“Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! You don’t realise that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.”
John 11:49-52 NLT
The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin were severely rattled and gripped with fear. They genuinely, but mistakenly, believed that Jesus was a threat to the stability of the Jewish state of Israel. They knew that if a revolution or an uprising started and was unsuccessful, which recent ones had been, then the Romans would brutally suppress the people, with no respect for status, age or gender. The Israelite history was full of horror stories of atrocities by occupying forces, and exiling the Jews to a foreign land was not out of the question again.
The High Priest, the senior man in the assembly, was called Caiaphas and he made what was to become a prophetic statement, though not for the reason he expected. His thinking was that if they arranged for the death of Jesus then the threat of rebellion and Roman reprisals would go away. But little did he know that his words would come true and would not only lead to the salvation of Israel and the Jews, but also to the whole world. As in all good political and religious assemblies, there was a cross section of opinion, and Caiaphas was a Sadducee, of the group that held the majority of seats in the Sanhedrin. They went out of their way to appease the Roman occupiers, caring more for their business interests then they did for anything else. Jesus was constantly at loggerheads with them, because the Sadducees didn’t believe in Heaven and anything like life after death. How they explained away the miracles that Jesus performed in the name of His Father in Heaven would have been interesting to hear. But they really were sad people because they had no hope for the future after death.
John, the writer of the Gospel with his name, added a few words concluding that Jesus would indeed die for the nation of Israel, and consequently for people everywhere, bringing those who believed in Jesus together in unity of faith. He obviously had the benefit of hindsight.
We pilgrims are indeed a part of a huge number of people scattered all over the world, and who share the common faith that Jesus was, and is, the Son of God, and that He came to this world to redeem mankind from their sins. Instead of leaving us to face the punishment one day for the consequences of our sins, Jesus Himself took them on, and in return He gave us His righteousness, so that we could stand before God, forgiven and accepted. Sadly, there are those in the world who claim to be Christians, as the Sadducees claimed to be Jews, but who reject the message of their faith. There are also those who claim to be “Post-Christians”, those who claim those parts of the principles of Christianity that they like, but who reject the Source of them. To those people we echo Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ”.
With or without Caiaphas’ prophecy, Jesus died for our sins and for mankind in general, past, present and future. What an amazing Saviour!
Dear Father God. How can we express our gratitude? We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 