Abba, Father

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Mark 14 is the longest chapter in the gospel. It covers a single night — from a dinner in Bethany to before dawn in the high priest's courtyard. Read it as one continuous narrative before the walk-through. Notice who is awake and who is asleep, who stays and who runs.

Walk-through

The anointing and the betrayal (verses 1–11)

It is two days before Passover. The chief priests and scribes are looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him — not during the feast, in case the crowd riots.

Jesus is at dinner in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper. A woman comes with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard — expensive, imported from India, worth a year's wages. She breaks the flask and pours it over his head.

The disciples are indignant: why this waste? It could have been sold and given to the poor. They are harsh with her.

But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burial. Most certainly I tell you, wherever this gospel may be preached throughout the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her."

Mark 14:6–9

She is not named in Mark. She does not speak. She does what she can, and Jesus receives it as burial preparation — she understood what was coming when the disciples did not, or would not. Her act will be told wherever the gospel is told. It is permanently part of the story.

Immediately after: Judas Iscariot goes to the chief priests to betray Jesus. They are glad and promise him money. He looks for an opportunity.

The supper (verses 12–26)

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples ask where to prepare the Passover. Jesus sends two disciples with precise instructions: a man carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him, tell the owner that the Teacher asks where his guest room is. They go and find it as he said. They prepare the Passover.

In the evening, Jesus arrives with the twelve. As they are eating, he says: one of you will betray me — one who eats with me. They are sorrowful and ask one by one: is it I? He says: one of the twelve, one who dips with me in the dish. The Son of Man goes as it is written — but woe to that man. Better for him if he had not been born.

Then the supper itself:

As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed it, he broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take, eat. This is my body." He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them. They all drank of it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many."

Mark 14:22–24

Took, blessed, broke, gave — the four verbs again, the same as the feedings in chapters 6 and 8. The bread is his body; the cup is his blood of the new covenant. The Passover meal that commemorated the exodus — the lamb's blood marking the door, the rescue from Egypt — becomes the frame for what he is about to do: a new covenant, sealed in blood, poured out for many.

He says he will not drink of the vine again until that day when he drinks it new in the Kingdom of God. The supper is both memorial and anticipation: looking back to what he is about to do, looking forward to when it is complete.

They sing a hymn and go out to the Mount of Olives.

Gethsemane (verses 32–42)

He tells the disciples: you will all fall away. He quotes Zechariah: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee.

Peter: even if all fall away, I will not. Jesus: before the rooster crows twice tonight, you will deny me three times. Peter insists more vehemently. They all say the same.

They come to a place called Gethsemane. He tells most of the disciples to sit while he prays. He takes Peter, James, and John further. He begins to be greatly distressed and troubled. He says to them: my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.

He goes a little further and falls to the ground:

He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I will, but what you will."

Mark 14:36

Abba — the intimate Aramaic word for father. Mark preserves it. It is the address of a child to a parent, the most personal word for God in Jesus' vocabulary. He uses it here, on the ground, in the dark, asking if there is another way.

He prays this prayer three times. Between each prayer he comes back and finds the disciples sleeping. The first time: could you not watch one hour? The second time: he lets them sleep and returns. The third time: are you still sleeping? The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise — let us go. My betrayer is at hand.

The disciples slept while he prayed. He was alone in this. The prayer that resolved the question — not what I will but what you will — was not prayed once and settled. It was prayed three times, hard-won, in the dark, with no one awake beside him.

The arrest (verses 43–52)

Judas arrives with a crowd carrying swords and clubs, from the chief priests and scribes and elders. His signal: the one I kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away securely.

He goes directly to Jesus: Rabbi! And kisses him. They lay hands on Jesus and seize him.

One bystander draws a sword and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Jesus says to the crowd: have you come with swords as against a robber to arrest me? I was with you daily in the temple teaching and you did not seize me — but let the scriptures be fulfilled.

They all forsook him and fled. A young man was following, wearing only a linen cloth. They seize him; he leaves the cloth and runs away naked. Every disciple gone — and one unnamed figure who escapes with nothing. Mark alone records this detail. It is total abandonment.

Before the high priest (verses 53–65)

They take Jesus to the high priest. The whole council is there. Peter follows at a distance and sits with the guards, warming himself at the fire.

False witnesses come forward; their testimonies do not agree. Finally two men testify that he said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. The high priest asks Jesus to answer. He says nothing.

Then the direct question: are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of the sky."

Mark 14:62

I am. In Matthew, Jesus gives an oblique answer: you have said so. In Mark, the answer is direct — the divine name, ego eimi, I am. Then the Daniel 7 claim: coming on the clouds, seated at the right hand. The high priest tears his robes: blasphemy. They condemn him as deserving death. They spit on him, cover his face, strike him: prophesy.

Peter's denial (verses 66–72)

Outside in the courtyard, Peter is at the fire. A servant girl of the high priest says: you were also with the Nazarene, Jesus. He denies it: I neither know nor understand what you mean.

He goes out to the gateway. The rooster crows. The servant girl sees him again and says to the bystanders: this man is one of them. He denies it again. A little later the bystanders say: you are one of them, for your speech marks you as Galilean. He begins to invoke a curse on himself and swear: I do not know this man of whom you speak.

Immediately the rooster crows a second time. Peter remembers what Jesus said: before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times.

When he thought about it, he wept.

Mark 14:72

Three prayers in Gethsemane. Three times he found them asleep. Three denials in the courtyard. The rooster crows a second time, and Peter — who had sworn more vehemently than any of them that he would not fall away — is outside in the dark, weeping.

Take with you

Abba, Father — the most intimate word in the chapter and perhaps in the gospel. It is the address of a child who knows their parent well enough to ask for the hardest thing. It is also the word of someone who trusts enough to accept a no.

He asked three times. The cup was not removed. The answer he arrived at — not what I will but what you will — was not passivity or resignation. It was the same surrender he had taught his disciples throughout: lose your life to find it. The one who had told them to take up the cross now took up his own, on his knees in the dark, with no one awake to witness it.

The woman who anointed him understood. The disciples who slept did not. Peter who swore he would not deny him did exactly that. And yet: when Jesus predicted the scattering he added something they probably did not hear. But after I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee. The night is not the end. The scattering is not permanent. There is a morning coming, and he will be there first.