Day 1077: Not for the nation only - John 11 vs 45 - 54

45-46 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47-48 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

49-50 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

53-54 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. John 11:45-54 English Standard Version

The eye witness testimony of those who'd seen Jesus call from the tomb a man who'd been dead for four days, filled the leaders of Israel with fear. What was the reason for their fear? (vs 47-48)

Rather than stand in awe of the miracles Jesus had done, they were concerned that His popularity would lead to a movement that would make the Romans fear an uprising in that part of their empire, and they would quickly despatch legions to wipe out the nation. As we will see what was said of some people later in this chapter, the leaders of Israel were ‘more afraid of man than of God’.

And so they hatched a plan to eliminate Jesus (vs 49-50). Kill him, then the Romans won't have a reason to destroy our nation. At this point, John, the disciple who wrote this gospel, makes the interesting statement we read in vs 51-52. Even though Caiaphas was planning to kill the one God had sent into the world to be a Saviour, God was still in full control of the events that were unfolding. He could even use an enemy to prophesy on His behalf. It's an example of what a man in the Old Testament had written: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21

But what’s the very good news for us today in the prophesy Caiaphas made, and the insight God gave John as to the full meaning of those words? (vs 52)

The death Jesus would die wasn't only going to be the way people in Israel could be saved, but would ‘gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad’. In other words, while God's salvation would indeed be announced firstly to Israel, it would also be taken into the nations of the world. We will see the beginnings of this extension of the good news to all people as this chapter unfolds.

The apostle Paul wrote of Jesus saving Jews AND gentiles in his letter to the Church at Ephesus. He says: “His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace. And in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:15-18 NIV)

This is something that those of us who weren't born of the physical family of Israel should be deeply grateful for. We need to remember how at one time we were “separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:12-13) How wonderful that Jesus didn’t die “for the nation only . . . but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”