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One Man for the People
John 11:47-48, 50
It’s interesting to think about how often God uses his enemies as pawns to accomplish his own plans. Let’s think about the high priest Caiaphas, for example. He was no friend or follower of Jesus of Nazareth, and yet God used him to proclaim a gospel filled prophecy about Christ. Let’s set the stage.
Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, and a number of people saw that miracle. And they went to the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they told them about it. So they quickly gathered together a council to decide what to do about Jesus. John 11 verse 47 tells us this. It says,
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” (John 11:47-48)
It is then where Caiaphas states, what John tells us is a prophecy about Christ. He says,
“It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:50)
You can almost envision this as a mafia hit, where the kingpin makes it explicitly clear who the target is, and that he is not to survive. We need to kill Jesus so that we don’t die. Caiaphas couldn’t have understood the full truth of what he was saying at that moment. He only was thinking in immediate political terms. And yet God had the whole world and world history in view with this statement. One man for the people. You see, it’s not just Caiaphas and the chief priests who plot and maneuver for power, but we all jealously scheme to take advantage of situations for our own benefit. Our sinful nature looks at those who are doing well, and especially if there’s prestige to be gained, we want to bring them down to benefit ourselves. It’s easy to hate the best just because they’re the best. We all sin in these ways and are in need of a Savior from sin.
Now, I don’t think Caiaphas could have had the ritual of the scapegoat in mind during this conversation. And yet that’s exactly what is going on here. On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high priest was to bring two goats to the temple and pray over one, symbolically placing the sins of the people on that goat who was designated for slaughter. And then the other goat was to be set free and released. This is a depiction of what Jesus is for us. He is the Lamb of God who goes uncomplaining forth to the cross with our sins placed on him. He is the full atoning sacrifice for our sins, who sets us right in the eyes of God. So in the end, Caiaphas was viewing Jesus death to secure his political position, and God was using this event to provide hope and salvation for all mankind.
So today we are left with the prophetic words of Caiaphas as comfort. It’s expedient for us that one man, Jesus Christ, laid down his life to save the people.
