Joni Holeman
These verses about the Pharisees’ plot to kill Jesus immediately follow His miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Now Jerusalem’s priests knew they were up against a seriously powerful threat to their livelihood and political influence! For seven years High Priest Caiaphas had been working with Pontius Pilate to control the rebellious Jewish population. Many Jews resented this close relationship that Caiaphas maintained with the Roman authorities. High Priests were suspected of taking bribes and using their office to practice other forms of corruption.
So it’s interesting to me that Caiaphas had been publicly prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. I don’t know when he started to make such pronouncements. I wonder, had he been secretly reading the Psalms and other Messianic prophecies from Isaiah, Joel and Micah to determine if this Jesus was really sent from God? Or was Caiaphas worried about the coming Passover festival--how to prevent any political trouble from the thousands of impressionable worshipers who might hear Jesus’ message of love, not law? I hope he wasn’t trying to create a self-fulfilling prophecy just to keep his own power base intact. “So from that day on they (Pharisees) plotted to take His life.” (v53, NIV). By now, the odds were starting to stack against Jesus.
PRAYER: Dear Father, Son and Holy Spirit, If I had been living during Christ’s short life, I hope I would have been on the side of the disciples and not part of the mob who chose to save Barabbas. In my lifetime I am so grateful that your sacrifice redeemed all my sins. Let me keep learning your Word and discerning your purpose for me, so that someday I might hear you call me “Friend.” Amen.
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