translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MRK

label: NET study note

text: 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.


text: 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away.


text: A jar made of alabaster stone was normally used for very precious substances like perfumes. It normally had a long neck which was sealed and had to be broken off so the contents could be used.


text: The leaders were delighted when Judas contacted them about betraying Jesus, because it gave them the opportunity they had been looking for, and they could later claim that Jesus had been betrayed by one of his own disciples.


text: Matt 26:15 states the amount of money they gave Judas was thirty pieces of silver (see also Matt 27:3-4 ; Zech 11:12-13 ).


text: Generally the feast of Unleavened Bread would refer to Nisan 15 (Friday), but the following reference to the sacrifice of the Passover lamb indicates that Nisan 14 (Thursday) was what Mark had in mind (Nisan = March 27 to April 25). The celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted eight days, beginning with the Passover meal. The celebrations were so close together that at times the names of both were used interchangeably.


text: This required getting a suitable lamb and finding lodging in Jerusalem where the meal could be eaten. The population of the city swelled during the feast, so lodging could be difficult to find. The Passover was celebrated each year in commemoration of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt; thus it was a feast celebrating redemption (see ). The Passover lamb was roasted and eaten after sunset in a family group of at least ten people ( m. Pesahim 7.13). People ate the meal while reclining (see the note on table in 14:18 ). It included, besides the lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs as a reminder of Israel’s bitter affliction at the hands of the Egyptians. Four cups of wine mixed with water were also used for the meal. For a further description of the meal and the significance of the wine cups, see E. Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 523-24.


text: Since women usually carried these jars, it would have been no problem for the two disciples ( Luke 22:8 states that they were Peter and John) to recognize the man Jesus was referring to.


text: The author’s note that the disciples found things just as he had told them shows that Jesus’ word could be trusted.


text: One who dips with me in the bowl. The point of Jesus’ comment here is not to identify the specific individual per se, but to indicate that it is one who was close to him – somebody whom no one would suspect. His comment serves to heighten the treachery of Judas’ betrayal.


text: L Θ Ψ 565), lack καινῆς . This reading is strongly preferred. Jesus’ death established the forgiveness promised in the new covenant of Jer 31:31 . Jesus is reinterpreting the symbolism of the Passover meal, indicating the presence of a new era.


text: After singing a hymn. The Hallel Psalms ( Pss 113-118 ) were sung during the meal. Psalms 113 and 114 were sung just before the second cup and 115-118 were sung at the end of the meal, after the fourth, or hallel cup.


text: A quotation from Zech 13:7 .


text: This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9 ; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.


text: This remark is parenthetical within the narrative and has thus been placed in parentheses.


text: Judas’ act of betrayal when he kissed Jesus is especially sinister when it is realized that it was common in the culture of the times for a disciple to kiss his master when greeting him.


text: The statement he ran off naked is probably a reference to Mark himself, traditionally assumed to be the author of this Gospel. Why he was wearing only an outer garment and not the customary tunic as well is not mentioned. W. L. Lane, Mark (NICNT) , 527-28, says that Mark probably mentioned this episode so as to make it clear that “ all fled, leaving Jesus alone in the custody of the police.”


text: The guards would have been the guards of the chief priests who had accompanied Judas to arrest Jesus.


text: An allusion to Ps 110:1 . This is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.


text: The expression the right hand of the Power is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.


text: An allusion to Dan 7:13 .