Word to the Wise
Saturday, March 27, 2010 - Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent
[Ezekiel 37:21-28 and John 11:45-56]So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish." .....So from that day on they planned to kill him.
Today we encounter the scheming and plotting figures in the Holy Week drama! On one level, their reasoning is politically impeccable. The Romans were always very "antsy" about any demonstration, especially during the week of Passover! The enemies of Jesus had to find a way to get rid of him by getting the Romans to do it! They succeeded up to a point. The terrible irony is that ultimately the Romans destroyed the Jewish "nation" anyhow because of two different "messiahs" who appeared in 66-70AD and 135 AD. One man did die to "save" the nation, Jesus. The other two died to destroy it on a political and physical level and forever changed the shape of Judaism. Caiaphas gives his name to an informal principle, "the Caiaphas principle" which is willing to sacrifice one person who is disliked in order to save a group. It's not scapegoating but utilitarian in nature. We see it all the time. Any prophetic and moral person or principle that threatens an established order can be sacrificed to maintain the status quo or position of the powers that be. Such moral horse-trading takes place in the halls of our national and state legislatures every day. Moral bankruptcy is disguised as pragmatism! But the events of Holy Week should remind us that Christ died to save everyone, even the moral horse-traders! We can pray that they don't destroy the nation in the process! AMEN
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