44
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with pieces of cloth, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take the cloth off of him and let him go."
45
Many of the Jews, who had come to visit Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.
46
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47
Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish council. They asked, "What should we do? This man is doing many miracles.
48
If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our Temple and our nation."
49
One of the men there was Caiaphas, the high priest that year. He said, "You people know nothing!
50
You don't realize that it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."
51
Caiaphas did not think of this himself. As high priest that year, he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation
52
and for God's scattered children to bring them all together and make them one.
53
That day they started planning to kill Jesus.
54
So Jesus no longer traveled openly among the Jews. He left there and went to a place near the desert, to a town called Ephraim and stayed there with his followers.