The Plot Against Jesus
When Jesus finished teaching his disciples all these things, he said to them, "You know that in two days it will be Passover. That's when the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over to be crucified." During this same time, the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest, a man named Caiaphas. They made secret plans to arrest Jesus and kill him. But they agreed among themselves, "We can't do this during the Passover festival, or the people might start a riot."
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
While Jesus was staying in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper, a woman approached him carrying a jar made of alabaster stone. Inside the jar was very expensive perfume. As Jesus was eating dinner, reclining at the table, she poured the costly perfume over his head. When his disciples witnessed this, they became angry and upset. "What a terrible waste!" they said to each other. "This perfume was worth a fortune. She could have sold it for a lot of money and given that money to help poor people instead." Jesus heard what they were saying and understood their complaint. He turned to them and said, "Why are you giving this woman trouble? What she has just done for me is a good and beautiful thing. You will always have poor people around you who need help, but I will not always be here with you. When she poured this perfume on my body, she was actually preparing me for my burial. I promise you this: everywhere in the world that the good news about me is told, people will also tell the story of what this woman did today, and they will remember her for it."
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
Then one of Jesus' twelve closest followers, a man named Judas Iscariot, went to see the chief priests. He asked them, "How much money will you give me if I deliver Jesus to you?" They agreed to pay him thirty silver coins. From that moment on, Judas began watching for the right chance to hand Jesus over to them.
Preparation for the Passover
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, Jesus' disciples came to him with a question. "Where do you want us to get things ready for you to eat the Passover meal?" they asked. Jesus gave them these instructions: "Go into the city and find a particular man there. Tell him that the Teacher has this message: 'My time has come. I'm going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.'" The disciples followed Jesus' directions exactly. They went and made all the preparations for the Passover meal.
Jesus Foretells His Betrayal
When evening arrived, Jesus was sharing a meal with his twelve disciples, all of them reclining around the table together. As they were eating, Jesus suddenly spoke words that would shake them to their core: "I'm telling you the absolute truth—one of you sitting here will hand me over to my enemies." The disciples were devastated by these words. Deep sorrow filled their hearts, and one by one they began asking him with desperate concern, "Lord, surely you don't mean me, do you?" Jesus replied, "The one who will betray me is someone who has just now dipped his bread into the same bowl as me." He continued with sobering words: "The Son of Man will indeed die, just as the Scriptures have foretold. But terrible grief awaits the man who betrays him. That man would have been better off if he had never been born at all." Then Judas, the very disciple who was already planning to betray Jesus, spoke up and asked, "Teacher, surely you can't mean me?" Jesus looked at him and answered simply, "You yourself have said what is true."
The Last Supper
While they were sharing their meal, Jesus picked up a piece of bread and spoke a prayer of blessing over it. He broke the bread apart and handed pieces to his disciples, telling them, "Take this and eat it. This is my body." Then Jesus took the cup of wine and gave thanks for it. He passed the cup to them and said, "All of you, drink from this cup. This is my blood, which seals the new agreement between God and his people. My blood will be poured out for many people so their sins can be forgiven. I'm telling you the truth—I will not drink wine again until the day when I drink it fresh and new with you in my Father's kingdom."
Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
After they finished singing together, Jesus and his disciples left and walked to the Mount of Olives. As they went, Jesus spoke to them with heavy words: "Tonight, every one of you will abandon me and run away. This fulfills what the scriptures say: 'I will strike down the shepherd, and all the sheep will scatter in every direction.' But after I rise from the dead, I will meet you again in Galilee." Peter immediately protested. "Even if everyone else abandons you, I never will!" he declared with fierce loyalty. Jesus looked at him with sad certainty. "I tell you the absolute truth, Peter. Before the rooster crows at dawn, you will deny three times that you even know me." But Peter insisted even more forcefully, "Even if I have to die alongside you, I will never deny you. Never!" All the other disciples echoed his passionate promise, each one swearing the same fierce devotion.
Jesus Prays in Gethsemane
Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. He told them, "Stay here while I go over there to pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him and began to feel deep sadness and terrible distress. He said to them, "My heart is overwhelmed with grief, so much that it feels like death. Stay here and watch with me." Jesus walked a little farther away, threw himself face down on the ground, and prayed, "My Father, if there is any way, please let this suffering pass by me. But I don't want what I want—I want what you want." When he came back to the disciples, he found them asleep. He asked Peter, "Couldn't you stay awake with me for just one hour? Stay alert and pray so you won't give in to temptation. Your spirit wants to do what's right, but your body is weak." Jesus went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if this suffering cannot be avoided and I must go through it, then let your will be done." He returned again and found them sleeping, because their eyes were so heavy they couldn't stay awake. So he left them once more and went away to pray a third time, saying the same words. Then he came back to the disciples and said, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the time has come. The Son of Man is being handed over to sinful people. Get up, let's go! The one who will betray me is coming!"
The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
While Jesus was still talking to his disciples, Judas arrived. He was one of the twelve disciples, but he brought with him a large crowd of men carrying swords and wooden clubs. The chief priests and the religious leaders had sent these men. Before coming, Judas had worked out a plan with the crowd. He told them, "The man I kiss on the cheek—that's Jesus. Grab him and arrest him." So Judas walked straight up to Jesus and said, "Hello, Teacher!" Then he kissed Jesus on the cheek. Jesus looked at him and said, "My friend, go ahead and do what you came here to do." Immediately the men rushed forward and grabbed Jesus. They seized him and placed him under arrest. When this happened, one of Jesus's followers quickly pulled out his sword and swung it at the high priest's servant, slicing off the man's ear. But Jesus told him, "Put your sword away! Everyone who lives by fighting with swords will die by the sword. Don't you realize that I could ask my Father right now, and he would instantly send me more than twelve armies of angels to protect me? But if I did that, how could the Scriptures come true? The prophets wrote that all of this must happen exactly this way." Then Jesus turned to face the crowd that had come to arrest him. "Why did you come here with swords and clubs as if I were some dangerous criminal? Every single day I sat in the temple courtyard teaching people, and you never arrested me then. But all of this is happening so that everything the prophets wrote about would come true." When the disciples saw what was happening, they all abandoned Jesus and ran away into the night.
Jesus Before Caiaphas
The men who had arrested Jesus brought him to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. The religious teachers and community leaders had already gathered there. Peter followed Jesus, but he stayed far behind. He made it all the way to the courtyard of the high priest's house, where he went inside and sat down with the guards to watch what would happen. The chief priests and the entire ruling council were looking for people to lie about Jesus so they could have him killed. But they couldn't find anyone, even though many people came forward to give false testimony. Finally, two men stepped up and said, "This man claimed he could tear down God's temple and rebuild it in three days." The high priest stood up and asked Jesus, "Don't you have anything to say? What about what these men are saying against you?" But Jesus said nothing. Then the high priest spoke to him again: "I command you by the living God to tell us the truth. Are you the Christ, the Son of God?" Jesus answered, "You have said it. But I tell you all, from this moment on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven." When the high priest heard this, he tore his robes and shouted, "He has spoken against God! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, you have all heard him speak against God with your own ears. What is your decision?" They answered, "He deserves to die." Then they spit in his face and hit him with their fists. Others slapped him and mocked him, saying, "Tell us who hit you, Christ! Use your prophet powers!"
Peter Denies Jesus
While all this was happening, Peter sat outside in the courtyard. A servant girl walked up to him and said, "You were with Jesus, the one from Galilee." But Peter denied it in front of everyone there. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. Peter then moved toward the entrance gate. Another servant girl spotted him and told the people standing around, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." Once again Peter denied it, this time swearing an oath. "I don't know the man!" he insisted. A little while later, some people who had been standing nearby approached Peter. "You're definitely one of his followers," they said. "We can tell by the way you talk." Then Peter began to call down curses on himself and swear forcefully, "I don't know the man!" The moment he said this, a rooster crowed. Suddenly Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." He left that place and wept with deep, bitter sorrow.