Skip to main content

Conspiracies and Traps

           Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
         “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”  
           Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!  You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
          He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life. (John 11:45-53)

          Some people like to make it sound like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the other Jewish officials were nothing but patriarchal megalomaniacs who wanted nothing else but to increase their own personal power. Today’s passage suggests that it wasn’t that simple. It was their job to discern whether someone was telling the truth or not. The Jews were to punish the one who told lies, especially about something as important as being the Messiah. God clearly told them to kill those who tried to direct them away from God. Jesus wasn’t doing what they thought the Messiah was supposed to and seemed to them to be rejecting the Law.  
         But, wait, there’s more. There’s another actor in this play, by the name of Rome and he was a bully of the first magnitude. Rome destroyed nations that caused them trouble, and Israel was already a burr under Rome’s saddle. They weren’t politically correct. They didn’t worship the right gods, or the right people. The Messiah had to overthrow Rome, or Jerusalem would be destroyed (as it was in 70 AD.) And Jesus  isn’t showing any indication that He would, or could, overthrow Rome.
          There were two problems with doing what was religiously and politically necessary. The people who thought Jesus was cool even if He wasn’t the Messiah (But if He wasn’t, what more could the Messiah do?) and Rome, which exercised authority over everything. Jerusalem couldn’t start acting like Rome, that would make Rome nervous. So the occasional “spur of the moment” attempts to kill Jesus turned cold-blooded, premeditated, and conspiratorial. They were doing what was best for everyone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more