Caiaphas prophecy?
A blog reader, Brenda, writes
“In John 11:51-52 it says that Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and for the scattered children of God. Is his prophesy written somewhere else in the Scriptures or is this the only reference to his prophesy.”
Jesus had just performed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, a man already decaying four days entombed. So shaking was this miracle that, as John records, “many… believed in him” (v. 45). When the Pharisees got wind of this they panicked. What if everyone began to chase after Him, want to make Him ruler? The Romans would surely see this threat to their rule. They would destroy our temple, the place which taught of a coming messiah, and ruin our nation removing all possible threat of insurgency.
To this Caiaphas responds “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”. His thinking is this: Jesus must simply be removed. To kill him, one man, is better than to allow the potential death and suffering of many. Strategically the comment made sense. One death is better than many deaths. But no doubt their motives were mixed.
In any event, God is utilizing Caiaphas to orchestrate a great irony. Caiaphas has in mind the immediate: kill the upstart, save the present population. God has in mind the eternal: sacrifice the Son, save the millions that will trust in Him.
John now sees this as he writes his gospel narrative. John, the dearest and most loved disciple. He has insights others perhaps do not.
John mentions this prophecy again in 18:14, and the dilemma is again alluded to in 19:12. This following statement appears to come from the Torah, but I am puzzled at this as the Torah deals only with the O.T. Pentateuch. Documenting this precisely was difficult.
“The Holy Spirit spoke a prophecy and proclaimed the gospel through the mouth of the wicked Caiaphas, a reminder that God works in many ways one hardly expects, and He speaks through many voices one would never anticipate.” (https://torahportions.ffoz.org/)
Other than this dubious reference to the Torah I have found no other sources.
Press on…
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