Bible Commentaries
Mark 14

Verses 1-72

PART IV. GIVING HIS LIFE A RANSOM FOR -- Chapters 14-15.

Chapter 14

1. Seeking by Craft to put Him to Death. (Mark 14:1-2 .Matthew 26:2-5; Matthew 26:2-5 ; Luke 22:1-2 .)

2. The Anointing. (Mark 14:3-9 . Matthew 26:6-13 ; John 12:1-8 )

3. Judas offers to betray Him. (Mark 14:10-11 .Matthew 26:14-16; Matthew 26:14-16 ; Luke 22:3-6 )

4. The last Paschal feast. (Mark 14:12-21 .Matthew 26:17-24; Matthew 26:17-24 ; Luke 22:7-18 ; Luke 22:21-23 )

5. The Lord’s Supper instituted. (Mark 14:22-25 .Matthew 26:26-29; Matthew 26:26-29 ; Luke 22:17-20 )

6. Peter’s denial predicted. (Mark 14:26-31 .Matthew 26:31-35; Matthew 26:31-35 ; Luke 22:31-34 ; John 13:36-38 )

7. The Suffering in the Garden. (Mark 14:32-42 .Matthew 26:36-46; Matthew 26:36-46 ; Luke 22:39-46 )

8. The Betrayal and Arrest of the Lord Jesus. (Mark 14:43-52 .Matthew 26:47-56; Matthew 26:47-56 ; Luke 22:47-53 )

9. Before the High Priest and the Sanhedrin. (Mark 14:53-65 .Matthew 26:47-68; Matthew 26:47-68 ; Luke 22:47-55 ; John 18:2-24 .)

10. Peter’s denial. (Mark 14:66-72 .Matthew 26:69-75; Matthew 26:69-75 ; Luke 22:56-62 ; John 18:17 ; John 18:25-27 .)

1. Seeking by Craft to put Him to Death. Mark 14:1-2

His enemies were plotting, but over all was God and His eternal counsels. They were now ready “to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28 ). The Servant is to die as the true passover lamb and He who had ministered in such a perfect way is to give His life a ransom for many. They had resolved it should not be on the feast day. But God’s will demanded that it should be on that day; and so it was.

2. The Anointing. Mark 14:3-9

The woman is not mentioned by Mark. It was Mary of Bethany, who sat at His feet when He had come to her house and who wept at His feet when Lazarus had died. She alone had grasped the meaning of the Lord’s announcement concerning His death and resurrection. She did not go to the grave as others did. She anointed His body for the burial. What love there was in her heart! How it must have delighted His heart when she did this act of faith and love.

3. Judas offers to betray Him. Mark 14:10-11

The anointing hastened Judas to betray Him (see John 12:5-6 ).

4. The last Paschal feast. Mark 14:12-21

First there was the preparation (Mark 14:12-16 ) and then the feast itself (Mark 14:17-21 ). What calmness and dignity is seen in all He does! He knew all what awaited Him. During the feast He announced the coming betrayal. Awful are the words coming from such lips, “Good were it for that man if he had never been born.” The same is true of every human being who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ and dies in sin.

5. The Lord’s Supper instituted. Mark 14:22-25

It is His own supper, the blessed memorial feast. “Do this in remembrance of Me.” They did not know then what it meant. But when the Holy Spirit had come they broke the bread. The passover was the memorial of the deliverance of the people out of Egypt and reminded them of the blood that was sprinkled. A better blood was soon to be shed and a greater deliverance wrought by the Lamb of God. A blessed privilege to carry out His request (1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ).

6. Peter’s denial predicted. Mark 14:26-31

The hymn they sang was composed of Psalms 115:1-18 ; Psalms 116:1-19 ; Psalms 117:1-2 ; Psalms 118:1-29 . With what emotion of soul He must have sung with His disciples. The shadow of deepest agony and death was upon Him and yet the fullest praise flowed from His lips. He announced the scattering of the sheep and His own smiting by the hand of God. What must it have meant for Him, when He said with His perfect knowledge, “I will smite the shepherd.” That smiting, which took place on the cross, is the heart and mystery of the atonement. Peter’s denial is then predicted.

7. The Suffering in the Garden. Mark 14:32-42

In Gethsemane we are face to face with the most solemn event in the life of the Servant-Son, save that hour, when He hung on the cross, forsaken of God. What was His suffering there? No saint can ever fathom its depths. He did not shrink from death, nor was the agony on account of the physical sufferings He knew were to be His lot; nor was Satan, as some foolishly teach, ready to slay Him. All such statements are dishonoring to Him. He was not in danger of death in Gethsemane. What was the cup He dreaded? The Sinless One, who knew no sin, was now soon to be made sin for us. God’s face upon which He had ever looked was soon to be hid. And what was it when at last He was made sin for us on the cross? One sentence gives us the answer, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

8. The Betrayal and Arrest of the Lord Jesus. Mark 14:43-52

He surrenders Himself as the willing victim. Peter was ready to fight and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Mark omits the healing for he is to picture the Servant in His suffering and all relating to power is now out of place. In John’s Gospel the Lord said one word, “I am,” and those who came to arrest Him fell backward to the ground. John was guided by the Spirit of God to make a record of it. It could have no place in Mark’s Gospel. They all forsook Him and fled. But only Mark tells of a certain young man, who followed and then fled naked. The young man may have been Mark himself.

9. Before the high priest and the Sanhedrin. Mark 14:53-65

We behold the Servant now delivered into the hands of man and behind man stood Satan. Man’s wickedness and Satan’s power are there, and in the midst, in solitary grandeur, stands the perfect Servant-Son. Mark tells us exclusively that the witnesses brought against Him did not agree. The Holy Spirit continues to hold Him up as the perfect Servant, in whose character and service not a flaw could be detected. But He witnesses the good confession and upon that blessed Word of Truth as it came from His lips He is condemned. Then they condemned Him to death and man’s vile hatred energized by Satan cast itself upon the blessed One.

10. Peter’s denial Mark 14:66-72

The Lord had given the true testimony and Peter followed with his shameful denial. Mark gives what the other two evangelists omit, the cock crowing twice. The lessons from Peter’s fall are simple. He had to pass through this terrible experience to become broken down and learn to know his own weakness. And how we all need to know that we are in ourselves good for nothing; “in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing.”