JOHN 11
John 11:45-53 (NIV)
"Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life".
After Lazarus's resurrection, "many... believed in" Jesus, but certainly not all. Some saw and reported the event as an act worthy of suspicion and maybe condemnation.
As John describes it, the problem for those who rejected Jesus wasn't that they disbelieved the miracles; the problem was that their view of reality included fears, desires, and obstacles they assumed were somehow greater than someone's ability to work miracles. The perspective of the negative conclusion in John 11:47-48 states the issue exactly and gets the conclusion exactly wrong: "Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing? they asked. Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation" (NIV). They feared for their "temple" (their place of distinction) and their "nation".
John provides us with Caiaphas's pronouncement and then highlights the stunning hidden prophecy it stated. The high priest was acting as a practical power broker, equating one man's life with beneficial collateral damage. He did not realise that he was verbalising the very decision God had made regarding the fate of humanity. The prophetic irony in Caiaphas's statement makes the case for substitutionary sacrifice -- it really was better in God's grand plan that Jesus's solitary, innocent, willing death would spare Israel and God's scattered children from destruction and unite them as one corporate body in Christ. We were included in the high priest's prophecy. The evil plot against Jesus turned out to accomplish part of God's plan for our salvation.
Getting Personal
- What practices have you found most beneficial in staying awake an alert to the wonders of a God-centered life?
- How does talking about Jesus with others affect your sense of intimacy with God?
"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God". John 1:11–12, NIV
Prayer
Lord our God, we thank you for allowing us to be called your children. We thank you for giving us the power to become more truly your children, so that there may be a witness to your name on earth, so that again and again in the name of Jesus Christ new power may come for body and soul, for the happy and unhappy, for all who are still following false paths, for all who suffer so much grief, fear, and need. We thank you and we praise your name. Help us on our way. Help us weak people who often grow anxious and afraid. Help us in everything. Help us especially in the concern we have deepest in our hearts, that your name may be honored, your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as in heaven. In Jesus Name. Amen.
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