What shall we do? For this Man works many signs

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 our 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 openly 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 yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus had not yet come into the town of Bethany, but was in the place where Martha met Him as He came to the house of Lazarus (now passed) and his sisters.  Then those from Jerusalem who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, "Where have you laid him?"  They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept.  Then the Jews 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?"  Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  Jesus said to 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 graveclothes, 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, in John's Gospel, is used most often as a kind of political term.  Here it indicates people who have come from Jerusalem to mourn with the sisters for their brother Lazarus, now raised from the dead by Christ (see yesterday's reading, above).  These people are clearly connected with the ruling classes who form the Council, the leadership in Jerusalem

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 our 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.  As high priest, Caiaphas is given the authority to speak prophetically.  It is important to understand that this has to do with the authority of his position, not himself as individual.  My study bible says that the failings and even wickedness of the officeholder do not diminish the grace of the office itself.  Here, Caiaphas means only that the death of Christ will spare the Jews from Roman intervention.  But God's meaning is that all people will be saved through the death of the Son.

Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.  Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly 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 stays in the country, near the wilderness, avoiding Jerusalem and its ruling authorities until it is His "hour" of glorification, the time of the Cross (12:23).

The act of the raising of Lazarus from the dead has sealed Jesus' fate with the authorities.  The act itself has made believers out of many connected with the ruling parties, and this is seen as a threat to the Council and the ruling authorities.  At least in the point of view of the Gospel, it is a typical story about power, the will to rule, to retain place, when personal authority becomes the cherished goal above all else.  Christ comes into the world and fills it with grace, divine power working to do all things to heal and make whole.  He even raises a man from the dead.  God's power shakes up the world, takes us out of the commonplace and the acceptance of daily life as rule and norm.  But the point of view of the Gospel is not to say that the "norms" established through Moses and the spiritual heritage of Israel are bad or wrong.  On the contrary, it is specifically expressed here that Caiaphas, regardless of his personal flaws or frailties, prophesies in accordance with the office he holds, that of chief priest.  No, what is at fault here is the all-too-typical stuff of daily life of our world at the time of Christ and in today's headlines:  the manipulation of power and the failure to uphold what is good and established in justice as custom.  The manipulations of the Council that are to follow will defy every rule established for the proper working order of the community and its justice.  Selfishness instead will rule, expediency for the sake of retaining position.  In chapter 7, Nicodemus asks his fellow Pharisees and members of the Council, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  (See 7:45-52.)  The impulse to put the law second and expediency first is already there.  It is a way of showing through works that their duties to God are put into the service of their own personal power, place, and position.  We should not forget that when we forgo justice, we forgo our Lord, who also was the victim of injustice.  Laws put into place to protect the innocent from unlawful conviction, like in the example of Nicodemus asking about witnesses, are laws we can trace with clear importance to the story of Jesus.  The Cross tells us a story about worldly justice, about selfishness, about expediency for the sake of the retention of power, cutting corners, and failing ultimately to uphold what is good for society, for community -- failing to recognize and to cherish the working of God, the good among us.  Let us consider how the Cross pits worldly perspective against God's perspective, what it tells us about justice, and ultimately that the promise of the Cross is that Christ will return with true Judgment.  When we read the story of lying and manipulation and selfishness, we read about the workings of that which hates truth and is the enemy of God.  But all too often, we fail to recognize that this reality lives side-by-side with that which loves and worships truth (see the Parable of the Tares).  It is up to us to choose and to be awake to what is happening all around us, to know how we are called and what we are called to serve, with Him.  Too often we forget what John's Gospel tells us, that Jesus' mission into the world is ultimately all about true justice, the Judgment for which He promises He will return.  In our worldly perspective, we so often think all that matters is our "side" and what's good for that.  Self-righteousness rules the day.  But that isn't what holiness is all about, at all.  What does righteousness really look like to you?