Chronological
The triumphal entry
11 So they approached Jerusalem. They got as far as Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, when Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead with a specific task.
2 “Go to the village over there,” he said to them, “and as soon as you enter it you will find a colt tied up—one that nobody has ever ridden before. Untie it and bring it here. 3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing that?’ then say, ‘The master needs it, and he will return it at once.’ ”
4 They went off and found the colt tied up beside a door, out in the street; and they untied it.
5 Some of the bystanders said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 6 They gave the answer Jesus had told them, and they let them carry on. 7 So they brought the colt to Jesus and laid their cloaks on it, and he mounted it. 8 Several people spread out their cloaks in the road. Others did the same with foliage that they had cut in the fields. 9 Those in front, and those coming behind, shouted out, “Hosanna! Welcome in the Lord’s name! 10 Here comes the kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem, went into the Temple, and looked all round. It was already getting late, and he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.
Jesus cleanses the Temple
12 The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 From some distance away he saw a fig tree covered with leaves, and hoped to find some fruit on it; but when he came up to it he found nothing but leaves. (It wasn’t yet the season for figs.)
14 He addressed the tree directly. “May no one ever eat fruit from you again,” he said. And his disciples heard.
15 They came into Jerusalem. Jesus went into the Temple and began to drive out the traders, those who bought and sold in the Temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dove-sellers. 16 He permitted no one to carry any vessel through the Temple. 17 He began to teach: “Isn’t this what’s written,” he said,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer
for all the world to share’?
“But you’ve made it a brigands’ den!”
18 The chief priests and the legal experts heard, and looked for a way to get rid of him. But they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
19 When evening came, they went back out of the city.
20 As they were returning, early in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots.
21 “Look, Teacher!” said Peter to Jesus, remembering what had happened before. “The fig tree you cursed has withered.”
22 “Have faith in God,” replied Jesus. 23 “I’m telling you the truth: if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be off with you—get yourself thrown into the sea,’ if they have no doubt in their heart, but believe that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 That’s why I’m telling you, everything that you request in prayer, everything you ask God for, believe that you receive it, and it will happen for you.
25 “And when you are standing there praying, if you have something against someone else, forgive them—so that your father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
The authority of Jesus is questioned
27 Once more they went into Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple he was approached by the chief priests, the legal experts and the elders.
28 “By what right do you do these things?” they asked. “Who gave you the right to do them?”
29 “I have one question for you, too,” replied Jesus, “and if you tell me the answer I shall tell you by what right I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven, or was it a human invention? What’s your answer?”
31 “Well now,” they muttered to each other, “if we say it was from heaven, he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say it was a human invention . . .” They were afraid of the crowd, because everyone regarded John as a prophet.
33 “We don’t know,” they said to Jesus.
“Nor will I tell you,” replied Jesus, “by what right I do these things.”
Mary and her ointment
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany. Lazarus was there, the man he had raised from the dead. 2 So they made a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was among the company at table with him.
3 Then Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus’ feet with it, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the smell of the perfume.
4 At this, Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was going to betray him), spoke up.
5 “Why wasn’t this ointment sold?” he asked. “It would have fetched a year’s wages! You could have given it to the poor!”
6 (He didn’t say this because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. He kept the common purse, and used to help himself to what was in it.)
7 “Let her alone,” replied Jesus. “She’s been keeping it for the day of my burial! 8 You always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me.”
Jesus enters Jerusalem
9 When the great crowd of Judaeans discovered that Jesus was there, they came to Bethany not just because of Jesus, but to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus as well, 11 because many of the Judaeans were distancing themselves on account of him, and were believing in Jesus.
12 On the next day, the large crowd that had come up for the festival heard that Jesus had come to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him.
“Hosanna!” they shouted. “Welcome in the name of the Lord! Welcome to Israel’s king!”
14 Jesus found a little donkey and sat on it. As the Bible says,
15 Do not fear, daughter of Zion!
Look! Your king is coming now;
sitting on a donkey’s colt.
16 His disciples didn’t understand this to begin with. But when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him, and that these things had been done to him. 17 The crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, told their story. 18 That’s why the crowd went out to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign.
19 The Pharisees conferred.
“You see?” they said to each other. “It’s impossible. There’s nothing you can do. Look—the world has gone off after him!”
The seed must die
20 Some Greeks had come up with all the others to worship at the festival. 21 They went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee.
“Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”
22 Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went together to tell Jesus.
23 “The time has come,” said Jesus in reply. “This is the moment for the son of man to be glorified. 24 I’m telling you the solemn truth: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains all by itself. If it dies, though, it will produce lots of fruit. 25 If you love your life, you’ll lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you’ll keep it for the life of the coming age.
26 “If anyone serves me, they must follow me. Where I am, my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the father will honor them.”
The hour has come
27 “Now my heart is troubled,” Jesus went on. “What am I going to say: ‘Father, save me from this moment’? No! It was because of this that I came to this moment. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
“I have glorified it,” came a voice from heaven, “and I will glorify it again.”
29 “That was thunder!” said the crowd, standing there listening.
“No,” said others. “It was an angel, talking to him.”
30 “That voice came for your sake, not mine,” replied Jesus. 31 “Now comes the judgment of this world! Now this world’s ruler is going to be thrown out! 32 And when I’ve been lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”
33 He said this in order to point to the kind of death he was going to die.
34 So the crowd spoke to him again.
“We heard in the law,” they said, “that the Messiah will last forever. How can you say that the son of man must be lifted up? Who is this ‘son of man’?”
35 “The light is among you a little while longer,” replied Jesus. “Keep walking while you have the light, in case the darkness overcomes you. People who walk in the dark don’t know where they’re going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be children of light.”
With these words, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.
Glory and blindness
37 They didn’t believe in him, even though he had done so many signs in front of their eyes. 38 This was so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
Lord, who believed the story we told?
Your powerful arm—who saw it unveiled?
39 That’s why they couldn’t believe. As Isaiah again put it,
40 He has caused their eyes to be blind,
and caused their hearts to be hard;
so they wouldn’t see with their eyes,
or understand with their hearts,
or turn, so that I could heal them.
41 Isaiah said this because he saw his glory, and spoke about him.
42 Even so, however, quite a few of the rulers did believe in him. But, because of the Pharisees, they didn’t declare their faith, for fear of being put out of the synagogue. 43 This was because they loved the praise of humans more than the praise of God.
The final challenge
44 “Anyone who believes in me,” shouted Jesus in a loud voice, “doesn’t believe in me, but in the one who sent me! 45 Anyone who sees me sees the one who sent me! 46 I’ve come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me won’t need to stay in the dark.
47 “If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I’m not going to judge them. That wasn’t why I came. I came to save the world, not to judge it. 48 Anyone who rejects me and doesn’t hold on to my words has a judge. The word which I have spoken will judge them on the last day.
49 “I haven’t spoken on my own authority. The father who sent me gave me his own command about what I should say and speak. 50 And I know that his command is the life of the coming age. What I speak, then, is what the father has told me to speak.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.