Mark 13:21--14:31
13:21 Then
if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’
or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe him.
13:22 For false messiahs
and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, the elect.
13:23 Be careful! I have told you everything ahead of time.
The Arrival of the Son of Man
13:24 “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light;
13:25 the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
13:26 Then everyone will see the Son of Man arriving in the clouds with great power and glory.
13:27 Then he will send angels and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
The Parable of the Fig Tree
13:28 “Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
13:29 So also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, right at the door.
13:30 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Be Ready!
13:32 “But as for that day or hour no one knows it – neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son – except the Father.
13:33 Watch out! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time will come.
13:34 It is like a man going on a journey. He left his house and put his slaves in charge, assigning to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert.
13:35 Stay alert, then, because you do not know when the owner of the house will return – whether during evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn –
13:36 or else he might find you asleep when he returns suddenly.
13:37 What I say to you I say to everyone: Stay alert!”
The Plot Against Jesus
14:1 Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
14:2 For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.”
Jesus’ Anointing
14:3 Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of costly aromatic oil from pure nard. After breaking open the jar, she poured it on his head.
14:4 But some who were present indignantly said to one another, “Why this waste of expensive ointment?
14:5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” So they spoke angrily to her.
14:6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a good service for me.
14:7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me!
14:8 She did what she could. She anointed my body beforehand for burial.
14:9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
The Plan to Betray Jesus
14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus into their hands.
14:11 When they heard this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him.
The Passover
14:12 Now on the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
14:13 He sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.
14:14 Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
14:15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
14:16 So the disciples left, went into the city, and found things just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
14:17 Then, when it was evening, he came to the house with the twelve.
14:18 While they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me will betray me.”
14:19 They were distressed, and one by one said to him, “Surely not I?”
14:20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who dips his hand with me into the bowl.
14:21 For the Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”
The Lord’s Supper
14:22 While they were eating, he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it. This is my body.”
14:23 And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
14:24 He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many.
14:25 I tell you the truth, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
14:26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
The Prediction of Peter’s Denial
14:27 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written,
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’
14:28 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
14:29 Peter said to him, “Even if they all fall away, I will not!”
14:30 Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today – this very night – before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
14:31 But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.” And all of them said the same thing.