Caiaphas' Prophecy

Lazarus being raised

      In the eleventh chapter of John the evangelist tells the story of Lazarus and his resurrection from the dead. (Some argue that this was not officially a resurrection but resuscitation! Any dictionary should straighten that hair splitting.) The point here is that Lazarus' trip out of the tomb caused trouble in his day.  You would think it would be a point of rejoicing for all, especially Lazarus' religious leaders. Bethany was just over the hill from Jerusalem and many Jews came to Bethany to console Martha and Mary (John 11:18/19). (Hey, he was a popular guy.)  They all went back with an amazing story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. But the Pharisees heard of this and it upset them. "How dare he! And so close to the Holy City!" "Lazarus has his nerve." John tells us that the Sanhedrin actually counseled to kill Lazarus (John 12:10). "Let's kill him again."  

       In chapter eleven around verse 40 something even more strange happened. Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied about the future of the temple, the priestly office and the nation Israel, as well as the absolute plan of God for the whole world! Caiaphas thought that Jesus' miracles would cause the nation to lose their temple, the priestly office and the identity of Israel as a nation.  His prophecy has affected  Israel to this day. They still do not have their temple, priestly office and are fighting for identity as a nation.
       What was this prophecy?  Well,  In verse 48 John tells us that Caiaphas uses what is called a "conditional sentence" (if such..., then such). Caiaphas said about Jesus and His miracles, "If we leave him alone," then certain things are bound to happen. This is called a 3rd class conditional sentence. It has as its apodosis, the "then" phrase, an inevitable result. "If we leave him alone then Roman will come and take away our place and our nation." Notice how the political priest put his job before the nation.  As an answer to this dilemma  Caiaphas continues his striking prophecy. He prophesied that Jesus should be sacrificed for the good of the nation. Better one man die than the whole nation (11:48-52). Wow, what a good idea! No wonder he is the high priest. That is just what God was thinking!  Of course they did sacrifice Jesus and all that those bad guys feared came upon them.

"Sitting on a foal of a donkey"

       The real irony here is that they took Jesus, crucify him and three days later the greatest resurrection the world has ever seen burst forth. The political leaders thought they could squelch this talk about the resurrection of Lazarus. Instead they promoted God's wonderful plan for the whole world through their ignorance. As Paul put it in another classic conditional sentence (2nd class), ei gar egnosan, oux an ton kurion  tes doxes estaurosan. "For if they knew, (then) they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory" (1 Cor. 2:8b). Oopsie.