Here is the man they’ve been following for three years coming out with strange lines such as ‘I will be the sacrifice’… It’s clear that they don’t get it. Jesus even rebukes Peter for not listening, even though he was probably paying more attention than I was.
‘I’ll be raised up from the dead,’ Jesus continues. ‘Don’t you understand? You’ll see death defeated.’
His amazing and challenging comments are neatly echoed by the High Priest, Caiaphas, who tells his retinue (a passive of priests?), ‘If I believe one man must be offered up to save the rest then I will.’
He’s so shocked and outraged that Jesus was overheard saying that not one stone of the temple will be left standing (among other ‘blasphemous’ things), that he’s ready to do what it takes to save Judea – even if it means killing Christ.
And this is a key thing: we are given a new motive for the High Priests being wary of Jesus. He isn’t just after their job, but he could actually ruin Jerusalem, and in doing so, Judea.
Caiaphas is also wary of Jesus’ message of love. ‘What kind of love,’ he asks, ‘puts people in danger? If we lose Jerusalem, Judea is finished.’
It comes after an earlier incident where we see Jesus cheerfully tell his crowds, right in the earshot of the temple priests, ‘Make no mistake. I’m here to turn the world upside down.’ It’s not terribly subtle, but if even the disunderstanding of disciples don’t understand, what hope do we have for some earwigging priests?
