At the event of Lazarus being raised from the dead after 4 days, many believed in Jesus.
However, some of them did not, and must have feared or agreed with the religious leaders enough to go and report the incident to them. Maybe they believed, but it was a shallow, practical, cultural faith that feared men over God.
The group of chief priests and Pharisees met to debate what to do next with this upstart. He has been doing the kind of signs the expected Messiah would do. What are we doing with him? If we let him continue, everyone will end up believing in him. Then what! The Romans will hear about our growing kingdom and come to take it all away from us!
Their real problem: we’ll lose control.
The debate came to an end when Caiaphas, the high priest said to them,” You don’t know anything.” Caiaphas had all the answers. He would eventually reign as high priest for 18 years. A pretty good run for an annual appointment. He was good at holding onto power.
It was best to throw Jesus under the bus, then to disturb the system of power and control. Forget signs and miracles, and the philosophies of religious ideals they represent. Jesus is rocking our boat and he needs to die. It’s better him, than all of us.
To prove his point, Caiaphas reminded them of a prophecy he made earlier in the year.
wait., a crooked leader like Caiaphas prophesied?
No doubt he wanted Jesus dead. No doubt he made proclamations against Jesus and his followers
His prophecy:
and not for the nation only,
but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
John 11:52 NASB
Previously, Jesus claimed he would go where they could not come. Was this just Caiaphas making an educated guess on what was meant? The religious leaders had earlier debated on whether Jesus might either kill himself or go teach the scattered Jews. Whether Caiaphas made a real prophecy or ean ducated guess, he was partly correct. Jesus would soon die, but on God’s terms, not men’s.
Regardless of the legitimacy of the prophecy, the Jews set out to make it happen. Because of the hostility, Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem. He kept his distance in Ephraim. There wasn’t anything likely to draw him out, except obedience to the law.
The Passover of the Jews was near, and all adult males were required to worship in Jerusalem. Would Jesus make an appearance with tensions stirred up so high? Nobody would blame him. if he chose to miss this one, that would make Jesus a lawbreaker.
As his public ministry draws to a close, people were watching for Jesus, and not for any good.
Thanks to the recorded comments from J Vernon McGee. His ministry and daily bible study live on through Through the Bible Ministries (ttb.org)
Scriptures in the show notes and episode are quoted from the King James Version, except when read by Keith, then it’s the NASB.
“Scripture is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”
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