Our Lord’s action in clearing the traders and their animals from the Temple courtyard had been the signal for another meeting in Caiaphas’ house.  Previously Jesus had challenged the authority of the high priest’s party; now he had openly attacked the profiteering which was the source of their wealth and power, and the time had come for immediate action.  Caiaphas was not the first man, nor the last, whose most sensitive point was his pocket.

What was now necessary was to find an opportunity to arrest Our Lord in some lonely and unfrequented spot, unprotected by the patriotic Galileans who had escorted him into the city on Palm Sunday.  The visit of Judas Iscariot on the Wednesday in Holy Week was for Caiaphas a most unexpected stroke of good fortune, for he now actually had a spy among Our Lord’s closest friends and followers.  And so Jesus was betrayed and arrested.  And at last Caiaphas had him in his power.