That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him. But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus. The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. “What do we do now?” they asked. “This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs. If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have.”
Then one of them—it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year—spoke up, “Don’t you know anything? Can’t you see that it’s to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?” He didn’t say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God’s exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.
From that day on, they plotted to kill him. {John 11:45-53}
Jesus had just performed a foreshadowing miracle--He raised Lazarus from the dead, and it set in motion a series of events that culminated in His crucifixion.
I was struck by one line as I was reading through this passage today: If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have.
They were threatened by Jesus and His message. They feared loosing their place in society, their power over the people, and their position of privilege. The Pharisees spent their lives preening their outside appearance--walking examples of pristine rule-keeping and legalistic living--as they tried to earn salvation by obeying the Law. But Jesus threatened to tear all that down, recklessly offering life and freedom to anyone who believed.
And so, they labeled Him.
Blasphemous.
Dangerous.
Ruinous to their standing in society.
And they determined He must go. It was either Him or all of them, and clearly, it works out well for the Pharisees if one mere man is destroyed to preserve life as they know it.
Power, pride, and privilege: these qualities are blinding. Like thick, ill-fitting lenses, they distort the way we see life, the world, and more importantly, other people. The view makes us feel bigger and more important than we really are, inflates our self-interest, and cultivates a fear of losing the advantage we perceive ourselves to have. And so we distance and label. After all, if we deem something or someone dangerous or a scourge on society, it's much easier to sacrifice them "for the greater good."
And I found myself thinking, in what ways do I take steps to protect my own sense of power, pride, and privilege? Because whenever we're busy protecting our own advantage, it's always to the disadvantage of someone else.
How do I label my kids after I've had a long day and am counting down the minutes until bedtime?
How do I label my husband when he hasn't gotten around to doing something I asked him to?
How do I label the neighbors when they're noisy, or the kids when they're crazy after school?
How do I label the person who cut me off in the car line or the teacher who sent the cranky email?
How do I label the different, the homeless, the addicted, the refugee....the "other?"
Because what Jesus will show us in these days leading up to Easter is that it's impossible to protect our own power, pride, and privilege and simultaneously follow Him. He will show us that the only way to life and freedom, though it may be painful and cost us everything, is to lay it all down.
The ground is level at the foot of the cross. And the power and privilege? It rightfully belongs to Him.