12It was six days before the Passover Feast. Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived. Lazarus was the one Jesus had raised from the dead. ²A dinner was given at Bethany to honor Jesus. Martha served the food. Lazarus was among those at the table with Jesus.

³Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard. It was an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the sweet smell of the perfume.

⁴But Judas Iscariot didn’t like what Mary did. He was one of Jesus’ disciples. Later he was going to hand Jesus over to his enemies. Judas said, ⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold? Why wasn’t the money given to poor people? It was worth a year’s pay.”

⁶He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor. He said it because he was a thief. Judas was in charge of the money bag. He used to help himself to what was in it.

⁷“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “The perfume was meant for the day I am buried. ⁸You will always have the poor among you. But you won’t always have me.”

⁹Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there, so they came. But they did not come only because of Jesus. They also came to see Lazarus. After all, Jesus had raised him from the dead.

¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too. ¹¹Because of Lazarus, many of the Jews were starting to follow Jesus. They were putting their faith in him.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

¹²The next day the large crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³So they took branches from palm trees and went out to meet him. They shouted,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. This is just as it is written in Scripture. It says,

¹⁵“City of Zion, do not be afraid.

See, your king is coming.

He is sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶At first, Jesus’ disciples did not understand all this. They realized it only after he had received glory. Then they realized that these things had been written about him. They realized that the people had done these things to him.

¹⁷A crowd had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead. So they continued to tell everyone about what had happened. ¹⁸Many people went out to meet him. They had heard that he had done this miraculous sign.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Look how the whole world is following him!”

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