Matthew 26:5

But they said, Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people.

Matthew purposely places the two events side by side: Jesus, out in Bethany, solemnly declaring that He is being delivered to be crucified; the chief priests together with the chief council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, meeting, not in the usual place, which was in a hall called Gazith, or House of the Polished Stones, on the south side of the Temple-space, next to the Court of Israel, but in the open court in the center of the high priest's palace, where there was less danger of eavesdroppers. Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Hannas, or Annas, the former high priest, held the office that year, John 11:49, according to the arrangement instituted by the Romans, by which the appointment was made by the year, instead of for life, as formerly. As they came together in a stealthy manner, so their discussions harmonized with their intentions, which were to take Jesus by cunning or craft, with the final object, as the evangelist bluntly puts it, not of convicting Him by due process of law, but of killing Him. Only one scruple they voiced, namely, that the actual arrest should not be done at the feast, especially not on the day of the Passover meal, lest an uproar or tumult of the people arise, that might rapidly assume such proportions as to be beyond the control of the authorities. It was all a matter of expediency, of policy, of politics, with them; they were a merciless band of murderers. It was very difficult to say which way the whim of the many thousands of pilgrims might sway them at the crucial moment, whether on the side of their religious leaders or on the side of the Prophet of Nazareth. Therefore crafty care was demanded.