One Man Should Die
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. 48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” 51 Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. 54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56 Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
The council meets about the raising, and the high priest says more than he means.
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The same event produces both. Some believe; some file a report — and the account does not say the second group disbelieved. They saw a man come out of a tomb and went to tell the authorities, which is its own kind of decision.
The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.
The council's opening question concedes everything. There is no suggestion of fraud anywhere in the meeting; the problem on the table is that the signs are real.
If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
The reasoning is political and, on its own terms, responsible. A popular movement around a claimed king was exactly what brought legions, and men charged with a nation's survival are weighing a real risk.
What they never do is ask whether it is true. The question of who he is does not appear anywhere in the minutes.
There is also a bitter irony the writer expects his readers to feel. They act to preserve our place and our nation, and within a generation both are gone — destroyed in the war their caution was meant to prevent.
49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
Caiaphas is contemptuous and decisive, and what he proposes is the oldest calculation in politics: one life against many. As policy it is judicial murder, and he states it without embarrassment to a room full of clergy.
51 Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
The writer's note is one of the most extraordinary in the book. The words were true, and truer than the speaker knew, and the office is given as the reason — the high priest, whose function was to bring the blood in on behalf of the people, has stated the doctrine of the atonement while arranging a killing.
Every term he chose turns over. One man should die for the people is exactly right, and for means something he did not intend. That the whole nation not perish is the word this Gospel keeps using of what belief avoids John 3:16.
And the writer widens it past the nation to the children of God who are scattered abroad, which is the other sheep of chapter ten John 10:16 and the one flock they will be gathered into.
So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.
The decision is formally taken. And the cause, in this Gospel, is the raising of a man from the dead — the last and greatest sign is what gets him killed, which is the book's own account of why the signs were never going to be enough.
Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
He withdraws to Ephraim, on the edge of the wilderness, and waits.
Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?”
The city fills for Passover, and the question in the temple courts is whether he will dare. The chapter ends with an order out for information and a country holding its breath.
settled What this mark means