John 11:47-48 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled a sanhedrin, and said, What are we doing, for this man does many miraculous signs? If we let Him alone this way, all will believe into Him, and the Romans will come and will take away from us both the place and the nation.
Jesus had just raised a dead man. The story was being told and retold by those in the area. After all, it's not every day that someone is raised from the dead. Now Jesus is getting the attention of the people so the religious leaders call an emergency board meeting and this is what they say, “What are we doing, for this man does many miraculous signs? If we let Him alone this way, all will believe into Him, and the Romans will come and will take away from us both the place and the nation.” Instead of recognizing Jesus for Who He is, They're worrying about what they might lose. They just saw Jesus raise a dead man but they don't trust Him to take care of their nation. If they would have let go of their pride, they would have recognized Jesus as their Messiah and would have gladly turned over everything to Him.
In the middle of all the handwringing and worrying, Caiaphas speaks up. He does what most of us do. He tries to look wiser than the rest so that he can sway them to his way of thinking. Picture it, he's looking down his nose at them and says, “You know nothing.” The insinuation is that Caiaphas is wiser and has the answers to this problem. This is what he says next, “nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation perish.” Caiaphas didn't fully understand the mission of Jesus so he couldn't have known how prophetic his words were. John, who is the writer telling us this story, goes on to say, “But he did not say this from himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die on behalf of the nation, and not only on behalf of the nation, but that He also might gather into one the children of God who had been scattered.”
Because the next text says “they took counsel that they might kill Him” I think Caiaphas was saying, let's kill Jesus to save the nation. Not realizing that Jesus did come to die for the nation and for the whole world. Caiaphas spoke a prophesy of what was to happen without realizing it. They had the answer right there in their faces but were too proud and blind to see it. We're not unlike these men. We fight to hold on to our positions and our plans, instead of letting God do His work in us. Caiaphas and the other religious leaders saw Jesus. They saw all He did and heard all He said, but still didn't trust Him because they didn't see Who Jesus really was. If they couldn't trust and really know Jesus when they had Him right there, how can we, who can't see Jesus, think we can know Him when we don't spend time reading the Bible, praying to Jesus, or spend time being quiet so we can listen to His answers to us? Our minds need to be constantly tuned into God, either through prayer, reading, music, quiet meditation, or in our conversations. We need a constant awareness of Him. That constant awareness will draw us into a relationship with Him. That relationship will allow us to live the life God has planned for us. A life that is full and rich. A life we will enjoy. There will be problems because this life is full of problems, but that won't stop us from enjoying life if we're enjoying it with God. Like the death of Lazarus, God changes problems into a revelation of His glory and of His presence in our lives.