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Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what he did;

but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Council. They said:

“What are we to do? For this man keeps on performing many signs.

If we let him go on like this, all the people will believe in him and, as a result of this, the Romans will come and destroy our holy place and our nation.”

Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up:

“You know nothing at all!

You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.”

In saying this, Caiaphas did not speak for himself, but being high priest that year, he foretold like a prophet that Jesus would die for the nation

and not for the nation only, but also would die to gather into one the scattered children of God.

So, from that day on, they were determined to kill him.

Because of this, Jesus no longer moved about freely among the Jews. He withdrew instead to the region near the desert and stayed with his disciples in a town called Ephraim.

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and people from everywhere were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.

They looked for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple, they talked with one another:

“What do you think? Will he come to the festival?”