Easter Through The Eyes Of Caiaphas

Today, we launch our 2025 Bible conference, and I hope you’ll make an effort to join us at NRH. The theme is The Faces of Easter. We are looking at the story of one historic weekend from all angles all week. This morning, we look at the cross and resurrection from the perspective of one of the architects of the death of Jesus.

Murder in America is not new for our times. Because of the proliferation of so much crime, we are oftentimes given a behind-the-scenes view of those who committed murder. We see the crime from the point of view of the one who committed the crime in documentaries. Most of you do not know the name of James Holland. Holland is a Texas Ranger who some described as Scotland Yard in a Cowboy Hat. He has previously served on the protective detail of Governor George W. Bush. But he’s better known as the “serial killer whisper.” Why? Because he elicited 93 confessions from serial killer Samuel Little over some 650 hours with the inmate. Holland listened to Little describe how he strangled all these women over 16 months. To make the 79-year-old serial killer comfortable to confess, Holland has talked over grits, Dr. Pepper, and even Braums’ milkshakes while hearing all the grisly details. Families of the victims have praised the Texas Ranger for his work.1

Do you have what it takes to listen to the Point of View of a murder, much less a serial killer? The Bible gives us a POV of Jesus’ murders, a snippet of a preview into what they were thinking. Listen carefully to the voice of Caiaphas, who sought to orchestra the murder of Jesus Himself. And it’s a miracle of all things that pushes them in the direction of killing Jesus.

Find John 11 with me, if you will.

We drop in on a story of Jesus raising a dead man back to life after he lay in his tomb for 4 days. The Bible gives listening ears as if we are eavesdropping on one of Jesus’ murders. Watch for the murderer’s point of view.

Today’s Scripture

“When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, ‘What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.’ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death” (John 11:43-53).

It’s hard to believe that a dead man’s rising would lead religious leaders to orchestrate the murder of Jesus in a mock trial. Put Caiaphas in your crosshairs for the next few minutes with me. If this were a Western movie, Caiaphas wore the black hat in the story of Easter, if you will. If this were a movie, cue the Imperial March, the Darth Vader music.

Now, if you think he’s only someone’s fiction, think again. The Caiaphas ossuary is one of twelve ossuaries or bone boxes, discovered in a burial cave in south Jerusalem in December 1990. The one you’re looking at measures 15 inches high and 30 inches long. It’s limestone, and it reads simply, “Joseph, son of Caiaphas.”2 The evidence suggests the person was a 60-year-old male. It fits the time period because this is how bones were stored around the time of the New Testament. Is this the Caiaphas of our story? We are not sure for sure ?. It doesn’t say anything about the deceased being the high priest. It’s interesting to ponder.

Look at Caiaphas with me and the story of Easter: he’s the villain who thinks he’s the hero.

Sermon Preview

1. Does This Make Sense to You?

2. Dead Men Tell No Tales