It
was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him. For they said, “Not during the feast, because there might be a riot of the people.”
Mark 14:1-2
Mark 13 [34.] “It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. Watch therefore, for you don’t know when the lord of the house is coming, whether at evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he might find you sleeping. What I tell you, I tell all: Watch.”
Mark 14 [1.] It was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him. For they said, “Not during the feast, because there might be a riot of the people.”
Mark 14 [3.] While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard—very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted? For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” They grumbled against her.
Meaning:
With these two verses Mark begins the account of Jesus’ suffering and death. The teaching in the temple and on the Mount of Olives is over, and the narrative now moves day by day, and soon hour by hour, towards the cross. Mark sets the scene with two facts side by side: the greatest feast of Israel is about to begin, and the leaders of Israel are planning to kill the one the crowds had welcomed as the coming King. The tension between God’s plan and human plotting runs through the whole chapter.
- “Two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread”
Passover remembered the night God brought Israel out of Egypt. Each household was to take a lamb “without defect”, kill it at evening on the fourteenth day of the first month, put its blood on the door posts, and eat the meat “roasted with fire, and unleavened bread” (Exodus 12:5-8). The Feast of Unleavened Bread followed for seven days, and by the time of Jesus the two were spoken of as one festival.
Every Jewish man who was able was expected to come to Jerusalem for the feast. Pilgrims came from Galilee, Judea and the whole Roman world, and the city overflowed with people. Many camped outside the walls or stayed in nearby villages such as Bethany, where Jesus himself was lodging.
- “The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him”
This was not a new idea. After Jesus drove the traders out of the temple, “The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him” (Mark 11:18). John tells of a council meeting after the raising of Lazarus, where the high priest Caiaphas argued “that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people” (John 11:49-50). From that day the decision was made; the only question was how.
They wanted to act “by deception”, quietly and by trickery, because an open arrest of a popular teacher was dangerous. Jesus had warned his disciples of this very outcome: “The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death” (Mark 10:33).
- “Not during the feast, because there might be a riot of the people”
Festivals in Jerusalem were tense. Crowds were large, national feeling ran high, and Passover celebrated freedom from a foreign power. The Roman governor came to the city with extra troops at such times, ready to crush any disturbance. The leaders feared that a riot would bring Roman punishment on the nation and on themselves. In John’s account they said, “the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” (John 11:48-50). Their concern was as much for their own position as for the people.
- God’s timetable, not theirs
The leaders decided to wait until after the feast, but events did not go as they planned. Judas came to them with an offer (Mark 14:10-11), and Jesus was arrested, tried and crucified during the feast itself. The true Passover Lamb died at Passover. Paul writes, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Peter later explained to the crowds in Jerusalem that Jesus was “delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Human beings acted freely and were responsible for their deeds, but God was working out his purpose of salvation through them.
The Significance of Mark 14:1-2
- God rules over human schemes
The psalmist saw the rulers “take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed” (Psalm 2:2). Their plans could not overturn God’s plan. When believers face hostility or injustice, they can trust that God still holds the times in his hands.
- The Lamb of God
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The timing of Jesus’ death at Passover shows that his death was the fulfilment of everything the Passover lamb had pictured.
- Honesty in God’s service
The religious leaders used deception to protect their power. Those who belong to God are called to act openly and truthfully, even when the truth is costly.
Cross-References:
Exodus 12:6: "you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening." The first Passover lamb.
John 11:50: "it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." Caiaphas’ counsel against Jesus.
Acts 2:23: "him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;" God’s purpose behind the events.
1 Corinthians 5:7: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place." Jesus, the true Passover.
Conclusion: Two days before Passover, the chief priests and scribes were looking for a quiet way to seize Jesus and kill him, and they planned to wait until the crowds had gone home. Mark shows that their plotting was real and wicked, yet it was not in control. God had his own timing, and Jesus would die at Passover as the Lamb of God, whose blood saves all who shelter under it.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible