42
I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."
43
Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"
44
And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."
45
That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him.
46
But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus.
47
The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. "What do we do now?" they asked. "This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs.
48
If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have."
49
Then one of them - it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year - spoke up, "Don't you know anything?
50
Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?"
51
He didn't say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation,
52
and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.