Mark 14:12–15:47

Jesus Eats the Passover Meal with His Disciples

¹²On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the day the lambs for the Passover meal were killed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and get the Passover meal ready for you?”

¹³Then Jesus sent two of them with these instructions: “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him ¹⁴to the house he enters, and say to the owner of the house: ‘The Teacher says, Where is the room where my disciples and I will eat the Passover meal?’ ¹⁵Then he will show you a large upstairs room, prepared and furnished, where you will get everything ready for us.”

¹⁶The disciples left, went to the city, and found everything just as Jesus had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

¹⁷When it was evening, Jesus came with the twelve disciples. ^18*While they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you that one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹The disciples were upset and began to ask him, one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, do you?”

²⁰Jesus answered, “It will be one of you twelve, one who dips his bread in the dish with me. ²¹The Son of Man will die as the Scriptures say he will; but how terrible for that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!”

The Lord’s Supper

²²While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. “Take it,” he said, “this is my body.”

²³Then he took a cup, gave thanks to God, and handed it to them; and they all drank from it. ^24*Jesus said, “This is my blood which is poured out for many, my blood which seals God’s covenant. ²⁵I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine in the Kingdom of God.”

²⁶Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

^27*Jesus said to them, “All of you will run away and leave me, for the scripture says, ‘God will kill the shepherd, and the sheep will all be scattered.’ ^28*But after I am raised to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”

²⁹Peter answered, “I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!”

³⁰Jesus said to Peter, “I tell you that before the cock crows twice tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.”

³¹Peter answered even more strongly, “I will never say that, even if I have to die with you!” And all the other disciples said the same thing.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

³²They came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³He took Peter, James, and John with him. Distress and anguish came over him, ³⁴and he said to them, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch.”

³⁵He went a little farther on, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that, if possible, he might not have to go through that time of suffering. ³⁶“Father,” he prayed, “my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

³⁷Then he returned and found the three disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Weren’t you able to stay awake even for one hour?” ³⁸And he said to them, “Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹He went away once more and prayed, saying the same words. ⁴⁰Then he came back to the disciples and found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open. And they did not know what to say to him.

⁴¹When he came back the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come! Look, the Son of Man is now being handed over to the power of sinners. ⁴²Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me!”

The Arrest of Jesus

⁴³Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, and sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders. ⁴⁴The traitor had given the crowd a signal: “The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him and take him away under guard.”

⁴⁵As soon as Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus and said, “Teacher!” and kissed him. ⁴⁶So they arrested Jesus and held him tight. ⁴⁷But one of those standing there drew his sword and struck at the High Priest’s slave, cutting off his ear. ⁴⁸Then Jesus spoke up and said to them, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? ^49*Day after day I was with you teaching in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must come true.”

⁵⁰Then all the disciples left him and ran away. ⁵¹A certain young man, dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, ⁵²but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind.

Jesus before the Council

⁵³Then Jesus was taken to the High Priest’s house, where all the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the Law were gathering. ⁵⁴Peter followed from a distance and went into the courtyard of the High Priest’s house. There he sat down with the guards, keeping himself warm by the fire. ⁵⁵The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they could not find any. ⁵⁶Many witnesses told lies against Jesus, but their stories did not agree.

⁵⁷Then some men stood up and told this lie against Jesus: ^58*“We heard him say, ‘I will tear down this Temple which men have made, and after three days I will build one that is not made by men.’ ” ⁵⁹Not even they, however, could make their stories agree.

⁶⁰The High Priest stood up in front of them all and questioned Jesus, “Have you no answer to the accusation they bring against you?”

⁶¹But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?”

^62*“I am,” answered Jesus, “and you will all see the Son of Man seated on the right of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!”

⁶³The High Priest tore his robes and said, “We don’t need any more witnesses! ^64*You heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?”

They all voted against him: he was guilty and should be put to death.

⁶⁵Some of them began to spit on Jesus, and they blindfolded him and hit him. “Guess who hit you!” they said. And the guards took him and slapped him.

Peter Denies Jesus

⁶⁶Peter was still down in the courtyard when one of the High Priest’s servant women came by. ⁶⁷When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁶⁸But he denied it. “I don’t know … I don’t understand what you are talking about,” he answered, and went out into the passage. Just then a cock crowed.^w

⁶⁹The servant woman saw him there and began to repeat to the bystanders, “He is one of them!” ⁷⁰But Peter denied it again.

A little while later the bystanders accused Peter again, “You can’t deny that you are one of them, because you, too, are from Galilee.”

⁷¹Then Peter said, “I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know the man you are talking about!”

⁷²Just then a cock crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will say three times that you do not know me.” And he broke down and cried.

Jesus Is Brought before Pilate

15Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “So you say.”

³The chief priests were accusing Jesus of many things, ⁴so Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Listen to all their accusations!”

⁵Again Jesus refused to say a word, and Pilate was amazed.

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death

⁶At every Passover Festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for. ⁷At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot. ⁸When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favour, ⁹he asked them, “Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, for Pilate to set Barabbas free for them. ¹²Pilate spoke again to the crowd, “What, then, do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴“But what crime has he committed?” Pilate asked.

They shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor’s palace and called together the rest of the company. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on his head. ¹⁸Then they began to salute him: “Long live the King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They beat him over the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to him. ²⁰When they had finished mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Jesus Is Crucified

^21*On the way they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was from Cyrene and was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) ²²They took Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means “The Place of the Skull”. ²³There they tried to give him wine mixed with a drug called myrrh, but Jesus would not drink it. ^24*Then they crucified him and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing dice to see who would get which piece…