Plotting to Kill Him
TRANSLATION
(45) Therefore, many of the Jews who came with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him, (46) but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. (47) So the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and asked, “What should we do, for this man is performing many signs. (48) If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (49) Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! (50) You don’t understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.” (51) Now he did not say this on his own, but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation (52) and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. (53) So from that day on they plotted to put him to death.
(54) Therefore, Jesus no longer moved publicly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness to a town called Ephraim where he stayed with the disciples. (55) When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up to Jerusalem before the Passover for ceremonial purification. (56) They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple courts, “What do you think? Will Jesus come to the feast or not?” (57) Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had issued orders that, if any knew where he was, they should let them know so that they might arrest him.
OBSERVATIONS
Jesus’ spectacular miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was the precipitating event that galvanized the resolve of the Jewish authorities to put him to death. Again, repetitions help us discern the message of this segment describing the ramifications of Jesus’ having raised Lazarus from the dead. In each of the first three verses we find similar phrases: “what he did” (vs. 45), “what Jesus had done” (vs. 46), and “what are we to do” (vs. 47). Words referring to those opposed to Jesus included “Jews” (found three times in vss. 45, 54, & 55), “Pharisees” (also three times in vss. 46, 47, & 57), “chief priests (vss. 47 & 57), and “high priest that year” (vss. 49 & 51). “Believe in him” occurred twice (vss. 45 & 48) while “die for the people/nation” also occurred twice (vss. 50 & 51). “Nation” was used twice more (vss. 50 & 52), “death” is found once more (vs. 53), and “Passover” occurred twice (vs. 55) along with “feast” (vs. 56).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus’ enemies discussed what to do about his raising Lazarus from the dead. (45-48)
II. Caiaphas, the high priest, unknowingly prophesied that Jesus would have to die. (49-53)
III. Jesus withdrew from public ministry while many wondered if he would appear at Passover. (54-57)
IDEA STATEMENT
After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jewish leaders realized that the only way they could hold on to their authority was for him to die.
APPLICATION
John summarized the thinking of the Jewish leadership in one brief statement: “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” Caiaphas’ insulting retort to the council, gathered to discuss what to do about Jesus, would ironically turn out to be an accurate prophecy describing the significance of the death they were plotting. With his words, “that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish” (vs. 50), he unwittingly described one of the chief reasons for the incarnation. Little did he or any of his fellow members on the council realize that by executing Jesus they would be fulfilling God’s will that his Son’s death should become the atoning sacrifice for all who put their faith in him.