Augustus appointed himself as the chief priest – or Pontifex Maximus – and used the appearance of Halley’s Comet to claim that he was, himself, the son of a god.

Because of his popularity, they could not arrest Jesus openly when he was surrounded by crowds of people. The chief priests sent an armed crowd to arrest Jesus. They were obviously expecting ...

The on-going conflict with the religious leaders leads to this point. Jesus’ enemies, the chief priests and the elders, met in secret in the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, to make plans to ...