“See here: somebody the other day told me you worked miracles. I have wanted to see one all my life. Gratify me, won’t you? Oh, something very easy to begin with. Send one of the guards up in the air, or turn your bonds into bracelets.”
The Christ did not seem to hear. Pahul laughed and held to the throne for support. Antipas shrugged his shoulders.
“He looks harmless enough,” he said. “Why not let him go?”
Caiaphas glowered, and his fingers twitched. “He claims to be king!”
At this statement the tetrarch laughed too. He gave an order to Pahul, who vanished with a grin.
“He has jeered at the Temple your father built,” Caiaphas continued. “He has declared he could destroy it and rebuild a better one, in three days at that.”
“He is king, then, but of fools.”
“And he has called you a fox,” Caiaphas added, significantly.
“He doesn’t claim to be one himself, does he?”
“He is guilty of treason, and it is for you, his ruler, to sentence him.”