Presently some men stood up, and gave this false evidence against him –
witness number one
come on downwhat’s your name
where are you fromdo you promise to play
according to our rulestell us in words we need
what you saw and heardbe careful a loophole
will upset our apple cart
Definitely a strange verse. It is open to the perspective that Mark protests too much. It is almost like modern campaigning that the one who calls “liar” first wins or the pervasiveness of negative ads.
From another perspective, we could see this as a great money-maker for those willing to join in a game of perjury when there are only positive consequences. We may not get 30 silver coins for bringing a false witness, but it may still be worth it. When a bounty is placed on heads it can get paid in many different ways.
Mark has been leading us along to see Jesus as a new Temple. Now Mark says that testimony about Jesus being a Temple is false.
What seems to be false is that Mark doesn’t want any side story to take away from Jesus being good news. In a land occupied by a foreign power and assisted by a religious system under the leadership of the occupier, there needs to be a credible threat to the powers that be.
There is not much more to be said than Mark is working from multiple sources and is stuttering a bit at this point.