Just at this time Judas Iscariot took the first definite step towards the Betrayal.

He visited the chief priest Annas secretly.

He was very roughly received, but that did not disturb him in the least, and he demanded a long private interview.

When he found himself alone with the dry, harsh old man, who looked at him with contempt from beneath his heavy overhanging eyelids, he stated that he was an honourable man who had become one of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth with the sole purpose of exposing the impostor, and handing Him over to the arm of the law.
"But who is this Nazarene ?" asked Annas contemptuously, making as though he heard the name of Jesus for the first time.
Judas on his part pretended to believe in the extraordinary ignorance of the chief priest, and spoke in detail of the preaching of Jesus, of His miracles, of His hatred for the Pharisees and the Temple, of His perpetual infringement of the Law, and eventually of His wish to wrest the power out of the hands of the priesthood, and to set up His own personal kingdom.

And so cleverly did he mingle truth with lies, that Annas looked at him more attentively, and lazily remarked: "There are plenty of impostors and madmen in Judah." "No! He is a dangerous person," Judas hotly contradicted.