for fear of the Jews (...) Who gave Jesus away? Jews.
*sighs*Somehow they forget to mention that Jesus was a Jew himself (and a religious one at that!), as well as Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and the apostles. Most of the disciples at the beginning were Jews and they were preaching originally to the Jews.
What the disciples were hiding from and were afraid of was the Sanhedrin - the body governing
insitutionalised religion that tried to force its laws upon people. Somehow we don't hear
this preached too often in churches. Imagine a parish priest saying: "beware of institutionalised religion, beware of modern Sanhedrin which - being corrupted itself - puts heavy weight upon people and tries to control them; beware of the pharisees - outwardly religious, openly practising, but with devil in their hearts!". Yeah, I'd like to hear that! :)