Mark 14:1–25

A Woman Pours Perfume on Jesus

14The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for a clever way to arrest Jesus. They wanted to kill him. ²“But not during the Feast,” they said. “The people may stir up trouble.”

³Jesus was in Bethany. He was at the table in the home of a man named Simon, who had a skin disease. A woman came with a special sealed jar of very expensive perfume. It was made out of pure nard. She broke the jar open and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head.

⁴Some of the people there became angry. They said to one another, “Why waste this perfume? ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year’s pay. The money could have been given to poor people.” So they found fault with the woman.

⁶“Leave her alone,” Jesus said. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷You will always have poor people with you. You can help them any time you want to. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body to prepare me to be buried. ⁹What I’m about to tell you is true. What she has done will be told anywhere the good news is preached all over the world. It will be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰Judas Iscariot was one of the Twelve. He went to the chief priests to hand Jesus over to them. ¹¹They were delighted to hear that he would do this. They promised to give Judas money. So he watched for the right time to hand Jesus over to them.

The Lord’s Supper

¹²It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That was the time to sacrifice the Passover lamb.

Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”

¹³So he sent out two of his disciples. He told them, “Go into the city. A man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴He will enter a house. Say to its owner, ‘The Teacher asks, “Where is my guest room? Where can I eat the Passover meal with my disciples?” ’ ¹⁵He will show you a large upstairs room. It will have furniture and will be ready. Prepare for us to eat there.”

¹⁶The disciples left and went into the city. They found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.

¹⁷When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. ¹⁸While they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “What I’m about to tell you is true. One of you who is eating with me will hand me over to my enemies.”

¹⁹The disciples became sad. One by one they said to him, “It’s not I, is it?”

²⁰“It is one of the Twelve,” Jesus replied. “It is the one who dips bread into the bowl with me. ²¹The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But how terrible it will be for the one who hands over the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²²While they were eating, Jesus took bread. He gave thanks and broke it. He handed it to his disciples and said, “Take it. This is my body.”

²³Then he took the cup. He gave thanks and handed it to them. All of them drank from it.

²⁴“This is my blood of the new covenant,” he said to them. “It is poured out for many. ²⁵What I’m about to tell you is true. I won’t drink wine with you again until the day I drink it in God’s kingdom.”