“And they probably love Him devotedly?”
“They say that they love Him; that they love Him more than themselves.”
“But if we should want to seize Him, would they not take His part? Will there be no uprising?”
Judas laughed long and bitterly.
“They? They are cowardly curs who run as soon as a man stoops to pick up a stone. They!”
“Are they so bad?” coldly inquired Annas.
“And do the bad flee from the good? Do not rather! the good flee before the bad? Ha! They are good and therefore they will run. They are good and therefore they will hide themselves. They are good and therefore they will only appear when Jesus is ready for burial. And they will bury Him themselves, do thou but put Him to death.”
“But do they not love Him? Thou saidst so.”
“Their Teacher they love always, but more in death than living. As long as the Teacher lives He is apt to examine the pupils, and woe then unto the latter. But when the Teacher is dead, they become teachers in their turn, and woe then unto others! Ha!”
Annas looked searchingly at the traitor, and his shriveled lips wrinkled slightly: it was a sign that Annas was smiling.