Survival
In John’s gospel the moment the Jewish authorities decided they need to kill Jesus comes after the raising of Lazarus1. The reason for this course of action is that Jesus’ action caused many Jews who witnessed it to believe in him. Who wouldn’t? Raising someone from the dead is a miracle many would find hard to ignore. It is the growing popularity of Jesus that worries the Pharisees and causes them to call a meeting of the Sanhedrin2.
The council’s major concern is this: if people continue to believe in Jesus, the Romans will eventually come and take away their temple and nation. It may seem like a leap to get from some Jews believing in Jesus to the loss of a nation but in the political climate it was a real fear for the self-appointed leaders of the Jewish people.
Although Jerusalem was an occupied city the Jews had some freedom and were allowed to get on with life as long as it didn’t interfere with Roman rule. Yes, the Jews wanted to be free, but for the leaders some freedom was better than none and Jesus was putting this at risk.
The fear these leaders had was that if the Roman authorities caught word that there was a Jewish man claiming to be a Messiah or King it would lead to a sudden clamp down. Some of these leaders would still remember what happened when another Galilean named Judas3 rose up against the Romans and was defeated and had 2000 of his followers crucified.
This was too much of a risk – self-preservation kicked in and clouded their minds. Any thought that Jesus may be the Messiah quickly fled their minds in favour of making sure they survived with what they had.
One for the Many
The chief priest now enters the scene and offers his verdict on the situation. ‘It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ These words contain a double meaning. For Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders it is the way in which they see salvation for themselves and their way of life. For Christians throughout the years it is a phrase that lends itself to the idea that Jesus died as a substitute for others.
John goes on to add weight to these words. This is not something Caiaphas spoke on his own but that his utterance was a word of prophecy. Jesus did die so that not just the Jewish nation would be saved but that all nations would be saved through God’s covenant promise.
Unfortunately for Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders, Jesus’ death did not save them in the long term. By 70AD the Romans had ransacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and killed thousands upon thousands of Jews. As was predicted by the Pharisees at the beginning of this section, they lost everything, both their nation and temple
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
As Jesus is arrested and brought to trial we are reminded of these fateful words of Caiaphas. The mob take Jesus to Annas, who is Caiaphas’ father-in-law to be tried. From Annas Jesus is sent to face the man himself who in turn brings hims to Pilate.
There is a question in all of this that needs to be looked at. Why did the Jews not execute Jesus according to their law? In Acts they stone Stephen4, Herod executes numerous people from John the Baptist to children5. Why did the Jews not stone Jesus instead of handing him over to be crucified?
The exact answer may never be known but we can offer some suggestions from what we know. There is some evidence that the Jewish leadership could not execute people. Herod as Rome’s puppet leader may have had some privilege to carry out this task and stoning occurred on occasions, often when mob rule took over. This was often ignored if there was no further unrest following the execution.
It may also be that by handing Jesus over to the Romans to be killed offered Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders the best possible result. By giving Jesus to Pilate they appeal to his ego and look like the good guys by giving an enemy of Rome over to him. By allowing Jesus to be crucified they also condemn him to the worst death possible and in their eyes quash any followers from spreading his message or believing in him.
Questions
- Prophesy often comes from unusual people. Who may be a prophet in our world today?
- Can the church learn anything from the Jewish leaders attempts to protect itself from what God was doing in Jesus?
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