Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro - Heard a prophecy from Isaiah.

700 years would pass before this prophecy would be fulfilled.

Because we live on the other side of the cross, because we know that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day, we look to that prophecy with amazement.

God is in control.

He chose to sacrifice himself on the cross for a people that he loved.

When the prophet Isaiah recorded these words, he knew that he was prophesying God’s truth.

Today’s message is about another prophecy, this time from an unknowing speaker.

Here a prophecy is given about Jesus eternal purpose by someone who did not believe for Jesus to be the Saviour of the World.

Instead this un-intending prophet’s main concern was eliminating Jesus as a national threat by any means possible.

Text is John 11:45-53

The question that we want an answer to is, “Why Did Jesus Have to Die?”

If we were to pose that question to Joseph Caiaphas, High Priest of Israel from 18 - 36 AD, we could paraphrase his answer like this.

Jesus had to die to save Israel from the power of Rome.

Israel was not a free country.

Instead, they were an occupied nation.

Their taxes went out of their country to Caesar.

There were Roman soldiers who could always be called on to quench any sort of revolt or uprising.

Rome had decided to let Israel have some authority of its own to rule its nation.

This authority was granted to a ruling body called

The Sanhedrin

“Sanhedrin” is a Greek word for Council.

The Sanhedrin would predominantly have power and influence over religious matters, but could also make some decisions over prosecuting crimes.

They had a police, they could arrest and put citizens on trial, and they even had punishment that they could inflict on their accused.

It seems like the High Priest would be the Chair of the Sanhedrin.

We might think that the High Priest would be chosen in a religious setting, but this is not the case.

Under the authority of Rome, a roman official would decide who the High Priest was.

The political maneuvering of this individual played a great role into how long their career as High Priest would be.

Joseph Caiaphas

Joseph Caiaphas was appointed as High Priest in 18 AD and held that position until 36 AD. 18 years is a long time, and it is safe to think that he was very skilled politically to hold on to this position of power for so long.

What was the main political concern for the High Priest?

It was to preserve as much freedom from Rome as possible.

The main threat to freedom was revolutions and revolutionaries.

Any time that anyone tried to rebel against Rome, the army would show up, demonstrate Rome’s power and reassert their rule in every possible way.

Joseph Caiaphas held on to his position of High Priest, because he was good at dealing with Rome, and at keeping Israel under control.

It was in a meeting with the Sanhedrin that Joseph Caiaphas was to make his un-intentional prophecy about Jesus.

He had his own motivation for “Why does Jesus have to die”.

He wanted to save Israel from the oppression of Rome.

What was the concern with Jesus?

Caiaphas saw Jesus as a huge problem because Jesus was attracting huge crowds.

The people of Israel were starting to piece together that Jesus just might be God’s promised Saviour.

Israelites saw the miracles that Jesus did.

They heard him teach with authority, clarity and power.

They came from near and far to be healed and to learn.

Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin are worried that once this momentum takes off, the Romans will dispatch their army to come once again and maybe this time, Rule Israel without the help of a Sanhedrin.

Maybe this time Rome will come and use a massive show of force, destroying people and sacred buildings to make the point.

Jesus had just performed a miracle that was so spectacular that everyone would soon be talking about it.

What had Jesus done?

He had raised Lazarus from the dead.

This was especially fantastic because Lazarus had been dead for four days.

Standing at the mouth of tomb, Jesus commanded a dead man to walk out, and out came Lazarus.

What happens next is that the people respond in two different ways.

There are two responses to the miracle.

One group, which is many of the Jews, came and believed in Jesus.

But some of them instead of believing in Jesus went to the Pharisees and told what Jesus had done.

John, the Apostle and author shows throughout the book how Jesus had been doing many signs.

John could have used the word “miracle” instead of signs.

So why does he keep using the word signs?

We see the answer in John 20:30-31

These signs throughout the Gospel of John are signs of life, signs of hope, signs of God demonstrating his saving power to people who could never save themselves.

These signs, which are proof of Jesus divinity also served to put much worry and concern into the High Priest and the Sanhedrin in general.

“What are we going do since this man does many signs?”

They didn’t even deny that the signs were happening.

They didn’t try to explain away the miracles, how could they?

But they recognized that everyone could see the signs, and that people were starting to place their hope in Jesus.

This is what it really comes down to.

Israel’s status as a nation as at stake.

Rome is no joke.

When they come, they come with power.

The Sanhedrin would do everything within their ability to make it so that Rome would not come.

It was fear and self-interest that governed the Sanhedrin, not the will of God.

They were fearful of Rome.

They were fearful of what it would do to their position of power inside of the nation.

Rome could take that power back in a moment.

Imagine how different things would have been if fear and self interest had not ruled their minds.

We need to learn to trust God even when we are afraid.

There are all sorts of unknowns in life, things that we cannot control.

If we act in fear, we either shrink back from our obligations or overstep our responsibility.

The Sanhedrin was not permitted to kill anyone.

So what could they do with Jesus, who they assumed to be starting a national revolution.

I wonder what different ideas were presented?

What did they discuss?

We aren’t told about the general discussion, what is recorded is the words of Joseph Caiaphas.

It is not difficult to follow the logic.

It goes like this.

Rome will crush any rebellion.

We don’t want Rome to do that, so we crush the rebellion by killing the leader ourselves.

That’s the logic: Kill Jesus.

Stop Rome.

Save the Nation.

That is the thought pattern of this Accidental Prophet.

Joseph Caiaphas had no idea of the significance of his words.

He did not have the faintest idea that his words were being used by God Almighty to the significance of the willing sacrifice of Jesus the Christ.

The Apostle John is writing these words to show that God is over all.

Caiaphas had a position of Power, and that power was on loan from Rome, the super power of the world at that time.

But God was overall Caiaphas and Rome and the Devil.

How did the Sanhedrin respond to the proposal?

The Sovereignty of God over the Plans of the Devil

The way that things were unfolding would make it seem like the Devil was winning.

A plot was being devised to kill Jesus.

The Devil must have thought that killing Jesus, killing God, would be his greatest victory.