Mark 14:1-2

The Plotting Of The Chief Priests And Scribes (14:1-2).

‘Now after two days was the feast of the Passover and the Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might take him discreetly and kill him. For they said, “Not during the feast (or ‘Not in the presence of the festival crowd') in case there be a serious disturbance among the people.” '

The emphasis here is on the fact that the Jewish religious leaders, who usually disagreed on so many things, were now finally determined to arrest Jesus and put Him to death. This is the background, unknown at present to anyone but Him, to His anointing by ‘the woman' (Mary, sister of Lazarus - John 12:3).

The mention of the feast of Passover is significant. Paul would connect it directly with Jesus' death when he wrote, ‘even Christ our Passover has been sacrificed' (1 Corinthians 5:7). The offering of Jesus as the Passover lamb was forecast by John the Baptiser (John 1:29) and was the firm belief of the early church, so that to the Christians the feast of Passover had a special significance.

‘The feast of the Passover (to pascha).' On the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan (March/April) the Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem would sacrifice a Passover lamb for each arranged group (usually, but not necessarily, a family group) of around ten or twenty persons. These family or other groupings would share a lamb and one or more of their number would go to the Temple with an unblemished lamb for sacrifice. Each Passover lamb was slain in the Temple as a sacrifice by a member of the group, the blood being caught in bowls by the priests and offered at the altar. The representative would then return with the carcass, which would be eaten at the Passover meal in memory of the great deliverance from Egypt when God slew the firstborn of Egypt, and passed over the houses where the blood from a lamb was smeared on the doorposts and lintel (Exodus 12).

‘Passover and Unleavened Bread.' This would appear to signify 1). The day of the Passover sacrifice (14th Nisan), including the Passover meal, eaten between sundown and midnight (thus in Jewish terms the beginning of 15th Nisan) and 2). The seven days following when only unleavened bread could be eaten, the first and last of which were holy days. The terms Passover and Unleavened Bread were not, however, rigidly applied. Among the Jews the phrase ‘the feast of the Passover' could also include all eight days, as could ‘the feast of Unleavened Bread' (see Luke 22:1). Mark is making things clear to his Gentile readers. (For the whole see Exodus 12:1).

‘The Chief Priests and Scribes.' These represented the religious leadership of the Jews. Compare Mark 10:33. The Chief Priests ran the Temple, but were in general despised by the people. The Scribes had little to do with running the Temple, except through their enormous influence, but were respected by the people. They were unusually working together in order to snuff out Jesus' influence, although Mark may well intend us to see by this the whole Sanhedrin. ‘Were seeking' suggests a set and continual purpose. But this was not the first time some of them had wanted to deal with Him in this way, see Mark 3:6; Mark 12:12.

However, they were afraid of the crowds. Jesus was popular and highly regarded and the people were in an excited state because of the feast, and many were fellow Galileans. Thus they wanted to take Him discreetly so that no trouble would be caused.

‘ En te heorte.' This could well be translated ‘among the festival crowd' (see Luke 22:6 compare John 2:23; John 7:11 where the same translation could apply). If it is translated ‘not during the feast' it would either signify ‘not during the period when the festival activities have begun after the night of the Passover' (by which time it would be out of their hands) or that later there was a change of plan when Judas made his offer of betrayal. There is nothing unlikely in either of these, but the translation above may be seen as fitting the context better. Passover itself was in fact the right time for arresting and trying false prophets so that the whole of Israel might hear and fear (Deuteronomy 17:13).

‘In case there is a serious disturbance.' The present tense is intended to stress the likelihood of such an occurrence due to the state of euphoria the crowds were in.

Note on the Feast of Passover.

The Passover was the first of the three annual feasts which all Jewish males were originally expected to attend. All male Jews within a fifteen mile radius of Jerusalem had to come to Jerusalem for the Passover. But far more actually came, some from a long distance. Jesus regularly attended Jerusalem for the Passover as did many Galileans. For a month before the feast Jewish synagogues would expound the meaning of the Passover and the lesson was taught daily in their schools. Roads were put in order and bridges repaired. Graves in the vicinity of Jerusalem would be whitewashed so that no one would tread on them by accident and thus be rendered ‘unclean', excluding them from the feast. During the Passover all lodging was free and the city was so packed that outlying villages had to lodge visitors, while others would camp out in the vicinity.

On the 10th day of Nisan a lamb ‘without blemish' had to be set aside for each participating group and on the afternoon of 14th Nisan the lambs had to be brought to the Temple and slain by one of the participants with the blood caught by the priests. Such were the numbers that there were three sessions. And at each session the inner court of the Temple was packed (the third session not so packed) with men with their lambs waiting in turn to perform the sacrificial act. Given the size of the courts it is possible that a total of between 16,000 and 20,000 lambs were sacrificed. Thus attendance at the Passover possibly numbered between 150,000 and 200,000 (Josephus exaggerates the numbers). The normal population of Jerusalem would be about 30-40,000.

At Passover time feelings ran high. Remembrance of the previous great deliverance raised in people's minds the thought that God might act again through His chosen Messiah and patriotism burned passionately. Thus it was not a time for doing anything that might arouse the crowds. The Roman authorities themselves took precautions and would draft special detachments of troops to Jerusalem, which were housed in the Tower of Antonia which overlooked the Temple.

End of note.