The Gospel of John: John 11.49-57

Read and meditate on John 11.50.
Right you are, Caiaphas, but as dead wrong as you could be.

                             ⁵⁰“Nor do you
consider that it is expedient to
our cause that one man for the nation ought
to die, and that the nation all be not
destroyed.”

- John 11.50

Reflect
1.  Caiaphas rendered his judgment concerning the “Jesus situation,” and there’s no degree of slant to it. Jesus must die. What motives were driving this judgment? What did Caiaphas hope to accomplish by this outcome? Complete this prayer: People can be short-sighted when they refuse to hear Your Word, Lord. Help me to remember this always, so that…

2.  Caiaphas said it was expedient for Jesus to die, rather than he and his pals lose their place and nation. What does expedient mean? Caiaphas was looking for the most expedient way of preserving the status quo. Today, many Christian preachers and writers treat the Scriptures with a degree of expediency, bending the meaning of the Bible to suit their preferred ideas or agendas. Can you think of any examples? Let me always hear Your Word clearly, Lord, and guard me against…

3.  In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple, and dispersed the people to distant parts of the Empire. At the level Caiaphas was thinking, his solution to the Jesus problem was effective only in the short-run. In there a lesson here for us? For those who prefer the Lie to the truth that is in Jesus? Your Word is true, Lord, and Jesus is its message. Anything other than that, will be…  

4.  On the other hand, Caiaphas had it exactly right. Explain. Peter offers insight to this situation in Acts 2.22-24. How was God working amid the wicked judgment of a corrupt high priest? Does God still work like this? You are sovereign, Lord, and You do all things well. Therefore I can…

5.  There’s a lesson here about human institutions as well. God ordained the office of high priest. Men – like Caiaphas – corrupted it by using it to advance their self-interest, as they oppressed the people they were appointed to serve. But God honored the institution by putting a true word in the mouth of a corrupt office-bearer. How can this situation guide us in thinking about such institutions as civil government? Bring together into one prayer the prayers you wrote from questions 1-4.

Summary
“Caiaphas makes a true statement, his words being verified not by the perversity of the people but by the power and wisdom of God.… Nevertheless, his language was made to indicate something true, spoken by one in the official position of a prophet. For he proclaims beforehand of what good things the death of the Christ would become the source. He speaks of what he does not understand, glorifying God (as Balaam did) under constraint, since he was holding the prerogative of the priestly order. The prophecy was given, as it were, not to him personally but to the outward representative of the priesthood.” Cyril of Alexandria (375-444 AD)

We must always remember that God is sovereign. Corruption may prevail in the human culture and society, and men may be determined to silence any word about Jesus. But God is sovereign, and He can bring good out of even the most wicked conditions or intentions. How should knowing this encourage us as believers?

Closing Prayer
O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—
This Mount Zion where You have dwelt.
Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;
They set up their banners for signs.
They seem like men who lift up
Axes among the thick trees.
And now they break down its carved work, all at once,
With axes and hammers.
They have set fire to Your sanctuary;
They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
They said in their hearts,
“Let us destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
We do not see our signs;
There is no longer any prophet;
Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
O God, how long will the adversary reproach?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?

Psalm 74.1-10

Psalm 74.1-11 (Rockingham Old: O Lord Most High, with All My Heart)
O Lord, why have You cast us off?  Why does Your anger ever burn?
Remember now Your Church, O Lord, and to us let Your grace return.

Turn now Your steps to this sad ruin; our foes have damaged all within.
They roar throughout Your meeting place and raise the banner of their sin.

The wicked wield their ax within and desecrate our walls around;
Defiling Your abiding-place, they burn Your temples to the ground.

Within their hearts they plot and scheme: “Now let us finally bring them down!”
Our signs and prophets all are gone; they’ve burned our churches to the ground.

How long, O Lord, must they prevail and mock and spurn Your holy Name?
Why stay Your hand?  Deploy it now, and bring Your foes to lasting shame!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.