Gospel according to Mark 14

¹ It was two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and have him put to death.

² For they said, ‘It must not be during the festivities, or there will be a disturbance among the people’.

³ Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper; he was at dinner when a woman came in with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the ointment on his head.

⁴ Some who were there said to one another indignantly, ‘Why this waste of ointment?

⁵ Ointment like this could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor’; and they were angry with her.

⁶ But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting her? What she has done for me is one of the good works.

⁷ You have the poor with you always, and you can be kind to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me.

⁸ She has done what was in her power to do: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.

⁹ I tell you solemnly, wherever throughout all the world the Good News is proclaimed, what she has done will be told also, in remembrance of her.’

¹⁰ Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, approached the chief priests with an offer to hand Jesus over to them.

¹¹ They were delighted to hear it, and promised to give him money; and he looked for a way of betraying him when the opportunity should occur.

¹² On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’

¹³ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him,

¹⁴ and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?”

¹⁵ He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there,’

¹⁶ The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.

¹⁷ When evening came he arrived with the Twelve.

¹⁸ And while they were at table eating, Jesus said, ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me, one of you eating with me’.

¹⁹ They were distressed and asked him, one after another, ‘Not I, surely?’

²⁰ He said to them, ‘It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the same dish with me.

²¹ Yes, the Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!’

²² And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’

²³ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it,

²⁴ and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many.

²⁵ I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’

²⁶ After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives.

²⁷ And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all lose faith, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered,[*a]

²⁸ however after my resurrection I shall go before you to Galilee’.

²⁹ Peter said, ‘Even if all lose faith, I will not’.

³⁰ And Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you solemnly, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times’.

³¹ But he repeated still more earnestly, ‘If I have to die with you, I will never disown you’. And they all said the same.

³² They came to a small estate called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Stay here while I pray’.

³³ Then he took Peter and James and John with him. And a sudden fear came over him, and great distress.

³⁴ And he said to them, ‘My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here, and keep awake.’

³⁵ And going on a little further he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by.

³⁶ ‘Abba (Father)!’ he said ‘Everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it.’

³⁷ He came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to keep awake one hour?

³⁸ You should be awake, and praying not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’

³⁹ Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

⁴⁰ And once more he came back and found them sleeping, their eyes were so heavy; and they could find no answer for him.

⁴¹ He came back a third time and said to them, ‘You can sleep on now and take your rest. It is all over. The hour has come. Now the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴² Get up! Let us go! My betrayer is close at hand already.’

⁴³ Even while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up with a number of men armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

⁴⁴ Now the traitor had arranged a signal with them. ‘The one I kiss,’ he had said ‘he is the man. Take him in charge, and see he is well guarded when you lead him away.’

⁴⁵ So when the traitor came, he went straight up to Jesus and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him.

⁴⁶ The others seized him and took him in charge.

⁴⁷ Then one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck out at the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸ Then Jesus spoke. ‘Am I a brigand’ he said ‘that you had to set out to capture me with swords and clubs?

⁴⁹ I was among you teaching in the Temple day after day and you never laid hands on me. But this is to fulfil the scriptures.’

⁵⁰ And they all deserted him and ran away.

⁵¹ A young man who followed him had nothing on but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him,

⁵² but he left the cloth in their hands and ran away naked.

⁵³ They led Jesus off to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes assembled there.

⁵⁴ Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the high priest’s palace, and was sitting with the attendants warming himself at the fire.

⁵⁵ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus on which they might pass the death-sentence. But they could not find any.

⁵⁶ Several, indeed, brought false evidence against him, but their evidence was conflicting.

⁵⁷ Some stood up and submitted this false evidence against him,

⁵⁸ ‘We heard him say, “I am going to destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build another, not made by human hands”‘.

⁵⁹ But even on this point their evidence was conflicting.

⁶⁰ The high priest then stood up before the whole assembly and put this question to Jesus, ‘Have you no answer to that? What is this evidence these men are bringing against you?’

⁶¹ But he was silent and made no answer at all. The high priest put a second question to him, ‘Are you the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the Blessed One?’

⁶² ‘I am,’ said Jesus ‘and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'[*b]

⁶³ The high priest tore his robes, ‘What need of witnesses have we now?’ he said.

⁶⁴ ‘You heard the blasphemy. What is your finding?’ And they all gave their verdict: he deserved to die.

⁶⁵ Some of them started spitting at him and, blindfolding him, began hitting him with their fists and shouting, ‘Play the prophet!’ And the attendants rained blows on him.

⁶⁶ While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant-girls came up.

⁶⁷ She saw Peter warming himself there, stared at him and said, ‘You too were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth’.

⁶⁸ But he denied it. ‘I do not know, I do not understand, what you are talking about’ he said. And he went out into the forecourt.

⁶⁹ The servant-girl saw him and again started telling the bystanders, ‘This fellow is one of them’.

⁷⁰ But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter, ‘You are one of them for sure! Why, you are a Galilean.’

⁷¹ But he started calling down curses on himself and swearing, ‘I do not know the man you speak of’.

⁷² At that moment the cock crew for the second time, and Peter recalled how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times’. And he burst into tears.