Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the village of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they gave him a banquet, at which Martha served. Lazarus was one of those at table with him. Mary brought a pound of costly perfume made from genuine aromatic nard, with which she anointed Jesus' feet. Then she dried his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the ointment's fragrance. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one about to hand him over), protested: "Why was not this perfume sold? It could have brought three hundred silver pieces, and the money have been given to the poor." (He did not say this out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief. He held the purse, and used to help himself to what was deposited there.) To this Jesus replied: "Leave her alone. Let her keep it against the day they prepare me for burial. The poor you always have with you, but me you will not always have.
The great crowd of Jews discovered he was there and came out, not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. The fact was, the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too, because many Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him on account of Lazarus.
The next day the great crowd that had come for the feast heard that Jesus was to enter Jerusalem, so they got palm branches and came out to meet him. They kept shouting:
"Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a donkey and mounted it, in accord with Scripture:
"Fear not, O daughter of Zion!
Your king approaches you on a donkey's colt."
(At first, the disciples did not understand all this, but after Jesus was glorified they recalled that the people had done to him precisely what had been written about him.)
The crowd that was present when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept testifying to it. The crowd came out to meet him because they heard he had performed this sign. The Pharisees remarked to one another, "See, there is nothing you can do! The whole world has run after him."