John 12:17-19

Now the crowd that was with Him when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that He had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet Him. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!"

This is becoming way more than the Jewish leaders can handle. They essentially rebuke their own laziness and inactivity regarding this “Jesus situation.” The exaggeration of the Pharisees, saying that the whole world had gone after Jesus, provokes them to action. In reality, a small minority of people had genuine faith in Jesus at this point, but the crowds that were superficially following after Jesus had them so concerned that they had to put a stop to His ministry. Thus Jesus’ statement in Matthew 23:37 proves true, that the Pharisees were unwilling to lose any more of “their children” to Him (see John 8:31-47). This remains Satan’s plan, not to lose any more of his children.