45
Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him.
46
But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47
So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, "What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing!
48
If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!"
49
One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, "What fools you are!
50
Don't you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?"
51
Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people,
52
and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.
53
From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus.
54
So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.
55
The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival.