New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Mark chapter 14

It was now two days before the and the . The and the were looking for some underhanded way to arrest Jesus and kill him.“But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people might riot.”While Jesus was in , eating at the home of , a woman came in carrying an of very expensive perfume — . She broke open the jar and poured it over his head.Some of those present were outraged. “Why waste perfume like that?” they said to one another.“That perfume could have been sold for more than three hundred and the money given to the poor!” And they scolded her harshly.“Leave her alone,” Jesus said. “Why are you giving her a hard time? She has done something for me.”“You will always have the poor with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But you won’t always have me.”“She did what she could — she my body ahead of time for burial.”“I’m telling you the truth: wherever the is announced in the whole world, what she has done will also be told, as a tribute to her.”Then Judas Iscariot, one of , went to the chief priests to to them.When they heard this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he started looking for a good opportunity to hand him over.On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the , his asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?”So he sent two of his followers ahead and told them, “Go into the city, and a will meet you. Follow him.”“Wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘ asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my followers?’”“He will show you a , already set up and ready. Make the preparations for us there.”The followers left, went into the city, and found everything exactly as he had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.While they were and eating, Jesus said, “I’m telling you the truth: one of you is going to hand me over — someone who is right now.”They became and began asking him one by one, “It’s not me, is it?”“It’s one of the Twelve,” he told them, “someone with me.”“The is going to his fate, just as say about him. But how terrible it will be for the man who hands him over! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born.”While they were eating, Jesus took , , broke it, and gave it to them. “Take it,” he said. “This is my .”Then he took a , , and passed it to them, and they all drank from it.“This is my , which is for many people for the forgiveness of their ,” he said to them.“I’m telling you the truth: I will not drink the again until the day I drink it new in .”After , they went out to the .“All of you are going to ,” Jesus told them, “because the Scripture says: ‘I will , and the sheep will scatter.’”“But after I am , I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”Peter declared, “Even if everyone else falls away, I won’t.”“I’m telling you the truth,” Jesus said to him, “today — this very night — before the rooster crows twice, you will me three times.”But Peter , “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the others said the same thing.They went to a place called , and Jesus said to his followers, “Sit here while I pray.”He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be and .“ — to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and .”Going a little farther, he and prayed that, if it were possible, might pass from him.“, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take away from me. But not what I want — what you want.”Then he came back and found them sleeping. “,” he said to Peter, “are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour?”“Stay awake and pray so that you won’t be . The is eager, but the body is weak.”He went away again and prayed, saying the same thing.When he came back, he found them sleeping again — their eyes were so heavy. They didn’t know what to say to him.He came back a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look — the Son of Man is being handed over to .”“Get up, let’s go! Look — the one who is handing me over is here.”Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas — one of the Twelve — arrived with a crowd carrying swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests, the legal experts, and the .Now Judas, the one handing him over, had arranged a signal with them. “The one I is the man you want,” he’d said. “Arrest him and take him away under guard.”When Judas arrived, he went straight to Jesus and said, “!” and kissed him.Then they seized Jesus and arrested him.But one of those standing nearby drew his sword and struck the , cutting off his ear.“Am I ,” Jesus said to them, “that you come out with swords and clubs to capture me?”“Every day I was with you, teaching in the , and you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”Then everyone abandoned him and ran away.A was following him, wearing nothing but a around his body. They grabbed him,but he slipped out of the linen cloth and ran away naked.They took Jesus to , and all the chief priests, elders, and legal experts assembled.Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest’s residence. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.The chief priests and the whole were looking for evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death, but they couldn’t find any.Many people gave against him, but their statements didn’t match up.Then some people stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,“We heard him say, ‘I will tear down this , and in three days I will build another one, not made by human hands.’”But even on this point their testimony didn’t agree.Then the high priest stood up before them all and questioned Jesus: “Don’t you have anything to say? What about all this testimony against you?”But Jesus and gave no answer. Again the high priest questioned him: “Are you — the Son of ?”“,” Jesus said. “And you will see the seated at the and .”The high priest and said, “Why do we need any more witnesses?”“You all heard the ! What is your verdict?” They all him as deserving death.Some of them began to . They blindfolded him, hit him with their fists, and said, “” And the guards took him and beat him.While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant girls came by.When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him and said, “You were with — that Jesus.”But he . “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out to the entrance area. Then a rooster crowed.When the servant girl saw him there, she began saying again to the people standing around, “This man is one of them.”He denied it again. A little later, the people standing around said to Peter, “You’ve got to be one of them — you’re a .”Then he began to : “I do not know this man you’re talking about!”Immediately the rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he .