OPEN: A mother shared this incident about taking her son to the doctor:
“Because of an ear infection, my young son, Casey, had to go to the pediatrician. I was impressed with the way the doctor directed his comments and questions to my son. When he asked Casey, "is there anything you are allergic to?" Casey nodded and whispered in his ear.
Smiling, the pediatrician wrote out a prescription and handed it to me. Without looking at it, I tucked it into my purse. Later, the pharmacist filled the order, remarking on the unusual food-drug interaction my son must have. When he saw my puzzled expression, he showed me the label on the bottle.
As per the doctor’s instructions, it read: "Do not take with broccoli."
APPLICATION: I like that Doctor – he’s my kind of man. Don’t take with broccoli. I wish I’d known him when I was a kid. He could have made all kinds of prescriptions: don’t take with green peas, don’t take with lima beans. I like him…
But the pharmacist was a bit puzzled. This was a peculiar prescription for him to fill out. He’d never heard of food/drug interaction like the one the Doctor had forbidden. It didn’t make sense.
AND there are things about the text we’ve read today that just don’t make sense
I. First, let me introduce you to the central player in this drama – a man named Caiaphas.
Caiaphas was a successful man in his day. Born of the tribe of Levi, he’d married the daughter of the High Priest, Annas. But because the Romans had become disenchanted with Annas, he had lost his position and Rome offered the office to the highest bidder every year. The winner this year was Caiaphas (kind of kept it in the family). And although he was the official High Priest, Annas continued to be the power behind the throne.
Now Caiaphas was not a particularly religious man. He belonged the party of the Sadducees, and the Sadducees were a very secular group. God was not a very powerful force in their lives. For example, they openly refused to accept the idea of bodily resurrection. One of the easy ways to remember their name is that because they didn’t believe in a bodily resurrection from the dead – they were very Sad U See.
So, although they may have been very religious, they didn’t really believe IN God.
SO, you have a High Priest, who has bought his office, and doesn’t believe IN God. That’s one of the 1st things about this text that doesn’t make sense. I mean it was true, it really happened… It just doesn’t make any sense for a man who is in the position of spiritual leadership of a nation to not believe in God.
II. Now, as you might imagine, Caiaphas was not a very nice man.
He’s bought his office, so you know he’s not a very principled individual. In fact, SINCE he bought his office, (rather than having it given to him by God) it was up to him to defend his own position. I mean God’s not going to do it for him… he doesn’t even believe God does much of anything at all. And so, because God isn’t in the picture, it was up to him to defend his place and position. Thus he has become something of a politician – used to manipulating others around him.
But now there has come along a man whom he can’t manipulate. A threat to his power. A man named Jesus. The Chief Priests and the Pharisees are the first to vocalize it.
They say: "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." (John 11:47-48)
They’re scared. And they have good reason to be. Rome could be a benevolent master. But it didn’t take kindly to anything or anyone who would threaten their authority. Roman soldiers could be ruthless when putting down anything that looked like insurrection.
And here was this Jesus.
He was popular
He was powerful
And when He spoke He could mesmerize entire crowds of people.
It looked as though he could to raise up an army of believers that would attempt to throw off the hated chains of Roman occupation.
Now, if this had been what a mortal Jesus had had in mind – it might just work. Other men had tried it before and had failed. But this Jesus had a larger following that those others. He might just get it done.
BUT, if He didn’t. The results could be unimaginable. Rome would bring the hammer down hard. People would be slaughtered by the thousands, and those who weren’t killed would be carried off into slavery. Rome had leveled other cities for less. Jerusalem would be destroyed and its Temple would be burned to the ground
AND no Temple meant no need for Pharisees… chief Priests… and no need for a High Priest.
III. Now, remember, Caiaphas is more a politician than a he is Godly High Priest.
God’s NOT in the picture for him…
And, so (as a politician) he sees this as a political issue. Political issues call for political solutions. This enemy must be destroyed. So Caiaphas calms his audience with these words:
“You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” John 11:50
From this day forward, Caiaphas goes after Jesus with a intensity and a ruthlessness that would make mortal men quake in their sandals. When he finally DOES get his hands on Jesus…
¨ Caiaphas holds an unlawful night trial in his own home
¨ Has false witnesses brought before him to testify
¨ Has Jesus blindfolded and beaten before being taken away to Pilate for judgment.
Knowing of Caiaphas’ plans, Jesus leaves town for a few days. He will return just a few days later… but only in His time and on His terms.
IV. But, now, this is where it gets curious. This is where the Broccoli come in.
Look again at John 11:49-52 (Reread text).
Caiaphas is a heartless, unprincipled, ungodly and illegitimate High Priest. And yet, God uses this man to declare… a prophecy? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would God use Caiaphas to make this prophecy about Jesus?
Well, three reasons that I could think of:
1st - Caiaphas WAS the High Priest. He may have bought the office, but as far as God was concerned: The office was to be respected even if the individual holding that office was not.
This is a repeated theme through out Scripture. In fact, in Exodus 22:28 God’s people are commanded: "Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.” It’s almost as if God is saying: you curse your rulers… you’re blaspheming me. God makes no distinction between “good rulers” and “bad rulers” in this command.
ILLUS: In fact, back in the days when Israel 1st king was King Saul. There was a problem, King Saul had turned away from God and God told him he was being replaced.
When a young hero named David defeated a giant named Goliath, Saul slowly began to realize that this David was to be his replacement… and so the Saul took every opportunity to have David killed.
However, when the opportunity arose for David to take Saul’s life, he refused. And on one occasion he told King Saul: "This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ’I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’" 1 Samuel 24:10
Did you catch that? David would not so much as lay a hand on a wicked king because that man was God’s anointed one. Caiaphas may have been the wrong man for the job as High Priest. He may have been High Priest for the wrong reasons. But God still honored the office.
2nd - why did God use Caiaphas to make this prophecy? BECAUSE… He could!
The psalmist writes: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One…. The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” (Psalm 2:1,2,4)
In other words, when rulers and authorities try to sidetrack God’s plans… He just laughs, and He laughs, and He laughs. You can’t beat God
You might as well challenge Michael Jordan to a game of one on one in basketball. Granted the guy’s retiring this year. He’s an old man (what 42 or 43???). But if you challenged him to a basketball game he’d just laugh at you. There are professional players that couldn’t take him in such a game. So, if you or I challenged him, he’d smile, he’d laugh, and he might even humor you by taking you up on it… then he’d proceed to mop the floor with you. You can’t beat Michael Jordan in Basketball..
And you can’t beat God.
When people conspire to thwart the will of God through
· Political means
· Or thru the courts
· OR by force of arms
God just laughs at them… they are not going to win. Sooner or later, they will lose.
In fact, Proverbs 21:1 tells us that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.”
Here we have a wicked, self-serving, illegitimate High Priest - and his heart was in the hand of the LORD. Caiaphas was moved about like a chess piece on a game board. He didn’t stand a chance against God.
SO… I believe God sent this prophecy through Caiaphas
Partly because He could (He’s God)…
And partly because Caiaphas was the High Priest
But that still doesn’t completely answer the question – why? WHY honor this reprobate priest with a such a dynamic prophecy? Why allow this man (who would lead the conspiracy to have Jesus murdered) why give him this privilege?
It defies the imagination.
ILLUS: Legend has it that during Marco Polo’s celebrated trip to the Orient, he was taken before the great and fearsome ruler, Genghis Khan. Now what was Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant and adventurer, supposed to do before this mighty pagan conqueror? One false move could cost him his life. He decided to tell the story of Jesus as it is recorded in the gospels.
It is said that when Marco Polo related the events of Holy Week, and described Jesus’ betrayal, his trial, his scourging and crucifixion, Genghis Khan became more and more agitated, more engrossed in the story, and more tense.
When Marco Polo pronounced the words, "Then Jesus bowed his head and yielded up his spirit," Genghis Khan could no longer contain himself. He interrupted, bellowing, "What did the Christian’s God do then? Did he send thousands of angels from heaven to smite and destroy those who killed his Son?"
THAT WOULD HAVE MADE SENSE. That would have been reasonable. But God didn’t do it that way. Instead, God did peculiar things like allowing Caiaphas the honor of proclaiming the dynamic news that Jesus had come to die for all mankind. That doesn’t make any sense at all!!!
It doesn’t make any sense…. (pause) unless perhaps it was because God hadn’t given up on Caiaphas yet. You see, Caiaphas wasn’t totally ignorant of Jesus. In John 18:12-16 we’re told:
"Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.
Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people. Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in."
SOMEBODY in Jesus’ inner circle knew the High Priest fairly well. Well enough, in fact, to walk right into the High Priest’s courtyard with Jesus. Well enough known there for him to get Peter a free pass into the courtyard to keep an eye on Jesus.
Because of the way the Gospel of John is written many scholars believe this disciple was John. And it might have been. But it doesn’t make any difference. The fact of the matter is God had an inside man in the Caiaphas household. God had a witness who could speak to Caiaphas of his need for salvation.
God didn’t want Caiaphas to die without having an opportunity of coming to the true High Priest… Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
CLOSE: There was once a young man who didn’t think life was fair. It caused him not only to reject the God that his mother had raised him to respect but it led him to leave home for the sea and for a life filled with impurity.
John, his name, became a sea captain in the highly profitable slave trade of the day. He made repeated trips to the African coast to kidnap and sell human flesh for price. He was not a nice man. And there is speculation that when he fell off the ship one stormy night, he had had a little help. Managing to make it to shore, he barely managed to survive, struggling just to find food to eat.
In time, he met a missionary who led him back to God. John made his way back to his native England and there became a renowned preacher who shared with everyone the love and mercy God had shown him. He wrote the words to this song in our hymnal (293)
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me…
I once was lost, but now I am found
I was blind but now, I see
Twas His grace that taught my heart to fear
And His grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour, I first believed.
Caiaphas was not much different than many of us. He had learned to manipulate those around him to attain what he wanted to get out of life. But God still cared for him and (I believe) offered him a chance at salvation.
As far as we know, Caiaphas never accepted that gift. But, today you have the opportunity to accept what Caiaphas refused - the opportunity to belong to God and accept His gift of amazing grace. Won’t you come forward…
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
Don’t Take With Broccoli – John 11:33
The Question That Condemned Jesus – Matthew 26:57
The Moment Of Truth – John 18:28
His Blood Be Upon Us – Matthew 27:16
Hail, King of The Jews – Mark 15:15
Guilty Of Innocent Blood – Matthew 27:1
Remember Me – Luke 23:38
Let Him Save Himself – Matthew 27:39
Surely This Was The Son Of God – Mark 15:33
