47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the high council. They said, “What should we do? This man is doing many miraculous signs. 48 If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our Temple and our nation.” 49 One of the men there was Caiaphas. He was the high priest that year. He said, “You people know nothing! 50 It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. But you don’t realize this.”
51 Caiaphas did not think of this himself. As that year’s high priest, he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish people. 52 Yes, he would die for the Jewish people. But he would also die for God’s other children scattered all over the world. He would die to bring them all together and make them one people.
53 That day the Jewish leaders began planning to kill Jesus.
Introduction
The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead caused an instant panic among the religious leaders concerning Jesus Christ. In their minds the miracle was not as important as was the possibility that a change may come and they would indeed have to relinquish the lofty positions they enjoyed so much. The Pharisees and the other religious leaders loved their position of privilege; they enjoyed their celebrity status. They were overly concerned about appearances and looking like big shots in the eyes of men. And you do know what a big shot is do you? He’s little shot from out of town. They were deftly afraid that Jesus was coming around to destroy their glory and so something had to be done.
They were jealous of Jesus, there’s a slight difference between jealousy and envy. They weren’t envious of Jesus because envy occurs when you want something that someone else has. And they really didn’t want what Jesus had—they were jealous of Jesus, because jealousy occurs when you fear the loss something you already have. Jealousy brings with it paranoia, insecurity, and fear. They were afraid that Jesus was about to take away their good thing.
And so here in the text, these jealous religious leaders were absolutely stunned at what just happened. They followed Jesus around and scrutinized everything He did or said but now to them He has gone too far, He actually brought a man who was dead back to life, Lazarus was not just dead—he was plumb dead. He lied in his tomb for four long days, and for sure rigor mortis had set in, all Jesus had to do is call out his name, “Lazarus, come forth” and there he was alive again.
The religious leaders tried desperately to discredit Jesus but this time they had to call a special meeting and the topic of the day was what should we do now? How were they going to explain away this miracle? Every one knew that Lazarus was dead—it was verified and certified that Lazarus was dead. There was a funeral for him, he was placed deep within a tomb but now he’s alive! They were always angry with Jesus but this time they were really angry. So angry in fact until they wanted to kill Him—Jesus in bringing life to someone who was dead causes the plot to kill him but little did they know that the very plot they conjured up to kill Him will bring about eternal life. And more close to home I might add their plot to kill Him will bring about eternal life for you and I.
The Chief Priests and Pharisees called together the Council, or "Sanhedrin." This strange group consisted of the Pharisee, the Sadducees, the Elders, and Caiaphas the High Priest. They didn’t question the signs and miracles of Jesus in particular because they were much more concerned about the huge following Jesus had. Jesus was a great to them He threatened their security, popularity, prestige and income. In short, they were all basket cases when it came to change, after all the enjoyed their status in the community and they were quite protective of it—change of any kind was greatly frowned upon by them and so they wanted to know what should they do now about Jesus?
1. They Had A Selfish Fear
These men were very selfish and selfish people are weak people, they are haunted day and night by the fear of losing of control of something. Selfishness is putting your goals, priorities and needs first before others and rather than living in a world with people, selfish people usually want all the people around them to live in their world. It seems as if selfishness is always derived from fear, for example, a robber is often willing to kill an innocent person for the money they have for fear of him being poor. A rapist makes sexual pleasure a priority for fear of being bored or even unwanted.
A company CEO lays off thousands of people for no justifiable reason, for fear of going under and losing luxurious lifestyle, etc. Fear always seems to be the motivating factor when it comes to selfishness. Selfish people constantly worry about what will happen tomorrow if I should not deal with this today? However, Matthew 6:31-32 gives us a great example of how we should live. “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” At this meeting of the religious Supreme Court the emphasis was on what should they do right now about this miracle worker named Jesus?
What should they do about this man who has come along in order to change some things? He comes along demanding no less that a man or woman should deny their selves?
They of all people were not willing to do something such as that! It was blasphemy to them that they should all of sudden turn around and live a life of total sacrifice. And if anyone else would live a life of total sacrifice, the sacrifice should be given to them because of who they were and how important they were in the Jewish community. Why—they were a part of the Sanhedrin for goodness sakes! And here comes this Jesus, who calls Himself the Messiah trying to drastically change our comfortable way of living is the thought that might have been prevalent on their mind that day—what should we do now?
2. They Should Have Rejoiced
For sure, instead of harboring a selfish fear they should have rejoiced that Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead. I often wondered why is it so hard for some of us to rejoice when God blesses others? Most of the time people will ask within them selves, why didn’t He bless me like that? Why didn’t He give me a nice a house? Why did He answer their prayers and not mine? Why did He allow her to receive a promotion when everyone knows I was much better qualified?
Cain couldn’t stand it when God blessed Abel. Saul gritted his teeth when the people shouted, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” When the Pharisees heard the people praise Jesus, he became enraged. However when John the Baptist saw the crowds pour over Jesus he immediately said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” But not so with this strange group of men, if I were to compare these men with Hitler and his Nazis, today’s Ku Klux Klan, or the Al Queda terrorist, I’d say that they were worst of all because they literally plotted to kill none other than the Savior of the world simply because He went around doing good. They should have been praising Jesus right along with the people—they should have rejoiced when Jesus healed someone.
When Jesus cured the man with the withered hand instead rejoicing Marks says, “…the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” Matthew said, “But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the temple courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.” Instead of joining in with those singing praises to Jesus in the temple court—they became angry. They became angry when they should have been rejoicing but jealousy got in the way. Instead of rejoicing and acknowledging that Jesus was indeed the Son of God they decided to conduct a meeting because someone wanted to know what should we do now?
3. They Had The Wrong Solution
In this meeting was there was in attendance a very important official named Caiaphas. In fact, next to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, Caiaphas was the most powerful dignitary in Judea. Caiaphas was a vicious enemy of Jesus, and in this meeting of the religionist the fear was expressed that if Jesus was simply ignored the people might be swept away by His magnetism, and that could bring the Romans down upon them. And so it was Caiaphas who suggested that there was a simple solution —put Him to death.
He even said that doing so would be for the good of the people, for the good of Israel. He said, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." This was the solution offered by Caiaphas; this was the answer to their question as to what they should do now about Jesus. They tried to do away with Jesus and the world is still trying to do away with Him. Jesus reminds us in the 15th chapter of John, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you…” when Jesus speaks of the ‘world’ in the particular scripture He is speaking of the unbeliever, the unredeemed, the lost, those who never trusted Him as Lord and Savior. He says that hated Him first, and as a result the world hates those of us who love and follow Him.
It is impossible for a true believer to be above his/her Master and Lord, if our Master and Lord suffered persecution so shall we. They hated Jesus so much they decided to do away with Him believing that this would solve their problem. Caiaphas, the High Priest, was the very person who should have been leading people to Jesus, was the very person who suggested that He must die. We know the rest of the story; He was betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter, taken from one judgment court to another. He was given a mockery of trial; Pontius Pilate ceremoniously washed the blood of his hands, the crowd rejected Him and accepted a malcontent named Barabbas instead.
Conclusion
One thing that they didn’t count is the fact that you can’t keep a good man down. And they sure didn’t count on the fact that God was watching from above and that they were unknowing participants in God’s plan for our salvation through Jesus Christ. Their answer to what they should do with Jesus fail flat, but what is our answer to this very same question? What should we do now if there are those of us who have not fully accepted Him into our lives?
Well let me ask you this, If you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, why not? Is it because you are afraid of ridicule and what others will say about you? Well then the Word of God says, “"For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels."—Luke 9: 26, is it because you are not willing to give up all for Jesus Christ? Again the Word says, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"—Mark 8: 36, maybe it is because you are afraid Jesus will not accept you? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”—John 3: 16
Many of us believe that we can accept the pleasures and thrills that the world offers, and they indeed are many, but Proverbs 27: 1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” How many people do you know who said tomorrow I will do this or tomorrow I will do that but never got a chance to see tomorrow. One of the most scariest verses in the New Testament is John 8: 24, “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.” How many sins did Jesus Christ pay for you? Think about it this way: suppose you thought you were really, really good and only sinned three times a day, that would still be over a thousand sins a year.
Now multiply a thousand times your age. That is still a pretty heavy load. And that’s if you think you’re really good. Do remember, it only takes one sin to sin your soul into death and hell. All of your unkind thoughts, lustful imaginations, selfish acts, the things you did but shouldn’t do, the things you didn’t do but should’ve done, these are all sins. The rulers wanted to know what should they do with Jesus now and they decided upon the wrong solution. They will have to stand before God and explain their actions, the will have to explain why they wanted to kill His Son. I wonder what will they say? When you stand before Him and the question is asked why didn’t you accept His Son? What will you say or better yet what could you possibly say? On the other hand this question; ‘what should we do now?’ is a very easy one to answer because many of us have come to the right solution by saying within our heart, “Jesus died for me and so I will live for Him” we owe Jesus our lives because without His sacrifice, we are all dead people walking.
Because of what He did on the cross we can live, eventhough we still make mistakes and we still stray sometimes. We still fall down every once in a while; we have Jesus to lift us up. Although we have our struggles and hardships, with Jesus our burdens are light. If you don’t know Him, it is not too late just pray this prayer: Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to you that I am a sinner, and I am deeply sorry for my sins and the life I have lived; I need your forgiveness.
I believe with all my heart that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood at Calvary’s cross and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin. You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10: 9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved. Thank you Jesus for Your unlimited grace and mercy. And this very day I renounce the work of Satan in my life and ask that You transform my life so that it will bring glory and honor to You and You alone and not myself, in the words of John the Baptist I will decrease so that You shall increase. Thank You Lord Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
This is not an official prayer that you will find in the Bible, it is only a sample prayer because when you do pray you must pray what is actually in your heart. When you pray you must mean exactly what you say because God surely knows what is in your heart. This is what you should do with Jesus now. Amen.
