The priests and the rulers did not know what to do about Jesus. The Messiah, indeed! they thought. They hated him, and they were afraid of him. They were afraid of the Romans too. What would the Roman governor say if he heard that there was someone in Jerusalem pretending to be King of the Jews?
The priests and the rulers wanted to kill Jesus. That was all they talked about. But they did not know how it was to be done. For whenever Jesus came to Jerusalem, great crowds gathered around him. None of the priests dared to lay a finger on him in the open. The crowds would never let them. It seemed to the people as if the Messiah might have come at last.
But something had to be done, the priests and the rulers said. The week was going by. The Feast of the Passover was nearly there.
"We shall have to do away with Jesus quietly," someone said.
"Yes," the others agreed, "we can't wait till the day of the Passover. If we should do anything to him on that day, there would be a riot."
They were at their wits' end to know how to get rid of Jesus. The craftiest men in Jerusalem could not think what to do.
There was a knock at the door. It was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, who had come to see the priests and rulers.
His name? His name was Judas Iscariot.
"What will you give me," Judas said, "if I turn Jesus over to you?"