- 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 death. 2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
- Compare: Matthew 26:1-5; Luke 22:1,2; John 11:45-53
Is Jesus Tried on Passover?
These opening verses of chapter 14 describe the plot brewing against Jesus, but more important for Christian theology is their description of the timing of events. When, exactly, did Jesus’ crucifixion occur relative to Passover?
According to these verses, there are just two days before Passover — this would mean that the “Last Supper” of Jesus and his disciples was a Passover meal while Jesus’ trial occurred on Passover itself. If Jesus was crucified on Friday, as Christian tradition has it, then this would be a Wednesday right now.
Why is it that the authorities who are plotting to arrest Jesus say that they shouldn’t do it on a feast day in order to avoid making people angry? It makes some sense because Passover was a pilgrimage feast and there would have been large numbers of people in Jerusalem. On the other hand, that’s exactly what they proceed to do — and there doesn’t appear to be much of an uproar after all.
Perhaps Judas’ willingness to betray Jesus can be cited as a reason for changing their minds, but it's more likely that this is a literary device showing the general timidity of the Jewish authorities in the face of Jesus and his followers. It might also be the remnants of an earlier tradition according to which Jesus died before rather than after Passover. Mark labels the “Last Supper” a Passover meal, but much of his description is inconsistent with Passover traditions.
Plots against Jesus have been referenced by Mark a couple of times already. It seems to have been their intention from the beginning to put Jesus to death, the fate common to almost all prophets, but here this is made more explicit than before.
It may be that Mark is creating a model for Christians in his community to follow — but only if Mark’s community is much later than most scholars think that the gospel was written. For the most part, Christians could get by if they kept out of sight. It was not uncommon, however, for agitators to whip up passion against them and denounce Christians to the Roman authorities for punishment. It may even be that Mark’s experience was that Christians were more often denounced by orthodox Jews than pagans.
Jesus, then, would be a model for how Christians are to act when taken to trial. He is not found guilty of any political crime in Mark; instead, he is convicted and executed solely because of the demands of the mob and because he confesses the truth about who he is. Mark’s message is that Christians in his community would similarly go their deaths after confessing the truth about Jesus — not because this is political treason, but because of popular passions against them.
