47
So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council. They asked, "What are we doing? This man is performing a lot of miracles.
48
If we let him continue what he's doing, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will take away our position and our nation."
49
One of them, Caiaphas, who was chief priest that year, told them, "You people don't know anything.
50
You haven't even considered this: It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."
51
Caiaphas didn't say this on his own. As chief priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation.
52
He prophesied that Jesus wouldn't die merely for this nation, but that Jesus would die to bring God's scattered children together and make them one.
53
From that day on, the Jewish council planned to kill Jesus.
54
So Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. Instead, he left Bethany and went to the countryside near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55
The Jewish Passover was near. Many people came from the countryside to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.
56
As they stood in the temple courtyard, they looked for Jesus and asked each other, "Do you think that he'll avoid coming to the festival?"
57
(The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where Jesus was should tell them so that they could arrest him.)