Mark
Chapter 14
1 In two days it would be the Passover festival and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The religious leaders and teachers of the law were trying to find a sneaky way to arrest and kill him.
2 But they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”
3 While he was in Bethany at Simon the leper’s house and eating, a woman came with a very valuable jar of spikenard perfume. She opened the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4 Some people were upset and asked, “Why was this perfume wasted?”
5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred coins and the money given to the poor. They complained about her.
6 Jesus said, “Leave her alone; why are you bothering her? She has done a good thing for me.”
7 You will always have poor people with you, and you can help them whenever you want, but you won’t always have me.
8 She did what she could: she came early to put oil on my body for burial.
9 I tell you, wherever this good news is shared all over the world, what she has done will also be told to remember her.
10 Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
11 When they heard this, they were happy and agreed to give him money. He then looked for a good chance to betray him.
12 On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his followers asked him, “Where do you want us to go and get ready for you to eat the Passover meal?”
13 He sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a water jug; follow him.”
14 Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my followers?’
15 He will show you a big upstairs room furnished and ready: there get things ready for us.
16 His followers left, went into the city, and found everything just as he had told them; and they prepared for the Passover.
17 In the evening, he arrives with the twelve.
18 While they were eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, one of you eating with me will betray me.”
19 They started to feel sad and asked him one by one, “Is it me?” and another asked, “Is it me?”
20 He replied, “It’s one of the twelve, who is sharing the bowl with me.”
21 The Son of man will go as it is written about him, but how terrible for the man who betrays the Son of man! It would be better for him if he had never been born.
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
23 He took the cup, thanked God, gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 He told them, “This is my blood of the new agreement, poured out for many.”
25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink from the grapevine again until the day I drink it fresh in God’s kingdom.
26 After they sang a song, they went to the Mount of Olives.
27 Jesus said to them, “All of you will turn away from me tonight, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
28 After I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.
29 But Peter told him, “Even if everyone else is upset, I will not be.”
30 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, today, even tonight, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
31 He spoke even more strongly, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.
32 They reached a place called Gethsemane, and he told his disciples, “Stay here while I go to pray.”
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him and started to feel deeply amazed and very sad.
34 He said to them, “My heart is very sad, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”
35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that, if it could happen, the difficult time might go away from him.
36 He said, “Daddy, Father, you can do anything; please take this suffering away from me. But let it be what you want, not what I want.”
37 He came and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour?”
38 Stay alert and pray, so you don’t fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
39 He left again, prayed, and said the same things.
40 When he came back, he saw they were sleeping again because they were very tired, and they didn’t know what to say to him.
41 He came back a third time and said to them, “Keep sleeping and resting. It’s enough, the time has come; look, the Son of Man is being handed over to sinners.”
42 Get up, let’s go; look, the one who will betray me is close by.
43 Right away, as he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived with a large crowd carrying swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.
44 The one who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and take him away without hurting him.”
45 As soon as he arrived, he went right up to him, said, “Teacher, teacher,” and kissed him.
46 They put their hands on him and arrested him.
47 Someone standing nearby pulled out a sword, hit the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear.
48 Jesus replied, “Did you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as if I were a thief?”
49 Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, but you did not arrest me. However, the scriptures needed to be fulfilled.
50 They all left him and ran away.
51 A young man, wearing only a linen cloth, was following Jesus; but when some men grabbed him,
52 He left the cloth behind and ran away naked.
53 They took Jesus to the high priest, and there all the top priests, elders, and teachers of the law came together.
54 Peter followed him from a distance, all the way to the high priest’s palace. He sat with the servants and warmed himself by the fire.
55 The religious leaders and their council looked for evidence against Jesus to kill him; but they found none.
56 Many told lies about him, but their stories did not match.
57 Some people stood up and lied about him, saying,
58 We heard him say, “I will tear down this temple made by hands, and in three days I will make another one not made by hands.”
59 Their testimonies did not match either.
60 The high priest stood up and asked Jesus, “Aren’t you going to answer? What are these charges that these people are bringing against you?”
61 He stayed silent and did not reply. The high priest questioned him again, asking, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?”
62 Jesus said, “I am. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
63 The high priest tore his clothes and said, “Do we need any more witnesses?”
64 You heard the disrespectful words: what do you think? They all found him guilty and deserving of death.
65 Some started to spit on him, cover his face, hit him, and told him to prophesy. The servants slapped him with their hands.
66 While Peter was downstairs in the courtyard, a servant girl of the high priest came.
67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You were also with Jesus from Nazareth.”
68 He denied it, saying, “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about.” Then he went out to the porch, and the rooster crowed.
69 A servant girl saw him, and started to tell those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”
70 He denied it again. Soon after, the people standing nearby said to Peter once more, “You must be one of them because you are from Galilee, and the way you talk shows it.”
71 But he started to curse and swear, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”
72 The rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered Jesus’s words to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times.” And he started to cry.