19081908
People :
Author : Leo Tolstoy
Text :
And scribes and Pharisees, with all their power tried to destroy Jesus; they gathered in the council and began to decide how to do it. They said: “We must stop this person. He proves his teaching in such a way, that if we leave him alone, everybody will believe in him and will abandon our faith. By now already half of the people got to believe in him. And if everybody will believe in his teaching, that all people are children of one Father and that all are the brothers, and that there is nothing special in our Jewish people that would stand them out from other people, then the Romans will come and take us, and there won’t be Jewish Kingdom anymore.” And scribes and Pharisees consulted for long time. They wanted to kill Jesus, to get rid of him, but they were afraid of people and did not dare to do that. Then their high priest named Caiaphas said this: “You shouldn’t be so afraid. Sometimes, you need to kill one person to preserve the entire nation. So now, if we don't stop this person, then the whole nation will perish. Even if the nation won’t perish, still, the people will scatter and abandon our only true faith, and therefore you shouldn’t be afraid but must kill Jesus.” And when Caiaphas said that, all agreed with him and decided to kill Jesus. They'd take Jesus right away and kill him, but Jesus was not in Jerusalem, and they did not know where he is. But when the Easter holiday approached, then the Chief priests decided that Jesus with people will likely come to the celebration, and they ordered their servants to bring Jesus to them when they see him.
And they were right, six days before Easter, Jesus said to his disciples: "Let’s go to Jerusalem.” But the disciples knew that the Chief priests wanted to kill him, and began to ask him not to go to Jerusalem. They said to him: “Chief priests decided to beat you with stones. If you come, they'll probably kill you.” Jesus said to them: “Only he stumbles and falls who walks in the darkness; if a person walks in the daytime, when there is light, then such a person doesn’t stumble. He who lives in the light of God's will, doing what God wants, he cannot make mistakes. Such a person cannot fear anything. Let’s go to Jerusalem.” And they got ready and went. (John 12, 47-57, 7-10)
Questions:
1) What were scribes and Pharisees concerned about?
2) What did Caiaphas say?
3) What have the Chief priests decided?
4) What did the disciples say to Jesus?
5) What did he tell them?
From : Wikisource.org.
Chronology :
November 30, 1907 : Chapter 40 -- Publication.
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