⁵⁷ Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. ⁵⁸ But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

⁵⁹ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰ But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

Finally two came forward ⁶¹ and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶² Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶³ But Jesus remained silent.

The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴ “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What do you think?”

“He is worthy of death,” they answered.

⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”

Dear God, I wonder if they had to wake Caiaphas up when they brought Jesus in, or if he was sitting and waiting for them to come. After all, it was late, and in a society with no electricity, bed time was a little earlier than it might be now. I’m betting it was the latter. I would imagine that he knew the guards had followed Judas out to find Jesus, and he was sitting there waiting for Jesus to arrive.

I also wonder what this Passover was like for Caiaphas. I don’t know when he would have celebrated the Passover meal (I don’t know if Jesus did it early to accommodate his crucifixion, or if he did it with his disciples on the normal night), but I wonder what was going through his mind as he celebrated with his family and friends. Was his heart heavy? Was he apprehensive? Was he just flat out mad? Was he a victim of a mob mentality, or was he the creator of the mob mentality? Did you put a check in his spirit that made him wonder if Jesus might, in fact, be who he said he was? Did he rest easy in the thought that he had defended you against a heretic?

The truth is, there are no answers to these questions. Thanks to your grace, I will probably get a chance to talk to him about it one day in heaven. Either way, I am sure he now knows about the mistakes he made that week, but I also wonder how much you would hold an earnest heart against him (if that’s what he had) since it was part of your plan to begin with.

Father, I can see that there might be a difference between Judas and Caiaphas. I’m not saying there was one, but I can see where there would be one. Where Judas simply allowed his anger toward Jesus to become murder (see the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus saying that one was as bad as the other), Caiaphas might have been protecting himself, but he also might have been, legitimately, protecting you. So my prayer is, when (not if) I make mistakes, let them be the kind that are out of pure motive. Help me to discern between my own agenda and your agenda. Minimize my mistakes as much as possible and be glorified in my life.