The Jewish Leaders Plan to Kill Jesus (Mk. 14:1-2; Lk. 22:1-2; Jn. 11:45-53)

26 ¹After Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his followers, ²"You know that the day after tomorrow is Passover.* On that day the Son of Man* will be given [to his enemies] to be killed on a cross." ³Then the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders had a meeting at the palace where the high priest* lived. The high priest's name was Caiaphas. ⁴In the meeting, they tried to find a way to arrest Jesus. They planned to lie so that they could arrest Jesus and kill him. ⁵The men in the meeting said, "We cannot arrest Jesus during Passover. We don't want the people to become angry and cause a riot."

A Woman Does Something Special (Mk. 14:3-9; Jn. 12:1-8)

⁶Jesus was in Bethany. He was at the house of Simon the leper.* ⁷While Jesus was there, a woman came to him. She had an alabaster* jar filled with very expensive perfume. The woman poured this perfume on Jesus' head while Jesus was eating. ⁸The followers saw the woman do this and became upset at the woman. The followers asked, "Why waste that perfume? ⁹That perfume could be sold for much money and the money could be given to poor people." ¹⁰But Jesus knew what happened. Jesus said, "Why are you troubling this woman? She did a very good thing for me. ¹¹You will always have poor people with you.* But you will not always have me. ¹²This woman poured perfume on my body. She did this to prepare me for burial after I die. ¹³I tell you the truth. The Good News* will be told to people in all the world. And in every place where the Good News is told, the story of what this woman did will also be told. And people will remember her."

Passover Important Jewish holy day. They ate a special meal on this day every year to remember that God freed them from slavery in Egypt in the time of Moses. Son of Man A name Jesus used for himself. In Dan. 7:13-14, this is the name for the Messiah, the one God chose to save his people. high priest The most important Jewish priest and leader. leper A person that had leprosy, a very bad skin disease. alabaster A beautiful kind of stone that can be carved. You will ... with you See Deut. 15:11. Good News The news that God has made a way for people to have their sins forgiven and live with him forever.