26Jesus finished saying all these things. Then he said to his disciples, ²“As you know, the Passover Feast is two days away. The Son of Man will be handed over to be nailed to a cross.”

³Then the chief priests met with the elders of the people. They met in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest. ⁴They made plans to arrest Jesus in a clever way. They wanted to kill him. ⁵“But not during the Feast,” they said. “The people may stir up trouble.”

A Woman Pours Perfume on Jesus

⁶Jesus was in Bethany. He was in the home of a man named Simon, who had a skin disease. ⁷A woman came to Jesus with a special sealed jar of very expensive perfume. She poured the perfume on his head while he was at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw this, they became angry. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹“The perfume could have been sold at a high price. The money could have been given to poor people.”

¹⁰Jesus was aware of this. So he said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹You will always have poor people with you. But you will not always have me. ¹²She poured the perfume on my body to prepare me to be buried. ¹³What I’m about to tell you is true. What she has done will be told anywhere this good news is preached all over the world. It will be told in memory of her.”

Judas Agrees to Hand Jesus Over

¹⁴One of the Twelve went to the chief priests. His name was Judas Iscariot. ¹⁵He asked, “What will you give me if I hand Jesus over to you?” So they counted out 30 silver coins for him. ¹⁶From then on, Judas watched for the right time to hand Jesus over to them.

The Lord’s Supper

¹⁷It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The disciples came to Jesus. They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”

¹⁸He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man. Tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ’ ”

¹⁹So the disciples did what Jesus had told them to do. They prepared the Passover meal.

²⁰When evening came, Jesus was at the table with the Twelve. ²¹While they were eating, he said, “What I’m about to tell you is true. One of you will hand me over to my enemies.”

²²The disciples became very sad. One after the other, they began to say to him, “It’s not I, Lord, is it?”

²³Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will hand me over. ²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But how terrible it will be for the one who hands over the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁵Judas was the one who was going to hand him over. He said, “It’s not I, Rabbi, is it?”

Jesus answered, “Yes. It is you.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread. He gave thanks and broke it. He handed it to his disciples and said, “Take this and eat it. This is my body.”

²⁷Then he took the cup. He gave thanks and handed it to them. He said, “All of you drink from it. ²⁸This is my blood of the new covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many. ²⁹Here is what I tell you. From now on, I won’t drink wine with you again until the day I drink it with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

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