Mark 14:1
Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him — the passion narrative begins with the double festival approaching: Passover (the 14th of Nisan, commemorating the Exodus) and Unleavened Bread (the 15th–21st). The schemed arrest is secret because the public crowds who welcomed Jesus make an open arrest too dangerous politically. The Jewish leaders are trapped between their desire to eliminate Jesus and the popular support that prevents it.