A. Betrayal. Passover Supper and Flight of the Disciples (14:1-52)

Three cycles of events are included here (verses 1-11, 12-26, 27-52).

I. CONSPIRACY TO KILL JESUS ​​AND HIS ANOINTING IN BETHANIA (14:1-11)

Events in Mark's description often have a "sandwich" structure (3:20-35; 5:21-43; 6:7-31; 11:12-26; 14:27-52). We encounter this structure in the first cycle of this section. The story of the conspiracy that the religious leaders and Judas entered into (verses 1-2, 10-11) is "intruded" by a description of another kind - the anointing of Jesus at Bethany (verse 3:9). By resorting to this technique, Mark sharply contrasted the hostility of the conspirators with love for Jesus to that which saw in Him the suffering Messiah.

but. The conspiracy of the leaders of the people (14:1-2) (Mat. 26:1-5; Luke 22:1-2)

Mar. 14:1a. Mark begins the story of the sufferings of Jesus from a new point of reference (introduction to 11:1-11), in which the whole chain of events developed. Establishing their chronological sequence on Holy Week is fraught with a certain difficulty - partly due to the two different time reference systems that were then in use - the Roman (modern) one, in which the beginning of the day was timed to coincide with midnight, and the Jewish one, according to which the new day began after sunset sun (13:35).

Passover, celebrated only in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:5-6), was an annual Jewish holiday (Ex. 12:1-14) celebrated on the 14th and 15th of the month of Nisan (March-April); many call these days Passion Thursday and Good Friday.

The preparation for the Passover supper (Mark 14:12-16) included the slaughter of the Passover lamb; this happened at the end of the day on Nisan 14 - according to Jewish time, which means that in that year it happened on Thursday afternoon. They ate the Passover dinner at the beginning of Nisan 15, that is, somewhere between sunset and midnight. After that, the Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately began, which celebrated from Nisan 15 to 21 inclusive - in memory of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt (Ex. 12:15-20).

The two holidays mentioned were closely related and often referred to by one common name - "Jewish Passover" (an eight-day holiday, Nisan 14-21; Mark 14:2; John 2:13,23; 6:4; 11:55) . As for Nisan 14, the day of preparation, it was commonly referred to as "the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread" (Mark 14:12). Two days later - means in this context that what is described below took place on Nisan 13 (Wednesday).

Mar. 14:1b-2. The religious leaders of the Jews (members of the Sanhedrin - 8:31; 11:27; Matt. 26:3) already doomed Jesus to death (compare John 11:47-53). But fearing the reaction of the people (its indignation), especially the ardent Galileans, they did not dare to act openly and conferred how to take Him by cunning in order to kill. That is why they did not want to take Jesus on the feast, that is, during the coming eight days (from Nisan 14 to 21). However, Jude's unexpected suggestion (verses 10-11) hastened the course of events. God's "timetable" has come into play.

b. Anointing of Jesus at Bethany (14:3-9) (Matt. 26:6-13; John 12:1-8)

Two episodes of "anointing" should not be identified - this one and the one that took place earlier, in Galilee (Luke 7:36-50). But Mark here and John (compare John 12:1-8) describe the same episode, although their description differs quite significantly from each other. The difference starts with when the event happened. John indicates that "six days before the Passover," that is, before the start of the Passover week on Thursday, Nisan 14 (hence, the anointing occurred on the previous Friday).

According to Mark, it happened on Wednesday of Holy Week (Mark 14:1a). It seems that John was more precisely "keeping to the chronology", and Mark was more interested in the essence of what happened; he, first of all, was guided by the desire to oppose to each other the attitude towards Christ of Judas and the woman who anointed the Lord.

Mar. 14:3. And while He was in Bethany (interpretation on 11:1 a), He was invited to dinner at the house of Simon the leper, whom Jesus had apparently healed earlier (1:40), and who was probably well known among the early Christians. . The woman whom Mark does not name was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus (compare John 12:3). She came with an alabaster vessel (a small stone vessel with a long neck containing about half a liter of liquid aromatic substance) of peace, made from pure, precious nard (aromatic oil, which, in turn, was obtained from the root of a rare plant found only in India).

Mary broke the neck of the vessel and poured the contents on His head. John writes that Mary anointed Jesus' feet with "chrism" and wiped them with her hair (John 12:3). It is possible that she did both, since Jesus was reclining at the table (Mark 14:18). This custom of anointing the heads of guests reclining at a festive meal was common among the Jews (Ps. 22:5; Luke 7:46), but what Mary did contained a special meaning (Mark 14:8-9).

Mar. 14:4-5. Some of the disciples, and the first - Judas (John 12:4), began to express indignation at this, from their point of view, inappropriate waste of precious world, which could be sold ... for more than three hundred denarii, and the money distributed to the poor. It seemed to be a fair reaction (compare John 13:29), but in this situation the insensitivity of the disciples and the greed of Judas stood behind it (John 12:6). So they resented Mary.

Mar. 14:6-8. Jesus rebuked those who reproved her and said that she had done a good deed for Him. In contrast to the disciples, He saw in her act a manifestation of fidelity and special love for Him, who stood in the face of death; moreover, and this was evident to Jesus, Mary honored the Messiah in Him by this act.

In verse 7 Christ does not set Himself against the poor; here they are contrasted with the words always and not always. The opportunity to help the poor will not go away from them, and the disciples should use it, but He will leave them, and soon they will not have this opportunity to show Him love. Mary, in her love, first anointed His Body before burial.

Mar. 14:9. Jesus promised Mary, prefixing His promise with a "formula" of solemn assurance (Truly, I say to you) that wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, it will be said in her memory and what she has done.

This unique promise was directed to the future and does not lose its force today.

in. Jude expresses willingness to betray Jesus (14:10-11) (Mat. 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6)

Mar. 14:10-11. These verses seem to continue verses 1-2, in sharp contrast to verses 3-9. And Judas Iscariot (3:19), one of the twelve (3:14), went to the chief priests (compare 14:1) to betray him to them. He offered to do this "not in front of the people" (Luke 22:6) - in order to avoid popular indignation, which only worried the high priests (Mark 14:2). They gladly accepted those unexpected offer of Judas. And they promised to give him money (the notorious 30 pieces of silver). After that, he began to think about how to betray Him at a convenient time.

Why did Judas offer to betray Jesus? Various suggestions have been put forward on this score: 1) Only one of the twelve who was not a Galilean, Judas could have responded to the official appeal of the religious authorities (John 11:57). 2) He was disappointed that the intention of Jesus was not, as it turned out, the establishment of the kingdom of Israel in the state and political sense of the word, because of which he, Judas, lost hope of obtaining tangible benefits for himself. 3) Driven by the love of money, he eventually fell under the influence of Satan (Luke 22:3; John 13:2,27).

The life of Judas testifies to the dramatic interaction in the fate of man (determining it) of God's supreme authority and the own responsibility of each individual. According to God's plan, Jesus was to suffer and die (Rev. 13:8); and yet Judas was not doomed to become a traitor: he himself was responsible for obeying the "orders" of Satan (Mark 14:21; John 13:27).

2. THE PASCHAL MEAL AS THE LAST SUPPER (14:12-26)

The second cycle of events in this chapter is also divided into three parts (verses 12-16; 17-21; 22-26)

but. Preparing the Passover Supper (14:12-16) (Matt. 26:17-19; Luke 22:7-13)

Mar. 14:12. Strictly speaking, the first day of unleavened bread was Nisan 15 (Friday). However, from Mark's characteristic (compare 1:32; 4:35; 13:24; 14:30; 15:42; 16:2) additional definition of time (here, when the Passover lamb was slaughtered) it follows that he meant Thursday, 14 Nisan (interpretation on 14:1a).

The Passover supper was to be eaten within the walls of Jerusalem, which is why His disciples asked: Where do you want to eat the Passover? They, too, were meant to share this "family dinner" with Him.

Mar. 14:13-15. This episode is structurally parallel to 11:1b-7. Perhaps he also testifies that Jesus possessed supernatural knowledge. However, their need for a safe place (14:10-11), the question of the disciples (verse 12), and Christ's instructions in response to it, apparently indicate that He had prepared in advance such a place where he could eat without any hindrance. Easter with students.

In all probability they were in Bethany (11:1a, 11). On Thursday morning He sent two of His disciples (Peter and John - Luke 22:8) to Jerusalem, explaining to them how to find a prepared place. For security reasons (Mark 14:11; John 11:57), Jesus did not name the owner of the house or directly indicate his location.

It seems that the man carrying the jugs of water was supposed to meet the disciples at the eastern gate of the city. The unusual nature of this spectacle (the fact is that jugs of water were usually worn by women, while men wore wineskins) suggests that it should have served as some kind of conventional sign. The disciples had to follow this person, most likely a servant, who would lead them to the right house.

The owner of the house should have said to them: The teacher (compare Mark 4:38) asks where is the room in which I would eat the Passover with My disciples? From the fact that Jesus said to refer to Him as "Master", the conclusion is that the owner knew Him well, and the phrase "in which I would eat the Passover" suggests that He had previously agreed on this room.

And he will show you the upper room (that is, the upper room; such are built in Palestinian houses on a flat roof) lined, ready (this means that a dining table and low table "beds" were installed in it). Perhaps the owner of the house stocked up with the necessary provisions, including the Passover lamb. The only thing left for the two disciples was to cook the food there appropriately. Tradition claims that the last supper of Christ took place in the house of Father Mark.

Mar. 14:16. It is supposed that "preparing the Passover" meant roasting a lamb, placing unleavened bread and wine on the table, making a seasoning from bitter herbs, and also a kind of sauce from dried fruits soaked in vinegar and wine, with the addition of various spices.

So, prepared on Nisan 14 (Thursday), the last supper of Jesus with the disciples was the usual Passover dinner, which they were to share that evening after sunset, i.e., according to Jewish time, already Nisan 15, on Friday; from this it follows that Jesus was crucified on the same day - Nisan 15.

All the Synoptic Gospels testify to this (Matt. 26:2, 17-19; Mark 14:1,12-14; Luke 22:1,7-8,11-15). The Gospel of John says, however, that Jesus was crucified on "the Friday before the Passover" (John 19:14). John meant "before the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread," sometimes referred to as Passover week or simply Passover (Luke 22:1, 7; Acts 12:3-4; commentary on Luke 22:7-38).

b. Jesus proclaims it. that will be betrayed(14:17-21) (Matt. 26:20-25; Luke 22:21-23; John 13:21-30)

Mar. 14:17. When evening came (that is, Friday, Nisan 15 began), Jesus came with the twelve disciples to Jerusalem, to the upper room prepared for them, to eat the Passover supper, which was to begin after sunset and end before midnight. Mark speaks very briefly about the evening itself (compare Luke 22:14-16,24-30; John 13:1-20), concentrating readers' attention only on two points: a) that when they "dipped" together bread and bitter herbs in a dish with fruit sauce, Jesus announced that he would be betrayed (Mark 14:18-21); and b) the disciples' unexpected interpretation of the meaning of the bread and wine they ate (verse 22:25).

Mar. 14:18-20. According to the ancient custom, food was taken reclining at low tables (14:3; John 13:23); when eating Passover food in Jewish homes, the observance of this custom was obligatory, even in the families of the poor (this is attested in the Mishnah). And then at some point Jesus spoke His "formula of solemn assurance": Truly I say to you, preceded by the announcement that one of the Twelve will betray Him (compare verses 10-11). And emphasized that it would be the one who eats with Him (eating with Me).

These words of Jesus are found only in Mark, and in them an allusion to Ps. 40:10, where David complains about his friend Ahithophel (2 Sam. 16:15 - 17:23 and 1 Chron. 27:33), who once ate bread with him, and then turned against him. To betray the person with whom you shared bread was considered the worst kind of betrayal.

The sound of this thought is amplified in Mar. 14:19-20. The disciples were deeply saddened. One by one, including Judas, they began to ask: Is it not me? The construction of the corresponding Greek phrase suggests a negative answer to the question. But in front of everyone, Jesus did not name the traitor by name. (We find reference to Judas only in Matthew - Matt. 26:25.) Christ only repeated that one of the twelve would betray Him, dipping Him into the dish. And the way he emphasized the extreme degree of such betrayal, he gave the traitor the last chance to repent.

Mar. 14:21. Translated from Greek, however ... but it could also be translated as "on the one hand ... but on the other hand." On the one hand, the Son of Man has to fulfill what is written about Him in Scripture (for example, in Ps. 21 and Is. 53); His death is foreseen by God's plan - it will not be simply the result of a traitorous act.

But on the other hand, woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed, for he does the will of Satan (Luke 22:3; John 13:2,27). And therefore his fate is so terrible that it would be better for him not to be born. Although the traitor acts in accordance with God's plan, the moral responsibility for his act is not removed from him. Jesus' "woe" proclaimed here contrasts sharply with His promise in verse 9.

in. Institution of the Lord's Supper (14:22-26) (Mat. 26:26-30; Luke 22:19-20)

This is the second key event that Mark draws attention to.

Before starting the Passover meal, the head of the Jewish family explained to its participants its meaning, symbolizing the exodus of Israel from Egypt. A well-known parallel to the Old Testament explanation was the explanation of Jesus, the Host of this Supper, in the light of the New Testament: addressing the disciples, He offered them a new interpretation of bread and wine.

Mar. 14:22. And when they were eating, apparently at the beginning of the supper, however, after Judas had gone out (John 13:30) ... Jesus, taking bread (a flat unleavened cake), blessed, broke it into pieces and gave it to them with the words : take, eat: this is my body.

Christ spoke of literal (material) things: wine and bread, His physical body (the Greek word for soma) and blood, but the relationship He established between them was symbolic (compare John 7:35; 8: 12; 10:7.9). And therefore the word "is" ("this is My Body") must be understood here as "represents."

When Jesus uttered these words, he was physically among the disciples, and literally they could not “eat” His body and “drink” His blood, not to mention the fact that such a thing was generally unacceptable for the Jews (Lev. 3:17 ; 7:26-27; 17:10-14). In light of this, the understanding of the Eucharist by the Roman Catholic Church, according to which bread and wine, when they are eaten, is transformed (“transubstantiated”) into the body and blood of Christ, seems untenable.

Mar. 14:23. Then Jesus, taking a cup (compare 1 Cor. 11:25) in which was red wine mixed with water, gave thanks (euaristesas - compare Mark 8:6-7; hence the word "eucharist", meaning "thanksgiving" , "holy communion"), gave them; and they all drank from it. If we assume that Jesus followed the established Paschal ritual, then this cup was the third of the four prescribed by custom (the so-called "bowl of thanksgiving"; compare 1 Cor. 10:16, where in Russian - "blessing cup"); drinking this cup ended the main part of the dinner. In all likelihood, Jesus did not drink the fourth cup that ended the dinner. For she is a type of the future (interpretation on Mark 14:25), when Christ and His followers will again be gathered together in His Kingdom (Luke 22:29-30); there they will drink it.

Mar. 14:24. And further Jesus explained the meaning of the cup: This (wine) is (meaning "represents") My Blood of the New Testament (by which the New Testament is established), which is shed for many (in the sacrificial "substitute" death of Jesus for all mankind - compare 10:45) . Just as the blood of sacrificial animals sealed the Old (Moses) Testament, concluded at Sinai (Ex. 24:6-8), the blood of Jesus Christ, shed at Calvary, "put into effect" the New Testament (Jer. 31:31- 34). This was the promise of forgiveness of sins and restoration of fellowship with God - through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those who want to come to God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Greek, the word diatheke, translated as "covenant", does not mean an agreement made between two equal partners (in this case, another word would be used - synteke), but rather an agreement proposed and established by one party, in this case - God . The other side - the person - cannot make changes to this agreement; she can either accept or reject it. The New Testament marks God's new approach to people, a kind of new agreement with them, which is based on the death of Jesus Christ (Heb. 8:6-13).

Those spiritual blessings that Israel looked forward to in the "last days" are already pouring out, through the death of Christ, on all believers. But the time has not yet come for the physical (material) blessings promised to Israel. That time will come when Christ returns and establishes the Millennial Kingdom in the land of Israel.

Mar. 14:25. Jesus rarely talked about His death without pointing out what would happen after it. Solemnly anticipating His subsequent words (Truly I say to you, He declared: I will no longer (in Greek denial sounds categorically) drink from the fruit of the vine until the day (13:24-27,32) when I drink new wine (in English. The Bible is referred to as "to drink in a new way", i.e. "in a different way") ...

Then He will gladly resume table fellowship with His followers in the sphere of a qualitatively different (new - kainon) existence (compare Isaiah 2:1-4; 4:2-6; 11:1-9; 65:17-25). But this communion in the Kingdom of God (interpretation of Mark 1:15) will take place on earth, for here Christ means by it His Millennium Kingdom (Rev. 20:4-6).

Mar. 14:26. Laudatory psalms were "sung" on Pascha antiphonally, that is, alternately, when one singer was replaced by another; at first - before dinner - they sang two psalms (112, 113), and then - at the end of dinner - four more (114-117). Moreover, on that night, in the mouth of Jesus, such verses from Psalm 117 as 6-7, 17-18, 22-24 acquired - on the eve of His suffering and death - a special meaning.

Since their conversations after dinner included teaching Jesus and His prayer (John 13:31-17:26), they most likely took place after midnight, when the Lord and the eleven disciples (without Judas) left the upper room and went out of the city. They then crossed the Kidron River (John 18:1) and went to the western slope of the Mount of Olives, where the Garden of Gethsemane was located (14:32).

3. THE PRAYER OF JESUS ​​BEFORE HIS ARREST AND THE FLIGHT OF THE DISCIPLES (14:27-52)

This third cycle of events has the characteristic "sandwich" structure of Mark (compare 3:20-35). Jesus' prediction of the flight of the disciples (14:27-31) and the fulfillment of this prediction at His arrest (verses 43-52) is "torn apart" by the story of Christ's prayer in Gethsemane (verses 32-42). This gives Mark the opportunity to emphasize that Jesus spent the last hours of His earthly trial alone with the Heavenly Father, devoid of sympathy and support from any of the people.

but. Prediction about the Flight of the Disciples and Peter's Objection(14:27-31) (Mat. 26:31-35; Luke 22:31-34; John 13:36-38)

Whether this conversation took place in the upper room, as Luke and John write about it, or already on the way to Gethsemane, as can be understood from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, is difficult to establish. Wanting to clarify subsequent events, namely, focusing on them (for example, 14:50-52,66-72), Mark, apparently, is guided by the thematic principle here, without striving for precise chronological indications.

In contrast, Matthew introduces the specification of time ("then" - Matt. 26:31). Perhaps, for the first time, Jesus' prediction sounded in the upper room, and He addressed it only to Peter (the Gospels of Luke and John), and then repeated it on the way to Gethsemane (as in Matthew), addressing everyone, but in features to Peter.

Mar. 14:27. The Greek verb "skandaliesteseste," translated "be tempted," literally means "offend someone" or "commit a crime against something" and thus "fall into sin" (compare 4:17; 6:3; 9:42 -47). Jesus predicted that all 11 disciples would fall into sin at His suffering and death. To avoid being treated like Him, they will leave Him (verse 50) and deny Him (verse 30). Their loyalty to Him will not stand the test, but it will be temporary.

Christ applied to this situation what was said in the book of the prophet Zechariah (13:7): "I will strike (meaning, I am God the Father, I will strike with death) the shepherd (Jesus), and the sheep (disciples) will be scattered." He only changed the imperative mood (in Zechariah - "smite") to the affirmative form - "I will strike", from which it follows that Jesus considered Himself as a suffering Servant of God (Is. 53, especially - verses 4-6).

Mar. 14:28. Immediately, however, the Lord assured the disciples that after His resurrection from the dead, fellowship between them would be restored (compare 16:7; Matt. 28:16-17). The resurrected Shepherd will meet His sheep again in Galilee, where they lived and worked, and where He called them (Mark 1:16-20; 3:13-15; 6:7,12-13). For they are to "follow" him again, who will lead his people in all their future accomplishments (13:10; 14:9).

Mar. 14:29-31. Again, as before (compare 8:32), Peter's attention was drawn to the first part of Jesus' prediction (14:27); to the second (14:28) he paid no attention. Peter proceeded from his special, supposedly, relationship to Jesus and insisted on this: if everyone is offended, but not me ...

Beginning again with a solemn assurance, Truly I tell you, Jesus told Peter with great feeling that despite his good intentions, his denial would be more impressive than the behavior of the others. That same night, before the rooster crows twice, Peter will not only leave Christ, but deny Him three times. "Cock crow" is an image of the early dawn morning (compare 13:35).

Only Mark says about the rooster penny "twice" (perhaps he owes this detail to Peter's good memory). This "twice", however, introduces a discrepancy in the main Greek manuscripts, but judging by the fact that Mark at 14:72 says: "the rooster crowed a second time", the word "twice" really was in his text from the very beginning. .

Jesus' words only spurred Peter to assert with greater effort that he would never deny Him, even under the threat of death. Following him, other students began to assure the Teacher of the same. They still did not believe that Jesus' prediction would come true. However, after a few hours, they were to be convinced that He was right (14:50,72).

b. Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (14:32-42) (Mat. 26:36-47; Luke 22:39-46)

For the third time, Mark has Jesus praying before us (Mark 1:35; 6:46). In every prayer He confirmed His willingness to do the will of Heavenly Father. Although Satan is not explicitly mentioned here, he certainly was there, lending a tempting character to everything that happened (compare 1:12-13). All the synoptic gospels convey the content of Jesus' prayer, albeit with slight differences. Probably, He repeatedly expressed the same thought (prayer) in different ways (compare 14:37,39).

Mar. 14:32-34. Jesus and His eleven disciples came to a village called Gethsemane, more precisely, to a fenced-in place among the olive trees that grew at the foot of the Mount of Olives, resembling a garden (John 18:1). This place, chosen by them for solitary meetings, was also known to Judas (John 18:2).

Having chosen from 11 three - Peter, James and John - Jesus departed to pray. And then he fell into a terrible state of mind. The Greek word, derived from ektambeo and translated as horrified, includes the concept of intense anxiety, fright. Anguish and mortal sorrow seized Jesus, and He asked the disciples not to leave Him alone in this position: stay here and watch.

The full realization of the death approaching Him and its spiritual consequences had such an effect on Christ that under the weight of this consciousness He weakened and wavered. He was horrified at the prospect of alienation from the Father.

Mar. 14:35-36. Stepping a short distance from the disciples and falling to the ground (compare Matt. 26:39; Luke 22:41), Jesus prayed loudly and with strong feeling (Heb. 5:7). Apparently, His prayer lasted at least an hour (Mark 14:37), but Mark gives only a brief summary of it - first "from himself" (verse 35b), and then in the form of direct speech, quoting (verse 36).

The essence of Jesus' request was that, if possible, this hour should pass from him. The expression "if possible" is not about doubting the possibility as such, for Jesus did not doubt that "all things are possible" for His Father; with these words he expressed the hope that "this hour" might pass him by the will of the Father (Luke 22:42). By "this hour" is meant the time appointed by God for the suffering and death of Christ (compare Mark 14:41b; John 12:23,27).

The image of this cup marks either human suffering and death, or, more likely, it is an image of God's wrath directed against sin: pouring out, it causes not only physical, but also spiritual suffering and death (Mark 10:38-39; 14:33b-34). Bearing God's judgment upon himself, having become a "sin offering" (2 Corinthians 5:21), the sinless Jesus experienced torments beyond the human imagination (15:34).

The "double" address Abba (Aramaic "My Father") Father (the Greek word for "Father") occurs two more times in the New Testament (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). However, the word "Abba" was usually used by small children in Judea to address their fathers. They expressed a feeling of special closeness based on family kinship. And the Jews did not address God in this way; in their minds, this would have sounded like unacceptable familiarity. And, therefore, the "Abba" of Jesus in addressing Him was something new and unprecedented.

However, it is likely that this is how He always addressed the Father in His prayers. But in this context, this intimate word testified that before the upcoming drinking of the cup of God's wrath, Jesus was most afraid of the inevitable break with the Father (compare with another form of His address to God in Mark 15:34).

But what did Christ have in mind when He asked that "this hour pass from Him" ​​and that the Father would carry this cup away from Him? The traditional view is that Jesus wanted what was to come to Him, if possible, "passed by" and "passed by" before it happened. According to this point of view, going to the cross, He prayed the "prayer of submission" (to the will of the Father).

Some theologians believe, however, that the Son implored the Father to restore their relationship, to "restore" Him as the Son after "this hour" had passed; He thus expressed the hope that the "chalice of wrath" would be "removed" from Him after He had drunk it (compare Isaiah 51:17-23). If we keep this understanding, then Jesus prayed the "prayer of faith" (that the Father would not leave Him forever in the power of death, but would "take away" ("carry past") death, granting Him resurrection).

Although the question remains open (e.g., John 12:27), the traditional view seems to be more valid in the light of both this context and other passages of Scripture (Matt. 26:39,42; Luke 22:41-42; Heb. 5:7-8), and also (especially) in the light of what is said in Mark. 14:36: but not what I want, but what You (with emotionally emphasized in this phrase "I" and "You"). The will of Jesus as a Man did not coincide in this case with the will of the Heavenly Father, but the will of the Son "did not enter into opposition" to this higher will (John 5:30; 6:38).

Jesus knew that the answer to His request would not be what He would like as a Man, but what would be dictated by the will of the Father. The sacrificial death of the Son was included in God's plans (Mark 8:31), and the Son was ready to submit to this. His mortal anguish "left" Him, but "this hour" did not pass Him (14:41b).

Mar. 14:37-41a. Mark now shifts his attention from Jesus' prayer to the inability of the three disciples to "keep up" at the request of the Master (verse 33:34). Three times He interrupted the prayer and came to the disciples, and each time found them sleeping. For the first time, Jesus, addressing Peter, called him by his former name Simon (3:16) and reproached him for not being able ... to stay awake even one hour. Then He addressed all three: Watch (meaning "be aware of the spiritual danger") and pray (remembering your spiritual dependence on God) so that you do not fall into temptation...

Jesus was referring to the trials that would befall them already at His arrest and trial of His "case" (14:50,66-72). He reminded them that although the spirit (here - inner desires and urges) and cheerful (in the English text - "full of readiness"; for example, about Peter in verses 29, 31), but the flesh (here - a symbol of human weakness and insufficiency) is weak; in other words, a person is easily defeated by circumstances (the same Peter).

Again departing from them and praying the same prayer, Jesus returned to the disciples to find them sleeping again; to His reproaches they did not know what to answer.

And after the third prayer found their Jesus in the same state. His words: Do you still sleep and rest? could be riddled with reproach, perhaps even condemnation, but irony mixed with sympathy could also sound in them.

Three times Peter fell asleep instead of praying; three times he will fall into temptation and deny the Lord. This is a warning to all believers, because everyone is prone to "fall asleep" and "fall into temptation" (13:37).

Mar. 14:41b-42. There may have been a short gap between Jesus' words recorded in verse 41a and verse 41b. His Finish in English. the text is rendered as "Enough" (sleep). One way or another, this word, one must think, finally awakened the disciples. The hour has come (compare verse 35); the Son of Man is about to be betrayed (compare 8:31) into the hands of sinners... behold, continued Jesus, the betrayer of me has drawn near.

Instead of fleeing, He and His disciples (by then the other eight no doubt joined the three) went out to meet Judas.

in. Jesus betrayed and captured; flight of students(14:43-52) (Mat. 26:47-56; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12)

Mar. 14:43. And immediately, as He was still speaking, Judas comes ... and with him a multitude of Roman soldiers (John 18:12), armed with swords, and temple guards with stakes in their hands (Luke 22:52). Judas led them to Gethsemane, right where Jesus was (Acts 1:16), at night to avoid riots and outrage among the people. The Sanhedrin officially ordered the detention of Jesus and enlisted the help of the Romans.

Mar. 14:44-47. The traitor signaled to this gathering of armed men who to take; as it was stipulated, a kiss served as a sign. Judas said to those who came with him: Take Him and lead him carefully (more precisely: "when you lead Him, be on your guard" - so that He does not slip away).

Having entered the Gethsemane "garden", Judas immediately approached Him and said: Rabbi! Rabbi! And he kissed Him (in the Greek text, a verb is used here, indicating that Judas passionately kissed the Teacher).

A kiss on the cheek or on the hand in Judea was customary to express respect to the Teacher. But Judas, the sign of veneration served as a sign of betrayal.

Jesus, who offered no resistance, was taken easily and quickly. Mark does not speak of bringing any charges against Him; and yet, legality, according to the Jewish criminal code, was observed in this case, since the detention of Jesus was sanctioned by the Sanhedrin.

The people still didn't understand Who He really was; now His seeming defenselessness contributed to misunderstanding.

Mark mentions a single attempt at armed resistance, without naming the person who made it (according to John 18:10, it was Peter). The Greek text shows that Mark knew this. Only two of the disciples carried swords (Luke 22:38), and one of them was Peter; He drew his sword and struck Malchus, the servant of the high priest Caiaphas, cutting off his right ear (compare John 18:10,13). Only Luke records that Jesus healed this servant (Luke 22:51). But Peter's attempt to defend Jesus was untimely and out of place.

Mar. 14:48-50. Although Jesus offered no resistance, he bitterly reproached the representatives of the religious authorities for having approached Him as if they were a robber. Meanwhile, He was not a "revolutionary", acting from the "underground", but a recognized Teacher. In this week before Easter, He was every day ... in the temple, where he openly taught the people (11:17), and they did not take Him. And the fact that they now seized Him in a secluded place, under the cover of night, testified to their cowardice. However, all this happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures (Isaiah 53:3,7-9,12).

From the words of Christ, it became clear that He would not resist, and this in an instant deprived His faithfulness of the disciples, who lost confidence in Him as the Messiah: Then, leaving Him, they all fled (Mark 14:27). No one dared to share His fate with Jesus, neither did Peter (compare verse 29).

Mar. 14:51-52. This unusual episode, described only by Mark, complements verse 50, as it "aggravates" the fact that "all [Jesus' supporters] fled" forsaking Him. Most interpreters of the Bible believe that this young man was Mark himself. And if this is true, and Mark was indeed the son of the owners of the house (verses 14-15; compare Acts 12:12) where Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples, then this is how the events of that night could have played out.

After Christ and the disciples left the house, having finished the Easter dinner, Mark undressed and went to bed. But soon he could be awakened by a servant who came with the news of the betrayal of Judas - after all, Judas and those who accompanied him could first come in search of Jesus to the house where He ate the Passover. In a hurry, not even dressing, but wrapping himself in the veil under which he slept, Mark hurried to Gethsemane, perhaps in order to warn Christ of the danger, however, when he ran there, Jesus was already taken.

After all the disciples fled, Mark continued to follow Him and those who were taking Him away, but then the soldiers seized him, perhaps as a potential witness, and then, leaving the veil in someone’s hands, he fled naked from them. . Thus, no one was left with Jesus, not even this brave young man who was determined to follow Him.

B. Jesus' Trial, Crucifixion, and Burial (14:53 - 15:47)

This section also falls into three cycles of events: Jesus' trial (14:53 - 15:20), His crucifixion (15:21-41) and His burial (15:42-47).

I. THE INVESTIGATION OF JESUS ​​BY THE SANhEDRION AND PILATE (14:53 - 15:20)

The case of Jesus was first considered by religious authorities, and only then by political ones. This was necessary because the Sanhedrin did not have the power to execute death sentences (John 18:31). Each of the two "judgments" went through three "trials" (corresponding table in the comments on Matt. 26:57-58).

but. Trial before the Sanhedrin and Peter's subsequent denial (14:53 - 15:1a)

The investigation by the Jewish religious authorities began with a preliminary "hearing" of the case by Annas (John 18:12-14, 19-24), followed (at night) by the presentation of the accusation in the presence of Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26: 57-68; Mark 14:53-65) and the final verdict of the Sanhedrin shortly after dawn (compare Matt. 27:1; Mark 15:1a; Luke 22:66-71).

1) Jesus is in the house of the high priest, and Peter is in the courtyard of this house(14:53-54; Matt. 26:57-58; Luke 22:54; John 18:15-16,18,24).

Mar. 14:53. Those who took Jesus brought him back in custody from Gethsemane to Jerusalem, to the high priest Caiaphas (Mat. 26:57), who held this post from 18 to 36 years. according to R. H. (table of Anna's family in the comments on Acts 4:5-6).

The Sanhedrin, which consisted of 70 members and was headed by a high priest, hurriedly gathered for a night session. It was an "unofficial" meeting, and the "official" verdict could only take place after sunrise (15:1), since, according to the legal provisions of the law strictly observed by the Jews, the court could take place only in the daytime. The Mishnah states that a quorum required the presence of 23 members of the Sanhedrin, but it must be assumed that for the sake of the trial of Jesus, most of its members gathered there, despite the fact that it was about 3 o'clock in the morning, on the feast day of Nisan 15 ( remember it was a Friday.

The convening of a hasty night meeting was required for several reasons: 1) Jewish criminal law required that the case be tried immediately after the arrest of a potential criminal. 2) The trial of criminal cases by the Roman authorities was usually carried out shortly after sunrise (15:1), so that by dawn the Sanhedrin had to make a decision in order to transfer this case to Pilate as early as possible in the morning. 3) Having finally seized Jesus, they did not want to delay the trial of Him, fearing to provoke indignation among the people.

In fact, they had already decided to kill Him (14:1-2), and now they had only one problem: to find evidence to justify their decision (verse 55). But, probably, even then they thought to lay the blame for the murder of Christ on the Romans, so that the people, changeable in their moods, would not blame the Sanhedrin for it.

Some question the legality of carrying out an execution on a feast day, in light of a number of rabbinic rulings. However, it is known that the rabbis allowed the investigation of serious (from their point of view) cases and even the execution of a death sentence on holidays (in particular, Easter) days. Thus, they declared, "all the people will hear and fear" (Deut. 17:13; compare Deut. 21:21). But in "ordinary" cases, the death sentence could not be pronounced until after the holiday.

Mar. 14:54. Peter had the courage to follow Jesus from afar and even enter the courtyard of the high priest. This courtyard was a rectangular area, surrounded on all sides by the buildings of the high priest's residence (John 18:15-18). Peter sat with the servants (temple guards) and warmed himself by the fire, which illuminated his face (Mark 14:67). He wanted to know what would happen to Jesus (compare Matt. 26:58).

2) Investigation in the Sanhedrin(14:55-65; Matt. 26:59-68).

What is recorded in this section is probably based on the reports of one or more members of the Sanhedrin who secretly sympathized with Christ, or, being at first against Him, later believed in Him (Acts 6:7).

Mar. 14:55-56. The Sanhedrin immediately set about looking for such evidence against Jesus that would make it possible to pass a death sentence on Him, and they did not find it. That is, there was no shortage of witnesses, since many testified falsely against Him, but these testimonies were not sufficient (in the original Greek they "contradicted each other"). Accusations were made that were impossible to prove, and the testimonies of witnesses were at odds with each other.

It is possible that these false witnesses were prepared even before the arrest of Jesus, but their "testimonies" were not coordinated with each other. In Jewish legal proceedings, witnesses acted as accusers and testified independently of each other. But at the same time, the law of Moses required consistency in the testimony of at least two witnesses (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; 19:15). Otherwise, the accused could not be convicted.

Mar. 14:57-59. At some point, more witnesses "rose" (according to Matt. 26:60, there were two of them); these declared that they had heard Jesus say: I will destroy this man-made temple (literally, "sanctuary"), and in three days I will raise another (the Greek word here is allon, meaning "another kind") not made by hands. But even in the testimony of these two there were contradictions (this is how verse 59 is read in the Greek text).

Christ did cryptically speak in this way (John 2:19), but by "temple" He meant His body (John 2:20-22). And the two who testified against Him on this basis carried His words to the Temple in Jerusalem. (Josephus wrote in the Antiquities of the Jews that the punishment for destroying the sanctuary was death.) But although the testimony of the two witnesses disagreed, they prompted the high priest to directly ask Jesus who He was (14:61); and they gave occasion afterwards to stinging mockery of him (15:29).

Mar. 14:60-61a. The high priest Caiaphas asked Jesus two questions in order to extract from Him information that could be used against Him. In the Greek text, the first question sounds like a positive answer: "You will answer (your accusers), won't you?" The second question was to get an explanation from Jesus: "What do they mean by their testimony against You?" But

He remained silent and made no answer in his own defense (compare Isaiah 53:7). This silence led those present into confusion, and the "case" could not be moved from a dead point.

Mar. 14:61b-62. Then the high priest changed tactics and asked Jesus a direct question: Are you the Christ (Messiah - 1:1; 8:29) the Son of the Blessed One? The title "Blessed" occurs only here in the New Testament; for the Jews, this word served as one of the "substitutions" for the word "God." Applied to Jesus, both of these titles ("Christ" and "Son of the Blessed One") implied that He was indeed the Messiah.

This time Jesus answered firmly: I, that is, "Yes, I am the Messiah, the Son of God." In Mark, He here for the first time openly declares Himself the Messiah (interpretation on 1:43-44; 8:29-30; 9:9; 11:28-33; 12:12).

In proof of the truth of His claim (and according to the Jews, the true Messiah could not fail to present him), Jesus made a startling prediction. By applying to Himself the words of Ps. 109:1 and Dan. 7:13, He said: And you (the judges) will see the Son of Man (Mark 8:31) sitting at the right hand of power (the same word that replaced the Jews for the word "God") and coming on the clouds of heaven to execute His judgment (8:31). 38; 13:26). The word "behold" did not mean that Jesus would return to earth during the life of those who judged Him. Rather, He meant that, having been resurrected in the body, they would one day stand before the exalted Son of Man, who would judge them. And then they will be convinced that He is truly the Anointed One of God, the Messiah.

Mar. 14:63-64. Having torn his clothes (most likely, the lower clothes, and not the high priest's robes), Caiaphas wanted to show that he regards the "daring" statement of Jesus as blasphemy. In his view, Jesus dishonored God by ascribing to Himself what was the prerogative of Heavenly Father alone (compare 2:7).

From the high priest, wherever and whenever he heard blasphemy, it was required in such a symbolic form to express horror and indignation. But in the reaction of Caiaphas, apparently, a sense of relief was also reflected - after all, by His answer, Jesus "convicted" Himself, and now there was no need to search for new witnesses.

According to the Law of Moses, blasphemy was punishable by death (stoning - Lev. 24:15-16). So, stopping the investigation at this point, the high priest called on the Sanhedrin to pronounce judgment on Jesus. There were no objections: everyone recognized Him (compare Mark 10:33) as guilty of death.

Mar. 14:65. Some members of the Sanhedrin expressed their contempt for Him, subjecting Him to physical abuse and torment. There was no greater offense than to spit in someone's face (Num. 12:14; Deut. 25:9; Job. 30:10; Is. 50:6). Implying His claims to be messianic, they, covering His face, hit Him and told Him to say who exactly hit Him. This was in keeping with the traditional test of one who claimed the status of the Messiah (as understood by the rabbis based on Isaiah 11:2-4).

The true Messiah, in their minds, could "see through" such things even without the aid of the eyes. But Jesus refused to "be tested" on their terms and remained silent (compare Isaiah 53:7; 1 Pet. 2:23). When He was handed over to the servants (temple guards - Mark 14:54), they followed the example of their "bosses" and also began to beat Him on the cheeks (compare Luke 22:63-65).

3) Peter's thrice subsequent denial(14:66-72; Matt. 26:69-75; Luke 22:55-62; John 18:15-18,25-27).

This episode is recorded in all four Gospels - with minor differences that do not turn into contradictions. The living description of Mark was perhaps based on the words of Peter. It is given in the continuation of 14:54, and we see from it that the ordeal of Peter and the interrogation of Jesus before the Sanhedrin took place simultaneously. Having told about Peter's denial, Mark returns to the description of what happened in the Sanhedrin and according to his decision (15:1a).

Mar. 14:66-68. One of the high priest's maids (compare John 18:16) approached Peter, who was warming himself by the fire in the courtyard (Mark 14:54). Looking at him (compare 10:21), she said in an unkind voice: And you were with Jesus of Nazareth (compare 1:24; 10:47). And then Peter, out of fear for his own safety, denied the Master for the first time. Moreover, he did this by resorting to the "official" form of denial, which was adopted in the Jewish courts: I do not know and do not understand what you are saying. And in order to avoid further questions, he got up and went out into the front yard (this is apparently the name of the covered passage leading to the street).

Nearly all major Greek manuscripts contain the words and crow at the end of verse 68. This, and the fact that verse 72 says "the cock crowed a second time," testifies to the authenticity of the words "and the cock crowed" mentioned. But since there is only one mention of the rooster penny in parallel passages in other gospels (compare Matt. 26:74; Luke 22:60; John 18:27), some of the early scribes of the Gospel of Mark may have issued them "for consistency" with other gospels. Meanwhile, Mark's description could simply be more accurate and detailed, since it was based on the direct testimony of the Apostle Peter; he could not attach importance to the first cock crow (after all, it happened every morning!), And only at the second - he shuddered, remembering ...

Mar. 14:69-71. The same maid (compare Matt. 26:71; Luke 22:58), meeting Peter again, now in the "front courtyard", again began to say that he was one of Jesus' disciples. And Peter denied it again.

About an hour later (Luke 22:59) those who were standing nearby began to say to Peter: Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech is similar. The Galileans spoke one of the Aramaic dialects and were easily recognized by their pronunciation (compare Matt. 26:73). So, those assembled in the high priest's court insisted that Peter was a follower of this Galilean "heretic" Jesus.

The fact that he ... began to swear and swear does not mean that Peter was blaspheming. But he invoked God's curse upon himself if he was lying, and confirmed with an oath that he did not know the Man they were talking about. It is noteworthy that Peter did not pronounce the name of Jesus at the same time.

Mar. 14:72. Peter's third denial in less than two hours was then "recorded" by a second cockcrow. And then he suddenly remembered what Jesus had foretold him that night (verses 29-31). Peter also noticed the look of Christ cast on him (Mark 22:61). And, shocked, wept.

Unlike Judas (Matt. 27:2-5), Peter's remorse opened the door to true repentance and renewed loyalty to Jesus, his risen Lord (compare Mark 16:7; John 21:15- 19). For Peter had faith in Him, but Judas did not.

Gospel of Mark - Chapter 14

1 Two days later should have to be holiday Easter and unleavened bread. And the chief priests and scribes were looking for ways to take him by cunning and kill him;
2 but said: only not on a holiday, so as not to cause indignation among the people.
3 And while he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, and was reclining, a woman came with an alabaster vessel of ointment made of pure, precious nard, and breaking the vessel, she poured it on his head.
4 But some were indignant, and said among themselves, Why this waste of peace?
5 For it could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they murmured at her.
6 But Jesus said, Leave her; what's bothering her? She did a good deed for me.
7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have me.
8 She did what she could: she first anointed my body for burial.
9 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, it will be said in her memory, and about what she did.
10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray him to them.
11 And when they heard it, they rejoiced, and promised to give him pieces of silver. And he was looking for a way to betray Him at a convenient time.
12 On the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples say to Him, Where do you want to eat the Passover? we'll go and cook.
13 And he sends two of his disciples and says to them, Go into the city; and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him
14 And where will he enter, tell the owner of that house: The teacher says: Where is the room in which I can eat the Passover with My disciples?
15 And he will show you a large upper room, lined, ready: there prepare for us.
16 And his disciples went and came into the city, and found as he had told them; and prepared the passover.
17 When evening came, He comes with twelve.
18 And as they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.
19 They were sad and began to say to him, one by one, Is it not I? and another: isn't it me?
20 And he answered and said to them, One of the twelve who dips with me in the dish.
21 But the Son of Man goes, as it is written of him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed: it would have been better for that man not to have been born.
22 And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
23 And he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them: and they all drank from it.
24 And he said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
25 Truly I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine in the kingdom of God.
26 And having sung, they went up to the Mount of Olives.
27 And Jesus said to them, You will all be offended because of me this night; for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
28 But after my resurrection, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.
29 Peter said to him, If all be offended, but not I.
30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today, to this night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.
31 But he still said with great effort: Even though it behooves me to die with you, I will not deny you. Everyone said the same.
32 They came to a village called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, Sit here while I pray.
33 And he took with him Peter, James, and John; and began to be horrified and to grieve.
34 And he said to them, My soul is grieving to death; stay here and stay awake.
35 And going a little way, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, this hour might pass from him;
36 and said: Abba Father! everything is possible for you; carry this cup past Me; but not what I want, but what You.
37 Returns and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter, Simon! are you sleeping? could you not stay awake for one hour?
38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
39 And going back again, he prayed, saying the same word.
40 And when he returned, he again found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.
41 And he comes a third time and says to them, Do you still sleep and rest? It's over, the hour has come: behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Get up, let's go; behold, the one who betrays me draws near.
43 And immediately, as He was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a multitude of people with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
44 And the one who betrayed him gave them a sign, saying: Whom I kiss, he is, take him and lead him carefully.
45 And having come, he immediately went up to him and said: Rabbi! Rabbi! and kissed him.
46 And they laid their hands on him and took him.
47 And one of those standing there drew a sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
48 Then Jesus said to them, You have come out as if against a robber with swords and clubs to take me.
49 Every day I was with you in the temple and taught, and you did not take Me. But let the Scriptures come true.
50 Then, leaving Him, they all fled.
51 One young man, wrapped around his naked body in a veil, followed Him; and the soldiers seized him.
52 But he left the veil and fled naked from them.
53 And they brought Jesus before the high priest; and all the chief priests and elders and scribes gathered to him.
54 Peter followed him from afar, even into the court of the high priest; and sat with the ministers, and warmed himself by the fire.

14:1,2 In two days [it was] to be [the feast] of Passover and unleavened bread. And the chief priests and scribes were looking for ways to take him by cunning and kill him;
2 but they said: [only] not on a holiday, so that there would be no revolt among the people.
Two days before Passover, the leaders of God's people decided to plot against Jesus Christ.It is interesting to note that it was just before the feast of Easter that the high priests fussed to kill Christ. After all, one could, for example, wait a week and after Easter decide everything with him. But no, it was necessary for Christ to die on Pascha in order to fulfill the essence of the Paschal lamb and become the Pascha of the New Testament -1 Corinthians 5:7

14:3 See a detailed discussion of Mt. 26:6-13
And while he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, and was reclining,
In ancient times, people did not sit at the table, but reclined on special beds, leaning on their left elbow (John 13:23). It must be assumed that by this time Simon was no longer a leper, most likely he was healed by Jesus. John (12:1) speaks of Jesus' participation in this supper six days before Passover. That is, Mark, first described the conspiracy against Christ 2 days before Easter, and then - reported on the dinner 6 days before Easter - not observing the chronology of the sequence of events, because he did not set himself such a goal (non-observance of the chronology and the different order of some and the same events are observed in the rest of the evangelists-forecasters, Mt. 26:2, 6,7).

a woman came with an alabaster vessel of peace made of pure, precious nard, and breaking the vessel, she poured it on His head.
This incident with the anointing of the feet/head of Jesus Christ differs in detail from that described by other evangelists - in time, place of occurrence and mention of names (Mark 14:3; Luke 7:36-38; John 12:3). The question of whether it was the same woman or not is difficult to unambiguously establish: weather forecasters did not set out to describe the exact chronology of events and described events from different angles, paying attention to different details.

Therefore, in this example, it is important to see the very fact of love for Christ and the woman's willingness to make great personal sacrifices for Christ, as well as the fact that Jesus highly valued such faith and the willingness of believers to make sacrifices.
Out of love for Christ, a woman committed an act unusual for the Jewish system of things: she was not afraid to appear in a public place with her hair loose, in a circle of strangers, doing for Christ what faith and a loving heart prompted her to do - no matter what others may think about it (to wash the feet of a strange man in a public place with expensive perfumes and wipe them with your hair - for a Jewish woman or girl it was an unusual and immodest phenomenon).

Alavastr - this is a kind of marble, such a vessel with incense was considered a luxury item, it cost so much that more than 5,000 people could be fed for its cost (300 denarii, when 5,000 people could be fed for 200, John 6: 7). Breaking such an expensive vessel, as well as using all its contents for one person, was a very impractical phenomenon among practical Jews.

14:4,5 Some were indignant and said among themselves: why this waste of the world?
5 For it could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they murmured at her.
It would seem that if a woman decided to give everything is OWN peace to Christ, and not to the poor - then why not? Well, who cares how someone manages his own? The indignation of the disciples was not caused by the fact that a woman so easily parted with her own wealth. And the fact that if they had it, the disciples themselves would not spend such wealth so recklessly and wastefully; they assessed her actions as unreasonable, approaching their assessment with their own personal human standards.

Each person has the right, in his desire to serve Jesus Christ, to bring the sacrifice that he himself wishes to make, and to dispose of his means and time as he himself wants. If only this sacrifice did not contradict the principles of God.

If, for example, we sometimes have a desire to reason with a person and show him another, more rational, in our opinion, point of view on spending his personal resources, then this should be done without indignation and indignation, but very delicately because, in First, he is powerful in his own way and no one has authorized us to rule over his faith. And, secondly, as we see - it is not a fact that our point of view will be in the eyes of Jesus - more correct than him.

14:6-8 But Jesus said, leave her; what's bothering her? She did a good deed for me.
7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have me.
8 She did what she could: she first anointed my body for burial.
Jesus taught the disciples an unexpected lesson, when out of many good deeds each person has the right to choose - which good deed he will do himself - at his own discretion. And no one should think that a good deed in his understanding is much kinder than a good deed in someone else's understanding.

Yes, it is true that feeding the poor is a good deed, for God commanded to take care of them. But the disciples will have the opportunity to do this good deed always and at any time, for the generation of the poor will not be eliminated in this age.

Prepare Christ for burial(Only John mentioned this, John 12:7), without counting the losses - the matter is no worse than feeding the poor, especially since the chance to honor the son of God in this way - generally fell out once in a lifetime. Although, it is clear that the woman, washing him with incense, did not think that she was preparing Christ for burial, but she did it out of a great desire to do at least something pleasant for Christ according to her own understanding and from what she could do for him.

14:9 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, it will be said, in her memory, and about what she did.
How many inhabitants of the 1st century do we know? Even outstanding and doing great things in large numbers on a national scale - many do not know. And the woman who did just ONE good deed for Christ is remembered to this day when they read about her from Scripture.
This is the moral: ONE good deed for Christ is more valuable than many great deeds NOT for Christ.

14:10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray him to them.
Who knows, maybe it's squandering a fortune on the head of one Jesus and prompted Judas Iscariot, who loved silver, to take revenge on him? After all, the money from the sale of this vessel could go into the donation box, Judas would have the opportunity to profit from there. And so they passed by him and were wasted on Jesus, it turns out that Judas got a big jackpot because of him.
It is not known, of course, what exactly Judas thought about this, but it is useful for modern Christians to reflect on the following:
How do we react when someone interferes with our plans? Does the feeling of anger darken our mind so that we don’t even see the white light? Or are we still able to think sensibly and give an objective assessment of what is happening?

14:11 And when they heard it, they rejoiced, and promised to give him pieces of silver. And he was looking for a way to betray Him at a convenient time.
The joy of the chief priests can be understood: their dream of deliverance from Jesus was close to fulfillment

14:12 On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover [lamb] was slaughtered,
According to the prescriptions for the feast of Passover, we are talking about Nisan 14, which occurs after sunset on Nisan 13.

His disciples say to him, Where do you want to eat the Passover? we'll go and cook.
The students decided to prepare in advance for the celebration of Easter and decide where to celebrate this event. To prepare Easter for Christ meant going to the temple to the clergy authorized to slaughter the Easter lamb, wait for it to be slaughtered, while it was baked there, and bring the meal to the house where the Easter dinner was planned.

14:13-16 And he sends two of his disciples and says to them, Go into the city; and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him
14 And where will he enter, tell the owner of that house: The teacher says: Where is the room in which I can eat the Passover with My disciples?
15 And he will show you a large upper room, lined, ready: there prepare for us.
16 And his disciples went and came into the city, and found as he had told them; and prepared the passover. It means that the disciples made sure that the Passover lamb was ready for dinner - they did not cook it themselves, in the temple for preparing the Passover - there was a certain procedure, the disciples could only take the lamb fried according to all the rules in the temple and bring it for dinner to the place indicated by Christ.

14:17 When evening came, He comes with twelve.
Nisan 14 has two evenings: at the transition from 13 to 14 (after sunset) and before moving from 14 to 15 (evening before sunset, before 15). On which of the two nights of Nisan 14 did Jesus have dinner?
If we assume that on the first (for after that he was to be slain on Nisan 14 as a true Passover - on the second evening of Nisan 14, before the onset of Nisan 15), then Christ's conversation with the disciples about finding a place for the supper took place in the daytime of Nisan 13 ( they could not look for a man with a jug after sunset).
However, in this course of events, a contradiction arises with the text of 14:12, for Nisan 13 is not a day of unleavened bread.

If we assume that the conversation took place in the daytime on Nisan 14 and dinner was held on the second evening (before Nisan 15), then according to Mark, Jesus was crucified on Nisan 15, which could not be historically, because the Jewish high priests were worried about his execution taking place BEFORE Nisan 15, before the Feast of Passover (Nisan 14 is the eve and preparation for the seven-day Passover or Unleavened Week, which begins on Nisan 15)

14:18,19 And as they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.
19 They were sad and began to say to him, one by one, Is it not I? and another: isn't it me? Thinking. Jesus reports that one of the disciples is a traitor. And no one asked: “Is it not Judas Iscariot, by any chance?”
This means that against the general background, Judas did not stand out for anything so frankly unrighteous, and, being with Jesus for 3 years, he preached no worse than others, and cast out demons, and walked no less than anyone else and was about the same as the rest of the apostles.
This means that there was something good in him, if he was chosen as an apostle, this is also evident from the fact that he later could not live with the weight of sin, having the blood of Jesus on him.
Judas Iscariot could not deny himself one sinful pleasure: he stole from the box of donations. On that I got the devil "hooked" (gave room to the devil)

So, only Jesus knew everything about him, but he did not take away from Judas the opportunity to sit at the same table and share a joint dinner.
So it turns out: you never know who is with you at the same table. But if you are overly suspicious, you will have to live in the desert.

14:20,21 He answered and said to them, One of the twelve who dips with Me in the dish.
21 But the Son of Man goes, as it is written of him;
Jesus does not hinder the fulfillment of what was predicted about him.
However, a prediction is a prediction, and the one who turns out to be a traitor according to the prediction will not be healthy from betrayal, for no one will escape responsibility before God for their personal actions.

The life of Judas testifies to the dramatic interaction in the life of a person (determining it) of God's supreme authority over him and each individual's own responsibility: on the one hand, according to God's plan, Jesus had to suffer and die, and this would not have been canceled; on the other hand, Judas was still not doomed to become a traitor: he himself was responsible for obeying Satan's "instructions" (see Mark 14:21; John 13:27).

but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed:
Woe responsibility before God of traitors - NOT that God will not resurrect them after death. Not about it grief Jesus said, besides, no one knows how God will react to such an albeit wrong, but still - the repentance of Judas. And about that, Jesus said WHAT his traitors would experience during their lifetime, for death is deliverance from grief, and not grief itself. (For details on the nature of Judas' grief, see the discussion of Matt. 26:50.)

It would have been better for that person not to have been born. If Judas had not been born, then he would not have had the opportunity to betray Christ, he would not have had to suffer later from feeling the blood of Christ on himself and to answer for this betrayal before God.

14:22-24 And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
23 And he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them: and they all drank from it.
24 And he said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
The joint Easter dinner ended with an explanation of the meaning of red wine and unleavened bread: from now on, they should expect that the body of Christ - the new Easter (1 Cor. many will spill. For everyone who will respond to the "voice" of Christ's sacrifice after he is put to death, and he ascends to the heavenly altar with his blood, the era of a new relationship with God will begin with the entry into the New Testament.

Christ foresaw that not everyone would accept his sacrifice, but many (blood will be shed for many)
At this time, Judas Iscariot was no longer with them, he went to the high priests to fulfill his mission of betraying Christ.
This can be understood by following all the Gospels for a conversation about a traitor that took place during dinner and an explanation of the symbols of the New Testament (the new commandment - from John) - after dinner: after Judas, having dined with everyone, went out (John 13: 26.27; 30.31.34).

The era of N.Z. began on Pentecost 33. AD :just as in ancient times the blood of Easter was first shed, and after about 50 days, V.Z. came into force. (see Ex. 19:1), and N.Z. entered into force 50 days after the shedding of the blood of the new Pascha (the sacrifice of Christ): on Pentecost 33.
Just as the fire of Sinai testified to all the people of Jehovah of antiquity about the beginning of the era of the EC, so the tongues of fire on the disciples of Christ at Pentecost testified to them of the beginning of the era of the EC. (Heb.12:18: Acts.2:1-3).

14:25,26 Truly I say to you, I will no longer drink from the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine in the kingdom of God.
We think there is no particular mystery here - that Jesus will no longer drink wine. Jesus simply told his disciples something like this:
the last time I sit with you like this, in the house at the same table and drink wine. Next time we will "sit so nicely" with you and in a qualitatively new way - only in the Millennium Kingdom, not earlier. And the fact that they were good together - this is evidenced by their desire to sing:
26 And having sung, they went up to the Mount of Olives.

With a song, after receiving from the symbols of the sacrifice of Christ, their meeting at the Supper ended.

14:27 And Jesus said to them: You will all be offended because of me this night; for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
Jesus behaves surprisingly here too: he knows that the apostles will deny him, so as not to be subjected to the same treatment as he was. Their loyalty to him will not stand the test, but it will be temporary.
Despite this knowledge about his disciples, it is Jesus who continues to love them, for he is indulgent towards the infirmities of sinful flesh and knows that until the spirit is strengthened, the infirmity of the flesh is stronger.

Did the remaining students have a chance - not to be tempted? No.
What God foretold through the prophets cannot fail to come true. What is the mechanism for God's foresight of just such a development of events is unknown. It is only known that not a single word of His - was in vain either in relation to Judas Iscariot, or in relation to the rest of the disciples of Christ.
And that everyone is personally responsible before God for their deeds, whether they are good or bad.

14:28 After my resurrection, I will go ahead of you in Galilee.
Jesus predicts their meeting and resumption of fellowship after his resurrection in Galilee, where they lived, worked and were called (Maar. 1:16-20). However, the students still cannot understand this.

14:29-31 Peter said to him, If all be offended, but not I.
30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today, this night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.
31 But he still said with great effort: Even though it behooves me to die with you, I will not deny you. Everyone said the same.
Peter, speaking like this, does not mean that he is better or more faithful than the other apostles. He simply shows his personal great and sincere desire to remain faithful to Christ. However, despite his good intentions, his renunciation will be more impressive than the renunciation of the others: this experience taught Peter not to be too presumptuous in the future.

14:32,33 See also discussion of Matt. 26:36,37
They came to a village called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, Sit here while I pray.
And he took with him Peter, James, and John;

Of the 12 chosen ones, Jesus most often took with him Peter, John and James (Andrew sometimes). Why did he act like this and did not particularly worry about what the rest would think of him and these "favorites"?
Why was Christ not afraid to be alone with them, calling them aside in front of everyone and “confiding” with them, as it might seem to the rest of the disciples? Why didn’t Jesus think that others might stumble over this and be offended that they didn’t pay such attention to them in solving some issues, that Christ has secrets from them?

We think that the apostles were chosen precisely such- not offended by the actions of Christ. If they were different, they would not have been elected. The apostles understood that if Jesus acted in this way, then it was necessary, without questions and resentment against each other. After all, it did not happen by chance that of all the 12 apostles, it was Peter, John and James who wrote down the word of God for the Bible - they knew more than anyone what to write about and had qualities that were pleasing to Christ. And even Peter's denial of Christ out of cowardice did not prompt Christ to replace him with someone else.

and began to be horrified and to grieve. As you can see, even the guaranteed certainty of the resurrection did not make Jesus the insensitive and daring brave man, the glossy hero with nerves of steel that the world wants to see.
Jesus was very worried about the approach of the hour of death, like any normal ordinary person who wants to live with dignity and die with dignity, remaining faithful to God.
Jesus had never faced such trials before and was horrified by the unknown.
It is one thing when death overtakes suddenly, and another thing is to know the day, hour and even the circumstances of your death with all the details.
And also - to know that you can change all this if you wish, but still not change the course of events because it has become a spectacle for all rational creatures and a means of justifying all the hopes of your Father.

14:34-36 And he said to them: My soul is grieving to death; stay here and stay awake.
35 And going a little way, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, this hour might pass from him;
36 and said: Abba Father! everything is possible for you; carry this cup past Me; but not what I want, but what You.

In the presence of these three, Jesus wished to pray, moving away and falling on his face in exhaustion, hoping that the brothers were with him both in body and spirit.

The most difficult task of the Father was to be fulfilled. This phrase alone is worth something: My father! If possible, pass This cup of me... however, not as I want, but as You.

We hope that no one thinks after this that it was easier for him to go to his death for the sake of mankind and in order to please his Father. The march to death for Christ was not a triumphal procession of a happy and contented conqueror of the world: it seems that he himself did not expect how hard it would be for him to leave life as a blasphemer, and this despite the fact that he came to glorify his Father. However, by the strength of his spirit and the strength of his faith that he was doing the right thing - Jesus was able to force himself to say to himself, first of all: "NOT AS I WANT, but as YOU!!!"

As you can see, every person, including Jesus Christ, must make decisions on his own to do the right thing, from above they will not make such decisions instead of a person. God helps only to fulfill the decisions made by the person himself for the glory of God.

Every Christian has his own "Gethsemane" during his lifetime, and every Christian must learn to say in it: "NOT AS I WANT, but as YOU, Father."

14:37-40 Returns and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter: Simon! are you sleeping? could you not stay awake for one hour?
38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 39 And going back again, he prayed, saying the same word.
40 And when he returned, he again found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.
So, the closest disciples of Christ and even Simon, who assured Christ of his devotion - more than others, alas, could not be with Christ in spirit in his spiritual struggle: sleep overcame them, they did not reflect on the upcoming events and the death of Christ and therefore could not support him in his suffering. Actually, such behavior is one of the hidden types of renunciation of Christ.

One can imagine how lonely Jesus was in this world, if even the chosen disciples could not understand and contain his experiences.

Why could this happen to those who claimed special devotion and love for Christ unto death? Because they were not imbued with the coming path of Christ, misunderstood something, could not accommodate the entire responsibility of the situation, relaxed their minds and did not perceive the sufferings of Christ as their own: when a tooth hurts, there is no time for sleep. If they hurt inside the same way as Christ hurt, they would not be able to sleep.

14:41,42 And he comes a third time and says to them: Do you still sleep and rest? It's over, the hour has come: behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Get up, let's go; behold, the one who betrays me draws near.
Why could not the disciples share with Christ his experience?
They had just eaten delicious lamb and drank wine; most likely, they expected a quiet night and a quiet holiday for 7 days, as they celebrated the feasts of unleavened bread in Judea.
In this situation, they could think about tomorrow's feast day, when they and Jesus will go to Jerusalem, where a lot of people have gathered, and will teach them how to heal the sick.
In general, they could count on the fact that everything familiar for the last 3.5 years would continue, while they were all together.
Under such circumstances and incomprehension of what was happening, it was difficult for them to perceive Christ's worries and his nervous tension due to the upcoming trials.
What happened next caused them complete confusion and was unexpected.

behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners Note that Jesus said that he betrayed in hand sinners . Whom did he call sinners?

14:43 And immediately, as He was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a multitude of people with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
This verse says that the chief priests, scribes and elders and many Jews came with Judas - from the people of Jehovah of the 1st century. It turns out that all these servants of God on that moment were sinners in the eyes of God and his Christ.
Not into the hands of literal pagans - sinners - Jesus betrayed himself, but in arms sinners from God's people . It was THEY who laid hands on him and took him (text 46)

14:44,45 Kiss of Judas, see also discussion of Mt. 26:47-49.
And the one who betrayed him gave them a sign, saying: Whom I kiss, he is, take him and lead him carefully
45 And having come, he immediately went up to him and said: Rabbi! Rabbi! and kissed him.
Kiss Judas. A kiss is not always a sign of friendship: the kisses of the hater are false. The expression has become a household word for all cases of sophisticated betrayal by loved ones, from whom you least expect it.
It is much easier to endure the intrigues of those who show frank hostility towards us: at least you know what to expect from them.

14:46,47 And they laid their hands on Him and took Him.
47 And one of those standing there drew a sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
An attempt to provide armed resistance in defense of Christ was only on the part of Peter, so he showed his special zeal for Christ, in which he was sure. But Jesus did not approve of her, as we know from the account of John 18:10,11.

14:48,49 Then Jesus said to them, You have come out as if against a robber with swords and clubs to take me.
49 Every day I was with you in the temple and taught, and you did not take Me. But let the Scriptures come true.
Jesus was not an underground revolutionary, his activities were open to religious leaders and God's people, he did not hide in the night and did not teach in secret. The fact that the scribes and priests came out to Jesus at night, fearing the day, revealed their cowardice.

Jesus rebuked the shepherds of God's people that they were doing wrong, not according to God's principles, but he did not stumble on this, realizing that all this was foretold for God's people during the period of his first advent.
The same thing is predicted for God's people during the period of the second coming of Jesus Christ: the message to the seven churches from Revelation 2:3 speaks of iniquity in the congregations of God's people, reigning in the period of the end of this world.
And the sitting during this period of the lawless in the temple of God (over the gatherings of God's people) from 2 Thess.

14:50 Then, leaving Him, they all fled.
From the words of Christ, the disciples understood that Jesus would not even try to resist, and this in an instant deprived him of the loyalty of the disciples, “who lost confidence in him as the Messiah, a powerful person, therefore they all fled.
At that time, the disciples did not understand the role of the Messiah for Israel and humanity in general.

14:51,52 One young man, wrapped around his naked body in a veil, followed Him; and the soldiers seized him.
52 But he left the veil and fled naked from them.
Some theologians believe that this young man was Mark himself, the son of the owner of the house in which Christ dined with the disciples. However, this message does not significantly affect the meaning of further events, even if this is an erroneous idea.

14:53,54 And they brought Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests and elders and scribes gathered to him.
54 Peter followed him from afar, even into the court of the high priest; and sat with the ministers, and warmed himself by the fire.
Peter did not leave Jesus even after all the rest of his disciples fled: so far he was faithful to his assurances of special devotion to Christ. In such a situation, even following Jesus from afar was very dangerous, Peter knew this, but still, he followed Christ.
And what later he denied is because of the weakness of the flesh, not because of malicious intent.

14:55,56 The high priests and the entire Sanhedrin sought evidence against Jesus in order to put Him to death; and did not find.
56 For many bore false witness against him, but these testimonies were not sufficient.
The case of Jesus was first considered by religious authorities and only then by political ones. But there would be no need for political ones if the Sanhedrin had the power to execute death sentences.

It is necessary to pay tribute to the blatantly unfair trial of Christ, but still - not according to the lawlessness passing: whatever witnesses against Christ were not suitable for the judges, they were still looking for more or less weighty evidence and an argument sufficient for punishment by death. It is only strange that those who wished to bear false witness were among the people of Jehovah, but they should have known that this is a sin.
In general, by the time of the first coming of Christ, practically one name remained from the people of God. As in the congregation of the spiritually dead Sardis (Rev. 3:1-5)

14:57-59 And some stood up and bore false witness against him and said:
58 We heard him say: I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise another not made with hands.
Is that what Jesus really said? One little lie with a difference of two letters: "destroy" and "destroy":
Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. John 2:19.
To the credit of the Pharisees, they did not find SUCH evidence sufficient:
59 But even this testimony of them was not enough.

14:60-62 Then the high priest stood in the midst and asked Jesus: why don't you answer anything? what do they testify against you?
61 But He remained silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him and said to Him: Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?
There is no point in making excuses to those who accused of a crime long before they decided to arrest and put to death. Therefore, Jesus did not try to catch the witnesses in a lie, anyway, the outcome was known in advance.

To the question of the high priest, Jesus answered directly in order to prevent the high priest from remaining wise in his own eyes and pretending that through no fault of his own he did not recognize Jesus as the messenger of God:

62 Jesus said: I; and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power (the word that replaced the Jews for the word "God") and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Agree with comment here Geneva Bible:
Jesus talks about how He will ascend and sit at the right hand of the Father, which begins now - with his humiliation and death. The Jewish leaders "saw" nothing. When the Roman soldiers told them about the resurrection (28:11-15), and Stephen testified as an eyewitness to the glorification of Christ (Acts 7:56), they never realized that the one they killed spoke the truth about himself.

and you will see the Son of Man, see also Rev. 1:7: Jesus did not call the high priest "you", but addressed in his person to the kind of "piercing" innocents. Sooner or later, and all of them will see the glory of Jesus Christ: those who are from the 1st century will see him in the Millennium (for they were crucified in ignorance, which means they will be resurrected, Acts 3:17). And those who pierce it even at the appearance of the second coming (pursuing Christ's) - those in Armageddon will see it.

14:63,64 Then the high priest, tearing his clothes, said, What more need do we have of witnesses?
64 You have heard blasphemy; what do you think? They all declared Him guilty of death.
The high priest didn't seem to care at all what Jesus' answer would be. His answer was needed only in order to comply with the accusation procedure and, after the answer of the accused, to make a decision in blasphemy, for it was for blasphemy in Judea that people were put to death.
Although the words of Christ that he would be in heaven with God did not belong to blasphemy. And yet, the high priest turned for support in the justice of the accusation of blasphemy to all members of the Sanhedrin. And it would be foolish to think that they would not support this accusation. .

14:65 And some began to spit on Him, and, covering His face, hit Him and said to Him, prophesy. And the servants struck him on the cheeks.
Here is a brief account of how Christ was mocked at the Sanhedrin, wishing to emphasize his inadequacy as the son of God, for, according to them, the son of God should agree to play their wild games and guess unmistakably who exactly hit him on the cheek, who spat on him and etc.

And Jesus had to endure all this mockery of him only in order to fulfill the will of God in relation to self-sacrifice for humanity, which included those who mocked him to their fullest.

14:66-72 Peter's denial– see details in Mt. 26:69-75
While Peter was in the court below, one of the high priest's maids came
67 And seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You were also with Jesus the Nazarene.
68 But he denied it, saying, I do not know, nor do I understand what you are saying. And went out into the front yard; and the rooster crowed.
69 The servant girl, seeing him again, began to say to those who were standing there: this is one of them.
70 He denied again. After a while, those who stood there again began to say to Peter: You are definitely one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your language is similar.
71 And he began to swear and swear: I do not know this man about whom you speak.
72 Then the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times; and started crying. Peter did not even understand that when answering the questioners, he was betraying Christ, and if the rooster had not crowed, who knows, maybe Peter would not have understood his offense, his renunciation of Christ was so veiled in such an atmosphere of nervousness and danger. But the rooster reminded Peter of the prediction of Christ and his grief knew no bounds: it is very difficult to endure such a fall and torments of shame.

However, Peter not only was able to rise after such a fall, but also spoke about the history of his fall as the greatest example of the love of Christ, who forgave Peter's denial. Although I could hide this shameful fact.

In two days it was to be the feast of the Passover and of unleavened bread; and the chief priests and scribes were looking for ways to take him by cunning and kill him;

But they said: only not on a holiday, so that there would be no indignation among the people.

The beginning of the last act in the earthly life of Jesus was approaching. The fact is that the feast of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread are really two different things. The Feast of Passover fell on Nisan 14, approximately April 14, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the seven days following Passover. Actually, Easter was a great holiday and was observed in the same way as the Sabbath. The feast of unleavened bread was called the lesser feast; during it, however, it was impossible to start new work, but such work was allowed that "was necessary in the public interest or to prevent losses." But Easter day was a really great holiday.

Passover was one of the three obligatory holidays for all Jews. In addition to Easter, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles were obligatory. All adult male Jews who lived within a radius of 25 km from Jerusalem were required to come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. The Easter holiday had a double meaning.

a) It was of historical importance (Ex. 12). He recalled the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian captivity. God sent one execution after another to Egypt, and after each such execution, the pharaoh promised to let the people go, but then God hardened his heart, refused the word he had given. And finally, a terrible night came when the angel of death was to pass through the land of Egypt and strike every firstborn in every house. The Israelites were to slaughter the lamb and anoint with a bunch of hyssop dipped in the blood of the lamb the crossbar and both doorposts of the door of each house, and the angel of death, seeing such a sign on the door, passed past him and the inhabitants of the house remained safe. Before setting off, the Israelites had to eat roasted lamb meat and unleavened bread. It was in memory of this “passage” of an angel past the house, this deliverance and this meal that Easter was celebrated.

b) Easter mattered for agriculture. It coincided with the harvest of barley. On this day, the first sheaf of barley was sacrificed to God. (A lion. 23, 10.11). And only after that it was possible to sell the barley of the new crop in the shops and eat the bread baked from it.

Everything was prepared for Easter carefully and thoroughly. A month before its onset, synagogues began to explain its meaning, and in schools every day they taught this to children, so that no one would come to the feast in ignorance and unprepared; roads were put in order, bridges were repaired. In addition, they did something very special. The fact is that people were often buried along the road. And if a wanderer or pilgrim touched such a roadside tombstone, he became unclean, as if he had touched a dead body, and could not take part in the holiday. And therefore, before Easter, all roadside tombstones and slabs were whitewashed so that they were clearly visible and pilgrims could get around them. Psalms 119-133 are called songs of ascent, and it is quite possible that it was these psalms that the pilgrims sang on their way to the Passover feast and to make their way easier. They said that they actually sang psalm 122 on the last leg of their journey, up the hill towards the temple.

As we have seen, every male Jewish adult living up to 25 kilometers from Jerusalem was supposed to come to the Passover feast, but many more people came. Every Jew dreamed of eating at least once in his life Passover in Jerusalem. And therefore, on Easter, pilgrims from all countries of the then world flocked to Jerusalem. During the Passover, they received free shelter and food. Of course, everyone could not fit in Jerusalem and they stayed in nearby towns and villages, including Bethany and Bethphage. From the story of Josephus Flavius, one can imagine how many pilgrims generally came to Jerusalem at Easter. According to him, in about 65, the Syrian legate Cestius Gallus had difficulty in convincing the emperor Nero of the significance of the Jewish religion. To impress Nero, Cestius Gallus asked the then high priest of Jerusalem to keep a record of all the lambs slaughtered on one Passover. According to Josephus, their number was 256,500. According to the law, one lamb was to be eaten by a minimum of ten people. Thus, the number of pilgrims in Jerusalem must have been about three million.

It was here that the concerns of the Jewish authorities began. During the Passover period, people were very excited. Memories of deliverance from Egyptian captivity aroused in people thoughts and desires for a new deliverance from Rome. Nationalist feelings were at that time sharper than ever. There were no Roman headquarters and troops in Jerusalem. The residence of the procurator was in Caesarea, and the Roman soldiers were also stationed there. At the time of Easter, special detachments were brought into Jerusalem and placed in the fortress of Anthony, which towered over the temple. The Romans understood that anything could happen during Passover and they didn't want to let it happen. The Jewish authorities also knew that in such an explosive atmosphere, the arrest of Jesus could very well cause a riot. That's why they looked for hidden ways and opportunities to arrest Him before the general public knew about it.

The last action in the earthly life of Jesus was played out in a city crowded with Jews who had gathered from all over the world. They came to honor the event that had once freed their people from Egyptian slavery. And it was at such a time that the deliverer of all mankind, sent by God, was crucified on the cross.

Mark 14:3-9 The extravagance of love

And when He was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, and was reclining, a woman came with an alabaster vessel of peace made of pure, precious nard, and breaking the vessel, she poured it on His head.

Some were indignant and said among themselves: why this waste of the world?

For it could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they murmured at her.

But Jesus said, leave her; what's bothering her? she did a good deed for me.

For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have me.

She did what she could: she preliminarily anointed My Body for burial.

Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, it will be said, in her memory, and about what she did.

The bitterness of this story is all the greater because it deals, one might say, with the last act of kindness shown to Jesus.

Jesus was in the home of Simon the leper in the village of Bethany. In those days, people ate not sitting at the table, but reclining on low benches and leaning on the elbow of their left hand; they took food with their right hand. The person who approached such a reclining person stood high above him. A woman came up to Jesus with an alabaster jar of fragrant oil; there was such a custom: to sprinkle a guest who arrived at the house, or sat down at the table, with a few drops of fragrant oil. The woman had nard in the bowl, a very expensive fragrant oil, which was obtained from the root of a rare plant growing in distant India. But the woman did not put a few drops of this precious oil on Jesus' head - she broke the vessel and poured all its contents on His head. There could be several reasons for her to do so. First, she could break the vessel to show that all of its contents were to be used. In the East, there was such a custom - if an outstanding guest drank from a glass, it was broken so that the hand of a less noble person would never again touch it. Maybe that's what she had in mind. But Jesus saw something that this woman could not think of. There was a custom in the East: the deceased was first bathed, and then smeared with incense. After that, the vessel, in which there were incense, was broken, and the shards were placed together with the deceased in the coffin. Well, the woman did just that, though not intentionally. Her actions caused displeasure from those around her. Such a vessel of fragrant oil cost three hundred denarii, and the denarius was the day's wages of the wage labourer. A simple person had to work for almost a year just to buy such a vessel of fragrant oil. To some of those present, this seemed like a reckless waste, because the money could have been given to the poor. But Jesus understood their thoughts and quoted their own Scripture to them "The poor will always be in the midst of your land" (Deut. 15, 11). “You can always help the poor,” Jesus said, “but you have little time left to do anything for Me.” “She,” He said, “as if in advance anointed My body for burial.”

This episode shows how love makes a person.

1. Jesus said what the woman did Good deed. There are two words in Greek to convey the meaning good: agathos means a morally good thing, and Kalos - not only good, but also beautiful, sweet. Other things may be agathos, and at the same time tough, harsh, unattractive, and the thing Kalos charming and sweet, even charming, and, according to Jesus, it was the actions of this woman that were charming. Love does not only do good deeds, love inspires charming deeds.

2. In true love, there must always be a certain extravagance, it does not calculate exactly who is less, who is more, it does not think about how to save your face and give less. He who gives from love even everything that he has, considers that the gift is too small. In love there is always recklessness that neglects calculation.

3. Love sees that the opportunity to do certain things can only come once. Our tragedy also lies in the fact that sometimes we have an acute desire to do something, but we do not do it. It happens that we are shy, it seems to us that this is indecent; it happens that, after sound reflection, we choose a more prudent course of action - whether in the simplest cases - the desire to send someone a letter of thanks, to express our love or gratitude to someone, the desire to give someone a special gift or say something. anything good. Unfortunately, this desire is often nipped in the bud. How much better the world would be if more people did what this woman did, who knew deep down that if she didn't do it now, she never would. And this completely reckless kindness, coming from the whole heart, touched Jesus.

4. Again, Jesus' unwavering confidence in himself is shown here. Already close ahead He saw His cross, but He did not think that this would be the end. He believed that the good news would spread around the world, and with it this charming story about the reckless act of a woman who acted under the influence of the moment, from a loving heart.

Mark 14.10.11 Traitor

And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray him to them.

When they heard it, they rejoiced and promised to give him pieces of silver. And he was looking for a way to betray Him at a convenient time.

With unsurpassed skill, Mark puts these two episodes side by side - the anointing in Bethany and the betrayal of Judas: an act of reckless love and terrible betrayal. Our heart always trembles when we think of Judas. Dante, in The Divine Comedy, placed Judas in the deepest ninth circle of hell, in the hell of cold and ice, where a place is prepared not for those who sinned in a fit of passion, but for those who coldly and prudently transgressed the law of God's love. Mark puts it all so succinctly that it doesn't even give us any reason to think. But we can say something about the act of Judas himself.

1. They were driven greed, greed. At Mat. 26:15 even says that Judas went to the authorities to find out what they were willing to pay, and bargained with them for thirty pieces of silver. Something can be gleaned from John. 11:57, which says that the authorities wanted to know where Jesus was in order to arrest Him. It may even be that by this time Jesus was placed, in essence, outside the law and a reward was promised on His head, and Judas, knowing this, wanted to clarify the amount of the established reward amount. John is quite clear: he says that, being the treasurer of the disciples, Judas used his position for personal enrichment, that is, he stole from the general treasury (John. 12, 6). So it could be. Passion for money can become a terrible thing; it can blind a person, deprive him of honesty and make him forget the norms of decency. Judas learned too late that some things cost too much.

2. Owned it envy and jealousy. The German poet F. Klopstock believed that Judas, when he joined the disciples, was very gifted and possessed all the virtues to become a great man, but that then envy and jealousy for John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, began to eat him up, and that it was this jealousy pushed Judas to his terrible deed. Even in the Gospels, it is easy to see that among the apostles, there were disagreements and contradictions. Other disciples seemed to be able to control themselves and overcome this, and in the heart of Judas there must have been an uncontrollable and uncontrollable spirit of jealousy and envy. Only a few things can spoil the life of a person and those around him so much as jealousy and envy.

3. Owned ambition. We have repeatedly seen that the apostles imagined the Kingdom in purely earthly categories and concepts and dreamed of a prominent and important position in it. Judas must have thought it all this way. It is quite possible that when other students still continued to believe in their dream, Judas already realized how far from reality it was, how erroneous this dream was in general and how little chance they had to achieve everything they wanted on earth, and it could very well be that love that Judas once had for Jesus turned into hatred. In Henry VIII, Shakespeare puts into Wolsey's mouth the following words to Thomas Cromwell:

“Cromwell, I accuse you, drop your ambition; This sin caused the fall of the angels; how can man, the Image of his Creator, hope to succeed through him? Love yourself least of all."

After all, sometimes people have such pride that devours love and honor and all that is good in an effort to achieve the goals hatched in the heart.

4. Many people cherished the idea that Judas did not want the death of Jesus at all. It is safe to say that Judas was a fanatical nationalist who saw in Jesus the man who could fulfill his, Judas, dreams of national independence and glory, and now he saw that Jesus was quite consciously walking towards His death on the cross. Therefore, it is quite possible that Judas betrayed Jesus in his last attempt to fulfill his dream of national independence - he betrayed Jesus into the hands of the authorities in order to breathe strength into His hands, so that Jesus, being in the hands of the authorities, would be forced to act for His sake. salvation, and that this action of Jesus would be the beginning of the victorious campaign that he dreamed of. Perhaps this theory is supported by the fact that Judas, seeing the results of his act, threw the money he received at the feet of the Jewish authorities, went and hanged himself (Mat. 27:3-5). If this was indeed the case, then Judas suffered the greatest tragedy in history.

5. Luke and John simply say Judas was possessed by the devil (Onion. 22, 3; John. 13, 27). Ultimately, that is exactly what happened. Judas wanted Jesus to be what he wanted to see Him, and not what Jesus himself wanted to be and desires. Far from submitting to the will of Jesus, Judas wanted to submit Him to his will, and when he saw that Jesus had chosen His own path, the path to Calvary, Judas became so indignant that he went and betrayed Him. Sin is based on pride, its essence is in the desire for independence, the root of sin is in the desire to do what we want to do, and not what God wants, and this is exactly what the devil, Satan, an unclean evil spirit needs. He stands on the side of everything that is against God and will not bow before Him. It was this spirit that entered Judas. The very thought of Judas makes us shudder. But think again - greed, envy, jealousy, ambition, an irresistible desire to do everything in your own way - are we really so different from it? All this led Judas to betray Jesus, and these same qualities still push people to the path of betraying Jesus today.

Mark 14:12-16 Preparation for the holiday

On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was slaughtered, His disciples said to Him, Where do you want to eat the Passover? we'll go and cook.

And he sends two of his disciples and says to them, Go into the city; and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him

And where he enters, tell the owner of that house: “The teacher says: where is the room in which I would eat the Passover with My disciples?”

And he will show you a large upper room, lined and ready; cook for us there.

And his disciples went and came into the city, and found as he had told them; and prepared the passover.

It may seem strange to use such a word in relation to Jesus, but when reading the history of the last week, His ability to arrange everything is downright striking. We see again and again that He never left anything to the last minute: He took care of the young donkey on which He would ride into Jerusalem. When the disciples asked him where they would eat the Passover, Jesus sent them to find a man in Jerusalem with a clay pot of water: this was a predetermined sign. The fact is that water jugs were usually carried by women, men never did such work. A man with a jug of water on his shoulder stood out among the crowd in Jerusalem in the same way as, say, a man with a woman's umbrella on a rainy day. Jesus did not procrastinate or let things take their course. He already foresaw the place for the last meeting of his disciples and indicated how to find a person known to Him. Large Jewish houses had upper rooms. Such houses looked like a large box and a smaller box placed one on top of the other. This "smaller box" was the upper room, and they got into it along the outer stairs, bypassing the main room. This upper room served as a pantry, a place for quiet retreat and meditation, for receiving guests. But especially in such a room, the rabbis taught circles of close students. Jesus acted in this case like all Jewish rabbis.

We must remember how the Jews counted the days. The new day began at six o'clock in the evening. Until 6 pm was Nisan 13, the day of preparation for Passover, and Nisan 14, Passover proper, began at 6 pm. In other words, Friday, Nisan 14, began at 6 p.m. Thursday 13 Nisan.

What preparations did the Jew make for the Passover? First, the rite searches for leaven. Before the beginning of Passover, the smallest pieces of leaven had to be removed from the house, because the first Passover in Egypt (Ex. 12) they ate with unleavened bread (Jewish unleavened bread does not look like bread, but like biscuits baked in water). In Egypt, it was baked because it was much faster than a loaf of bread made from sour yeast dough, and the first Easter, the Easter of deliverance from Egyptian captivity, had to be eaten in a hurry, being ready for a long journey. In addition, leaven, yeast, was a symbol of decay, decay. Leaven, yeast is a fermented dough, and the Jews equated fermentation with decomposition, and therefore leaven symbolized rottenness, decomposition. And on the day before the onset of Easter, the owner of the house took a lit candle and performed a ritual - he searched the house in search of leaven and, before starting the search, said this prayer: “Blessed are You, Jehovah, our God, King of the Universe, who sanctified us with His covenants and bequeathed we should remove the leaven."

At the end of the rite of search, the owner of the house said: “All the leaven that I have, the one that I saw, and the one that I did not see, let it not be, let it be considered the dust of the earth.” Further, in the afternoon on the day before Easter, the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Everyone gathered at the temple, and each head of the family, who participated in the divine service, sacrificed his own lamb, making, as it were, his own sacrifice. The Jews believed that all blood was offered as a sacrifice to God, because in their eyes blood meant life. It was a perfectly reasonable way of looking at things, because as a wounded person or animal bleeds, so does his life. And therefore, everyone who took part in worship in the temple slaughtered his own lamb. Between the participants in the service and the altar stood two long rows of priests with a golden or silver bowl in their hands. As one cut the lamb's throat, the other collected its blood into one of these vessels and passed it along the line until the vessel reached the priest standing at the very end, who splashed the blood onto the altar. After that, the carcass of the lamb was skinned, the skin was removed from it, the entrails and fat were removed, because they were an integral part of the sacrifice, and the carcass was returned to the one who made the sacrifice. If the figures given by Josephus Flavius ​​are more or less correct, and more than a quarter of a million lambs were sacrificed, then it is even difficult to imagine the scene in the temple and the state of the blood-drenched altar. The lamb was carried home to be roasted. It could not be boiled; nothing was to touch it, not even the walls of the cauldron; it was to be roasted over an open fire on a pomegranate skewer. The skewer passed through the entire carcass of the lamb - from the throat to the anus - and was roasted whole, with the head and legs, and even with the tail.

The table itself was made in the form of a square with one open side. He was low and the guests reclined on the benches, leaning on their left hand and leaving their right hand free for eating. Some things were needed and the disciples had to prepare them.

1. First lamb, to remind them how their homes were protected by the sign of blood when the angel of death passed through Egypt.

2. Second, unleavened bread to remind them of the bread they ate in a hurry when they left slavery.

3. Bowl salt water, to remind them of the tears shed in Egypt and the waters of the Red Sea through which they miraculously passed from danger.

4. Set bitter herbs - horseradish, chicory, endive chicory, lettuce, chandra, to remind them of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.

5. Mastic from apples, dates, pomegranates and nuts, called harosef, to remind them of the clay they used to make bricks in Egypt. There were branches of cinnamon in the mastic, symbolizing the straw used in the manufacture of bricks.

6. Four cups of wine. The bowl was a little over a quarter liter, and wine and water were mixed in a ratio of 3:2. The four cups that were drunk at certain stages of the holiday were to remind them of the four promises in Ref. 6, 6.7.

“I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians,

And I will deliver you from their bondage,

And I will save you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

And I will take you to myself as a people, and I will be your God.”

These are the preparations for Easter. Every detail of the holiday was reminiscent of the great day of deliverance, when God delivered His people from Egyptian captivity. And at this feast, for the last time, He sat at a meal with His disciples, Who freed the whole world from sin.

Mark 14:17-21 The last call of love

When evening came, He comes with twelve

And as they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.

They became sad and began to say to Him, one by one: Is it not I? And the other, isn't it me?

He answered and said to them, One of the twelve who dips with Me in the dish.

However, the Son of Man goes as it is written about Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed: it would have been better for that man not to have been born.

The new day began at six o'clock in the afternoon, and when the Passover evening came, Jesus sat down to eat with his twelve disciples. In the ancient rite, observed for so many centuries back in Egypt, only one thing has changed - then Easter was eaten standing (Ex. 12, 11). But then it was a sign of haste, a sign that they, the Jews, were slaves leaving slavery. In the era of Jesus, Easter was usually eaten reclining at the table - this was a sign of a free man who had his own home and his own country.

This is a sad and bitter passage. At that moment in the memory of Jesus sounded the text: “Even a man peaceful with me, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, lifted up his heel against me.” (Is. 40, 10). These words never left Jesus' mind. And this points to some important points.

1. Jesus knew what was about to happen. He showed the highest courage, especially in the last days. After all, Jesus could easily hide and avoid arrest, but He fearlessly went forward. Homer relates that it was predicted to the great Greek warrior Achilles that he would be killed if he went to his last battle, to which Achilles replied: "Nevertheless, I intend to go." Knowing full well what was ahead of Him, Jesus went ahead.

2. Jesus could read into the heart of Judas. Curiously, the rest of the students didn't seem to suspect anything. If they knew what business Judas was involved in, they would undoubtedly stop him, even by force. This is a lesson for us: we can hide some things from our brethren, but nothing can be hidden from Jesus. He is a connoisseur of the human heart, He knows what a man is.

“Our thoughts are open to Your gaze; And naked before your eyes. Our secret sins lie in the light of Your pure compassionate glance.”

Blessed indeed are the pure in heart.

3. This passage shows Jesus speaking to Judas:

a) with the last call of love. Jesus seems to be saying, “I know what you're going to do. Won't you stop now?"

b) with the last warning. Jesus first shows Judas the consequences of his innermost plan. And we should pay special attention to this, because this is how God speaks to us. He does not force us. Jesus certainly could have stopped Judas. He had only to tell the other eleven disciples what Judas was up to and he would never have left the room alive. And the position of man and mankind in general boils down to this: God has given us free will; His love calls to us; His truth warns us, but He does not force us. Man has a terrible responsibility to spurn the love of God and ignore His warning voice. Ultimately, we alone are responsible for our sins. The Greek myth tells how two travelers managed to swim past a rock on which the sirens were singing. Sirens sat on a rock and sang so sweetly that they lured sailors to certain death. Odysseus swam past the rock. He came up with such a trick for this: he plugged the sailors' ears so that they would not hear the singing, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast and not untied, no matter how much he was torn, so that he could not succumb to the temptation of sweet singing. He survived, using the method of self-coercion for this. The second navigator who sailed past the island of the Sirens was Orpheus, the gentlest musician. He applied a different method. Sailing past the island, he sang so sweetly and tenderly that the sailors, listening to his singing, did not even feel the sweetness of the sirens' singing. He responded to the temptation with an even stronger appeal. God also does not go to the breach: He does not stop us from sin against our will, He seeks to arouse in us such love for Himself that His voice will sound sweeter and more insistent for us than any voice that can lead us away from Him.

Mark 14:22-26 Symbol of salvation

And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And taking the cup, giving thanks, gave it to them; and they all drank from it.

And he said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.

Truly I say to you, I will no longer drink from the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine in the Kingdom of God.

And they sang and went up to the Mount of Olives.

Let's first understand the procedure for the Passover Feast to better understand what Jesus and His disciples were doing. Everything happened in this order:

1. Drank first bowl Kiddush. Kiddush means consecration, consecration or isolation. This act distinguished the Easter meal from other ordinary meals. The head of the family took the cup, blessed it, and everyone drank it.

2. After that followed first hand washing. This ceremony was performed by the manager of the holiday. He washed his hands three times according to the established ritual, which we have already described in ch. 7.

3. After that, they took a branch of parsley or a lettuce leaf, dipped it in a bowl of salt water and ate. It was a pre-meal appetizer, with the salad symbolizing the hyssop used to smear blood on doorposts in Egypt, and the salt water symbolizing the tears shed in Egypt and the waters of the Red (Red) Sea through which Israel passed safely.

4. Next came breaking bread. At the breaking of bread, two blessings were pronounced. "Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who gives birth (producing) everything from the earth" and "Blessed be You, our heavenly Father, who gives us our daily bread." There were three loaves of unleavened bread on the table. They took the middle one and broke it and ate only a small part of it. This was to remind the Jews of the bitter bread that they ate in Egypt, and they broke bread in memory of the fact that slaves could never eat a whole loaf of bread, but only a slice. After the breaking of the bread, the father of the family said: “This is the bitter bread that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt. Let everyone who is hungry come and eat. Let the needy come and spend Easter with us ”(Now, when celebrating in other lands and countries, the famous prayer is added:“ Today we celebrate it here, and next year in the land of Israel. Now as slaves, next year as free ”).

5. Then came the retelling deliverance stories. The youngest of those present had to ask why this day was so different from the others and why all this was being done, after which the head of the family and house had to tell the whole history of Israel up to the deliverance, in whose memory the Passover was celebrated. Easter could not turn into a pure ritual, because it always remained a memory of the power of God and His mercy.

6. Sang psalms 112m 113. Psalms 112-117 have always been called Hallel - songs of praise to God. All these psalms - psalms of praise - the Jewish boy had to remember one of the first.

7. After that they drank the second cup of wine. She was called bowl of Haggadah that is, the cup of explanation or proclamation.

8. All those present washed their hands and prepared for the meal.

9. They said the prayer “Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, giving birth to everything from the earth. Blessed are You, O God, who has sanctified us with commandments and permitted us to eat unleavened bread.” After that, the participants were given small pieces of unleavened bread.

10. Between the pieces unleavened bread bitter herbs, dipped it all in harosef and ate. It was called con. It was a reminder of slavery and the bricks that the Jews were once forced to make.

11. Now the actual meal began. The lamb was to be eaten whole. All leftovers had to be destroyed and not consumed in a regular meal.

12. Hands were washed again.

13. They ate the leftovers of unleavened bread.

14. They said a prayer of thanksgiving asking for the coming of Elijah, the messenger of the Messiah, after which they drank the third cup of wine, called cup of blessing. This cup was blessed with the following words: "Blessed are You, our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of wine."

15. Sang the second part Hallel Psalms - Psalms 113-117.

16. They drank the fourth cup of wine and sang Ps. 135 known as great Hallel.

17. Two short prayers were offered.

“All Your works will praise You, O Lord our God. And Thy saints, the righteous, who proclaim Thy praise, and all Thy people, the house of Israel, may they praise and bless and glorify and exalt and honor and sanctify and give the kingdom to Thy name, O God our King. For it is good to praise You, and it is joyful to sing the praises of Your name, for You are God from eternity to eternity.”

“The breath of all living things will praise Your name, O Lord our God, and the spirit of all flesh will always glorify and magnify Your glory, O God our King. For from eternity to eternity You are God, and we have no King, Redeemer or Savior but You.”

Thus ended the Easter holiday. If the meal at which Jesus and His disciples sat was the Passover, then Jesus spoke of Himself and meant Himself under paragraphs 13 and 14, and after singing the psalm given under paragraph 16, everyone hastened to the Mount of Olives.

Now let's see what Jesus did and what He wanted to imprint on the memory of His disciples. We have repeatedly seen that the Jewish prophets resorted to symbolic, dramatized actions when they felt that words were not having the desired effect. So did, for example, Ahijah (3 Tsar. 29-32), tearing his new dress into twelve pieces and giving ten of them to Jeroboam as a sign that the ten tribes would elect him king; so did Jeremiah, who made the bands and the yoke and wore them as a sign of the coming slavery (Jer. 27); so did the prophet Ananias, who removed the yoke from Jeremiah's neck and crushed him (Jer. 28, 10.11); so did Ezekiel many times (Ezek. 4, 1-8; 5, 1-4). They understood that words can soon be forgotten, and actions are imprinted in the minds.

Jesus did the same, combining this dramatized action with the ancient feast of His people, in order to imprint everything even more strongly in the minds of the people. Jesus said, “Look! Just as this bread is broken, so is my body broken for you! Just as this cup of wine is poured out, so is My blood shed for you!” What did he mean when he said that the cup symbolizes the New Testament? Word covenant typical of the Jewish religion: the basis of this religion was the position that God concluded covenant with Israel. The word means something like an agreement, deal, relationship. The acceptance of the (Old) old covenant is described in Ex. 24:3-8, and from this it is seen that the keeping of the covenant in force depended wholly on the keeping of the law by Israel; as soon as the law was broken, both the covenant and the relationship between God and His people were broken. These relations depended entirely on the law and its observance. God was the Judge. And due to the fact that no one can keep the law, the people of Israel never fulfilled their obligations, always remained in debt. And Jesus says here: “I bring in and fasten New Testament, new relationship between God and man, and it will not be based on law, but on the blood that I will shed." In other words, they will be based solely and exclusively on love. The New Covenant is a relationship between man and God based not on law but on love, that is, Jesus says, "What I do, I do to show you how much God loves you." People no longer live simply under the law of God. This is the main thing that the sacrament of communion tells us.

Let's note one more point. In the last sentence, we again see the same thing that we have already seen more than once. Jesus was sure of two things: He knew that He must die, and He knew that His kingdom would come. He was sure that the cross was waiting for Him, but He was also sure that glory was waiting for Him, because He was sure of the love of God, and also of the sinfulness of people, and He knew that in the end, love will overcome sin. .

Mark 14:27-31 Failure of friends

And Jesus said to them: You will all be offended because of me this night; for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered”;

After my resurrection, I will go before you into Galilee.

Peter said to him, If all be offended, but not I.

And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today, this night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.

But he still said with great effort: even though it behooves me to die with you, I will not deny you. Everyone said the same.

Amazingly, Jesus was prepared for everything: resistance, misunderstanding, the hostility of Orthodox Jews, the betrayal of one of the members of his narrow circle, the suffering and torment of crucifixion - He was prepared for everything. But it seems that Jesus was most struck and hurt by the failure of his friends. A man needs friends most of all when he meets with difficulties or faces them; and it was in this situation that the friends left Jesus alone to his fate. Jesus experienced the fullness of physical mental suffering and He went through it.

The English statesman Hugh Walpal wrote the novel Fortitude, whose protagonist Peter believes that "it is not your life that is important, but the courage you show in it." Life had a lot in store for Peter, and at the end, being at the pinnacle of life, he heard a voice: “Blessed are the sufferings, torments and torments of the flesh. Blessed are all losses, unfaithfulness of friends, and sacrifices of love. Blessed is the failure and collapse of all earthly hopes three times, blessed are sorrow, torment, difficulties and deprivation of life, requiring courage and courage from a person, because they make a person. And Peter begins to pray: “Give me the courage not to be afraid of anything, to be ready for anything. Love, friendship, success... - accept them when they pass, and do not suffer if they are not prepared for me. Make me bold. Make me bold."

Jesus, to the highest degree, more than anyone else, possessed such steadfastness, the ability to endure, without bending, the blows prepared for Him by life, to maintain clarity and calmness even when there were only heartbreaking disappointments behind, and torments ahead. Again and again it takes my breath away at the sight of His courage. But app. Peter could not even believe when Jesus predicted this tragic failure. During the days of the royalist rebellion in England, the leader of the Scottish rebels, the Marquis of Huntly, was taken prisoner. They showed him an ax on the chopping block and warned that if he did not renounce allegiance to the house of Stuarts, he would be immediately and immediately executed. To this the marquis replied: "You can take my head off my shoulders, but you can never take my heart from my king." App said the same. Peter that night.

It is interesting to trace what Jesus wanted to say with the phrase “be offended about Me” and learn from this a lesson for yourself. The original Greek uses the verb scandalidzein, derived from scandalous or scandaletron, what does bait in a trap mean, a stick on which an animal or animal is lured and which closes the trap when the animal steps on it or touches it. And so the word scandalidzein acquired the meaning of trapping, luring, deceiving or confusing by any cunning or deceit. Ap. Peter was too sure of himself, he forgot about those traps that life can set up for the best of people. He forgot that the best of people can step on a slippery place and fall, he forgot his human weakness and the power of devilish temptations. But you can't forget one thing - Peter's heart was beating in the right rhythm. Better is Peter with a heart burning with love, even if this love turned out to be shamefully untenable somewhere, than Judas with a heart full of cold hatred. Let Peter be condemned by those who never broke their promise. Peter loved Jesus, and even if his love failed somewhere, it grew in him again.

Mark 14:32-42 May Your will be done

They came to a village called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, Sit here while I pray.

And he took with him Peter, James, and John; and began to be horrified and to grieve.

And he said to them: My soul is grieving to death; stay here and stay awake.

And he went away a little, fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, this hour would pass from him;

And he said: Abba Father! everything is possible for you; carry this cup past Me; but not what I want, but what You.

Returns, and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter: Simon! are you sleeping? could you not stay awake for one hour?

Watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And again he departed, prayed, saying the same word.

And returning, he again found them sleeping: for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer him.

And he comes a third time and says to them: Do you still sleep and rest? It's over, the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners;

Get up, let's go: behold, he who betrays me has come near.

Staying further in the upper room became dangerous. Now that the authorities were looking for him, and Judas was preparing for his betrayal, the upper room could be raided at any moment. Where did Jesus go: The fact that Judas knew He could be found in the Garden of Gethsemane shows that Jesus often went there. Jerusalem itself also had such gardens. The city was completely overpopulated and there was a strange law: the sacred soil of the city of Jerusalem could not be defiled with fertilizer for gardens - manure. But some rich people had their gardens outside the city, on the Mount of Olives, and rested there. Jesus must have had a very rich friend who allowed Him to use his garden even at night. Going to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was thirsty on the one hand proximity of people on the other hand - the nearness of God.“It is not good for a man to be alone,” God said at the very beginning. (Gen. 2, eighteen). When we are in trouble, we need someone to be by our side; we don't even always need him to do something for us, we don't even need to talk to him, we just need someone to be around. Jesus at that time had the same feeling. It is strange, indeed, that the people who had just declared that they were ready to die for Him could not, at His request, stay awake even for one hour. But one cannot condemn them, because the tension and excitement of the moment took away all their strength from them. From this passage we learn something about Jesus.

1. He didn't want to die. He was thirty-three years old, and no one wants to die on the threshold of his best years. He had done so little yet, and the whole world was still waiting to be saved. He knew what crucifixion was and instinctively shuddered at the thought of it: He had to force Himself to go on, as we often do.

2. Jesus did not quite understand why everything had to happen this way, but He was unshakably sure that this was the will of God and that He should continue this way. Jesus, too, had to take it on faith and take the greatest risk. He had to - as we are often forced to do - to accept what He could not understand.

3. He submitted to the will of God. Abba - it's in Aramaic Father. And this word contains the meaning of everything that happened. Jesus did not submit to a God who cynically laughs at people.

The English writer Thomas Hardy, speaking about the tragic fate of his heroine, ends the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles with terrible words: "The chairman of the immortals has finished his joke with Tess." For Jesus, God, Whose will He fulfilled, was not an insurmountable fate.

"But He moves helpless figures

On Your chessboard day and night,

Here and there He moves, stops and beats -

And one by one he puts it back in the closet.

For Jesus, God was not like that. Even in this terrible hour, when God addressed Him with such a terrible demand, Jesus addresses God as Father. “Great is the will of the Lord, who cannot harm me or my loved ones, and who has given us grace and mercy all our days.” When can we call God Father we can bear everything. Sometimes we may not even be able to understand what is happening, but we can always be sure that "The Hand of the Father will never make a child shed a tear in vain." And that's what Jesus was sure of, and that's why He could go on—and we should do the same.

Pay attention to how the passage ends: the traitor and his cabal approached. How did Jesus react to this? No, He did not escape, although even now, at night, it would be easy to hide. Jesus decided meet them face to face. Until the very end, Jesus did not turn aside or back.

Mark 14.43-50 Arrest

And immediately, as He was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a multitude of people with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

And the one who betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying: Whom I kiss, He is; take it, and lead it carefully.

And having come, he immediately approached Him and said: Rabbi! Rabbi!

And kissed him.

And they laid their hands on Him and took Him.

One of those standing there drew a sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

Then Jesus said to them: You came out as if against a robber with swords and clubs to take me;

Every day I was with you in the temple and taught, and you did not take Me; but let the Scriptures be fulfilled.

Then, leaving Him, they all fled.

This episode is a genuine drama, and even with the extreme sparingness of Mark's words, we clearly see the main characters in this drama.

1. The betrayer Judas. He knew that everyone had seen and everyone knew Jesus, but he thought that with the dim light in the garden and the bright spots of lantern light among the shadows of the trees, these people needed a special sign to know exactly who to capture. And so Judas chose the most terrible sign - a kiss. A rabbi was usually greeted with a kiss. It was a sign of respect and affection for a beloved teacher. But here one extremely unpleasant point should be emphasized. Judas says: "Whoever I kiss, he is." In doing so, he uses the word sirloin, ordinary and everyday. But when Mark says that Judas came up and kissed Jesus, he used the word katafilein. Kata has an amplifying value here and katafilein means here kiss like you love. The betrayal was not just a formal kiss of respectful greeting—it was the kiss of a lover. This is the darkest and most terrible moment in the entire gospel.

2. The mob that came to arrest Jesus. The people came from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, from the three groups that made up the Sanhedrin. Mark thus indicates that they came from the Sanhedrin. Even at a time when Jerusalem was under the jurisdiction of Rome, the Sanhedrin had certain police rights and obligations and, accordingly, its own police guard. Without a doubt, the crowd that joined the guards did not represent the best part of the population. Mark was able to convey the excitement and nervousness of the crowd that came to arrest Jesus. It may very well be that people and guards came ready for bloodshed, with strained and overwrought nerves. The violence comes from them, not from Jesus.

3. A man with a faint hope, who drew his sword and struck one blow. John 18:10 tells us that it was Peter. This is very similar to Peter and Mark, perhaps he did not mention his name because it was not yet safe: in the general confusion, no one saw who struck, so it was safer not to write down the name. It may not be good to raise a sword at a person and hit a person with a sword, but we are glad that at least one person was found there who was ready in such a situation to stand with a sword for Jesus.

4. Pupils. Their nerves completely lost. They were not ready for this and were afraid that they would have to share the fate of Jesus, and therefore they all fled.

5. Jesus himself. It is strange that in all this turmoil, only Jesus retained clarity of mind. When we read this scene, one gets the impression that He directed the whole thing, and not the guards of the Sanhedrin. His wrestling and wrestling in the garden were over, and now He has found the peace of a man who knows that He is doing the will of God.

Mark 14.51.52 young man

One young man, wrapped around his naked body in a veil, followed Him; and the soldiers seized him. But he left the veil and fled naked from them.

These are two strange and charming verses. At first glance, they seem completely out of place here. They don't seem to add anything to what's been said, but there's some reason why they're listed here. We already said in the introduction that both Matthew and Luke used the Gospel of Mark as the basis for their version of the life of Christ, and that they included in their biographies almost everything that is given in Gospel of Mark but not these two verses. One might get the impression that this episode was of interest to Mark, but not to others. Why, then, was this episode of such interest to Mark that he felt it necessary to include it? The most likely reason may be that this young man was Mark himself, and he thus wants to say: "And I was there," without mentioning his own name. When reading a book Acts of the Holy Apostles one gets the impression that the meeting place and center of the Jerusalem church community was the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark (Acts. 12, 12). If so, then it is at least probable that the upper room in which the Last Supper took place was in the same house. It is impossible to imagine a more natural place that would be the center of the church community. If we accept this as a fact, then two possibilities follow from this.

1. Maybe Mark really attended the Last Supper. He was still very young, actually a boy, and perhaps no one paid any attention to him. But he was fascinated by Jesus, and it must have been when everyone went out into the night that he, although it was time for him to sleep, wrapped himself in only a sheet, slipped out after them. It is possible that throughout the whole time Mark stood in the dark, in the shadows, listening and watching. Hence the detailed description of the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. After all, if all the disciples were asleep, who could have known about the spiritual struggle of Jesus that took place there. Maybe the only witness to all that happened was Mark, who stood quietly in the darkness and followed his greatest ideal with youthful reverence.

2. From the story of John we know that Judas left the Last Supper before the end of the meal (John. 13, 30). It may be that He was going to bring the temple guards into the upper room so that they could secretly and covertly seize Jesus, but when he came there, he did not find Jesus and the disciples there. No doubt this was followed by mutual recriminations and disputes, the noise of which woke Mark. Mark heard Jude's suggestion to go to the Garden of Gethsemane to try and capture Jesus there. Mark must have quickly wrapped himself in his sheet and hurried out into the garden to warn Jesus, but arrived there too late, and in the ensuing turmoil nearly got himself arrested. Be that as it may, we can be quite sure that Mark included these two verses because they concerned himself: he could never forget that night. He was too modest to mention his name, and thus signed his name and said to those who could read between the lines: "And I was there, although I was still a boy."

Mark 14.53. 55-65 Court

They brought Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests and elders and scribes gathered to him.

The high priests and the entire Sanhedrin looked for evidence against Jesus in order to put Him to death, and did not find it.

For many testified falsely against him, but these testimonies were not sufficient.

And some stood up and bore false witness against him and spoke.

We heard Him say, "I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise up another not made with hands."

But even this testimony was not enough.

Then the high priest stood in the midst and asked Jesus: Why don’t you answer anything, why do they testify against you?

But He was silent and did not answer anything. Again the high priest asked Him and said to Him: Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?

Jesus said: I; and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

Then the high priest, tearing his clothes, said, What more need do we have of witnesses?

You have heard the blasphemy; what do you think? They all declared Him guilty of death.

And some began to spit on Him, and, covering His face, hit Him and said to Him, prophesy. And the servants struck him on the cheeks.

Everything was moving quickly towards an inevitable denouement.

At that time the power of the Sanhedrin was limited because the Romans were the real rulers. But the Sanhedrin had full power in religious matters. Apparently, he even had some kind of police and judicial power. In any case, he was not competent to pass a death sentence. If what Mark here describes is a meeting of the Sanhedrin, then it must have been something like a council of jurors deciding whether to go to trial: that is, its function was not to condemn the accused, but to prepare an accusation on the basis of which the accused would be tried in a Roman court. . The Sanhedrin in the trial of Jesus broke all its laws. The procedural norms of the Sanhedrin are set out in one of the sections Mishina. It is quite natural that rather ideal norms are set out there, far from reflecting everyday practice, but even taking this into account, it should be noted that the consideration of the case that night was accompanied by a number of violations of the law.

The Sanhedrin was the supreme court of the Jews and consisted of seventy-one members. This included the Sadducees (all the priests were Sadducees), Pharisees and scribes, legal experts, and respected elders. Apparently, all empty seats in the Sanhedrin were filled through co-optation, that is, without any elections. The high priest presided over the trial. The court sat in the form of a semicircle so that each member of the court could see all the other members. The disciples of the rabbis sat facing the court. They could speak in favor of the accused, but not against him. The official meeting place of the Sanhedrin was the Gazzit Hall, in one of the courtyards of the temple, and only that decision of the Sanhedrin was considered valid, which was made there. The court could not sit at night, and also on the day of the great holiday. Testimony was given and taken on an individual basis, and only those testimonies that matched in the smallest detail were recognized as valid. Each member of the Sanhedrin had to individually express his decision, from the youngest to the oldest. If the Sanhedrin passed a death sentence, then it could be carried out only after the expiration of one night, that is, on the next day, so that the court had the opportunity to review its decision and pardon the convicted person.

We see that the Sanhedrin violated its own norms one after another: it did not sit in its hall, it sat at night, nothing is said about the decisions expressed by each member individually. Not a whole night elapsed between the pronouncement of judgment and the execution of the sentence. In their quest to remove Jesus, the Jewish authorities did not hesitate to break their own laws. At first, even bogus witnesses gave different testimonies. The false witnesses accused Jesus of saying that He would destroy the temple. It is possible that someone overheard or inadvertently heard Jesus say what is given in Mar. 13:2 and vilely perverted it, turning what was said into a threat to destroy the temple. There is a tradition that the Sanhedrin was given a lot of such testimony, which he did not want to accept; people came out one by one and said, “I was a leper, and He cleansed me. I was blind, but He made me see. I was deaf, and He restored my hearing. I was lame, and He gave me the ability to walk. I was paralyzed, and He restored my strength.”

Finally, the high priest took matters into his own hands. At the same time, he asked those questions that the law absolutely forbade asking: he asked leading questions, answering which the accused could slander himself. No one could be forced to slander himself, and the high priest asked just such a question. He openly asked Jesus if He was the Messiah. It is quite clear that Jesus, realizing that it was time to put an end to all this shameful spectacle, did not hesitate to answer that yes, He is the Messiah. And this was the basis for the accusation of blasphemy, insulting God: the Sanhedrin achieved what it wanted. He could bring forward an accusation for which the death penalty was due, and therefore everyone wildly rejoiced. And we again see two great qualities of Jesus.

1. Him courage. He knew that such an answer would cost Him His life, and yet He did not hesitate to answer so. If He had denied this charge, they could not have done anything to Him.

2. Him confidence. Even now that crucifixion was inevitable, He continued to speak in full confidence in His ultimate victory. Without a doubt, it is a terrible tragedy to see that the One who came to offer people love was deprived of the most ordinary justice and humiliated by the rude and cruel bullying of the guards and servants of the Sanhedrin.

Mark 14.54. 66-72 Courage and cowardice

Peter followed Him from afar, even into the court of the high priest; and sat with the ministers, and warmed himself by the fire.

While Peter was in the court below, one of the high priest's maids came

And, seeing Peter warming himself, and peering at him, she said: You, too, were with Jesus the Nazarene.

But he denied, saying, I don’t know and I don’t understand what you are saying. And went out into the front yard; and the rooster crowed.

The servant girl, seeing him again, began to say to those standing there: this is one of them.

He denied again. After a while, those who stood there again began to say to Peter: You are definitely one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your language is like

He began to swear and swear: I do not know this Man about whom you speak.

Then the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times. And started to cry

Sometimes, in telling this story, we do a rather unfair thing to Peter. We often fail to notice that, until the very last moment, Peter acted with fantastically desperate courage. He began by drawing his sword with the courage of a man ready to take on a whole crowd. In the confusion, he wounded the high priest's servant. Simple prudence should have induced him to lie low. The last thing you could have expected was for him to go into the courtyard of the high priest, and that is exactly what he did. That in itself was already desperate courage. Others may have fled, but Peter kept his word, even when others deserted Jesus, Peter did not leave Him in trouble. But then this strange duality of human nature manifested itself in him. He sat by the fire, for the night was cold, no doubt wrapped in his cloak. Maybe someone poked around in the fire, throwing a log into it, the fire flared up brightly and in its light people recognized Peter, but on the contrary, he denied any connection with Jesus. But- and many people forget this important point - any prudent person would have left the court of the high priest as soon as possible, but not Peter. All this happened again: Peter again denied any connection with Jesus, but again he did not leave; and again, and again, Peter denied his relationship with Jesus, he denied Him, but did not curse Him, did not blaspheme His name, he swore and denied his acquaintance with Jesus and cursed himself if he was lying, but he, apparently, and did not think to leave. But then something else happened. Perhaps everything was like this: according to Roman custom, the night was divided into four guards, from 6 pm to 6 am. After the third watch, at three o'clock in the morning, the guard changed. When changing, a signal blew, the so-called gallicinium, which in Latin means dawn, the time when the roosters start to crow. It may very well be that just at the moment when Peter denied his acquaintance with Jesus for the third time, a trumpet sounded over the quiet city, striking Peter's ears. He remembered everything and his heart could not stand it. But make no mistake—Peter succumbed to a temptation that only a man of extraordinary courage could succumb to. It is not appropriate for a cautious and security-seeking person to criticize Peter for succumbing to a temptation that would never have visited them under such circumstances. There comes a moment in life when he gives up, when he can't take it anymore. With Peter, it has come now, but nine hundred and ninety-nine people out of a thousand would have surrendered much earlier. It would be better for people to admire Peter's courage than to be horrified at his fall. But the following should also be noted: only one person could tell all this - Peter himself. We have already said in the introduction that the Gospel of Mark was written on the material of the sermons. Peter. In other words, Peter repeatedly told people the sad story of his renunciation. “This is what I did,” he must have said, “and the amazing Jesus never stopped loving me.” There was a Brownlow North preacher. He was a man of God, but in his youth he led a violent life. One Sunday he was preaching a sermon, but before he entered the pulpit a letter was handed to him. The author of the letter recounted in detail a shameful episode in the life of Brownlow North, when he had not yet converted to Christ, and declared that if Brownlow dared to preach a sermon, he, the author of the letter, would stand up and publicly tell how he had once acted. Brownlow took the letter with him to the pulpit, read it, and said that it was all perfectly true. After that, he told the audience how he received forgiveness through Christ and how he gained the ability to overcome himself and his past, how he became a new person through Christ. He used his shameful past as a magnet to turn people to Christ and draw them closer to Him. That is exactly what Peter did. He told people, "I hurt Him and then left Him in trouble, and yet He still loved me and forgave me—and He can do the same to you."



35 And going a little way, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, this hour might pass from him; 36 and said: Abba Father! everything is possible for you; carry this cup past Me; but not what I want, but what You.

37 Returns and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter, Simon! are you sleeping? could you not stay awake for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

39 And going back again, he prayed, saying the same word. 40 And when he returned, he again found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.

41 And he comes a third time and says to them, Do you still sleep and rest? It's over, the hour has come: behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let's go; behold, the one who betrays me draws near.

43 And immediately, as He was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a multitude of people with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 And the one who betrayed him gave them a sign, saying: Whom I kiss, he is, take him and lead him carefully.

45 And having come, he immediately went up to him and said: Rabbi! Rabbi! and kissed him.

46 And they laid their hands on him and took him. 47 And one of those standing there drew a sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

48 Then Jesus said to them, You have come out as if against a robber with swords and clubs to take me. 49 Every day I was with you in the temple and taught, and you did not take Me. But let the Scriptures come true.

50 Then, leaving Him, they all fled.

51 One young man, wrapped around his naked body in a veil, followed Him; and the soldiers seized him. 52 But he left the veil and fled naked from them.

53 And they brought Jesus before the high priest; and all the chief priests and elders and scribes gathered to him. 54 Peter followed him from afar, even into the court of the high priest; and sat with the ministers, and warmed himself by the fire.

55 And the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin sought evidence against Jesus, in order to put him to death; and did not find. 56 For many bore false witness against him, but these testimonies were not sufficient.

57 And some stood up and bore false witness against him and said, 58 we heard him say: I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise up another not made with hands. 59 But even this testimony of them was not enough.

60 Then the high priest stood in the midst and asked Jesus, Why don't you answer anything? what do they testify against you? 61 But He remained silent and answered nothing.

Again the high priest asked him and said to him: Are you the Christ, Son of the Blessed?

62 Jesus said: I; and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

63 Then the high priest, tearing his clothes, said, What more need do we have of witnesses? 64 You have heard blasphemy; what do you think?

They all declared Him guilty of death.

65 And some began to spit on him, and covering his face, struck him and said to him, prophesy. And the servants struck him on the cheeks.

66 While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the high priest's maidservants came 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You were also with Jesus the Nazarene."

68 But he denied it, saying, I do not know, nor do I understand what you are saying. And went out into the front yard; and the rooster crowed.

69 The servant girl, seeing him again, began to say to those who were standing there: this is one of them. 70 He denied again. After a while, those who stood there again began to say to Peter: You are definitely one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your language is similar.

71 And he began to swear and swear: I do not know this man about whom you speak.

72 Then the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times; and started crying.