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Tag Archives: Caiaphas

John 11:45-54

12 Apr

45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

49 Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

51 He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. 52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.

53 So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. 54 As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.

John 11:45-54

Dear God, I don’t know where Sister Miriam is going to go with this passage in today’s entry in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, but I had a thought as I read it. You made this plan Caiaphas-proof. Caiaphas was wrong. He thought Jesus was here to lead a revolution. He thought the people were stupid enough to follow him into a hopeless revolution. He thought he was protecting everyone. He thought he was doing the right thing.

I wonder what would have happened if Caiaphas had gone to Jesus in the night like Nicodemus did back in John 3 and just asked him flat out, “Jesus, you’re obviously special. Please explain to me what you’re up to.” In retrospect, that’s what he should have done although that would have changed your plan. Yeah, everything worked the way it was supposed to. Maybe it was because Jesus had been so insulting of the Pharisees up to that point. Maybe Caiaphas’s heart was already hardened, much like Pharoah’s. Little did he know the Temple was already going to be destroyed in a few years. Nothing lasts forever.

In her writing for today, Sister Miriam is still talking about forgiveness, both accepting it and offering it to others. I still don’t quite understand how she links it to this passage except that Jesus’s real purpose was to offer forgiveness to us. But she has a line that made me think of Caiaphas: “We offer to Jesus our pain, agony, bitterness, and hardened hearts, and he takes our offering, brings it to his heart upon the Cross on which he hangs, and in return offers us mercy for the forgiveness of our own sins, healing from the sins others have committed against us, and the restoration of our lives.” Just the fact that I had mentioned Caiaphas’s hardened heart and she included “hardened hearts” in her writing made me curious about Caiaphas. What were his hurts? What were his fears? What needed forgiven in his life. Whom did he need to forgive?

Father, I am sorry. I have been arrogant. I have been judgmental. I have been harsh. I have been selfish and self-indulgent. Oh, my Jesus, as I sit here now, imagining you on the Cross, I am grateful. And I’m so sorry. I have no right to expect anything out of life, including the kindness of others to me. I already have it so much better than I deserve because you are with me. You love me. You forgive me. Thank you. Help me to release others from what I think they owe me and to simply live in the gratitude of what you’ve done for me and then offer that same gift from you to them.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Peter & John — Matthew 26:57-58,62-75

16 Sep

Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end… Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” “Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!” Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?” Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.” But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. ” Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said. A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.” Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.

Matthew 26:57-58,62-75

Dear God, I wonder what it was like for Peter to sit outside Caiaphas’ house and listen to them beat Jesus. The adrenaline from the garden was gone. He didn’t have his sword any longer. Now he was just scared.

I am sure he felt helpless to stop what was happening to Jesus. I am sure he was scared for himself. As much as he had been anticipating a heroic opportunity to fight with Jesus and follow him to death, now he was anticipating a much less glorious death—helplessly being beaten and killed. Would he be forced to confess or deny that Jesus was the Messiah? Would he have to name names and indict his fellow disciples? I’ll bet he was playing it forward in his mind, and none of it was good. Admitting his identity and his allegiances would cost him everything and seemingly gain him nothing. His hubris in the upper room at the Passover meal was exposed.

It’s ironic, I suppose, that it was his love for Jesus that put him in this position. John is presumably around somewhere, but he is apparently successful at lying low. But Peter was up close. If he had run like the others he would never have been in the position to have to lie. Peter was still showing how special he was just by being there. He put himself in a position to fail, which is something that nearly all of the other disciples weren’t willing to do.

Father, I know I am going to fail you. I know that I will get into situations that will confuse me or even scare me, and I will let you down. But I guess my prayer is that you will still lead me to those situations and teach me in my failures as well as my successes. I don’t want to live so safely that I never fail. I want to live a life that exposes myself to opportunities to succeed for your glory and the potential for failure as well.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 16, 2018 in Matthew, Peter and John

 

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Emails to God – Caiaphas’ Passover (Matthew 26:57-68)

04 May

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.

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2012 in Matthew

 

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