It is Better That One Man Die for the People

John 11:45–57 (ESV)

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

Today we are going to talk about some things that are probably going to make you look at me and say, “what a broken record he is! Can we just move on and talk about something else?”

But we have to talk about what John presents to us.

By now, after studying John for almost 2 years now, themes should be emerging to us. And John’s intention in writing this book should be obvious.

He comes back to it time and time again.

He presents clearly who Jesus is and challenges our response to Him.

And so that’s where I find myself coming back to.

I find that I need this message. Who is Jesus? Is He who He says He is? And if He is, what kind of response does that demand from me?

As we look at our passage today, I find that we are challenged with a number of different truths. Three truths

The truth about Belief

Jesus had just performed an astonishing miracle in front of a multitude of people, in front of many witnesses

There was no question about what had just happened.

There were Jews from Jerusalem and the surrounding areas who had come to Bethany to mourn with Mary and Martha.

They had followed Jesus out to the tomb to see what He was up to, and they saw what Jesus did

But again, this miracle was not simply for the sake of doing something amazing, or to “wow” the people

It was not simply to help Mary and Martha feel better and get over their grief by bringing their brother back to them again.

It was so that the people would believe that Jesus was sent by God!

Verse 42. Jesus prays: I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

And we see in verse 45 that His prayer was answered. Many of the Jews did believe! But many of them did not.

And this is incredible to me. That even after so great a miracle, witnessed by so many people, there were still people who did not believe in Him.

Isn’t that amazing? Wouldn’t you believe? Wouldn’t I believe after seeing such an amazing miracle right in front of our eyes?

I would like to think so.

But we see this again and again, and Jesus speaks to this a number of times throughout the Gospel of John.

That just because someone witnesses the power of Jesus, doesn’t mean that this person will believe that Jesus is who He says He is

“You want to see sign, but you have unbelieving hearts”

There is something within us that says thinks, if only we could see the miraculous, incredible power of Jesus, it would be easier for us to believe.

But it appears from what we see in the Gospels, that it actually wouldn’t be easier.

It certainly wouldn’t be a given that we would believe.

The truth about belief is that it comes from a work that the Holy Spirit does in our hearts

Belief comes from a work of God in our hearts.

In Ephesians 2 Paul talks about even the faith to receive the grace of Jesus is a gift of God!

Do you find that you do have the faith to receive His grace? Praise Him for it, and ask for even more!

Do you find that you struggle to have the faith to receive His grace? Ask Him for faith!

If He chooses to give you a miraculous sign to increase your faith, praise Him for that!

But let’s not get caught in focusing on and chasing miraculous signs so that Jesus can prove Himself in some way again and again.

The truth about our hearts

The thing about Jesus is, He always gets a response. It’s impossible to be neutral on Jesus.

We see 3 groups of people

Those Who Believe (Verse 45. Many of them believed)

Those are those who need no more convincing. No more signs. Whether this is the first miracle they saw or one of many, they are finally ready to believe

Those who believe that Jesus is who He says He is.

That He is the Son of God. The Word made Flesh

When the Bible says that someone believed in Jesus, I think that it goes without saying that this person, or these people had a change in heart, resulting in a changed life

Their hearts were ready to believe

Those who did not believe.

These are those who said, “Nope, I’m not convinced.”

What Jesus just did here was cool and all, but I’m just not convinced.

These kind of people think that they are taking the neutral road. That they can just say, “Ah, Jesus is alright but I’m just going to continue on with my life

But again, we see that there is no neutral ground with Jesus.

Because in their unbelief, or their refusal to believe in Jesus, these people run off to the authorities and let them know what Jesus had done

What exactly their motives are, we don’t know, but what is clear is that their report is a significant link in a series of events which result in the death of Jesus.

You cannot remain neutral with Jesus. He said in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with me is against me.”

It’s one or the other, there is no middle ground.

And this is something that each one of us has to consider carefully. Which side am I really on?

Saying a prayer one day and asking Jesus into my heart does not necessarily mean that today I am FOR Him.

And if I’m not for Him, I’m against Him

Those whose hearts are proud

These are those who make no pretence of being followers of Jesus. these are those who will not be satisfied until Jesus is removed completely from the picture. WHY? because He threatens their position and their power

Those who did not believe went running to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done

And again, there is talk of arresting and killing Jesus

In the past, you would have individual groups talking:

Pharisees, Sadducees, the Jews, the priests

But there is something different and sinister this time.

This time you have The Council. That is, The Sanhedrin, the supreme court headed up by Caiaphas, the High Priest himself.

This is a unified effort by chief priests, the Pharisees and the high priest to get rid of Jesus.

And the reason for doing so is quite simple: He threatens their position.

The interesting thing is that they are not trying to explain away His miracles anymore.

They’ve seen His miracles and are both amazed and disturbed

Verse 47: What are we going to do? This man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him!

And they are quite worried. “If we let him go on like this, the Romans will come in and take our place and our nation

Our place: The temple, our place of worship

Our nation: The Romans had let Israel be semi autonomous and mostly rule themselves, unlike other countries that they had conquered

For these guys, religious and political power is most important.

They are losing their popularity and authority

If we let Him continue, everyone is going to believe in Him. Meaning, no one will listen to us any more

They might lose their place of “worship”. Their glorious and grand temple

And they might completely lose their “independence” or at least the little bit that they have

Little do they realize that in just over 30 years from then, this is exactly what is going to happen

The Roman general, Titus, with his forces marched in to crush a Jewish rebellion.

They surround the city, besiege it, starve the residents into submission, breach the walls, massacre the remaining population, and burn the temple.

From that time on, Jerusalem was a scene of many battles, different nations and factions vying for power, Jews and Christians banned.

The very thing that Caiaphas was trying to prevent from happening by rejecting Christ, happened because he DID reject Christ!

Even today so many people reject Jesus because He disrupts their lives.

He disrupts our dreams

He disrupts our plans of what I want to do with my life.

And when we have pride in our hearts, he calls us into account!

Folks, where do we stand? What is in our hearts? Do we have hearts that believe? Do we have hearts that are trying to remain neutral? Do we have hearts that are outright rejecting His grace?

The truth about God’s Plan

God’s plan is:

That One Man should die for the people

That all God’s children should be gathered together

while the hearts of Caiaphas and the other religious leaders are revealed to be full of pride and evil, we are left astounded by the words of Caiaphas.

“Listen guys, you don’t know what you are talking about! It is better that one man die for the people than that the whole nation should perish.”

Now Caiaphas was not a prophet. He didn’t seek to speak the message of God. He didn’t know about God’s eternal plan of redemption for all people! He had no idea of the significance of His words or of the global impact of his statement

But his words make us, on this side of the death and resurrection of Jesus, smile and nod and say, “Right on, Caiaphas! Do you have any idea of what you just said?”

And John, writing after the death and resurrection, puts his own commentary on his words.

He didn’t say this of his own will, but his position as high priest allowed him to prophecy that Jesus would die for the nation

And then John says this: “And not only for the nation of Israel, but to gather into one, the children of God that are scattered abroad”

Now, John, being Jewish, is speaking specifically, I believe, of the Jews which are scattered abroad into other countries.

They are referred to as “children of God”.

Now, obviously, we aren’t Jewish. But these words of Caiaphas are still significant. Because while spoken to a Jewish audience, they reflect the global purpose of God’s plan of redemption

This is a clear statement that God’s plan of redemption through Jesus was not just for the nation of Israel, but for the whole world. For all nations

Amazing how God uses even the most wicked of men to speak truth, prophecy, and declare His glory!

There is no one who can thwart the plans of God. No leader, or king, or prime minister, or president has ever done so, and no one ever will!

I’m reminded of Psalm 2:1–6 (ESV) 2 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

What is the plan of God?

That Jesus would die for ALL, and that ALL will hear that their freedom from slavery to sin has been paid for and that they are free

That all His children will be gathered together into one.

Indeed, Jesus DID die for all and in Him we are all gathered into one.

This is a crucial, vital work and mission of the church!

This is why we have 10:2 Sunday to pray about the harvest.

This is why I pray that God will raise up young men and women from this church and community to go to the nations

This is why I have made efforts to get involved with the international student community in Iowa City.

It’s because Jesus died for those nations and He has people in those nations whom He wants to gather together into one!

This is His plan and we have the privilege to be a part of it! It’s not a burden or something that we have to dread.

“Oh, I hope He doesn’t call me”

It is a privilege and He has called us to be a part of it.

All He asks is for us to be available and willing, and He gives the grace and the power and does the work

So the stage is set. The plot is hatched. From this time on, they did more than just talk about putting Jesus to death.

They plotted and made plans. The trap is set.

So again, Jesus withdraws with his disciples to a little town called Ephraim which lay on a prominent hill about 13 miles to the northeast of Jerusalem.

And there he stays until 6 days before the feast of the Passover, when He will make His was to Jerusalem for, what will be for Him, the last time.