This week’s readings are all from Mark chapter 14. Click here to see a full listing of each day’s reading and the full chapter of Mark 14. Full readings of each day’s smaller segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
Today's Reading
Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 2 For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.”
3 Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of costly aromatic oil from pure nard. After breaking open the jar, she poured it on his head. 4 But some who were present indignantly said to one another, “Why this waste of expensive ointment? 5 It could have been sold for more than 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor!” So they spoke angrily to her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a good service for me. 7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me! 8 She did what she could. She anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus into their hands. 11 When they heard this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him. (Mark 14:1-11 NET)
Podcast(s) for this Reading
Mark 14 Part 1: Verses 1-27
Parallels in Other Gospels and New Testament Writings
@siteadmin I’m trying to picture this scene. The priests are plotting Jesus’ death, and Jesus is not stressed and anxious, but is relaxing at a friends house. Then, God spoke to a woman and told her to take that expensive jar of perfume, (possibly saving it for a husband or her retirement), and anoint this man for pre-burial. Only she and Jesus knew what was to come. Who was this woman? So many emotions with the disciples. The beginning of their testing, failure, and redemption. Very emotional time, for them and the reader.
Upon further examination, it appears the woman is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus.
@mark you wrote:
The priests are plotting Jesus’ death, and Jesus is not stressed and anxious, but is relaxing at a friends house.
Isn't it fascinating, all the different directions the texts of the Gospels often allow us to imagine Jesus? It's a good exercise in engaging the stories, I think, to think about the options: what did Jesus experience here? What was he like? For me, I don't know if Jesus is relaxing. He is reclining, but that's the common way of referring to eating at a table (most of the time people in a home reclined/laid-around low tables in a triclinium style. Mark is so brief and quick in his narrative that he doesn't address some of this struggle, but Jesus is talking about betrayal, suffering, and his death, as has been since Mark 8. Mark also includes Jesus' struggle near Gethsamene.
He's been telling them since Caesarea Philippi that all this is coming. But they keep missing it. Except this woman (who is unnamed in Mark). She gets it.
@mbbruno You said:
Upon further examination, it appears the woman is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus.
According to John, yes, this was the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and Martha:
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” (John 11.1–3 NRSV)
and
There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, (John 12.2–4 NRSV)
The commentary I read related to todays reading, indicated that the primary objector to the “waste” of the expensive perfume was Judas. It goes on to remind us the Judas was the treasurer and keeper of any and all funds donated to support Jesus and his disciples. Alas, “the fox guarding the hen house”. Judas was embezzling money from the treasury to enrich his personal life. The commentary goes on to indicate that this scene pushed Judas over the edge as Jesus told his followers that it was a righteous thing to have the perfume used to prepare Jesus for the burial ahead. Judas realized that Jesus was not his ticket to personal wealth and therefore went to the authorities to betray Jesus…but more importantly, to receive payment for what he did. I don’t believe Judas was ever on board or understood the roleJesus would play for all of humanity.
The commentary I read related to todays reading, indicated that the primary objector to the “waste” of the expensive perfume was Judas . . . The commentary goes on to indicate that this scene pushed Judas over the edge as Jesus told his followers that it was a righteous thing to have the perfume used to prepare Jesus for the burial ahead.
John's Gospel mentions that it was Judas who voiced the issue and also mentions his own greed and dishonesty:
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was going to give him over) said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor?” (Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.) (John 12.4–6 NET)
However, there's nothing in the text to indicate that this anointing was the event that "pushed Judas over the edge." That's an interesting interpretation. Here's a link to the parallel story in all four gospels.
Mark's emphasis is that it was a group of disciples (plural) who had issue with the woman:
But some who were present indignantly said to one another, “Why this waste of expensive ointment? 5 It could have been sold for more than 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor!” So they spoke angrily to her.
@siteadmin yes…The NIV study Bible did mention that it was the gospel of John that called out Judas…and the commentary indicated that the event pushed Judas over the edge to betray Jesus
The first of two podcasts on Mark 14 is now available. In this episode, we cover Mark 14:1-27:
Every time I read this passage, I am always drawn to Judas. What must he have been thinking? What must have been going on in his heart?
@mallary-malwick What do you think might be leading him to take the path he chooses?
We see how the rest of the disciples often miss the point, too (i.e. those indignant by the woman here; and many other places before this), but Judas seems to really miss it. I wonder what motivated him, in general... and I can't find anything about his "calling" by Jesus to be a disciple, either.
I honestly don’t know. His role had to take place which makes me feel a little sorry for him. No one wants that role in history. I wonder if it’s a situation like Pharaoh, where God hardened his heart or if just out of his own flesh, he was prideful and greedy and completely missed the point. Unfortunately, I think he finally gets it but just a little too late. I always think about him later on when Jesus is talking with Peter too. Jesus shows such grace and forgiveness after Peter denies him. If only Judas would have stayed alive, I think Jesus would have had a beautiful conversation with him and would have shown him such mercy.
@mallary-malwick Gosh, I hadn’t really thought of that but I think you’re right! What a conversation that would have been… Part of me hopes he still got that chance somehow.