Lange Commentary - Mark 14:1 - 14:11

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Lange Commentary - Mark 14:1 - 14:11


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THIRD SECTION

THE PASSION OF CHRIST, AND HIS REST IN THE GRAVE. THE RETIREMENT INTO THE STATE OF THE DEAD. THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH AS THE PASCHAL LAMB

Mar_14:1 to Mar_15:47

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1. The preparation for the great Passover. The Supper.—The helpless impotency of wickedness in the old Chukrch of God. The determined genius of wickedness in the new Christian Church. The Anointing of the Lord at the Feast preparatory ot His Death; and the sale of the Anointed, or the Treachery, matured at the Feast-table. Mar_14:1-11

(Parallels: Mat_26:1-16; Luk_22:1-6; Joh_12:1-8)

A. The weak Indecision of the Enemies. Mar_14:1-2

1     After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to 2 death. But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar of the people.

B. The holy Presentiment of the Female Disciple. Mar_14:3-5

3     And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman, having an alabaster-box of ointment of spikenard, very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste [loss] of the ointment made? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

C. The Lord’s holy Decision Mar_14:6-9

6     And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

D. The Disciple’s wicked Decision. Mar_14:10-11

11     And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 11And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Comp. the notes on Matthew.—The peculiarities of Mark in the history of the Passion generally are: life-like pictures, sharply-defined features, original statements of particulars. Peculiarities in this section. The two indications of Jesus’ approaching death, namely, the indecisive deliberations of the Sanhedrim, and the anointing in Bethany, are found united in Mark, as in Matthew; yet he expresses himself regarding the decision of the leaders of the council much more briefly than Matthew,—more decidedly, however, than Luke. In the history of the anointing, he mentions, with John, a fact in addition to the statement as, given by Matthew that Jesus sat at the table. Moreover, he describes the ointment more exactly. And, besides, to him we owe the fresh trait, that the woman broke the alabaster-box; according to several codices, the additional remark is made, that the ointment ran down from His head. In respect to diversity of statement, he assumes an intermediate position between John and Matthew. John names Judas as the murmurer; Matthew, the disciples; Mark says, “some.” With John, he declares the value to be three hundred denarii, and adds the strong word ἐíåâñéìῶíôï . To the words, Ye have the poor with you always, he appends,—And whensoever ye will, etc. To him again is the clause peculiar, She hath done what she could. The idea that this female disciple anticipates the anointing of Jesus for burial is here more clearly expressed. Peculiarly lively is the expression in regard to the preaching of the Gospel åἰò ὅëïí ôὸí êüóìïí (Matthew, ἐí ὅëῳ , ê . ô . ë .). The treacherous visit of Judas to the high-priest is more briefly given than in Matthew. He does not name the traitor’s question, neither the thirty pieces of silver; yet he emphasizes the joy of the chief priests.

Mar_14:1. The feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread.—A double feast-season. See Matthew. Comp. Luke’s expression.—After two days.—Probably on Wednesday in the Passion Week, not on Tuesday (See Matthew). The anointing in Bethany was on the previous Saturday. The question is now, In what relation do the sitting of the council and the anointing stand to one another? We could imagine that the first history brings before us the chief priests, how undecided they still are; the second shows how Judas comes and gives advice. We must then assume that the thought of treachery had been brooded over by Judas from Saturday in the preceding week till at least Wednesday in the Passion Week, and came then first to maturity. The remark of Matthew, Mar_14:14, seems to speak against this, “Then Judas went unto.” Judas had undoubtedly gone much earlier to the high priests. To this the statement points, “how they might take Him by craft.” If they had just now decided, “Not on the feast-day,” this is explained by the great triumphs which Jesus, on Palm Sunday, on Monday, and Tuesday, had celebrated over them; and with this, besides, the fact agrees well, that Judas had begun to hesitate during these days. The connection of the two recitals lies, accordingly, in the antithesis of the previous anticipation of the crucifixion on the part of the Lord and the strong presentiment of the female disciple, on the one side, and the much subsequent indecision and short-sightedness of His foes, on the other. But the second point of relation is this, that we see from the first narrative how far the foes had of themselves come; from the second, how Judas drove them to take their boldly wicked step, and succeeded in giving them the last impulse. They said, “Not on the feast-day;” Judas, on the contrary, bethought himself of the first, best opportunity.

Mar_14:3. Of spikenard, very precious.—Upon ðéóôéêῆò , comp. De Wette, Meyer, Lucke on John, vol. ii. p. 493. Not drinkable ( ðéóôüò ), but veritable, real. Upon the nard, comp. Matthew.—Brake the box (bottle, or flask).—The narrow neck of the small flask. She did not wish to keep or hold back anything: offered up all, gave all away.

Mar_14:4. There were some.—See Matthew. Mark presents, without a doubt, the most accurate historic picture, John defines most sharply the motive, Matthew gives the specially practical historic form.

Mar_14:5. And they murmured against her.—De Wette: They scolded her. Meyer: They addressed her harshly. In ἐìâñéìÜïìáé lies especially the expression of a passionate feeling which we strive to keep back in the utterance.

Mar_14:8. She is come aforehand.— ÐñïëáìâÜíåéí is the chief conception, not ìõñßóáé ; hence we see the error of Meyer’s note, “A classic write would have said, ðñïëáâïῦóá ἐìýñéóå .”

Mar_14:10. One of the Twelve.—Made prominent, as in Matthew. The tragic point lies not only in this, that one of the Twelve was false, but that he committed that most wicked act of treachery which was the particular sting in the sufferings of Christ. In a wider sense, he extended himself through the whole sufferings of Christ; for the treachery of the disciple who betrayed the Lord to the chief priests, led to the betrayal, on the part of the Sanhedrim, of Christ to the heathen power.

Mar_14:11. Were glad.—They shuddered not, as the traitor laid before them his black design. They understood him. But Judas knew how to lead them still further into wickedness. He filled them with a satanic joy. And while they were still hesitating to take the last step, assuredly not from dread of the sin, but for fear of the people, Judas was watching for the first opportunity to accomplish his purpose.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See Matthew, and the parallel passages in Luke.

2. Judas the betrayer, because he had been most offended at the thought of the death and cross of Christ; Mary the commended disciple, because she was the first that was found possessing a self-sacrificing courage like His own in His way to death.

3. The treachery which springs up in the midst of the disciples of the Evangelical Church surpasses the wicked counsel of the hierarchies in the Middle Ages. The secret and open apostasies from the Evangelical Church to Romanism.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Comp. Matthew.—The council in Jerusalem, and the supper in Bethany, in their relation to the central point of Christ’s death; or, a picture of the uniting of all threads of ancient history in this death.—Not out of the camp of the foes, but out of the circle of the disciples, came the last decision regarding the death of Jesus.—Judas, the enslaved, and yet free, instrument of the deepest revelation of wickedness.—The faithless disciple of Jesus an instructor of the chief council in the way of destruction.—The unexpected turning-points in life, how they rise out of the depths of the spirit-world: 1. Out of the realm of light (Mary); 2. out of the realm of darkness (Judas); 3. out of the struggle between the two.—The ointment in the house at Bethany a savour of death unto death.—Greed in its demoniac greatness: 1. A child of perfected unbelief as to Christ, God, and mankind; 2. a father of treachery, which has often injured the saints; 3. a companion of avarice, envy, anguish, audacity, despair.—Judas determines to take the best opportunity he can to betray the Lord, i.e., in the sanctuary of His secret prayers.—Judas the calculator, and his miscalculation.—The estimation of Mary, and the estimation of Judas. The presentiment-filled spirit in its clear foresight as opposed to the selfish mind in its blindness.—The most multiplied purposes and projects, and over them the deep design of God.—Woman is here again before man, as is so often the case in the Gospel history.

Starke:—Hedinger:—Satan rests not till he has injured Christ and His cause in life, honor, and possessions.—At feast-seasons the devil generally excites the greatest uproar against Christians.—Hedinger:—Nothing is wasted upon Christ. Miserable parsimony, when we refuse Him anything.—The prating of a fault-seeker can soon move others to join.—Quesnel:—The pious must remain silent regarding the world’s judgment. God will speak and conduct their affairs.—Behold, how the godless rejoice if they get an opportunity of fulfilling their wicked wish!—Gerlach:—The greatest praise ever spoken by Jesus regarding an act.—Braune:—The Sanhedrim required him to point out Jesus’ tarrying-place. And Judas is ready to do it.—Brieger:—Exactly what the enemies wished least of all to do, that must they.—To an uproar it came, only to the advantage of hell.—The greatest, most direct, most difficult, but the most blessed thing that ever a sinful being was able to do, namely, to receive the Lord’s word in all simplicity and proceed to act, this did Mary; and this shall maintain her memory on earth till the end of time.—Gossner:—She hath done what she could. From this may every one take comfort, that nothing more than faithfulness is asked from them.—Bauer:—The deeds of love are often in the world turned into shame, because others turn them into an occasion to do evil.

Footnotes:

[Mar_14:2.—Lachmann, Tischendorf, after B., C.*, D., read ãÜñ instead of äÝ .]

[Mar_14:3.—Lachmann, Tische ndorf, B., C., L., Ä . omit êáôÜ .]

[Mar_14:4.—Codd. B., C.*, L. want êáὶ ëÝãïíôåò ; Cod. A. has it.]

[Mar_14:8.—Codd. B., L. want áὅôç .]

[Mar_14:9.—Codd. B., D., L. want ôïῦôï ; Lachmann brackets and Tischendorf omits.]

[Mar_14:10.—Codd. B., C., D. Lachmann omit the article before ’ Éïýäáò and ’ Éóêáñßùôçò .]