Or, The Die Is Cast
Scripture: John 11:45-57
Date: April 21, 2013
Speaker: Sean Higgins
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Around 53 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in Northern Italy, leading his army toward Rome against Pompey. The Senate had called him to come without his army, so he defied the law by bringing his army with him. The Roman historian Suetonius recorded the words of Caesar as he entered Italy, Alea iacta est, “The die is cast”, referring to a popular backgammon sort of game. Once the dice were thrown and landed, there was no going back. The decision was made, he was past the point of return.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the die was cast. He proved not only that He had the power over death, He also provoked the religious powers to put Him to death. He showed His glory and raised the hope of some. The same revelation of glory also raised the pulse of hostility in others. His most decisive sign became the motivation for His death sentence.
The final few paragraphs in John 11 describe some of the faith and much of the fear that resulted from the resurrection of Lazarus. For whatever resistance He faced, Jesus called Lazarus to life because He is the resurrection and the life. No one doubted that Lazarus as dead; he had been dead for four days. No one doubted that he came back to life either; the witnesses unbound him from his grave clothes.
A large crowd witnessed the miracle. They came to comfort the sisters and, in particular, they came with Mary when she went to the tomb. The tomb sat outside of Bethany and Bethany was only a couple miles southwest of Jerusalem. Word was bound to get out. It did.
Though we don’t hear any response from Lazarus or his sisters or the disciples, we hear plenty from the panicked religious leaders in the capital. Their backlash takes up most of this section. In some sense we need this to explain the rest of Jesus’ life. I’m surprised that Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not include the Lazarus story. The glory of Jesus demonstrated in overcoming death of a loved one merely sets the stage for His glory to be demonstrated in taking death for those He loved to make them into one. The die was cast as the pulse of hostility runs high.
We’ve seen it before a few times in John’s Gospel. Jesus created strong feelings in people and His latest sign was no different.
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. (John 11:45–46, ESV)
First, many…believed in him . These were Jews…who had come with Mary and had seen what he did . I suppose the reason that John mentions Mary and not Martha is because the crowd had been in the house, not at the cave, until Mary got up to go to the cave. Supposing that Mary had more friends than Martha seems unnecessary and unsupported.
Do you believe that these believers truly believed? Many believed based only on Jesus’ signs. Remember in John 6 when He turned five loaves and a couple fish into a meal for thousands? They wanted to make Him King (John 6:15)? How much more impressed would they be over this?
Yet, others ran to their religious daddies to tell on Jesus. Some of them , that is, some of the Jews not some of the believers, went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done . Maybe they wanted to evangelize the Pharisees. “Maybe if we tell them one more time they’ll believe. If we tell them about this miracle, of course they will!” This isn’t impossible, and we could see this group as an example of the council’s conclusion in verse 48: “everyone will believe in him” just like these poor schlubs.
Or maybe, and more likely, these tattle-tales couldn’t let a good deed go unpunished. Sure, Jesus just raised a man from the dead, but did He have permission? Did He get approval from the proper authorities? “[T]here is no work of God which impiety will not infect and corrupt by the bitterness of its poison” (Calvin, 448).
Because Jesus wouldn’t let dead men lie, He became a wanted man. The Jews needed to do something.
Rather than recognizing Jesus as the one who gives life, the authorities recognized Him as the one who could cause them to lose everything.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 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.” (John 11:47–48, ESV)
The Council is the Sanhedrin, the highest ruling body in Israel, mentioned here for the first (and only) time in John. The Sanhedrin held legislative, judicial, and executive powers, so no level of appeal existed above them. This council included chief priests who were usually family members of the high priest . Caiaphas sat in the high priest’s office and many of his father’s (Annas) relatives surrounded him. Together with the Pharisees they gathered the council for an emergency session. Once the Sanhedrin gets involved, this is a federal case unlike the mob in 10:31. The national court gets involved because this is a national crisis.
The only item on the agenda was Jesus. They said, What are we to do? For this man performs many signs . They do not deny the signs. They tried that approach before. They acknowledge the signs but do not acknowledge the one the signs point to. They don’t even call Jesus by name: this man . The rhetorical What are we to do? suggests that no one is doing anything. If they keep not doing anything, things are sure to get worse.
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him . What’s wrong with that? The Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation . In AD 30, though Israel was part of the Roman Empire, the Romans basically let Israel rule herself. And who did the ruling? The Council.
If you weren’t in power, wouldn’t you want Jesus to be King? A guy who heals paralyzed people, provides food, and raises the dead could have a long run in office. He’s the sort of leader you rewrite term limits for. He seemed to genuinely care for people—the man born blind is a great example—when the current powers treated him for their own gain.
So, those without power would obviously prefer Jesus to the current powers. Those with power couldn’t imagine a greater threat to their position. Being an incumbent offers no protection over a resume like Jesus’.
The council couches their panic in “for the good of others” terms. Of course they do. They are concerned “for the people,” “for the nation.” If Rome were to hear about a Jewish king then they would take action. No room for two kings. The Romans would come and take away our place . Place could refer to the temple but more likely refer to their position, their perceived power. National concern masked selfish interests.
Someone has an idea how to deal with the threat: nip it in the bud.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 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.” (John 11:49–51, ESV)
Caiaphas starts with his most winsome rhetoric, man of the people he was. You know nothing at all . “Oh, okay, well then by all means, you go right ahead.” Even if true, that they knew nothing, this was nothing if not condescending.
Caiaphas proposed an exchange: one man should die for the people to avoid the whole nation perishing. “Well, when you put it like that. If those are the only choices…” A few things should be noted. First, the Romans weren’t asking for Jesus, not yet. The proposition assumed that the Jews needed to take care of things before it got out of hand. Second, it wasn’t right to hand over a righteous man even if the Romans were demanding him. Caiaphas wasn’t suggesting that they ask Jesus if He would willingly give His life, Caiaphas suggested that they take Jesus’ life. Third, this was better for you . This was politically expedient for the politicians even if presented in terms of being better for the people. The national concern just happened to overlap with their personal concerns; they could murder with virtue. Caiaphas expected that this route was so obvious that everyone should have known it already. They didn’t, but their heart beat throbbed with similar hatred.
John adds perspective to Caiaphas’ prophecy.
He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. (John 11:51–52, ESV)
To say that Caiaphas did not say this of his own accord doesn’t mean that Caiaphas was unconscious or that his mouth moved like a puppet. It means that what Caiaphas meant for death God meant for resurrection. Being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation . Caiaphas had no idea the dimensions of that reality. God and Caiaphas wanted Jesus dead, but for different reasons. Caiaphas thought about politics, God thought about propitiation.
Not every high priest prophesied but, when the high priest prophesied, people listened. God has used strange mouthpieces, even those who claim to be speaking for God but don’t know what God is saying through them. Irony, like when a horrible parent gives great parenting advice that they apparently never followed.”With the same voice” Caiaphas blasphemed while declaring God’s revelation (Calvin).
Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad . Here is the greatest glory in the chapter: not Jesus’ tenderness, not His powerful word, but the substitution of Jesus for His people, including all of us who believe.
The Romans were not the biggest threat to the Jews. Their own sin, their own death was. Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus die instead of the people and this is exactly what happened, just not for the reason Caiaphas imagined.
Jesus died in place of the nation , in place of Israel. He chose them for Himself, they are part of His sheep so He laid down His life for them. We believe that He will still save an entire future generation of national Israel, fulfilling His particular New Covenant promises to them. But He also laid down his life for sheep “not of this fold,” too (John 10:16), for Gentile sheep. His substitution saves all kinds of men from death and aims to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad . He’s still doing it now among and around us.
Without understanding their own part in the story, the Council decided the judgment. John skips over his explanation back to Caiaphas’ proposal.
So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. (John 11:53, ESV)
This was the trial. The judgment was determined. The die was cast. No longer was it an “if” but a matter of “when” and “how.” To say that from that day on they made plans means that they had resolved, they had reached their decision. Jesus’ life threated the existence of the nation. If Jesus wasn’t killed they would lose everything. By 12:9-11 we learn that they also intended to kill Lazarus since he was a walking reminder of Jesus’ power.
They hate God, they want to be God in the name of God. It’s because they are blind, and dead, and can’t see anything, because they’re slaves. They’ll do anything to remove God from His throne.
Ironically—and John knew it from the vantage point of writing in the late AD 80s—the Council killed Jesus AND they lost their power anyway. The Romans did destroy Jerusalem in AD 70. “What the wicked dreads will come upon him” (Proverbs 10:24, ESV). The powers only avoided the temporary threat temporarily and, in doing so, missed deliverance from their eternal threat.
Jesus’ hour was close, but not quite yet.
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.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 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?” 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. (John 11:54–57, ESV)
For a short time Jesus and His disciples went to Ephraim . He wasn’t waiting for the Jews hostility to die down, He was waiting for the appointed time for their hostility to lift Him up to death.
The final Passover was about to begin and a fever swelled along with the population in Jerusalem. All the men were required to attend the feast and many went up…to purify themselves , sort of the pre-conference.
The Council issued the warrant for Jesus’ arrest; His picture was on the wall in every Post Office. This was a crowd-sources, social media search without the media. Anyone who knew Jesus’ whereabouts was to turn Him in. The people talked among themselves about where He was, whether He would come, when the manhunt would end.
We’re halfway through John. We’ve hit new categories (new levels of hostility) for glory, especially the glory of substitution and resurrection.
There is more glory here. Not that there wasn’t glory in the resurrection of Lazarus. The story certainly reached the end of a chapter, just not the final chapter.
Jesus waited for Lazarus to die, for things to be beyond bad, in order to show His glory and raise our hope by resurrecting him from the dead. In doing so, just as much a part of His glory-showing plan, He raised the hostility of the powers. His greatest sign made things worse than they’d ever been, not just for one family, but for Himself and in the perceived threat to the whole nation. The one who came to deliver the nation appears to be the one who will cause the nation to be destroyed.
I say all that because even when God fixes one problem, that may be the cause of an even worse effect. (Some of us may wish for a quicker fix to the problem immediately in front of us anyway.) But His glory-getting work never rests. That which raises hope in some will raise hostility in others, and even that aims to raise our hope more.
This work of evangelism—spreading the good news—should be done in hope. We hope not just that men will believe, we hope as one of the instruments that brings them to believe. Our hope should make them ask, understanding our hope will also make some more mad. Whether in little victories or losses, our help and hope is in Him. Jesus’ death can’t stop Him. Nothing can.