Mark 14:2

14:2 For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.” ¹ 

Mark 7:6

7:6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ²  is far from me.

[14:2]  ¹ sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him. The verb were trying is imperfect. It suggests, in this context, that they were always considering the opportunities.

[7:6]  ² tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.