Mark 13:32-37
The Day and Hour Are Not Known
“But no one knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son does not know. Only the Father knows. Keep watch! Stay awake! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away. He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge. Each one is given a task to do. He tells the one at the door to keep watch.
“So keep watch! You do not know when the owner of the house will come back. It may be in the evening or at midnight. It may be when the rooster crows or at dawn. He may come suddenly. So do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone. ‘Watch!’ ”
Mark 14:1-16
A Woman Pours Perfume on Jesus at Bethany
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were plotting to arrest Jesus secretly. They wanted to kill him. “But not during the feast,” they said. “The people may stir up trouble.”
Jesus was in Bethany. He was at the table in the home of Simon, who had a skin disease. A woman came with a special sealed jar. It contained very expensive perfume made out of pure nard. She broke the jar open and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head.
Some of the people there became angry. They said to one another, “Why waste this perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s pay. The money could have been given to poor people.” So they found fault with the woman.
“Leave her alone,” Jesus said. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. You will always have poor people with you. You can help them any time you want to. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body to prepare me to be buried. What I’m about to tell you is true. What she has done will be told anywhere the good news is preached all over the world. It will be told in memory of her.”
Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 disciples. He went to the chief priests to hand Jesus over to them. They were delighted to hear that he would do this. They promised to give Judas money. So he watched for the right time to hand Jesus over to them.
The Last Supper
It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That was the time to sacrifice the Passover lamb. Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”
So he sent out two of his disciples. He told them, “Go into the city. A man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. He will enter a house. Say to its owner, ‘The Teacher asks, “Where is my guest room? Where can I eat the Passover meal with my disciples?” ’ He will show you a large upstairs room. It will have furniture and will be ready. Prepare for us to eat there.”
The disciples left and went into the city. They found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.
