Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death,

because they kept saying, "This must not happen during the festival. Otherwise, there'll be a riot among the people."

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?"

At every festival, Pilate would release any one prisoner whom the people requested.