John 11:45-57

Contemporary English Version

The Plot To Kill Jesus

(Matthew 26.1-5; Mark 14.1,2; Luke 22.1,2)

⁴⁵ Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw the things Jesus did, and they put their faith in him. ⁴⁶ Others went to the Pharisees and told what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What should we do? This man is working a lot of miracles.^{[a] 48} If we don't stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.”^[b]

⁴⁹ One of the council members was Caiaphas, who was also high priest that year. He spoke up and said, “You people don't have any sense at all! ⁵⁰ Don't you know it is better for one person to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed?” ⁵¹ Caiaphas did not say this on his own. As high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. ⁵² Yet Jesus would not die just for the Jewish nation. He would die to bring together all of God's scattered people. ⁵³ From that day on, the council started making plans to put Jesus to death.

⁵⁴ Because of this plot against him, Jesus stopped going around in public. He went to the town of Ephraim, which was near the desert, and he stayed there with his disciples.

⁵⁵ It was almost time for Passover. Many of the Jewish people who lived out in the country had come to Jerusalem to get themselves ready^[c] for the festival. ⁵⁶ They looked around for Jesus. Then when they were in the temple, they asked each other, “You don't think he will come here for Passover, do you?”

⁵⁷ The chief priests and the Pharisees told the people to let them know if any of them saw Jesus. This is how they hoped to arrest him.