Thoughts for the Day

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did ,believed in Jesus. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death.

Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Jesus had just left Bethany some two miles south of Jerusalem after raising his friend Lazarus from the grave. The 'Mary' mentioned in our reading above is his sister. Today in Bethany, such a tomb is open for visitors. It is a narrow doorway off a steep lane, which takes one down rough steps hewn into the rock, deep into the hill-side. After four days in such a tomb Jesus brings Lazarus back to life (John 11.1-44). However, some who had witnessed the event, went on to report it to the Pharisees, whose concern was to keep the Law of Moses. They saw Jesus' action as reprehensible, for Leviticus 21.11 states 'He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother'.

The immediate effect of this is that the ruling council, the Sanhedrin, is called. Largely run by the aristocratic Sadducees, they want to put a stop to Jesus' work. He was getting to be too influential, and they simply couldn't afford to have any problems with the excessive crowds at Passover, for although the Roman were fairly tolerant of religious issues in their Empire, they would have come down heavy on such a disturbance.

Caiaphas, the Chief Priest, makes the ironic point that 'It is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed'. Yet as we know, one man, Jesus, was to die to save not just the nation, but the whole world.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You raised Lazarus from the dead,
giving Your opponents
another chance to accept You
as God's Chosen One,
while knowing the death that faced You.
We pray for the opportunity
to serve You in the world today,
whatever the difficulties this may bring,
and we ask for the strength to carry it out.
Amen.