A Bible Study of Mark 14:1-11

➡️ The Pharisees Plot to Kill Jesus

It was now two days before Passover. The chief priests and scribes sought to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him, yet feared causing an uproar during the feast. 

Their need for secrecy spoke volumes — if they were truly doing God's work, why hide in darkness? 

Since the beginning of Mark's gospel, they had been at odds with Jesus, looking for ways to destroy him. 

Even back in chapter three, they allegedly planted a man with a withered hand in the synagogue to test if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath. 

Their secretive plotting revealed their fear — not of wrongdoing, but of the people's reaction. 

They were fully committed to silencing Jesus, willing to employ dangerous and evil methods.

➡️ Jesus Anointed at Bethany

While at Simon the leper's house in Bethany, a woman approached Jesus with an alabaster flask of pure nard, costly ointment worth a year's wages.

Breaking the flask, she poured it over his head. 

Some became indignant, asking why such waste when it could have been sold for over 300 denarii and given to the poor. 

Jesus defended her: "Leave her alone. Why trouble her? 

She has done a beautiful thing. 

The poor you always have with you—whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me." 

He explained she had anointed his body for his coming burial. 

What she did would be remembered wherever the gospel was proclaimed. (And it is!)

➡️ Judas Decides to Betray Jesus

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus. 

They were glad and promised him money. 

Judas sought opportunity to betray him. 

The contrast is striking — the woman spent extravagantly to honor Jesus while Judas sought payment to betray him. 

While some saw her act as wasteful, Jesus recognized it as faith. 

Contributor Rev. Harrison Goodman is the Higher Things Executive Director of Missions and Theology.

Contributor Eli Lietzau is the pastor at Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, CO. 

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