It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.

Therefore Jesus no longer walked only among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.

- John 11:45-54

In recent readings, we have read the story of the seventh and final sign in John's Gospel, and that is the raising of Lazarus. On Wednesday, we read that Jesus was beyond the Jordan, in the place where John was first baptizing. This was because by now the authorities in the temple at Jerusalem seek to put Him to death for blasphemy. But He hears news from His good friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The sisters send to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, He whom you love is sick." They live in Bethany, about two miles east of Jerusalem. Jesus proposes that He go there, but His disciples question Him because of the threat from the temple leadership. Jesus told them, "If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." He said that Lazarus' illness was for the glory of God. Speaking of his death, Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." On Thursday we read of Martha greeting Him as He approached: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." He told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." Then He sent for Mary, Martha's sister, who came quickly to Him. In yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus was still at the place where Martha met Him, outside Bethany, when Mary came to Him. There were many who had come from Jerusalem and Judea, who were the followers of the leadership at the temple, to mourn with Martha and Mary. The mourners, weeping with her, followed Mary to Jesus, thinking she was going to the tomb. She said to Jesus the same words of her sister, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus was troubled and agitated and asked where they had laid Lazarus. "Lord, come and see," they said, and Jesus had tears on His face. The mourners from Jerusalem said, "See how He loved him!" And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?" Lazarus was laid in a cave with a stone shutting it, and Jesus told them to take away the stone. Martha warned Him that Lazarus was dead for four days, and there would be a stench. Jesus told her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. The term "the Jews" is used in John's Gospel to denote the leadership in the temple at Jerusalem and their followers, who by now are determined to put Jesus to death -- even before the raising of Lazarus. This was decided for blasphemy, because Jesus had called Himself the Son of God.

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." My study bible says, "The Jewish leaders acknowledge Jesus' signs and are concerned that the Romans will intervene militarily if a popular movement around Jesus gained momentum and threatens the established order." We know already they are concerned about His popularity, but now we get a flavor of a different situation, and that is the political one in which they find themselves. They are leaders under certain conditions of Roman political rule; they have authority over their own people, but it is under the colonial rule of Rome. A reasonable question under such circumstances also might arise to their minds that should Jesus prove to be a popular leader, the Romans might then turn to Him. At any rate, His popularity undermines their authority.

And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. My study bible notes, "Caiaphas, being high priest of Israel, is given through his office the authority to speak prophetically. Caiaphas means only that the death of Jesus would spare the nation from Roman intervention. But the greater prophetic meaning of his words is that the death of Jesus will be for the salvation of the Jewish people and many others throughout the world."

Therefore Jesus no longer walked only among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples. Jesus will avoid the leadership and Jerusalem until it is His time, His hour. His death is in His own hands, as He has repeatedly said.

There's a very interesting book written by a man who began developing his theories as a professor of French literature, named Rene Girard. He wrote about scapegoating, comparing its use in pagan cultures and also through the Bible. There's a very interesting crux going on here in this scene, where Caiaphas, the high priest, speaking in his prophetic capacity, treats Jesus' death in the same way that we would popularly think of a sort of scapegoat: as one who will die or be sacrificed for the nation or the people. But in Caiaphas' view, Jesus is a criminal or an outsider who is shaking up the order of things, and threatening the established order which he seeks to preserve. This is a scapegoat mechanism of the type that Professor Girard would have observed at work in history. But the irony is in the transformation of this perspective through Christ -- as my study bible's note points out to us. Yes, Jesus will die for the people, for the whole world, for those of other folds He will gather into one flock. But it will not be in sin, as a criminal, regardless of the human point of view that may see Him that way. This sacrifice is a triumph upon the Cross, a triumph for all of us, for whom He is raised as a sign of God's love for the world. Jesus' death will be a sign, and continues to be a sign, not of violence and death, but of life, of Resurrection and hope. His is a sacrifice of salvation for the world, and it will be the death of the old order, of those who merely wish to preserve their own places. In the story of Lazarus, Jesus confronts death and wins victorious. So will His death on the Cross be a sign of His victory over death, and it is a victory for all of us - not for those who would use His death as a means of keeping their places. It's like a two-edged sword, a way of seeing life, of choices: how are we going to perceive what life gives us? How do we view Jesus' death upon the Cross? It will forever be a sign of hope, that whatever we think we see in this world, it doesn't mean that our limited perspective is the end of the story. Jesus has told His disciples - and we who follow - that we will have tribulation in the world, but to be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world. Every time we face a defeat by any form of death, of grief, of violence, of manipulation, of scapegoating, in any form a lie may come to us, we have something in which to believe which has triumphed over all forms of such machinations, and that is the Cross of Christ. He will share His spirit with all of us, and in that is the Resurrection and the Life. Let us remember to seek His way, His point of view, His life, in all that we do.