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Easy Reading Edition

The Arrest and Trial of Jesus

September 7–13

SABBATH—SEPTEMBER 7
READ FOR THIS WEEK’S LESSON: Mark 14:1–11; Mark
14:22–31; Exodus 24:8; Mark 14:32–42; Mark 14:43–52;
Mark 14:60–72.

MEMORY VERSE: “He said, ‘Abba, Father! You can do all

things. Don’t make me drink from this cup. But do what
you want, not what I want’ ” (Mark 14:36, ERV).

MARK 14–16 talks about Jesus’ suffering, death, and res-

urrection. The resurrection is the time when Jesus woke up
from the dead. As we learned in lesson 9, the last six chap-
ters in Mark talk about only one week. Most of the things
in Mark 14–16 happen on Thursday and Friday of this final
week before Jesus dies on the cross. Jesus dies on Friday.
He wakes up from the dead on Sunday.
Most of the things This week, we will study Mark 14. We will look at two dif-
in Mark 14–16 happen ferent things that Jesus does. Then we will look at the Last
on Thursday and Friday of
this final week
Supper and Jesus’ suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.
before Jesus dies Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane. Then the soldiers take
on the cross. Jesus to the Jewish leaders for a trial. During this time,
Peter says that he doesn’t know Jesus.
As we read the story in Mark 14, we see that another
story happens at the same time. Mark shows us how the
people in these two stories don’t get along and their plans
don’t agree. So, the people fight against each other. Mark
also shows us that, in the end, Jesus will win the fight
against His enemies.

84 THE ARREST AND TRIAL OF JESUS

 SUNDAY—SEPTEMBER 8 Lesson 11
A STORY THAT EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER
FOREVER (Mark 14:1–11)

Read Mark 14:1–11. What two stories do we read about

in these verses? How are these stories connected?

Mark 14:1 says that the Passover feast was two days away.
The Jewish spiritual leaders met on a Tuesday or Wednesday
night of that same week. The leaders have a plan to kill Jesus.
They just need a way to make their plan happen. They get
help from someone they didn’t expect to help them: Judas.
Mark 14:1–11 connects the plan to kill Jesus with a story
about a woman who pours expensive perfume on Jesus’ head.
In these two stories, we see a woman who shows her love for
Jesus and a follower of Jesus who sells Him to His enemies.
The woman is not named. Judas is named and is one of Jesus’
Twelve Followers. The woman spends a lot of money on her gift.
Mark tells us how much the perfume is worth. Judas sells Jesus
to His enemies for the promise of money.
Mark doesn’t tell us why the woman pours her expensive
perfume on Jesus’ head. The guests at the feast are sur-
prised and upset with the woman. They think she has wasted
a lot of money when she pours the perfume on Jesus. The
perfume costs the same as a whole year’s pay for work. But
Jesus praises the woman’s gift. He promises that the story
about her gift will be remembered wherever people preach
the Good News. Matthew, Luke, and John also include this
story about the woman in their books on Jesus’ life.
Matthew, Luke, and John also remember Judas’s evil
actions against Jesus, but not for nice reasons. Mark sug-
gests that Judas sold Jesus because he was selfish and
loved money. The Book of John plainly tells us that Judas
sold Jesus because Judas was a thief (John 12:4–6). In these two stories,
Mark uses the word “good” in different ways to help us under- we see a woman
stand the two plans happening in these stories. In Mark 14:6, who shows her love
Jesus says that the woman’s action is “good” or “beautiful.” for Jesus and a follower
of Jesus who sells Him
Then Jesus tells His followers that they can do “good” for the to His enemies.
poor anytime (Mark 14:7), but Jesus won’t always be around
for them to honor. In Mark 14:9, Jesus says the woman’s loving
gift will be part of the Good News story that people share about
Him. In Mark 14:11, Judas looks for a “good” time to sell Jesus
to His enemies. The enemies’ awful plan to kill Jesus also will
become part of the Good News about Jesus. Their plan to kill
Jesus helps God’s plan to give His Son to save sinners.

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 Lesson 11 MONDAY—SEPTEMBER 9
THE LAST SUPPER (Mark 14:22–31)

Read Mark 14:22–31 and Exodus 24:8. What does the

story in Mark teach us about Christians and their faith?

Mark 14:12 says that this story happens on the first

day of the Unleavened Bread celebration. On this special
day, the Passover lamb was killed (read Exodus 12). The
Passover meal happens on Thursday evening.
At the Last Supper, Jesus starts a new celebration with
His followers: the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is con-
nected with the Jewish Passover celebration and also with
Israel’s leaving Egypt. When Israel left Egypt, they became
God’s chosen people at Sinai. God made an agreement with
His people there. In Exodus 24:8, Moses sprinkles the peo-
ple with blood from an animal offering. Moses says, “ ‘This
blood shows that the Lord has made a special agreement
with you’ ” (Exodus 24:8, ERV).
At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus doesn’t use the lamb from the
Passover meal. Why? Because Jesus is the Lamb of God
(compare with John 1:29). The bread is a symbol for Jesus’
body. The New Promise (compare with Jeremiah 31:31–34)
is made with the blood of Jesus. The cup is a symbol of His
blood. Jesus says, “ ‘This is my blood which begins the new
agreement that God makes with his people. This blood is
poured out for many [people]’ ” (Mark 14:24, ICB).
Then Jesus announces that all of His followers will leave
Him. Jesus says the words of Zechariah 13:7. This verse
says that when the sword hits the shepherd, all the sheep
run away. Jesus is the Shepherd. His followers are the
sheep. Jesus’ message makes the followers sad. But Jesus
adds words of hope. He promises His followers that He
At the Last Supper, will wake up from the dead. Then He will go ahead of the
Jesus starts a new followers to Galilee. Later, an angel in the form of a young
celebration with man waits at Jesus’ empty grave. The angel shares the
His followers: promise, in Mark 16:7, with the women who come to pour
the Lord’s Supper. oil on Jesus’ body. So, this promise is important.
At the Last Supper, the followers have a hard time
accepting Jesus’ words. Peter announces that everyone
else may leave Jesus and runaway. But he will stay loyal
to Jesus. Jesus says that before the rooster crows twice,
Peter will say three times that he doesn’t know Jesus at all.

Did you promise God something and then break your

promise? What did you learn from this experience?

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 TUESDAY—SEPTEMBER 10 Lesson 11
GETHSEMANE (MARK 14:32–42)

Read Mark 14:32–42. What did Jesus pray in the

Garden of Gethsemane? How did God answer Jesus’
prayer?

Jesus and His followers go across the Kidron Valley to a

garden on the Mount of Olives. A mount is a very tall hill.
The name Gethsemane means oil press. An oil press is a
machine that squeezes oil from olives. This name suggests
that there was an olive oil press somewhere nearby. No one
today knows where the press was located. That’s because
the Romans cut down all the trees on the Mount of Olives
when they attacked Jerusalem in a.d. 70.
Jesus leaves most of His followers at the entrance to the
garden. Then Jesus continues on with Peter, James, and
John. But Jesus also leaves these three men and continues
alone. Mark shows us that Jesus is feeling more and more
lonely and alone as He gets ready to suffer for our sins.
Jesus prays for God to remove His suffering. But only if that
is the Father’s plan for His Son (Mark 14:36). Jesus uses the Mark shows us that Jesus
Aramaic word “Abba,” which Mark writes as “Father.” “Abba” is feeling more and more
doesn’t mean “daddy,” as some people teach. The word for lonely and alone
“daddy” in the Aramaic language is “abi.” A child used this as He gets ready
to suffer for our sins.
name for his father. (Read Raymond E. Brown, The Death
of the Messiah, Anchor Bible Reference Library [New York:
Doubleday, 1994], volume 1, pages 172, 173.) But the word
“abba” does mean a close family relationship, which shows
that God wants to be close to us in our hearts.
Jesus prays for God to remove His suffering. But Jesus
gives Himself in obedience to God’s plan for Him (compare
with the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10). We soon see that
God’s answer to Jesus’ prayer is no. God will not remove the
terrible experience that Jesus must suffer. Why? Because
Jesus must suffer for us to save us. We can’t be saved any
other way.
We are glad to have friends who support us in hard times.
In Philippians 4:13, Paul talks about how Jesus “is the one
who gives me the strength I need to do whatever I must
do” (ERV). Then Paul tells his friends, “But it was good that
you helped me when I needed help” (verse 14, ERV). Jesus
wanted help in Gethsemane. Three times He came to His
followers for help and comfort. Three times they were sleep-
ing. In the end, Jesus wakes them up to go to His trial. Jesus
is ready. But His followers are not.

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 Lesson 11 WEDNESDAY—SEPTEMBER 11
RUNNING AWAY FROM JESUS (Mark 14:43–52)

Read Mark 14:43–52. What happens in these verses

that is so important to God’s plan to save us?

We may feel surprised that one of Jesus’ closest friends

sells Him to His enemies. Mark doesn’t give us a lot of infor-
mation about why Judas turns against Jesus. But Ellen G.
White writes, “Judas had a strong love for money. But he
wasn’t evil enough in the past to do what he did now. He
continued to let his love for money control his life until his
love for money controlled him completely. Judas’s love for
money was more powerful than his love for Jesus. Judas
became a slave to money, and this slavery caused him
to give himself to Satan to do whatever sin Satan wanted
him to do.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, page 716,
adapted.
Judas’s sin is made worse because he tries to hide it with
friendship. Judas tells the crowd that the man he kisses is
the one they should arrest.
The crowd arrests Jesus. Trouble starts. Someone pulls
out a sword. John 18:10, 11 says Peter did it. Peter cuts
off the ear of the servant of the high priest or top spiritual
leader. Jesus talks to the mob. He scolds them for doing in
secret what they were afraid to do in public when He taught
them in the temple. But Jesus says the things that God
promises about Him in the Old Testament must happen. So,
Judas tells the crowd we see God’s plan happens at the same time that evil men
that the man he kisses work to destroy Jesus.
is the one All of Jesus’ followers run away, including Peter. But
they should arrest. Peter comes back and follows behind Jesus. Shortly after,
Peter gets himself in trouble. We also read in Mark 14:51,
52 about a young man who also followed Jesus. Matthew,
Luke, and John don’t write about this young man in their
books. Some people think this young man was Mark. But
we have no proof. What is surprising is that the young man
runs away without any clothes on his body. The young
man does not leave everything to follow Jesus. The young
man leaves everything to run away from Jesus.

Think about what Ellen G. White wrote about Judas.

Judas was the “slave” of one sin. That one sin caused
him to sell Jesus to His enemies. What should this story
tell us about why we need to hate sin and win the fight
against it in Jesus’ strength?

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 THURSDAY—SEPTEMBER 12 Lesson 11
WHO ARE YOU? (Mark 14:60–72)

Read Mark 14:60–72. Compare what Jesus does with

what Peter did. How are their actions different? What
can we learn from their choices and behavior?

Mark 14:53–59 talks about how Jesus is brought to the

Sanhedrin to stand trial. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish
religious court in the time of Jesus. Again and again, the
leaders try to accuse Jesus but without any success. Mark
tells us how the witnesses against Jesus never agreed and
that their stories against him were false.
Finally, the high priest or top spiritual leader stands and
talks to Jesus. At first, Jesus doesn’t answer. But then the
high priest puts Jesus under oath before God (read Matthew
26:63). The high priest asks Jesus if He is the Messiah, or
Chosen One. Jesus says, “I am,” meaning that He is the
Messiah (Mark 14:62). Then He says the quote from Daniel
7:13, 14. These verses talk about the Son of Man who sits
at God’s right side and will come to earth with clouds from
heaven. The high priest refuses to accept Jesus’ words
about Himself. He tears his clothes and says that Jesus is
guilty. The Sanhedrin agrees. The Jewish leaders spit on
Jesus. Then they cover His face, beat Him, and ask Him to
say who hits Him.
Meanwhile, Peter is outside lying about Jesus. (This is
the 6th and final Sandwich Story. Read lesson 3 to review
what we learned about Sandwich Stories.) Jesus reports
the truth. Peter gives a false report. Three times servants or
people from the crowd ask Peter if he knows Jesus. Each
time Peter lies. Peter starts to use bad words to make peo-
ple think he isn’t Jesus’ follower.
Just then, a rooster crows a second time. Peter remem- Peter remembers Jesus’
bers Jesus’ words that he would reject Jesus three times words that he would reject
that very night. Peter starts to cry. At the end of His trial, Jesus three times
Jesus wears a blindfold. As we just saw, men hit Jesus and that very night.
command Him to say who hit Him. The men make fun of
Jesus because they think He can’t see through the cloth. At
this very time, Peter rejects Jesus a third time. In a strange
way, when Peter rejects Jesus three times, he shows that
Jesus is really God. That’s because Peter does just what
Jesus said he would do (read Mark 14:30).

What words of hope would you give to someone who

wants to follow Jesus, but who fails at times to do so?

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 Lesson 11 FRIDAY—SEPTEMBER 13
ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: Read Ellen G. White, “Before Annas
and the Court of Caiaphas,” and “Judas,” in The Desire of Ages,
pages 698–722.

“Just as Peter finished saying that he didn’t know Jesus,

the rooster crowed. At that instant, the Savior turned from
the frowning judges. Jesus looked at His poor follower. In
that instant, Peter looked at His Master’s eyes. Peter saw
deep pity and sorrow in the Savior’s eyes. But there was no
anger there.
“Peter looked at Jesus’ suffering face. The Savior’s face
was white, and His lips trembled. Jesus’ suffering and His
look of compassion and forgiveness cut Peter’s heart the
same as an arrow. Peter remembered the promise He
made Jesus a few short hours ago. Peter promised that
he would go with his Lord to prison and to death. Peter
remembered that he felt so sad when the Savior told him in
the upper room that he would reject his Lord three times in
the same night. Now Peter just finished announcing that he
didn’t know Jesus at all. Peter felt bitter sorrow. He under-
stood that his Lord knew him better than he knew himself.
Jesus read Peter’s heart. Jesus saw the weakness inside
Peter that Peter didn’t know was there.”—Ellen G. White,
The Desire of Ages, pages 712, 713.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1 Read again Jesus’ words about the woman who poured per-
fume on His head. When we read her story, how are we part of the
promise that Jesus made about her?

“Jesus’ suffering and

2 Compare Judas and Peter. What did they do to Jesus in the
week before He died on the cross? How were these two men the
His look of compassion same? How were they different?
and forgiveness cut Peter’s
heart the same
as an arrow.” 3 Talk in class about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. How
can we help church members better understand the meaning of
the Lord’s Supper? How can we get more members to celebrate
it?

4 God said no to Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. What does

it mean when God says no to us?

5 Peter failed, but Jesus didn’t reject him. What hope does
this Bible truth give you?

90 THE ARREST AND TRIAL OF JESUS

 Story
PART 8: A DREAM ABOUT TOFU INSIDE
F ather started to get sharp pains in his belly. Mother and
Anush decided to pay careful attention to Father’s diet.
Anush didn’t eat any meat. Mother was a scientist. She knew
by Andrew McChesney
which foods were good for you. But Mother had not fed her
family the most healthful foods. Mother and Anush started to
feed Father meals made mostly from plants. Father’s stom-
ach aches went away.
Then Father had another dream. He saw a bright light in
the garage. The light was so bright. Father couldn’t look at it.
A voice said from the light, “Don’t be afraid. Come. Take this
bucket with seeds. Plant the seeds on this table.”
Father saw a bucket of seeds next to a steel table. But
Father didn’t understand why the voice commanded him to do
something so strange. When Father studied at the university,
he trained to be a crop scientist. So, he knew about plants.
But even a child knew that seeds couldn’t sprout from steel!
Father said, “Seeds must be planted in the ground to grow.”
But the voice commanded, “Do as I say.” So, Father obeyed.
In the dream, a day passed. Then Father saw healthy,
3-inch plants growing from the table! Father was amazed. He
asked, “How can seeds grow in one night and on this steel
table?”
The voice commanded, “Pull up the plants and sell them.”
Father told the dream to his family. As Anush listened, she
wondered if God was telling Father to make tofu. Tofu is a
food made from soybean plants. Tofu is used as a substitute Father saw healthy,
3-inch plants growing
for meat. No company in Armenia made tofu.
from the table!
Then Anush went to a meeting in Ukraine, in 2019. The
300 people at the meeting got excited when they heard about
Father’s dream. At the time, Adventists in Ukraine had many
companies and health-food stores that made and sold tofu.
When the meeting manager asked the people at the meeting
who would teach Father to make tofu, everyone volunteered.
Two months later, Father bought plane tickets to Ukraine.
He and Mother left home without knowing exactly what was
going to happen, the same as Abraham and Sarah. God took
care of everything. Church workers met them at the airport.
Father and Mother stayed with the workers during the time
they visited health-food stores and tofu companies for 12
days. Father saw Christians could work both for money and
God’s glory. When he came home, he opened Armenia’s first
tofu company. Anush was so happy! She could hardly believe
that Father had used her meat-free diet as a reason to pre-
vent her from going to church. Now he was selling tofu and
telling people to eat a healthful diet!
Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath School 91
mission offerings to spread the gospel worldwide. Read new stories daily at AdventistMission.org.