This sermon series will investigate some persons of interest in the death of Jesus Christ. Each sermon will ask if this person is guilty of the death of Jesus Christ. As we listen and hear the case against each player in the death of Christ, we also hear that the words are for us today. May the Lord bless us as we hear His Word.
This sermon, preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on April 29, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, focuses on John 11:45-53. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this evening is from the Gospel of John, the eleventh chapter:
....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.
Thus far the text.
Dear friends in Christ,
As we come closer to Good Friday, our investigation gets more serious. For tonight, our person of interest is the high priest himself, Caiaphas. Caiaphas is a confusing man, for at one time, the texts of Scripture make it clear that he is one who was agitating for the Christ’s death. Yet, at the same time, tonight, this Caiaphas is also shown to be somewhat of a prophet. For Caiaphas, the sad part is that his prophecy was perverted by his own sin.
How can this man be a prophet and yet have such great sin? How can this man have God speak to him and yet, at the same time, plot to kill God? The same way any of us can. The same way that God uses any sinner to conduct His will, the same way that God allows us to be declared justified, to be justified, and yet still be a sinner. God uses sinners. But that doesn’t negate our need to investigate this Caiaphas. Is he responsible for the death of the Christ?
There’s a strong case here. You see, Caiaphas’ prophecy was that this one man, Jesus Christ, should die rather than have the whole nation perish, be destroyed, under Roman fists. You see, Caiaphas knew how tenuous the relationship between Rome and Jerusalem was. He was involved, right in the thick of it. He was the one who would write the letters to Caesar tattling on his little underling, Pontius Pilate.
When Pilate placed a Roman shield on his palace in Jerusalem, overlooking the Temple, Caiaphas wrote to Caesar that Pilate was mocking the Jewish religion, a protected religion under Roman rule. Caiaphas even nearly incited a riot about it in order to depose Pilate out of the throne. In fact, Caiaphas had done this twice before his prophecy tonight, and Caesar had warned Pilate that one more time and he’d be out. It’s no wonder that Pilate wanted to appease the Jews in the trial of Jesus. Another riot on his hands, and he’s be out on the streets in the slums of Rome, assuming he survived his ouster, that is.
Caiaphas made life difficult for many people. He was an antagonistic personality, he seemed to love to stir up trouble. Not exactly the picture of the ideal High Priest of Jerusalem. In this role as High Priest, Caiaphas would have been like the Pope of his time. He would have had a massive staff of people working for and under him. He would have had power and prestige. He would have had recognition. And what he said mattered.
So when this high priest told people that Jesus should die instead of the whole nation, they believed him, and the Pharisees set to work to make it happen. And so it did. Caiaphas couldn’t have this upstart Jesus taking the attention Caiaphas thought he deserved. More than that, Caiaphas truly thought this Jesus was teaching blasphemy. After all, Jesus claimed to be God. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. Jesus did miraculous signs so that people would indeed believe that this Jesus was sent to save His people from their sins.
But that’s not what Caiaphas thought. Caiaphas thought Jesus was a blasphemer. Caiaphas thought that Jesus was a loon. Caiaphas thought that Jesus would attract too much attention toward the Jews, causing factions to split, and bring the Roman peace, the Pax Romana, down straight on Jewish heads.
The Romans had been in charge for a hundred years, and there was no more Jewish army, there was no ability for them to fight against the powerhouse that was the Romans. Caiaphas truly thought he was doing the right thing for the Jewish people by having Jesus killed.
And if Caiaphas benefitted from it all, so much the better. After all, Caiaphas thought he was protecting his power. He thought he was protecting the Temple. He thought he was protecting his people. He thought he was protecting his position. And he was. You see, Caiaphas was ultimately a selfish man. He was going to benefit out of this, consequences be damned. He was going to get rid of the thorn in his side, Jesus, once and for all.
Jesus was too smart for Caiaphas. Every time the other Pharisees went to Jesus to try to trip Him up in His teachings, Jesus just turned it right back around on them. There was no way they were going to trick Jesus into saying something actually blasphemous. So, when Jesus went to His religious trial, Caiaphas asked Jesus straight up, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” And Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
With this, Caiaphas tore his robes, an open act of severe sorrow and repentance, repentance before God for this blasphemer and the lies Caiaphas heard. Caiaphas thought he was now dirty before God for allowing this man to blaspheme the Lord God Almighty. But Caiaphas had no idea he was leading Jesus directly to where He wanted to be.
And this is the redemption of Caiaphas. For in the prophecy of Caiaphas against Jesus, Caiaphas had no idea how right he was. It is good and right that Jesus, the one man, should die, rather than the whole nation. But that wasn’t up to Caiaphas; that’s the decision of God the Father.
For indeed, God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die once for all, so that none would need die eternally. It is better that Jesus dies than the whole world; it’s better that Jesus dies for sin than each of us dying for our own sin. This is it. Caiaphas is a sinner, a sinner guilty in the death of Jesus because he was trying to protect his own skin. He’s a villain. We all love to hate him. But he’s no worse that we are. We do the same. We look out for number one, and that’s us.
But it’s better that Jesus died for us, rather than we die eternally. That’s what God told Caiaphas, that’s what God tells us. And Caiaphas didn’t understand it. He prophesied it, but he didn’t get it. Only by faith in Christ do we understand what this means. Only by faith in Christ do we receive this word of prophecy from the Lord.
Only with faith in Christ can we see that He had to die for us. If we died for ourselves, as many choose to do, there’s only one place that can lead us, and that’s hell. Dying for yourself only leads you to hell, because you are dying for your sin.
But when God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, He sent Him to take on the sin of the whole world, not just the nation of Israel. Jesus died so that the whole world would not perish. Jesus died so that the children of God would be gathered together. Just as the Jews were scattered across the world 500 years before the death of Jesus in the Babylonian exile, now God desired to bring them, not home to Israel, but home to Himself. God desired to bring all the world home to Himself. He had a plan. And He used Caiaphas.
Caiaphas had his part. He certainly chose to use his power and authority to get his way. But God desired to use that choice that Caiaphas made to reject God, to reject Jesus, and in this sent His Son to be crucified for sinners, even Caiaphas. If Caiaphas had turned toward Christ, he would have been saved as we are. Yet, Caiaphas rejected this Christ. Caiaphas turned away from Jesus and had this man crucified for blasphemy, dressing the whole dog and pony show up for the Romans. Jesus died for Caiaphas, just as he died for you and for me, but Caiaphas wanted nothing of it; in fact, even going so far as to hide the resurrection of Christ.
Caiaphas is guilty, there’s no question. Jesus, though, still took Caiaphas’ punishment, Jesus took his sentence. While Caiaphas rejected this, it doesn’t negate that Jesus loved Caiaphas enough to die for him. Caiaphas had other things on his mind, rather than Jesus; it was me, myself, and I for him. And we’re the same. We have that same guilt. Yet the difference is that we have not rejected Jesus, and so our sentence is now Christ’s. Caiaphas is guilty, and so are we, but our sentence? Given to Jesus. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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