their fists. They said, ‘Show us that you are a prophet! Tell us who hit you!’ Then the guards took hold of Jesus and they slapped him.

Peter says three times that he does not know Jesus

66 Peter was still sitting outside in the yard. One of the young women who was a servant of the most important priest came there. 67 She saw Peter, who was making himself warm by the fire.

She looked at him and she said, ‘You also were a friend of Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’

68 Peter replied, ‘That is not true! I do not even know what you are talking about!’ Then Peter went out to the gate of the yard. Just then a cockerel sang.

69 The young woman watched him, and again she said to the other people there, ‘He is one of the men who were friends of Jesus.’ 70 But Peter again said that it was not true.

After a little time, the other people who were standing there said to Peter, ‘We know you are from Galilee. So we are sure that you are one of those men.’ ^{▼▼14:70 They knew that he was from Galilee. They knew it because of the way that he spoke (Matthew 26:73).}

71 Then Peter began to speak very strongly to them. He said, ‘I do not know this man that you are talking about. God will surely punish me if this is not true!’ 72 Immediately a cockerel sang loudly for a second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: ‘You will say three times that you do not know me. You will do it before the cockerel sings for the second time.’

When Peter thought about this, he cried very much.