So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. (John 11:47-53 ESV)
The other shoe has dropped. From this moment on there is no turning back, neither from Jesus nor from the leaders of Israel. There can be no turning back. Jesus has just performed one of the most amazing miracles of all time–raising a man to life who had been dead four days. This is but the culmination of so many other signs He has performed. The Sanhedrin gathered because they had no other choice. The news of Jesus was spreading too quickly. Something had to be done! It just wouldn’t do to have a troublemaker like Jesus around.
“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Truer words were never said. If Jesus were to keep going on, everyone would believe in Him, and yes, the Jewish system would be overthrown by Rome. And quite sadly, they still apply to us nearly 2000 years down the line. Except that we don’t have the problem of everyone believing in Jesus, since we have figured out as a culture how to get people to ignore Him, despise Him, and otherwise reject Him. The problem is that we don’t let Jesus be Jesus–instead, we want to remake Him into our own image. Jesus is the one who heals, who frees, who gives life–and we want to turn all these things into actions of the human psyche or mere metaphors.
And so we listen well to the counsel of our society which is so offended at the sound of Jesus and His heavy-handed demands to love one another sacrificially. It’s too hard to do, so we explain away Jesus’ words, or present an alternate, more user-friendly Jesus to take the place of this hard one. We’ve come a long way from where people thought of Jesus exclusively as judge in the days of the Reformation, to where few acknowledge that this is what Jesus will do. We make Jesus into a nice guy who simply wanted people to be good to each other, rather than the Son of God. After all, if everyone believed in Jesus, how intolerant of sin the world would be! We’d have to give up all those petty habits and nasty tendencies we hold dear.
A Christian author, Brennan Manning once pointed out, with reference to today’s Gospel, how we so often react to the same situations in our lives: “The choice usually presented to Christians is not between Jesus and Barabbas. No one wants to appear an obvious murderer. The choice to be careful about is between Jesus and Caiaphas. And Caiaphas can fool us. He is a very ‘religious’ man.”(Brennan Manning, “The Ragamuffin Gospel, p. 135)
To this I would like to note that it really is a hard thing to decide between Jesus and Caiaphas. Caiaphas offers so much more–he offers successful programs, a happy group of followers, all the money we could want for carrying out the program, respect from our political leaders, the whole deal, if only we could get Jesus out of the way. Yet when we follow Caiaphas, we wonder why the world isn’t a better place with all our social engineering and experts. We wonder why if we have more leisure time and greater incomes than ever before that we can’t find happiness in the little things in life. And so on.
This world is all about focussing on ourselves, about rebellion against the creator, a world where men would be gods unto themselves. And this is precisely what the Sanhedrin wanted, even if they didn't see it. This is precisely what we want in our inner selves so much of the time. The reality of sin which infects all of us causes us so much strife and agony in this world, and desires to block out this Jesus who would change us from our ways, this Jesus who would transform us from being self-centred, self-righteous beings into people after His own heart. Our world is continually engaged in this battle against Jesus, the battle to keep the Romans happy with us. For instance, many churches are worried that standing up for the truth could mean to lose our tax status–fear of the Romans. Or perhaps we worry that if we stand up for Jesus we could be rejected by our leaders and those who have power and authority in society–fear of the Romans. We worry and complain like the dry bones of Israel in our Old Testament reading who thought all hope was gone for good.
But see how God doesn’t allow our fear of Rome to be the final answer, how even though we, in the weakness of sin, work hard against God’s work and will so often, that God’s will is still done. Caiaphas, the crafty, politically astute leader of the Sanhedrin and chief priest of the Jews, came up with a brilliant plan that he was sure would solve the problem. His idea, and it was a good one, was for Jesus to die in order that the nation would live. His reasoning was pretty solid. Jesus is causing troubles, but it seems to be only Jesus. His followers, although numerous, don’t have the wonder-working power that Jesus has. Therefore, if we get rid of Jesus, he reasoned, we get rid of all the related problems–problem solved.
Caiaphas’ reasoning was wrong, but his idea was right. Jesus would have to die for the nation to live. Jesus would have to die so that the people of God would continue. But how the people of God would continue would have certainly been a surprise to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. Little did Caiaphas realize that instead of forming his own plans, he was acting as a prophet, and helping God’s own plans come along just a little closer to fulfilment. Little did Caiaphas realize that a high priest he was not merely a political functionary, or a Roman appointment, but that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was still very much involved in the life of His people.
And I think that sometimes we need this reminder too. God is still very much involved in the life of His people. He still speaks His Word through the Scriptures to the hearts of men. He still sends His Holy Spirit into the hearts and lives of His followers. He still forgives sins. We often want signs and wonders, we want to see miracles to prove to us that Jesus is who He claims to be, and most of the time all we see is the ordinary and the everyday. Jesus once told some people who wanted a sign that none would be given except the sign of Jonah. Similarly, today, those who look for signs and wonders would do well to look instead to the Word of God, where all the signs and wonders we really need to know have already been recorded.
We can see so clearly traced the history of God’s people, the history of how God has been with His people, leading, molding, guiding, and guarding them from generation to generation. We see so clearly the important details of the story of Jesus–His birth to the Virgin Mary, His baptism in the Jordan River, His three-year ministry with His teaching, preaching, and healing. We see Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, acclaimed as Messiah by the crowds. We see equally large crowds just a few days later calling for His death before Pilate. We see Jesus dying for us, just like Caiaphas wanted, and so often we think that’s it.
Caiaphas has done a good job selling us on his scheme, when all is said and done. So long as we can make Jesus fit into our plans, we don’t have to worry about fitting into His. But God knows the hardness of our hearts, the deep stain of sin inside us, and does not stop showing us mercy and calling us to repentance. As St. Peter once wrote, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God’s patience calls to us this Lenten season, for Jesus has come to be killed, to die that His people should live.
The wonder and glory of the message of Jesus is that in spite of our allegiance with Caiaphas, He loves us and died for us. In spite of our desires to do things our way and make our own choices, the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, makes us holy and keeps us in the one true faith, quite apart from our own desires or efforts. In Baptism God has raised us from the deadness of sin, caused His Spirit of life to enter us, and made us His own living, breathing people. In the Lord’s Supper God repeatedly gives to us His Son’s own body and blood to strengthen and preserve our faith, to give us the strength to go on fighting the old Adam, that ally of Caiaphas, who dwells in all of us. God’s will is still done, even though we may not always see it.
We have a special privilege as Christ’s followers to share the good news of Jesus, who died so that His nation could live, exist, and thrive. We are part of His holy nation by virtue of baptism. We live as members of His kingdom, the royal priesthood of believers, called and chosen so as to make a positive impact on the world around us. We do not do things as though there is something we can contribute to God’s plans, like Caiaphas thought, but rather out of hearts moved by the good news that Jesus has already done it all for us. And in this Lenten season we continue to strive against our Caiaphas-like nature as we look forward to the resurrection of all flesh, that resurrection much better than that of Lazarus. For Lazarus died again in this world, following the way of all flesh. But on that last day, our sin will be gone for good, and our new, regenerate nature will last forever. May this be so for all of us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Last updated February 2008 by the webmaster.