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Mark 14

14
Chapter 14
The Jewish leaders want to kill Jesus
1It was now two days before the Passover festival. It was the time when Jews eat flat bread which has no yeast in it. #14:1 ‘flat bread’ is bread which has no yeast in it. The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law wanted to kill Jesus. But they wanted to take hold of him secretly. So they tried to decide how they could do that. 2They said to each other, ‘We do not want to do it during the festival. If we do that, the people will be angry. Then they may fight against us.’
A woman pours special oil on Jesus' head
3Then Jesus went to Bethany, and he visited Simon at his house. At one time, Simon had had a bad disease of the skin. While Jesus was eating a meal there, a woman came into the house. She brought a small stone jar that contained expensive oil with a very nice smell. They used nard to make it. The woman broke the jar to open it. Then she poured the oil over Jesus' head. #14:3 Nard is a plant that people use to make expensive oil. The plant grows in the country called India. People kept the oil in a special stone jar. The woman had to break the jar so that she could pour out the oil.
4But some people became angry. They said to each other, ‘This woman should not have wasted the oil. 5She could have sold it and she could have given the money to poor people. She could have sold it for more than 300 coins. A man would have to work for a year to get that much money.’ So they spoke angrily to the woman.
6But Jesus said, ‘Do not speak to her like that! Do not cause trouble for her. She has done a good thing to me. 7You will always have poor people with you. You can help them at any time that you want. But you will not always have me with you. 8This woman did what she was able to do. She poured oil over my body. So now, my body will be ready for people to bury me. 9I tell you this: Everywhere in the world, people will speak about God's good news. At the same time, they will also tell people about the good thing that this woman has done. And so they will remember her.’
Judas agrees to help the leaders of the priests
10Then Judas Iscariot went to the leaders of the priests. He said that he would help them to catch Jesus. (Judas was one of Jesus' 12 apostles.) 11The leaders of the priests were very happy about this. They promised to give Judas some money. Then Judas waited for the right moment to help them to take hold of Jesus.
Jesus eats his last meal with his 12 apostles
12The first day of the festival when the Jews eat flat bread arrived. On this day, each family kills a young sheep for the Passover meal. Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘We will go to prepare the Passover meal for you. Where do you want us to do that?’
13So Jesus sent two disciples to prepare the meal. ‘Go into the city,’ he said to them. ‘A man, who is carrying a jar of water, will meet you. Follow him. 14He will go to a house. You must say to the master of that house, “The Teacher sends this message to you: ‘Where is the room for visitors? I will eat the Passover meal there with my disciples.’ ” 15Then the man will show you a large room upstairs. The room will have in it all the things that you will need. You should prepare the Passover meal for us there.’
16Then the two disciples left and they went into the city. They found everything as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal there.
17When it was evening, Jesus arrived with the 12 apostles. 18While they were eating the meal, Jesus said, ‘I tell you this: One of you will help the Jewish leaders to take hold of me. It is someone who is eating this meal with me.’
19The disciples became very sad. Each one of them said to Jesus, ‘Surely you do not mean me, do you?’
20Jesus said to them, ‘It is one of you 12 apostles. That man is eating from the same dish as I am. #14:20 There was a dish on the table with some food in it. They were all putting their bread into the same dish to pick up the food. 21The Son of Man must die in the way that the Bible says. But it will be very bad for the man who gives me to my enemies. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’
The Passover meal
22While Jesus and his disciples were eating, he took a loaf of bread. He thanked God for it. Then he broke the bread into pieces. He gave some of it to each of his disciples. ‘Take this bread and eat it,’ he said to them. ‘This is my body.’
23Then Jesus took a cup. He thanked God for the wine in the cup. Then he gave the cup to them and they all drank from it.
24Jesus said to them, ‘This is my blood that shows God's promise. When I die, my blood will pour out of my body. In that way God will save many people. That is the promise that God makes because of my death. 25I tell you this: I will not drink wine again until God rules in his kingdom. Then it will be new wine.’
26Then Jesus and his disciples sang a song to praise God. Then they went out to the Mount of Olives. #14:26 Judas was not still with the other disciples. He left earlier. See John 13:29-30.
Jesus tells the disciples what will happen
27Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘All of you will turn away from me. It will happen as the Bible says:
God says, “I will kill the shepherd who leads the sheep.
Then the sheep will run away in different directions.” ’ #14:27 See Zechariah 13:7.
28Jesus then said, ‘But after that happens, I will become alive again. Then I will go to Galilee, and you will meet me there.’
29Peter said to Jesus, ‘Even if everyone else runs away, I will not leave you.’
30Jesus replied, ‘I tell you this: Even tonight, you will say that you do not know me. You will say that three times before the cockerel sings for the second time in the morning.’
31But Peter said very strongly, ‘I will die with you if I need to. But I will never say that I do not know you.’ All the other disciples said the same thing.
Jesus prays in the garden called Gethsemane
32Then they arrived at a garden called Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ 33Jesus took Peter, James and John with him. He started to feel very sad and upset. 34He said to them, ‘I am very sad. I feel as if I could die because I feel so sad. Wait here and stay awake.’
35Jesus went a short way beyond them. He went down on the ground. He prayed that, if possible, God would save him from this time of trouble. 36He said, ‘Abba, my Father, you can do all things. Please take this great pain away from me. But I do not ask you to do what I want. Do what you want to do.’
37Jesus returned to his three disciples. Now they were sleeping. He said to Peter, ‘Simon, you are asleep! You could not stay awake for even one hour! 38You must keep awake and you must pray. Then you will not want to do something wrong. You really want to do the right thing, but your body is weak.’
39Jesus went away again and he prayed in the same words. 40Then Jesus returned again to Peter, James and John. He saw that they were sleeping. They could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him.
41Then Jesus returned a third time to the disciples. He said to them, ‘You should not still be sleeping and resting. That is enough! The moment has arrived. Look! Someone will now give me, the Son of Man, to my enemies. 42Stand up, we will go now. Look! The man who will give me to my enemies is here.’
Judas leads the men who will take Jesus away
43Jesus was still speaking when, immediately, Judas arrived. He was one of Jesus' 12 apostles. A crowd came with him. They were carrying swords and heavy sticks. The leaders of the priests, the teachers of God's Law and the important Jews had sent these men.
44Before this, Judas had told these men, ‘I will kiss one of the men. You must take hold of that man. Lead him away and do not let him go.’ 45When they arrived, Judas went immediately to Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said to Jesus. Then he kissed Jesus in a friendly way. 46So the men took hold of Jesus to lead him away. 47But a certain man who was standing there took hold of his sword. He hit the servant of the leader of the priests with it and he cut off the servant's ear.
48Then Jesus spoke to the crowd. He said, ‘You have come out here with swords and heavy sticks to take hold of me. Do you really think that I am leading people to fight against our country's rulers? 49No! I was with you every day when I was teaching people in the yard of the temple. You did not try to take hold of me then. But this must happen in the way that the Bible says it would happen.’ 50Then all Jesus' disciples left him and they ran away.
51A certain young man was following Jesus. #14:51 We think that this young man was called Mark. Mark wrote this book. He was wearing only one piece of linen cloth to cover himself. The men tried to take hold of this young man. 52But the young man left the piece of cloth behind and he ran away. So when he ran away, he was not wearing anything.
The most important priest asks Jesus questions
53The men took Jesus to the house of the most important priest. All the leaders of the priests met together there with the important Jews and with the teachers of God's Law. #14:53 The most important priest was called Caiaphas. When all these important Jews met together, they were called the Sanhedrin. They decided together about how to rule the people. There were 71 men in the Sanhedrin. They had a lot of power, but they could not punish a guilty person with death. Only the Roman rulers could do that.
54Peter followed Jesus into the yard of Caiaphas's house. But he did not go near Jesus. He sat down in the yard with the guards and he made himself warm by the fire.
55The leaders of the priests and all the Jewish leaders wanted to punish Jesus with death. So they tried to find some people who would say things against Jesus. But they did not find anyone who could help them. 56Many people said things against Jesus that were not true. But they did not agree with each other in what they said. #14:56 In Jewish rules, two or more people had to say the same thing about a person. Then the judge would believe that their words were true. He would agree that the person had done something wrong.
57Then some men stood up and they said something false against Jesus. 58They said, ‘We heard Jesus say, “I will destroy the temple, which men have built. In three days I will build another House for God. It will not be people who build this new house.” ’ 59Even then, these people who were speaking against Jesus did not say the same thing.
60Then Caiaphas stood up in front of everyone. He said to Jesus, ‘You must reply now to what these men have said against you. Are the things that they are saying true?’ 61But Jesus did not reply. He did not say anything.
So again, Caiaphas asked Jesus, ‘Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?’
62‘I am,’ Jesus replied. ‘And you will all see the Son of Man. He will be sitting in the most important place at the right side of the Most Powerful God. You will see him coming to earth. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky.’
63Then Caiaphas tore his clothes to show that he was angry. #14:63 Caiaphas tore his own clothes to show other people that he was very angry. ‘We do not need anyone else to speak against Jesus,’ he said. 64‘You have heard the bad words that he has spoken against God. Do you think that he is guilty?’
Everyone agreed that Jesus deserved to die.
65Then some of the men began to spit on Jesus. They covered his eyes with a cloth and they hit him many times with their fists. They said, ‘Show us that you are a prophet! Tell us who hit you!’ Then the guards took hold of Jesus and they beat him.
Peter says three times that he does not know Jesus
66Peter was still sitting outside in the yard. One of the young women who was a servant of the most important priest came there. 67She saw Peter, who was making himself warm by the fire.
She looked at him and she said, ‘You also were a friend of Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’
68Peter replied, ‘That is not true! I do not even know what you are talking about!’ Then Peter went out to the gate of the yard. At that moment a cockerel sang.
69The young woman watched him, and again she said to the other people there, ‘He is one of the men who were friends of Jesus.’ 70But Peter again said that it was not true.
After a little time, the other people who were standing there said to Peter, ‘We know you are from Galilee. #14:70 They knew that he was from Galilee. They knew it because of the way that he spoke. See Matthew 26:73. So we are sure that you are one of those men.’
71Then Peter began to speak very strongly to them. He said, ‘I do not know this man that you are talking about. God will surely punish me if this is not true!’ 72Immediately a cockerel sang loudly for a second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: ‘You will say three times that you do not know me. You will do it before the cockerel sings for the second time.’
When Peter thought about this, he wept very much.

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Mark 14: EASY

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