John 12:1-19

1Six days before the Passover festival, Jesus went to Bethany, the village where Lazarus lived. He was the man who had been dead, but Jesus had raised him.

2Some friends prepared a special meal there for Jesus. Martha gave out the food, and Lazarus sat among the visitors, with Jesus.

3Then Mary brought a pound of very expensive oil that had a very nice smell. They used nard to make it. She poured it over Jesus' feet and then she made his feet dry again with her hair. The nice smell of the oil filled the whole house.

4Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' disciples, was there. He was the man who would sell Jesus to Jesus' enemies.

5Judas said, ‘We could have sold this oil for 300 coins. That is as much money as someone would get for a year's work. Then we could have given that money to poor people.’

6He did not say this because he really wanted to help the poor people. No, he said it because he wanted the money himself. He kept the bag of money and sometimes he took money from it for himself.

7But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop her! She has kept this oil safe until now. She wanted it for the day when they will bury my dead body.

8You will always have poor people with you. But you will not always have me with you.’

9By this time, a large crowd of Jews had heard the news that Jesus was at Bethany. So they came there to see him. They came also to see Lazarus, because Jesus had made him alive again.

10So the leaders of the priests decided to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus too.

11They wanted to do that because many Jews now refused to obey them. Instead, these Jews believed in Jesus because of what he had done for Lazarus.

12The next day, a large crowd of people were in Jerusalem for the festival. They heard the news that Jesus was on the way there.

13So they took branches from palm trees and they went out to meet Jesus. They were shouting, ‘We praise God! May the Lord God bless the king who comes with his authority. May he bless the king of Israel!’

14Jesus found a young donkey, and he sat on it. This happened in the way that was written in the Bible long ago:

15‘Do not be afraid, you people in Zion. Look! Your king is coming. He is riding on a young donkey.’

16Jesus' disciples did not understand all this at that time. They understood only after Jesus had returned to God in heaven. Then they remembered that someone had written these things about him in the Bible. And they remembered that these things had now really happened to him.

17The crowd that had been with Jesus before at Bethany continued to tell people about Lazarus. They said, ‘Jesus told Lazarus that he should come out of the hole in the rock. He made Lazarus alive again after he had died and his body had been put in there.’

18That is why many people came to meet Jesus. They had heard that he had done this miracle.

19So the Pharisees said to each other, ‘This is not what we wanted. Look! All the people in the world have left us to go with him!’