14:32 [17] And they come to a spot, the name of which [is] Gethsemane, and he saith to his disciples, `Sit ye here till I may pray;'
14:33 [11] and he taketh Peter, and James, and John with him, and began to be amazed, and to be very heavy,
14:34 [15] and he saith to them, `Exceeding sorrowful is my soul -- to death; remain here, and watch.'
14:35 [16] And having gone forward a little, he fell upon the earth, and was praying, that, if it be possible the hour may pass from him,
14:36 [15] and he said, `Abba, Father; all things are possible to Thee; make this cup pass from me; but, not what I will, but what Thou.'
14:37 [15] And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith to Peter, `Simon, thou dost sleep! thou wast not able to watch one hour!
14:38 [12] Watch ye and pray, that ye may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is forward, but the flesh weak.'
14:39 [9] And again having gone away, he prayed, the same word saying;
14:40 [13] and having returned, he found them again sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and they had not known what they might answer him.
14:41 [14] And he cometh the third time, and saith to them, `Sleep on henceforth, and rest -- it is over; the hour did come; lo, the Son of Man is delivered up to the hands of the sinful;
14:42 [9] rise, we may go, lo, he who is delivering me up hath come nigh.'
14:43 [24] And immediately -- while he is yet speaking -- cometh near Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude, with swords and sticks, from the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders;
14:44 [21] and he who is delivering him up had given a token to them, saying, `Whomsoever I shall kiss, he it is, lay hold on him, and lead him away safely,'
14:45 [24] and having come, immediately, having gone near him, he saith, `Rabbi, Rabbi,' and kissed him.
14:46 [25] And they laid on him their hands, and kept hold on him;
14:47 [20] and a certain one of those standing by, having drawn the sword, struck the servant of the chief priest, and took off his ear.
14:48 [18] And Jesus answering said to them, `As against a robber ye came out, with swords and sticks, to take me!
14:49 [19] daily I was with you in the temple teaching, and ye did not lay hold on me -- but that the Writings may be fulfilled.'
14:50 [22] And having left him they all fled;
14:51 [17] and a certain young man was following him, having put a linen cloth about [his] naked body, and the young men lay hold on him,
14:52 [17] and he, having left the linen cloth, did flee from them naked.
14:53 [24] And they led away Jesus unto the chief priest, and come together to him do all the chief priests, and the elders, and the scribes;
14:54 [16] and Peter afar off did follow him, to the inside of the hall of the chief priest, and he was sitting with the officers, and warming himself near the fire.
14:55 [12] And the chief priests and all the sanhedrim were seeking against Jesus testimony -- to put him to death, and they were not finding,
14:56 [12] for many were bearing false testimony against him, and their testimonies were not alike.
14:57 [9] And certain having risen up, were bearing false testimony against him, saying --
14:58 [9] `We heard him saying -- I will throw down this sanctuary made with hands, and by three days, another made without hands I will build;'
14:59 [7] and neither so was their testimony alike.
14:60 [12] And the chief priest, having risen up in the midst, questioned Jesus, saying, `Thou dost not answer anything! what do these testify against thee?'
14:61 [14] and he was keeping silent, and did not answer anything. Again the chief priest was questioning him, and saith to him, `Art thou the Christ -- the Son of the Blessed?'
14:62 [11] and Jesus said, `I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power, and coming with the clouds, of the heaven.'
14:63 [13] And the chief priest, having rent his garments, saith, `What need have we yet of witnesses?
14:64 [13] Ye heard the evil speaking, what appeareth to you?' and they all condemned him to be worthy of death,
14:65 [14] and certain began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say to him, `Prophesy;' and the officers were striking him with their palms.
14:66 [14] And Peter being in the hall beneath, there doth come one of the maids of the chief priest,
14:67 [13] and having seen Peter warming himself, having looked on him, she said, `And thou wast with Jesus of Nazareth!'
14:68 [13] and he denied, saying, `I have not known [him], neither do I understand what thou sayest;' and he went forth without to the porch, and a cock crew.
14:69 [13] And the maid having seen him again, began to say to those standing near -- `This is of them;'
14:70 [14] and he was again denying. And after a little again, those standing near said to Peter, `Truly thou art of them, for thou also art a Galilean, and thy speech is alike;'
14:71 [14] and he began to anathematize, and to swear -- `I have not known this man of whom ye speak;'
14:72 [14] and a second time a cock crew, and Peter remembered the saying that Jesus said to him -- `Before a cock crow twice, thou mayest deny me thrice;' and having thought thereon -- he was weeping.
15:1 [19] And immediately, in the morning, the chief priests having made a consultation, with the elders, and scribes, and the whole sanhedrim, having bound Jesus, did lead away, and delivered [him] to Pilate;
15:2 [18] and Pilate questioned him, `Art thou the king of the Jews?' and he answering said to him, `Thou dost say [it].'
15:3 [21] And the chief priests were accusing him of many things, [but he answered nothing.]
15:4 [19] And Pilate again questioned him, saying, `Thou dost not answer anything! lo, how many things they do testify against thee!'
15:5 [20] and Jesus did no more answer anything, so that Pilate wondered.
15:6 [17] And at every feast he was releasing to them one prisoner, whomsoever they were asking;
15:7 [17] and there was [one] named Barabbas, bound with those making insurrection with him, who had in the insurrection committed murder.
15:8 [16] And the multitude having cried out, began to ask for themselves as he was always doing to them,
15:9 [17] and Pilate answered them, saying, `Will ye [that] I shall release to you the king of the Jews?'
15:10 [15] for he knew that because of envy the chief priests had delivered him up;
15:11 [16] and the chief priests did move the multitude, that he might rather release Barabbas to them.
15:12 [13] And Pilate answering, again said to them, `What, then, will ye [that] I shall do to him whom ye call king of the Jews?'
15:13 [14] and they again cried out, `Crucify him.'
15:14 [14] And Pilate said to them, `Why -- what evil did he?' and they cried out the more vehemently, `Crucify him;'
15:15 [21] and Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, released to them Barabbas, and delivered up Jesus -- having scourged [him] -- that he might be crucified.
15:16 [16] And the soldiers led him away into the hall, which is Praetorium, and call together the whole band,
15:17 [16] and clothe him with purple, and having plaited a crown of thorns, they put [it] on him,
15:18 [15] and began to salute him, `Hail, King of the Jews.'
15:19 [17] And they were smiting him on the head with a reed, and were spitting on him, and having bent the knee, were bowing to him,
15:20 [22] and when they [had] mocked him, they took the purple from off him, and clothed him in his own garments, and they led him forth, that they may crucify him.
15:21 [24] And they impress a certain one passing by -- Simon, a Cyrenian, coming from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus -- that he may bear his cross,
15:22 [24] and they bring him to the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, `Place of a skull;'
15:23 [23] and they were giving him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, and he did not receive.
15:24 [26] And having crucified him, they were dividing his garments, casting a lot upon them, what each may take;
15:25 [14] and it was the third hour, and they crucified him;
15:26 [18] and the inscription of his accusation was written above -- `The King of the Jews.'
15:27 [23] And with him they crucify two robbers, one on the right hand, and one on his left,
15:28 [Not included.] and the Writing was fulfilled that is saying, `And with lawless ones he was numbered.'
15:29 [20] And those passing by were speaking evil of him, shaking their heads, and saying, `Ah, the thrower down of the sanctuary, and in three days the builder!
15:30 [16] save thyself, and come down from the cross!'
15:31 [14] And in like manner also the chief priests, mocking with one another, with the scribes, said, `Others he saved; himself he is not able to save.
15:32 [20] The Christ! the king of Israel -- let him come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe;' and those crucified with him were reproaching him.
15:33 [13] And the sixth hour having come, darkness came over the whole land till the ninth hour,
15:34 [19] and at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a great voice, saying, `Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani?' which is, being interpreted, `My God, my God, why didst Thou forsake me?'
15:35 [17] And certain of those standing by, having heard, said, `Lo, Elijah he doth call;'
15:36 [21] and one having run, and having filled a spunge with vinegar, having put [it] also on a reed, was giving him to drink, saying, `Let alone, let us see if Elijah doth come to take him down.'
15:37 [22] And Jesus having uttered a loud cry, yielded the spirit,
15:38 [12] and the veil of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom,
15:39 [14] and the centurion who was standing over-against him, having seen that, having so cried out, he yielded the spirit, said, `Truly this man was Son of God.'
15:40 [13] And there were also women afar off beholding, among whom was also Mary the Magdalene, and Mary of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome,
15:41 [11] (who also, when he was in Galilee, were following him, and were ministering to him,) and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
15:42 [13] And now evening having come, seeing it was the preparation, that is, the fore-sabbath,
15:43 [14] Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, who also himself was waiting for the reign of God, came, boldly entered in unto Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus.
15:44 [10] And Pilate wondered if he were already dead, and having called near the centurion, did question him if he were long dead,
15:45 [11] and having known [it] from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
15:46 [14] And he, having brought fine linen, and having taken him down, wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre that had been hewn out of a rock, and he rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre,
15:47 [13] and Mary the Magdalene, and Mary of Joses, were beholding where he is laid.
The existence of a pre-Markan passion narrative has been challenged. The assumption of a pre-Markan passion narrative has been undermined by studies that aim to show that the final three chapters of Mark contain themes developed throughout the Gospel. In The Passion in Mark, Donahue, Robbins, Kelber, Perrin, Dewey, Weeden, and Crossan interpret the passion narrative with the use of "hermeneutical clues" provided in the first thirteen chapters. (p. 153) Kelber states the conclusion to be drawn: "The understanding of Mk 14-16 as a theologically integral part of the Mkan Gospel calls into question the classic form critical thesis concerning an independent and coherent Passion Narrative prior to Mk. Thematically, it is difficult to identify a major non-Mkan thrust or theme in Mk 14-16, let alone extrapolate a coherent pre-Mkan source." (op. cit., p. 157)
Nevertheless, the idea of a pre-Markan passion narrative continues to seem probable to a majority of scholars. One recent study is presented by Gerd Theissen in The Gospels in Context, on which I am dependent for the following observations.
Theissen begins his discussion by observing that there lies behind Mark a narrative that presupposes a chronology that corresponds to the one found in John, in which Jesus dies on the preparation day before the Passover. Theissen states (pp. 166-167):
In my opinion, in Mark we can discern behind the text as we now have it a connected narrative that presupposes a certain chronology. According to Mark, Jesus died on the day of Passover, but the tradition supposes it was the preparation day before Passover: in 14:1-2 the Sanhedrin decided to kill Jesus before the feast in order to prevent unrest among the people on the day of the feast. This fits with the circumstance that in 15:21 Simon of Cyrene is coming in from the fields, which can be understood to mean he was coming from his work. It would be hard to imagine any author's using a formulation so subject to misunderstanding in an account that describes events on the day of Passover, since no work was done on that day. Moreover, in 15:42 Jesus' burial is said to be on the "preparation day," but a relative clause is added to make it the preparation day for the Sabbath. Originally, it was probably the preparation day for the Passover (cf. Jn 19:42). The motive for removing Jesus from the cross and burying him before sundown would probably have been to have this work done before the beginning of the feast day, which would not make sense if it were already the day of Passover. Finally, the "trial" before the Sanhedrin presupposes that this was not a feast day, since no judicial proceedings could be held on that day. It would have been a breach of the legal code that the narrator could scarcely have ignored, because the point of the narrative is to represent the proceeding against Jesus as an unfair trial with contradictory witnesses and a verdict decided in advance by the high priests.
The inspiration for the subsequent discussion comes from the suggestion of R. Pesch that the passion narrative must have been written before 37 CE because "the high priest" is mentioned without any name. Although this argument is not secure, given the counter-example that the pharaoh in the exodus story is not named either, it leads Theissen to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the way in which people in the story are mentioned.
Theissen finds another reason for the anonymity of the high priest; it was not necessarily for the reason that the writing took place before 37 CE. Rather, during the period between 30 and 70 CE, "there was no time when Caiaphas and his family were not powerful" (p. 173). For this reason, reasons Theissen, "Traditions circulating in their sphere of influence were well advised not to mention their names in a negative context" (p. 173). By contrast, as shown by Philo and Josephus, Pilate "was the subject of more negative tradition than many other prefects and procurators," and so the creators of the original passion narrative had no reason not to mention Pilate by name and to place blame upon him. This situation is changed in the period after the First Jewish Revolt in the writings of Matthew and Luke, in which Pilate is exonerated and the high priest is named without hesitation.
On the naming of "James the younger," Theissen writes, "It would have been particularly necessary in Jerusalem to distinguish a 'James the younger' (or 'the less') from the 'older' (or 'greater') bearers of that name in the period circa 30-65 C.E." (p. 178) Theissen speculates that the "Mary of James the younger and the mother of Joses" is to be indentified with the mother of Jesus in Mk 6:3, and thus that "James the younger" is James the brother of Jesus. If this is the case, the expression belongs to the time before 44 C.E., when James the son of Zebedee was more prominent.
On the naming of people by place of origin (14:67, 14:10, 14:70, 15:21, 15:40, 15:43), Theissen states: "The mention of places of origin presumes that the places named have a differentiating character for the traditionists and the audience - that is, they must be recognizable as alternatives to other place names that are approximately as well known. Towns such as Nazareth, Magdala, and Arimathea are on about the same level as far as their degree of recognition is concerned: outside Palestine there would not be a soul who would have the faintest idea whether they were. . . . The combination of local and extraregional horizons would be readily imaginable in a major Palestinian city, and especially in Jerusalem, where Jews from Cyrene are expressly mentioned (Acts 6:9)." (p. 179)
Theissen indicates another consideration: although identification was most commonly made by way of fathers, there is no case in the passion account in which a person is identified by patronymic, even though more people are identified here than anywhere else in the synoptic tradition. Theissen states, "If we include the fact that the first Christians often joined the followers of Jesus after making a radical break with their parents and leaving the family home (cf. Mt 8:20-21), it is plausible that fathers became less important as points of identification" (p. 180).
Concerning the story of Barabbas, Theissen comments, "the text speaks quite simply of 'the rebels,' who were taken prisoner during 'the insurrection.' . . . We can only suppose that the text was composed before the next great uprising; after that, the author would have 'historicized' the account by distinguishing the previous 'stasis' from the more recent one. The next unrest with bloody clashes that struck Jerusalem was the apperance of Theudas under Cuspius Fadus (44-45 C.E.; cf. Acts 5:36, Ant. 20.97-98)."
Finally, there are two anonymous people in the story: the bystander who cuts off the ear of the high priest's slave with a sword (Mk 14:47) and a young man who escapes arrest by running away (Mk 14:51-52). Theissen writes (pp. 186-187):
It seems to me that the narrative motive for this anonymity is not hard to guess: both of them run afoul of the "police." The one who draws his sword commits no minor offense when he cuts off someone's ear. Had the blow fallen only slightly awry, he could have wounded the man in the head or throat. This blow with a sword is violence with possibly mortal consequences. The anonymous young man has also offered resistance. In the struggle, his clothes are torn off, so that he has to run away naked. Both these people were in danger in the aftermath. As long as the high priest's slave was alive (and as long as the scar from the sword cut was visible) it would have been inopportune to mention their names; it would not even have been wise to identify them as members of the early Christian community. Their anonymity is for their protection, and the obscuring of their positive relationship to Jesus is a strategy of caution. Both the teller and the hearers know more about these two people. Only they could tell us who they were, whether Peter was the one with the sword, whether both are the same person, and whether reference was made to them in order to make the story of Jesus' end more credible. All that will have to remain closed to us.
Nevertheless, on this basis, it is made plausible that the anonymity of these characters is for the sake of prudence. Similar examples are cited from antiquity. Theissen tells us about Justin Martyr, who relates a tale about a respectable Christian woman who divorced her husband, who in turn denounced her as a Christian. She received a delay in her trial from the emperor, but her Christian teacher and two others who protested the sentence were put to death. Justin tells us the names of the two martyrs but conceals the name of the woman as a point of tact. Theissen also indicates that Josephus, in his story about three crucified men whom Josephus was able to get taken off their crosses, chose not to relate the names of these three men. Thus, the passion narrative could be a similar case.
Theissen writes: "If we are correct in our hypothesis of protective anonymity, the location of the Passion tradition would be unmistakable. Only in Jerusalem was there reason to draw a cloak of anonymity over followers of Jesus who had endangered themselves by their actions. The date could also be pinpointed: parts of the Passion account would have to have been composed within the generation of the eyewitnesses and their contemporaries, that is, somewhere between 30 and 60 C.E."
Although any one of these lines of evidence could be dismissed as coincidence, Theissen manages to create a series of plausible connections that make a case as a whole for the existence of an early pre-Markan passion narrative.
Where did this pre-Markan passion narrative end? There are two plausible answers other than the narrative of the empty tomb. The first one is that the story climaxed and ended with the confession of the centurion. The second one is that the story ended with a narrative of an appearance to the disciples in Galilee, as proposed by J. D. Crossan and by Reginald Fuller.
