Mark 14:1 – 16:8 Suffering, Death. Resurrection of the Son of Man

The Passion has been a long time coming but it has been with us since the beginning of the story. The stories of Jesus and the Baptist have been linked together since John was handed over (1:14). When we hear that John has been killed (6:14-29), we also hear that the innocent victim is taken by his disciples and buried in a tomb. Jesus is now about to be handed over, killed and laid in a tomb.

We have heard the passion predictions (8:31, 9:31, 10:32-34), we have understood the call to disciples to take up their cross and follow him. We know that the Christian community will also have its passion when faithful witness will be asked of it in front of councils and governors (13:9-13) as it was asked of its Jesus (14:53-65).

As readers, we have been told about the death threats and plots against Jesus (3:6, 11:18, 12:12) and know his fate is sealed.

The passion narrative (14:1 – 15:47) is the longest narrative in the story. If we stepped outside the story and laid Mark’s Passion Narrative along side those of the other Gospels we would note a sequence of incidents that is largely common to the Synoptic Gospels but examination of the details would show significant differences that indicate that each Evangelist has ended up telling his own story. Part of that uniqueness is seen in stories that appear in just one Gospel; Mark has his story of the young man who runs away naked. We would also understand a little of why those who have gone before us have suggested that the passion narrative pre-existed Mark’s Gospel and why some have said that Mark’s Gospel is “a passion narrative with an extended introduction”.

Mk 14:1-11 Devotion and Betrayal

The feast of Passover (Pesah, commemorating the anointing of the lintels with the blood of the lamb, slain and eaten in haste, to mark out the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and put them under the protection of the Lord) is now combined with the period of the eating of Unleavened Bread (also commemorating the escape from Egypt) and celebrated on the evening of the 15th of the month Nissan.

This day is two days away when our passion narrative begins. Since Jesus is executed on the day before the Sabbath (15:42), i.e. Friday, the meal at Bethany is located on the Wednesday evening, the evening of 14th Nissan, and the Passover meal will be on the Thursday evening, the evening of 15th Nissan. This same chronology is followed by Matthew and Luke. The Fourth Gospel has Jesus, the “Lamb of God”, put to death at the same time as the Passover lambs are being slaughtered, just prior to the end of 14th Nissan.

The “chief priests and the scribes” are the instigators of the plot to have Jesus put to death: the Pharisees have dropped from the picture. At the time of Jesus, Israel was a theocracy and a temple state, and Jerusalem was run by a large number of priests of various orders (Donahue, 384). Caiaphas was High Priest 18-36CE. The scribes and the chief priests “constituted the governing aristocracy in Jerusalem”.

The plotting of the chief priests and the scribes (vv.1-2) and the betrayal by Judas Iscariot (vv.10-11) forms a “Markan sandwich” around the anointing scene (vv.3-9). The anointing by the woman is set off by the “seeking (to do harm)”and the decision to “handover” Jesus. The plotters act in secret; the woman’s action will be proclaimed around the world.

The story of the anointing moves around in the gospels and the woman’s motivation and identity changes: Luke. 7:38-50 has her as an unidentified sinner woman and John 12:1-8 call her Mary the sister of Lazarus. Her action carries a major theme of anointing for burial (v.8) and a minor theme of the oiled Davidic King whose “head thou doest with oil anoint” (Ps. 23:5, 1 Sam. 16:12-13)

The time of the Passover was also a time for remembering the poor by almsgiving.. The extravagant action of the woman draws a cynical rebuke. The amount of 300 denarii is figured at about one and half year’s income for a peasant family of six. In a limited good society, to give this to Jesus means that others go without. Jesus’ response seems to run counter to this. The obligation to apply the “poor law” (Deut. 15:1-11) so that “there will be no one in need among you” is not diminished by her action. That obligation is there now and will be there next year; there is no limit of opportunities to do good to the poor. Jesus is not going to be around and the woman has sensed this opportune moment to anoint Jesus. Jesus’ response is not a shrug in the face of the inevitability of poverty. [The money promised to Judas could likewise have been given to the poor, but does that get a mention?]

The woman’s action honors Jesus: it is a beautiful and gracious thing done to the poor man Jesus. The preaching of the Gospel about Jesus throughout the world will forever be associated with her extravagant action; Creation shudders! The anonymous woman “has made it into the record books”. (Why is it that we lavish so much attention upon Judas and fail to memorialize this woman? )

The woman is obviously a person of substance and we know nothing about what she has given to the poor. She is anonymous and she is in good company. She provides for Jesus throughout his ministry, she stands at the cross, she goes to the tomb and here she anticipates his death and anoints his body. She is everywoman. She is the good disciple

Mk 14:12 – 25 The Last Meal Together

Preparation: The “first day of the unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed” is confused. The lambs are sacrificed at the end of Nissan 14. Mark wants to say that the meal was a Passover meal although his description of the meal leaves that open – he does not exploit Passover symbolism. Prior to the destruction of the temple, were all/some of the Jerusalem Passover lambs slaughtered in the temple? “Go into the city” leads to what have been seen as either covert (SGF Brandon Trial of Jesus, anachronistically suggesting Zealot activity) or prophetic (Donahue, alluding to 1 Sam 10:1-13) instructions. We see Jesus is in control of things. A man carrying a water pot would stand out from the crowd! The “guest room” is the same word as “inn” in Lk. 2:7. (Will there be mushrooms on the menu?) We note the “disciples” involved in the preparation (vv. 12, 16) and “the twelve” who gather with Jesus for the meal (v. 17f). We have seen the larger group of “disciples” following Jesus (8:27) and we have seen Jesus taking “the twelve” aside for special instruction (find the reference, win a prize) and we have seen the twelve as a subset of the disciples (4:10f). Who was present at the meal, or putting it differently, how big was the room?

Betrayal: The narrator has informed us about Judas as far back as at the appointment of the twelve (3:19) and as recently as the previous evening (14:10-11). Reflection on Ps. 41:9 and 55:12-14 would suggest some detail for a theme of betrayal but would they create such a character if there was no memory of a betrayal? If the character did not exist, would we have to invent him? The betrayal of an innocent one by a close friend makes for a great story. Judas is an enigmatic, flat character with nothing in our story to suggest why he acted against Jesus: the Fourth Gospel has certainly made up for this and novelists have not been reticent to round out the character (as recently as October 2006 – CK Stead, My Name was Judas)

Actions: Senior notes that the scene interprets Jesus’ death rather than presenting the foundation of the Christian Eucharist. The meal looks back to the two previous feeding stories (6:34-44; 8:1-10) with identical actions of taking and breaking. The important section of the “misunderstanding of the bread”(6:52; 8:17-21) linked Jesus’ mission to both the Jewish and Gentile territories. The breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup on the eve of his death links the meals with his death (cf. 10:38-39). The meal looks forward to the future meal of the kingdom (Is 25: 6-10a). This meal is the third in a series of grand, extravagant, anticipatory messianic meals. It will provide a matrix of interpretation for the series of daily and weekly smaller meals that characterized Jesus ministry and which will continue through his resurrection (the meal at Emmaus is the most notable Lk. 24:-35). St Paul will take this further and say that every meal shared by Christians is a Eucharist and so must not contradict this pivotal mean (“Whenever you break bread, do it in remembrance of me” 1 Cor. 11:17-34)