The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 iMany of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but jsome of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, k“What are we to do? For this man performs many lsigns. 48 If we let him go on like this, meveryone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and ntake away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, oCaiaphas, who was high priest pthat year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that qit is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and rnot for the nation only, but also sto gather into one tthe children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they umade plans to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore vno longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55 wNow the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover xto purify themselves. 56 They were ylooking for1 Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might zarrest him.
Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany
1 aSix days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, bwhere Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. cMartha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound1 of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred ddenarii2 and egiven to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it3 ffor the day of my burial. 8 For gthe poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
