One Man to Die | Sermon 09/03/2023

John 11:47-57

The mourners who witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead departed back to Jerusalem to report what they saw to the Pharisees. Jesus, His ministry and signs have become such a problem for them that the chief priests and Pharisees called together the Sanhedrin. The Jewish high council that controlled all internal affairs outside of Rome’s jurisdiction. And they pose the question. “What do we do? This man is performing many signs.” Their worries are expressed in many men believing in Jesus, losing the authority and power given them by the Romans, and the semi-autonomous nature of their nation. They are corrupt leaders hungry for power, influence, and status. God, His Word, truth, and goodness are far from their minds.

Caiaphas, a Sadducee and high priest, barked at his colleagues. He sees the only viable option to maintain their authority is to kill Jesus. Jesus is “proven” guilty before He even gets a trial. The apostle John points out though that Caiaphas unknowingly prophesied that by the sacrifice of this one Man, He would save the nation. And not only the Jews but all of the children of God. And the reality is that God has often used wicked men to accomplish His purposes. Balaam spoke of the Messiah’s coming even though He attempted to curse Israel. Truth be told, everything is on the trajectory of Christ’s redemption of His people and His final coming. God sovereignly operates through and with the intentions of men: even their scheming.

Jesus departed 13 miles north to Ephraim because it was not yet God’s timing for Him to go to the cross. But the announcement of the coming Passover is the final bell. Between Caiaphas’s prophecy and the Passover, the reader is reminded of the substitutionary atonement of the lamb. The blood that caused the angel of death to pass over God’s people. However, death has still been ever present. Only the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world could accomplish this for good. And He has.