The first Sunday after Easter has many names, depending on your location and tradition but one often used in this country is Low Sunday: perhaps because after celebrating Christ’s resurrection, this Sunday can seem a letdown or maybe attendance is lower than Easter itself, which many Christians see as a ‘must-attend’ service.
Just after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, we find this passage in John 11 - which I do not think the Lectionary ever covers:
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. (John 11: 45-53 NRSV)
Caiaphas displays a cold-hearted approach to the politics of the time – national interest is paramount. The Sanhedrin were worried about Roman retaliation but also about their own power being leached away – v.48 everyone will believe in him. Previously when complaints about Jesus were made they related to blasphemy or religious rule-breaking. Caiaphas almost seems to forget he is high priest and offers a secular response. Notice how John, with the benefit of hindsight, interprets Caiaphas’s words as a prophesy, that Jesus’s death would have a much wider impact than in the Israel alone! Just one chapter earlier Jesus had said: I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16).
Perhaps Caiaphas’s lack of religious reaction was because he had already consulted with Pilate, the Roman Governor. Later on, in chapter 18, John details who arrested Jesus: So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees… (John 18:3a)
Prayer:
Almighty God, we live in a secular world with laws and traditions yet we need to focus on the message Jesus brought: to love you first and also our neighbours. Help us always to examine our motives and make sure we give you the glory. We pray for all countries living under corrupt and self-serving regimes, thinking especially at this time of Russia, Syria, South Sudan and Somalia.
We ask in the precious name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Elaine Kinchin
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