Caiaphas’ Prophecy

By: Chris Johnson

When reading through the Easter story in the Gospel of John, there’s always one passage that stops me in my tracks.

It’s found in John 11:45-53; after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.”

The response of the Jewish leadership was to gather a council. If this happened in our day, our talk shows and podcasters would denounce this kind of gathering as the kind that happens in a “smoke-filled room.”

In other words, this was, in fact not theory, the beginning of a conspiracy. The Jewish leaders’ concerns were political.

Shortly after Christ was born, Rome had dealt violently with a tax-revolt among the Jews which still left resentment in the population. The Jewish faith also had a unique understanding with Rome that they would not be required to worship the gods of the empire or the emperor, as the Jewish faith was monotheistic. Israel had a shaky relationship with the empire.

Meanwhile, Jesus was winning the hearts and minds of the people with his messages and miracles – signs of His Divinity.

Rome also doubtless was aware that Israel was awaiting a messiah whom they believed would lead them to a political golden age of dominance over, not just the region, but the world. Those kinds of ambitions are dangerous to a colonizing government.

“If we let him go on like this,” the Jewish council said, “everyone will believe in him.” It was not just that they were jealous of the attention Jesus was getting, they were afraid that if Jesus was recognized by the people of Israel as their expected messiah the people would revolt and, “the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation…”

They had legitimate concerns. Within 40 years of the events of that secret council, Rome would do just that, decimating the city of Jerusalem and leaving “not one stone left upon another,” as they burned even the temple and scraped the gold from between the blocks.

But Caiaphas, the high priest, had a solution.

“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.”

It’s not just that Jesus said offensive things to the Jewish leaders and threatened their power. It’s not just that they were jealous and wanted him dead. They knew they were sacrificing Him. And remember, all of this was in reaction to Christ’s raising of Lazarus. They saw the signs that showed that Jesus was no ordinary man, yet they ignored the obvious signs Christ was revealing His divinity, fearing man more than they feared God.

Jesus Himself prophesied about this in His parable of the vineyard owner found in Matthew 21:33-43, “When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

What’s remarkable about this parable is that the tenants, the Jewish leaders, recognized the heir for who He was and they killed Him anyway.

Going back to High Priest Caiaphas’ plan to sacrifice Jesus to the Romans, we come to the most shocking line in the passage. Caiaphas having said that it would be better for Jesus to die for Israel than that all of Israel perish, John tells us, “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.”

There is an ongoing debate about who is responsible for the death of Christ, and the answer has many layers. Some want to blame the Jews – citing the crowd’s cries of “crucify Him!” as Pontius Pilate debated how to deal with this wildly popular Rabbi whom the Jewish leaders hated. Others blame the Romans for executing a Man they knew to be innocent.

Of course, we know as the Getty’s hymn, In Christ Alone, states so poetically, “it was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished.” And we know that Christ gave Himself up willingly, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth… He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people… (Isa. 53:7-8)

The Jewish leaders of the day are certainly guilty of their conspiracy to sacrifice an innocent Man to appease the Romans. Pilate is certainly guilty of executing an innocent Man to appease the Jews. And it is all of us who are guilty of committing the sins that made Christ’s sacrifice necessary to appease a Holy and perfectly Just God.

But it was God who sent His Son to die for the sins of His people. God told Caiaphas that Jesus must die “for the nation” and “also to gather into one the Children of God.”

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Rom. 5:19b)

Thank God for His plan of redemption, His sovereignty which carried it through, and His sacrifice of His Son for the sins of His people.

 

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