Plotting Murder: Idolatry & Dark Intentions (John 11:47–57)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 11:47–57

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: December 31, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

There’s a video of an atheist which is making its rounds. This individual considers some of the biggest evils in the world, and he then highlights how he believes Scripture mis-prioritizes them. For instance, he thought it strange that idolatry would rank higher than so many of the other evils in existence.

Many people do not think of idolatry as just the worship of statues or competing deities. Idolatry is, in fact, the root of all the evil we do! It’s not money, as you may have heard, though the love of money is a form of idolatry. Consider this: Usually, even an atheist will acknowledge that Jesus is a good man and that His death was unwarranted. Meanwhile, the religious leaders in our text today want to protect their own positions, so they justify murder and plan to use their power to engage in obvious evil. They do this because of idolatry, worshipping self and lacking any true fear of God.

It's this way with all our sin. Whether we lie, cheat, steal, kill, or destroy, it all comes back to an exalted sense of self-desire and need for fulfillment. We might even claim to be Christians while we do it, but the truth is that, in those moments, we are worshipping and serving someone other than God. This self-worship is as idolatrous as it is to offer up rice to an idol in a Hindu temple. Idolatry underlies all sin, all evil, and the only cure is repentance before the Lord and true worship of Him.

Idolatry leads to evil, such as that of contemplating murder. And this passage demonstrates that as it records the development of a murder plot. We’ll note three aspects of their plan: the drive, the determination, and the deficiency. Let’s consider the first of these.

The Drive of their Plan (vv. 47–50)

Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

The news of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead prompted the Pharisees to contact the chief priests. This would include the high priest as well as others in the high priest’s family, an influential clan in Jerusalem. Since Lazarus was of a prominent family near Jerusalem, and his death was well established, there would be no denying this miracle, and an emergency meeting was in order.

So, as the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) says here, they “gathered the Sanhedrin together.” The Sanhedrin was the Jewish ruling body in the land, having all powers to judge and execute judgments, within the confines placed on it by Rome. As the MacArthur Study Bible notes here, “In Jesus’ day, the 70 members of the Sanhedrin were dominated by the chief priests, and virtually all the priests were Sadducees. The Pharisees constituted an influential minority. While the Pharisees and Sadducees were often in conflict, their mutual hatred of Jesus united them into action.” This is the religious gathering deciding how to respond to Jesus’s latest miracle.

There is one question on their mind. It’s been rendered a couple of ways in your translations. It may be an honest question, like in the King James Version (KJV): “What shall we do?” In the New International Version (NIV), it’s rendered as more of a rhetorical question: “What are we accomplishing?” That’s more like what we have here: “What are we doing?” In any case, it seems that they begin with the premise that they are not doing anything worthwhile.

Jesus seems to be “winning.” They say, “For this man is performing many signs” (refusing to say His name, only “this man”). Yet, in their contempt, they accidentally admit to the truth — Jesus is performing miracles. Remember, even the Pharisee Nicodemus did when he came to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). The people came to similar conclusions; they ask, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?” (7:31). The evidence is there, but sadly, they choose to ignore it.

Thus, they depict Jesus as engaging in a campaign of gaining influence through public opinion. In v. 48, they say, “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him.” For them, that’s bad news, because they are trying to keep public opinion on their side! It’s simply amazing that they are unmoved in their own opinion of Jesus with the raising of Lazarus, but that shows us how hatred for Jesus can harden a person in unbelief.

As they consider how many people are starting to think Jesus is the Messiah, they are afraid of what Jesus will do with that acknowledgment. As one teacher notes, “This is a curious muddle for the rulers knew that Jesus did not claim to be a political Messiah and would not be a rival to Caesar.” Yet, they reason, what if He turned His attention to revolution like many of the people wanted? The Romans are the ones who truly control the region, and they may deploy military force at the mere mention of a Messiah, political or otherwise. After all, Pilate “demonstrated his capacity for ruthlessness (Luke 13:1).” So, the Sanhedrin continues to say, “the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

Underlying their motivations, then, are more emotions than simply hatred for Jesus. They seem to want to maintain the status quo with Rome. They did not trust that the Lord would go and fight for them. Joshua 23:3–7 says,

And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has been fighting for you. See, I have apportioned to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan even to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. The Lord your God, He will thrust them out from before you and drive them from before you; and you will possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you. Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them.

They didn’t trust that the Lord could lead them out of bondage as He had in times past. They also rejected the Lord’s King He installed in Zion (cf. Psa. 2:6), who could shatter the nations. Ironically, then, they also engaged in idolatry, worshipping a Lord of their own making, and would find no forgiveness of sins in Him unless they repent.

They were idolators. They feared first the loss of “our place,” emphasis on the “our.” This could mean Jerusalem (where they ruled) or the temple (the focus of their authority). They feared this even above their patriotic concerns for losing their country (but they use the possessive of it, as well). They feared Rome for the same reason they hated Jesus — they valued their influence and power above all else, the true gods they served.

So, the drive to their plan was an idolatrous desire to maintain control, and none had a deeper drive than the high priestly clan of that day. With that, we turn to Caiaphas, “who was high priest that year” (v. 49). As we’ve already noted, the whole family wielded control, such as Annas, his father-in-law (cf. John 18:13). However, Annas had run afoul of the Roman government, and it demanded he be deposed of his position. Thus, Caiaphas was appointed high priest by the Roman prefect, Valerius Gratus, in AD 18. John points out that Caiaphas was high priest “that year” because the system no longer reflected God’s order (appointments for life) and because this would be the year of Jesus’s murder — under Caiaphas’s leadership.

Caiaphas was not the friendliest individual, either, as Josephus notes. He interrupts, “You know nothing at all.” In the original language, this reads more like, “Y’all do not know nothing,” (which is considered poor English). Yet, the double negative in Greek emphasizes the point, and it comes with an emphatic pronoun there. This is to say that Caiaphas opens with a rude, sweeping condemnation of the Sanhedrin.

It’s his drive for power that leads him to such disgust, and to his next statement. In his mind, they haven’t given enough thought to the only, “logical” course of action. They need to commit to planning the death of Jesus.

So, he continues, “nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” He says that murder is the expedient or “better” course of action (LSB). If you are unclear as to how a religious leader could arrive at such an abominable conclusion, simply remember the expression, “The end justifies the means.” He ignores Scripture, which says, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 17:15). Yet, this faulty reasoning further evidences of his underlying idolatry and spiritual decline.

The high priest proposed one man die on the behalf of the people and the nation. The term simply translated

“for” can mean “in behalf of” or “instead of,” making it language of substitution. Caiaphas says Jesus will be a sacrifice, like many hundreds and thousands of the sacrifices they make, and He will be one to keep the nation from perishing. This is a dark plan driven by dark desires.

Yet, there’s great irony here. Jesus Christ did come to be a sacrifice for people! Moreover, His sacrifice keeps people from the second death. John purposefully points this out in the next verses:

The Determination of their Plan (vv. 51–53)

Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

John notes that Caiaphas did not understand that God granted these words. As Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.” As Caiaphas and the others are talking about sacrificing Jesus to save them politically, the Lord was working sinlessly through their machinations to accomplish His divine purposes of making Christ a sacrifice for sin.

Now, God is not causing them to sin, and they will be accountable for their choices. However, the Lord is allowing them, in their hard-hearted ways, to fulfill His greater plans. They had the natural, sinful drive, but the Lord was the true determination behind their plan.

How do we know that? As v. 51 says, “Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied.” Because Caiaphas was in this position, dishonoring to it as he was, he received divine prophecy and didn’t even know it. He spoke a word he determined to blaspheme Jesus, but God determined the word to proclaim the work of Christ.

It's certainly ironic that the high priest, in using language of substitution and sacrifice, would not see the prophecy for what it was. Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be the suffering servant, noting in Isaiah 53:8, “By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?” What a question that is, for the whole Sanhedrin here seems ignorant of the connection.

Jesus would die for the nation. This is, again, language of substitution. Paul picks this up in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Similarly, Peter says in 1 Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” This is substitution.

Substitution is for specific people. Note that the text says here Jesus died for the nation. Not only that, but suggested here is that He dies for all the children of God. Understand that Jesus doesn’t die for faceless, nameless masses, giving them only a possibility of salvation. Jesus didn’t die to save Caiaphas or anyone else who rejects Him. Rather, we have seen in this Gospel Jesus say He dies for His sheep (John 10:11), for His friends (15:13). He is a substitution for believers.

And note that these believers don’t just come from Israel. This would include the Gentiles. As Jesus said in John 10:16, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” This is what John means when he talks about the world being saved by Jesus in John 3:16 or 1 John 2:2 — he’s expanding upon the nation of Israel to include all God’s people from every nation, Jew and Gentile.

Not everyone is a child of God. Yet, anyone, Jew or Gentile, can become one through Jesus Christ alone. As John notes in the first chapter, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11–13). Once a person receives Christ, he or she becomes a child of God by virtue of being in Christ; no one is born God’s child, can work their way into it, or wish themselves into it outside of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately for the Sanhedrin, these men prove that they are not children of God. They hear the words from Caiaphas’s mouth, and they have the option to see the prophecy behind them or the sinful drive behind them. They reject the Word of the Lord and determine to do evil toward Jesus, “from that day on.”

Being determined, they are left only with the plotting of the murder. In Mark 14:1–2, we read, “Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him; for they were saying, ‘Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.’ ” In Matthew 26:4, we read that “they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him.” This is premeditated murder.

Yet, note how weak their plans are. They know that Jesus is winning public opinion, and that they will need to capture Him in secret. This exposes a serious deficiency in their plan, which brings us to the last point.

The Deficiency of their Plan (vv. 54–57)

Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

Jesus somehow knew of their plot, just as in John 7:1. So, He again withdraws to a more secluded area. We’re not 100% certain where this is. One possibility is the city of Ephron (see 2 Chr. 13:19), which was near Bethel, roughly 12 miles north of Jerusalem. That would provide plenty of distance between Jesus and the Sanhedrin. One might argue that this isn’t far, even on foot, if the Sanhedrin was so intent on murdering Him, but this was enough to thwart their immediate murder of Him.

Why is distance needed at all? The same Jesus who supernaturally knows the intentions of man and can raise the dead is not now cowering for His own life (and if He were, He certainly would have gone further.). Rather, He has a specific timetable to complete, so He won’t make it easy for the Sanhedrin to capture Him before His time. He has a bit more work to do, though those who reject Him won’t benefit from it.

Instead, He stays with His disciples. We don’t know what they talked about, but He chooses to spend His remaining days with them, apart from His enemies. He spends time with His friends.

Yet, would He stay away forever? We read in the next verses the leadup to the next chapter. The Passover grows near, with many Jews coming early to Jerusalem for ritual purification. This may have been anywhere from 85,000 to 125,000 pilgrims during traveling during these days. The Jews who come, v. 56, wonder if Jesus will come again for this Passover.

The question exists because of what we read in v. 57. It says that “the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.” The Sanhedrin knows that Jesus will have a lot of supporters, especially after the raising of Lazarus. Yet, the strength of the plot to kill Jesus rests on their hopes that these same people will turn Jesus over to them.

Of course, the next chapter records Jesus entering into Jerusalem triumphantly, on the back of a donkey. The entire scenario would be comical if their intentions were not so dark and sinful. These tyrannical governing authorities have no power if the people don’t give it to them.

So, how will the Sanhedrin become successful? We’ll consider that more next time, but we know that one of the disciples was planning to betray Jesus. Yet, even this is not a surprise to our Lord, who will only allow Judas to betray Him at the proper moment.

Conclusion

I hope you understand that, at the root of all your sins, whether they be great or small in impact to others, is idolatry. Yet, there is forgiveness available. If you are a believer, you are one for whom Christ died. He took all your sins upon Himself, paying the penalty in your place. If you are not a believer, don’t repeat the mistake of those who hate Jesus and reject Him — call upon Him and be saved. Then, in the mystery of God, you’ll find that the Lord was working to gather you into the fold this whole time. Praise God for His providence and grace, which comes in spite of our sin and selves!