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Caiaphas was the High Priest at the time when Jesus died. He was the supposed mastermind of the scheme to get rid of Jesus and have the people on their side. He was a schemer. He schemed to have Jesus killed, and it worked. And that bothers me. You can read about his scheme in John 11:45-53.
It bothers me because it pokes at the traumas and hurts in our own life experiences. It reminds me yet again that it looks like evil wins in life. And that stings. It feels like that’s all the world is- a place where evil wins. It seems like evil even won against Jesus! He did end up being killed didn’t he?
That’s why we need to truly see the schemer. And when I name “the schemer” you should know that I’m not referring to Caiaphas. He’s actually not the Big Schemer in this story. Caiaphas’ scheme got trumped. Caiaphas said: “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (v. 50) Do you see it? He didn’t know what he was saying, did he? He said that it was best that one man should die for the people. Caiaphas unwittingly and unintentionally shared the gospel. He said: the whole nation shouldn’t get placed on the eternal trash heap. Just one man should. One man for the world. The just for the unjust. The Son of God in place of guilty sinners. One man should take the punishments. One man should suffer in our place. Better he should die for us than we should die in our own place. Caiaphas wasn’t this history’s greatest schemer. God was.
And you can see what that means for you, right? God is so big and so wise that he schemed the savviest schemers to proclaim his gospel and carry out his plan. The only thing left is to trust that in our lives.
John 11:45-53
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 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. 48 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.”
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
