Mark 14

The chief priests and scribes should have been preparing for the Passover, where they were to remember everything that God did for them when He freed Israel from salvery in Egypt. Instead their hearts were only set on preparing to murder Jesus in a way that would not upset the public.

Meanwhile Jesus was in Bethany eating with His friends and a woman annointed Him with very expensive oil. It's translated as perfume, but perfume was oil-based in those days, not alcohol-based like they are today.

It says the perfume was worth 300 denari, and a denarius was a day's wage, so the perfume was worth about a year's income. The rebuke that some hurled at the woman was veiled in self-righteousness, but it was only masking greed. What could have been given to the poor could have also had a little skimmed off the top for the money holder.

But Jesus honored her offering and sacrifice, and assured her that everyone would hear about what she did for as long as they heard about Him.

As if that was the straw that broke the camel's back, Judas went to seek out the chief priests in order to betray Jesus. Our modern movies and TV shows try to show Judas in a sympathetic light - as if he was innocently trying to do what he thought was right - but the Bible makes it clear: Judas sought to betray Jesus.

Jesus told two of His disciples to go find a man carrying a water jug and ask him if they could eat the Passover at his house. Some suggest that this man was Mark's father, and that Mark was present at the time when Jesus and the disciples were eating the last supper. There's another clue that hints that Mark was present with them in the garden of Gethsemane also. Not doctrine, just interesting.

Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him. Then Jesus blessed the bread and the wine but there's not a lot of detail in Mark about Jesus telling them to do this in rememberance of Him.

Jesus predicted that they would all run away when He was arrested. Everyone denied it, but everyone ended up running away. I think Peter was sincecere when he said he would not run away, but I think he imagined Jesus taking a stand. When Jesus surrendered to be arrested, I don't think Peter understood what was happening, and it left his head spinning.

When Jesus prayed He took Peter, James, and John and assigned them to be watchmen. They were to stand guard, and they failed by falling asleep at their post - 3 times. Even those closest to Jesus proved not to be people He could rely on. No matter how weak or inept they were, though, Jesus still loved them and went to the cross for them. And no matter how weak or inept we are, He still loves us and went to the cross for us.

Then Judas came and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. As if to say, hey I broght a band of soldiers to arrest you, but we're cool right. To me there's no middle ground here with Judas - he was either very evil, or very dumb.

Then Jesus confronted the mob - pointing out that they had ample opportunity to arrest Him in the light of day, but that everything was happening according to scripture. And there's a detail here in Mark that is not in the other gospels. v51-52 mentions a young man wearing a linen cloth who was caught but slipped out of his cloth and ran away naked. Amos 2:16 prophesied something like this. Not all translations state it plainly, but the NASB95 says, "Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day,” declares the Lord. This also has a parallel with Joseph running away from Potiphar's wife. And scholars think that this little addition to Mark is actually him inserting his own memory of the incident - that is to say, that he is the young man that ran away naked. Again, just interesting.

Then Jesus was falsely accused before the Sanhedrin - those so concerned with "upholding the law" were eager to trample all over it in order to get rid of the one they should have been worshipping.

And Peter denied Jesus, just as Jesus said he would. Not passively, but cursing and swearing - completely opposite of what he said he would do not even 12 hours earlier.