I Appeal To Caesar!

Two male servants rush in bearing assorted fruits, nuts, cakes, meat, and wine on ornate platters, then make their hasty exit. As Joe, Mike, and Zeke devour the delicacies (keeping their eyes on the High Priest), Caiaphas can wait no longer. He begins his discourse.

“I asked you here tonight as trusted friends. Excuse my haste and forwardness, but we have an urgent situation!

“I need your advice and cooperation in solving what is perhaps the most serious situation that Jerusalem has ever faced.” ( Ah, the three rats now smell cheese! ) “Fortunately, after much reflection,” Caiaphas humbly admits, head lowered with hand on glorious beard and breast (this seems to be the habit of High Priests), “a daring solution has come to me that will restore Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Faith we all love so much.” Drawing closer to them, he asks with feigned humility, “I would be honored to have you join in this venture.” (Silently their minds as one say: “ Well, boss, what’s in it for us?”) “The problem is obvious,” he continues with a genuine sincerity. “The followers of Jesus have filled our synagogues and country with their message, creating a crisis that is serious and threatening; the estimate is that some thirty thousand or more Jews in the Jerusalem area now believe that Jesus is the expected Messiah, but they all continue to worship at the Temple and in the synagogues!