Note: This series is written as a first-person narrative to present Jesus in the context he walked in with the unknown disciple that narrates introducing my thoughts and sparking more ideas with his questions. Enjoy.
With Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary had seen what Jesus did. They believed in him as the Messiah and began following him.
Later, word got to us that some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
Through Nicodemus, one of the few that were favorable to Jesus in the high court, we learned what was said.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
“They want to kill you. More so now than ever before,” Nicodemus told us while we were still in Bethany.
Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. He withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with us.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, we watched many leave from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.
Jesus had us wait. The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
A Ronin's Journey 