John 12:1–50

¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. ² So they hosted a dinner for Jesus there. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray Him, asked, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” ⁶ Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it. ⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial. ⁸ The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.” ⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was there. And they came not only because of Him, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹ for on account of him many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus. ¹² The next day the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ Finding a young donkey, Jesus sat on it, as it is written: ¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on the colt of a donkey.” ¹⁶ At first His disciples did not understand these things, but after Jesus was glorified they remembered what had been done to Him, and they realized that these very things had also been written about Him. ¹⁷ Meanwhile, many people continued to testify that they had been with Jesus when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead. ¹⁸ That is also why the crowd went out to meet Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. ¹⁹ Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You can see that this is doing you no good. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!” ²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” ²² Philip relayed this appeal to Andrew, and both of them went and told Jesus. ²³ But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it rem…