Placate the high priest with a few weasel words, slip on out of there, and keep doing what you're doing.
If he did that, sooner or later they'd arrest him again, and probably be even more pissed at him for making them waste time. Placating the priest can only work once, then you have to either give up for good or stand your ground. So, I don't think it was particularly stupid of him to defy the high priest, he just anticipated the inevitable.