New Testament in a Year

Mary Anoints Jesus^(A)

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus lived,^[a] the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. ³ Mary took a litron^[b] of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was going to betray him, asked, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 denarii^[c] and the money^[d] given to the destitute?” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and would steal what was put into it.

⁷ Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial, ⁸ because you will always have the destitute with you, but you won’t always have me.”

The Plot against Lazarus

⁹ When the large crowd of Jews realized that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the high priests planned to kill Lazarus, too, ¹¹ since he was the reason why so many of the Jews were leaving to believe in Jesus.

The King Enters Jerusalem^(B)

¹² The next day, the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,

¹⁴ Then Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written:

¹⁶ At first, his disciples didn’t understand these things. However, when Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him and that people^[i] had done these things to him. ¹⁷ So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify to what they had seen.^{[j] 18} The crowd was going out to meet Jesus^[k] because they had heard that he had performed this sign. ¹⁹ Then the Pharisees told one another, “You see, there is nothing you can do. Look, the world has gone after him!”

Some Greeks Ask to See Jesus

²⁰ Now some Greeks were among those who had come up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

²² Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³ Jesus told them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, I tell all of you^[l] emphatically, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces a lot of grain. ²⁵ The one who loves his life will destroy it, and the one who hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”