It was two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest him by trickery and kill him. 2 “Not during the feast,” they said, “or the people might riot.”
3 Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper. While he was reclining at the table, a woman came in carrying an alabaster jar of pure nard perfume — very expensive. She broke the jar open and poured it over his head.[1]
4 Some there were angry and said to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.[2]
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you giving her trouble? She has done a beautiful thing for me. 7 You will always have the poor with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She has anointed my body ahead of time for burial. 9 Amen, I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in all the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to hand Jesus over to them. 11 When they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. And Judas began looking for a good opportunity to hand him over.
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 prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
13 He sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.[3] 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large upstairs room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16 The disciples left and went into the city. They found everything just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. 18 As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Amen, I tell you, one of you will hand me over — one who is eating with me.”
19 They began to be upset and said to him one after another, “Surely not I?”
20 He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve — one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man goes just as it is written about him, but how terrible for that man by whom the Son of Man is handed over. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
22 While they were eating, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. He said, “Take it. This is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and handed it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the binding promise, poured out for many. 25 Amen, I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
27 Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
29 Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else falls away, I will not.”
30 Jesus said to him, “Amen, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
31 But Peter insisted fiercely, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And all of them said the same.
32 They came to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 He said to them, “My soul is crushed, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”
35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 He said, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”[4]
37 He returned and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Keep watch and pray, so that you won’t fall into testing. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 Once more he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 When he came back, he found them sleeping again, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
41 He came 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 into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let’s go. Look — the one handing me over is near.”
43 Right away, while he was still speaking, Judas — one of the Twelve — arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. 44 The one handing him over had given them a signal: “The one I kiss — that’s him. Seize him and lead him away under guard.”
45 As soon as he arrived, he went straight up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 They laid hands on him and arrested him.
47 One of those standing by drew his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his ear.
48 Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me, as if I were a bandit? 49 Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”
50 Then everyone deserted him and ran away.
51 A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They grabbed hold of him, 52 but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked.
53 They led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders, and scribes assembled. 54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. He sat with the guards and warmed himself by the fire.
55 The chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus so they could put him to death, but they found none. 56 Many gave false testimony against him, but their stories did not match.
57 Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands.’”[5] 59 But even on this point their testimony did not agree.
60 The high priest stood up in front of them and questioned Jesus: “Have you no answer? What is this they are testifying against you?” 61 But he remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest questioned him: “Are you the Anointed One, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”[6]
63 The high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we need any more witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?”
They all condemned him as deserving death. 65 Some began to spit on him, blindfold him, and beat him with their fists, saying, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and slapped him.
66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant girls came by. 67 She saw Peter warming himself, looked closely at him, and said, “You were also with that Nazarene — Jesus.”
68 But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, and a rooster crowed.
69 The servant girl saw him there and began again to tell those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.” 70 But he denied it again.
A little later, those standing there said to Peter, “You really are one of them — you’re a Galilean, and your accent gives you away.”
71 He began to curse and swear: “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”
72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and sobbed.
Notes
Note 1. “Nard” (spikenard) is an aromatic oil pressed from a flowering plant that grows high in the Himalayas of Nepal, India, and China. Because it had to travel thousands of miles overland to reach Judea, it was a genuine luxury. ↩
Note 2. A single denarius was roughly a day’s pay for an ordinary laborer. Three hundred of them, then, came to nearly a year’s wages. ↩
Note 3. Fetching and carrying water was ordinarily women’s work; the women and girls of a household carried the jars. ↩
Note 4. “Abba” is Aramaic, the everyday language Jesus spoke, and Mark keeps the original word. Despite a popular claim that it means “Daddy,” it was a normal term grown children used for their father — familiar and warm, but not baby talk. ↩
Note 5. The charge that Jesus threatened to destroy the temple and rebuild it “not made with hands” in three days echoes words attributed to him elsewhere in the Gospels. ↩
Note 6. Jesus’ answer draws on two well-known passages: a psalm about a figure seated at God’s right hand (Psalm 110) and Daniel’s vision of “one like a son of man” coming with the clouds (Daniel 7). ↩