46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
Dig Deeper
Not too long ago, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks made a world war II movie together called "Saving Private Ryan." The movie was a realistic but fictional account of a young private whose four brothers had all been killed in action. Wanting to avoid a situation where a mother lost all of her sons in one brief time in one war, the American military decided to send in a small team of soldiers to extract Mrs. Ryan’s one surviving son. In the end, a majority of the band of soldiers that were ordered deep into the battle fray to find Private Ryan died, although they did manage to save him. The question that Private Ryan was left with, even as a very old man returning to the graves of those who died trying to save him, was did their sacrifice matter? Was it worth it for all of those men to die to save his life? This scenario made for a compelling movie but it really demonstrates a rather unique way of thinking in the large span of history across the globe. Americans have developed a very individualistic attitude, where the rights and survival of the individual can easily be seen as more important than the rights and even the well-being of the collective. It is only in a society like this that it would be even conceivable to risk the lives of many soldiers in the middle of a war so that the life of one man could be saved.
This just was not the standard way of thinking in Jesus’ day, nor throughout most of the world through the annals of history. The good of the many far outweighed the good of the individual in the Jewish society of Jesus’ day. Individual rights were not really a consideration where they might run counter to the collective good. You just would not find a situation in that day in which the lives of many soldiers would be sent into battle somewhere in order to try to save one person. It would make no sense to them. Their normal assumptions would have been quite the opposite, in fact. It would be far better for one person to die if it meant it would be for the benefit of they many. Why should a whole nation of people, or even a group of people be at risk when the situation could seemingly be solved by one person dying? This mentality runs deep in the thinking and actions of the Sanhedrin in this scene. Perhaps surprisingly though, it also holds sway with John as he writes his Gospel and reflects on Jesus’ death years after it took place. They both believe that the one should die for the many, but for very different purposes with very different results.
Jesus’ raising of Lazarus drew the belief out of some, but others rejected him and would not believe. Those who refused to believe in him ran back to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. It can really be amazing sometimes when humans have already made up their mind about something. Regardless of what they might see or here, some had already decided that Jesus could not be the truth and they were simply not going to believe even when they saw a man raised from the dead (cf. Luke 16:31). The chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin, but the text does not tell us whether it was an official or unofficial meeting. Historians are split on whether it was official or unofficial but if it was an official meeting, it would explain some things. If this was an official meeting, which seems likely, then this was the real trial of Jesus. In The Gospel According to John (NICNT), Leon Morris says, "By Jewish law in capital cases a verdict of guilty could not be given on the same day as the trial, nor could it be given without the presence of the defendant. That is apparently why John says so little about the Jewish trial after Jesus was arrested; on this view the trial had already been held and all that remained after the arrest was to deliver sentence. It agrees with this that Mark says that when the high priests and others gathered they did not speak of conducting a trial but of putting Jesus to death."
It is, ironically enough the Sanhedrin themselves who draw the major distinction between themselves and Jesus. They are standing around, criticizing, plotting, and the like but are accomplishing nothing. In contrast, Jesus is going around performing many miraculous signs all over the place. They sum it up precisely correctly. They have done nothing, but he is doing things that are obvious whether they accept them or not. In fact they as much as acknowledge here that Jesus has performed miracles but they have rejected faith in him as a possibility, so the miracles simply serve as a reason for deeper opposition.
The Sanhedrin not only point out the difference in action between them and Jesus, they also state the real reason for their concern. It’s not that they are truly worried about any blasphemous statements Jesus has made. He is becoming too popular with the masses and if word of something like this gets out, they believe, in a somewhat hyperbolic statement, that everyone will believe in him. Verse 48 is the only time in all of the Gospels that the word "Romans" is mentioned. The Romans are the just-under-the-surface cause of much of the tension and anxiety from the perspective of the Jewish leadership. They would ideally like to be completely free of any foreign rule and they believed that the Messiah would accomplish that. But even the partial freedom and rule that they had under the iron fist of Rome was better than annihilation. If Jesus kept going around doing more and more miracles and gaining more followers, eventually they feared, Rome would hear of it and come and crush Israel and destroy the Temple, their holy place. They clearly rejected Jesus as the true Messiah and saw the only possible outcome of his activity as utter destruction.
It was not uncommon, in the Jewish worldview to believe that the high priest, when he spoke in his official capacity, could speak words of prophecy. John tells us that Caiaphas, who was the high priest from 18-36 AD which included this fateful year of events, did just that. The only curious thing is that God used him to utter words of profound prophecy and he didn’t even know it. Caiaphas is angry that some utter their belief that they are accomplishing nothing and if things continue on their present course, Rome will destroy Jerusalem. That would be a case of the many dying for the actions of the one, which is unacceptable. Instead says Caiaphas, the one will die for the many. The one man will die for the people rather than that the whole nation perish. John agrees with his assessment, his prophecy, but in a very different way than Caiaphas could possibly have imagined. The irony that John expects us as his readers to perceive is that Jesus will die for the many but it won’t be to save Israel from the Roman army (a fate that Jesus wished to steer his countrymen away from but because they would not turn from their ways and follow him, it was an outcome that would take place not even forty years after Jesus’ death), it will be to save the world, both Jew and Gentile alike, from sin death. While Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin cling tightly to the old creation and their power structure, doing everything in their power to preserve it and save their own lives, Jesus will willingly give up his life and usher in the new creation whereby all might be saved. The contrast is clear. Jesus declared that "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it" (Mark 8:35). In trying to save their life, the Jews would lose it, but in willingly losing his life, Jesus would save his and make that salvation available to the whole world.
In the eyes of the high priest and the Sanhedrin, the die had been cast. Jesus must and would die, now it was simply a matter of when. John has not yet told us that Jesus’ time had come, but we get the sense that it is coming very soon. Although it is soon, the time is not yet, so Jesus stays out of the public eye, withdrawing to a village called Ephraim, a place that was probably about fifteen miles from Jerusalem.
In verse 55, John gives us the final clue that Jesus’ hour is drawing precariously closer. Throughout the Gospel, he has pointed out the time of Passover and shown how the meaning of Passover pointed to Jesus himself, the "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). There were many who are looking for Jesus and hope that perhaps he will come to Jerusalem during the Passover. Jesus wouldn’t miss the Passover would he? Does he fear for his own life so much that he will avoid it altogether? John has done enough to this point to show us that everything is coming together. The true Passover Lamb is going to make his way to Jerusalem and begin the greatest Exodus out of slavery in the history of the world. An Exodus that Moses’ Exodus could only foreshadow and point to. This Passover will be the ultimate fulfillment of the first Passover. Yet, not everyone wanted that or was waiting for Jesus in hopeful expectation. The chief priests and the Pharisees have made up their mind. Jesus will be arrested on sight and killed. Little do they know that they will be the priests who will slaughter the very Lamb of God during Passover.
Devotional Thought
Rather than thinking big picture, let’s take some time to break things down to a practical daily level. Jesus’ message throughout his life, both in word and deed, was that one must lay down their life in willing to truly find life. Do you do this on a daily basis? Do you put the interests of others ahead of your own or are you constantly out to preserve your own life and interests? Take a look at your own life and look at the small things. Do you lay down your life for those around you in the small little things everyday?
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