Wait a minute...

Who else knew about this?

John 11:45-53:

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many 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 temple and our nation.”
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “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.” 
 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

So this is the section in the gospel of John right after Jesus brings Lazarus back to life after being dead for 4 days (the text even said his body was starting to smell. In the next chapter he's chillin eating a meal with them!). Though that's incredibly amazing, it's not the "wait a minute...." realization I had.


The Pharisees tend to have many negative connotations on them. And rightfully so. They were labeled as "hypocrites", a "brood of vipers", and "self-righteous" by John the Baptist, a messenger of God as well as Jesus himself. Yet despite all this God chooses to reveal specifically to the high priest that very year, the holy calling of Jesus as Messiah.


For some reason I never knew this: that even though the Pharisees were corrupt people that brought Israel away from it's original God fearing roots, God was still choosing to have them represent Him. In his faithfulness and patience, He never stopped honoring his commitment of delegating his authority to them.