Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King

11 As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers ² and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a colt tied, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. ³ If anyone asks you why you are doing this, tell him its Master needs the colt, and he will send it at once.”

⁴ The followers went into the town, found a colt tied in the street near the door of a house, and untied it. ⁵ Some people were standing there and asked, “What are you doing? Why are you untying that colt?” ⁶ The followers answered the way Jesus told them to answer, and the people let them take the colt.

⁷ They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and Jesus sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches in the fields and spread them on the road. ⁹ The people were walking ahead of Jesus and behind him, shouting,

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After he had looked at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve apostles.

¹² The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. ¹³ Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.

Jesus Goes to the Temple

¹⁵ When Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹⁶ Jesus refused to allow anyone to carry goods through the Temple courts. ¹⁷ Then he taught the people, saying, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer for people from all nations.’^[b] But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hideout for robbers.’”^[c]

¹⁸ The leading priests and the teachers of the law heard all this and began trying to find a way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of him, because all the people were amazed at his teaching. ¹⁹ That evening, Jesus and his followers^[d] left the city.

The Power of Faith

²⁰ The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”

²² Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. ²³ I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. ²⁴ So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. ²⁵ When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [ ²⁶ But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”^[e]

Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority

²⁷ Jesus and his followers went again to Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders came to him. ²⁸ They said to him, “What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “I will ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ³⁰ Tell me: When John baptized people, was that authority from God or just from other people?”

³¹ They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘It was from other people,’ the crowd will be against us.” (These leaders were afraid of the people, because all the people believed that John was a prophet.)

³³ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.”

Jesus with Friends in Bethany

12 Six days before the Passover Feast, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus lived. (Lazarus is the man Jesus raised from the dead.) ² There they had a dinner for Jesus. Martha served the food, and Lazarus was one of the people eating with Jesus. ³ Mary brought in a pint of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She poured the perfume on Jesus’ feet, and then she wiped his feet with her hair. And the sweet smell from the perfume filled the whole house.

⁴ Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ followers who would later turn against him, was there. Judas said, ⁵ “This perfume was worth an entire year’s wages. Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” ⁶ But Judas did not really care about the poor; he said this because he was a thief. He was the one who kept the money box, and he often stole from it.

⁷ Jesus answered, “Leave her alone. It was right for her to save this perfume for today, the day for me to be prepared for burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”

The Plot Against Lazarus

⁹ A large crowd of people heard that Jesus was in Bethany. So they went there to see not only Jesus but Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the leading priests made plans to kill Lazarus, too. ¹¹ Because of Lazarus many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

¹² The next day a great crowd who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast heard that Jesus was coming there. ¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Jesus, shouting,

¹⁴ Jesus found a colt and sat on it. This was as the Scripture says,

¹⁶ The followers of Jesus did not understand this at first. But after Jesus was raised to glory, they remembered that this had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

People Tell About Jesus

¹⁷ There had been many people with Jesus when he raised Lazarus from the dead and told him to come out of the tomb. Now they were telling others about what Jesus did. ¹⁸ Many people went out to meet Jesus, because they had heard about this miracle. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to each other, “You can see that nothing is going right for us. Look! The whole world is following him.”

Jesus Talks About His Death

²⁰ There were some Greek people, too, who came to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover Feast. ²¹ They went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

²³ Jesus said to them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive his glory. ²⁴ I tell you the truth, a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die to make many seeds. But if it never dies, it remains only a single seed. ²⁵ Those who love their lives will lose them, but those who hate their lives in this world will keep true life forever. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me. Then my servant will be with me everywhere I am. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

²⁷ “Now I am very troubled. Should I say, ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, I came to this time so I could suffer. ²⁸ Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have brought glory to it, and I will do it again.”

²⁹ The crowd standing there, who heard the voice, said it was thunder.

But others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰ Jesus said, “That voice was for your sake, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for the world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be thrown down. ³² If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people toward me.” ³³ Jesus said this to show how he would die.

³⁴ The crowd said, “We have heard from the law that the Christ will live forever. So why do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵ Then Jesus said, “The light will be with you for a little longer, so walk while you have the light. Then the darkness will not catch you. If you walk in the darkness, you will not know where you are going. ³⁶ Believe in the light while you still have it so that you will become children of light.” When Jesus had said this, he left and hid himself from them.

Some People Won’t Believe in Jesus

³⁷ Though Jesus had done many miracles in front of the people, they still did not believe in him. ³⁸ This was to bring about what Isaiah the prophet had said:

³⁹ This is why the people could not believe: Isaiah also had said,

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴² But many believed in Jesus, even many of the leaders. But because of the Pharisees, they did not say they believed in him for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. ⁴³ They loved praise from people more than praise from God.

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me is really believing in the One who sent me. ⁴⁵ Whoever sees me sees the One who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as light into the world so that whoever believes in me would not stay in darkness.

⁴⁷ “Anyone who hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge, because I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for those who refuse to believe in me and do not accept my words. The word I have taught will be their judge on the last day. ⁴⁹ The things I taught were not from myself. The Father who sent me told me what to say and what to teach. ⁵⁰ And I know that eternal life comes from what the Father commands. So whatever I say is what the Father told me to say.”