50. It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. But you don’t realize this.”
51. Caiaphas did not think of this himself. He was high priest that year. So he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation
52. and for God’s scattered children. This would 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. He went to a town called Ephraim and stayed there with his followers.
55. It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. Many from the country went up to Jerusalem before the Passover. They went to do the special things to make themselves pure.
56. The people looked for Jesus. They stood in the Temple and were asking each other, “Is he coming to the Feast? What do you think?”
57. But the leading priests and the Pharisees had given orders about Jesus. They said that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must tell them. Then they could arrest Jesus.