Citzens and Servants

You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.

The words of Caiaphas are the words of God. In his own mind, Caiaphas was no doubt giving voice to a common-sense statement of political expediency. Yet he was unconsciously echoing a saying of Jesus himself (cf. Mark 10:45). Caiaphas was right; the death of Jesus would save the nation from destruction. Yet Caiaphas could not suspect that Jesus would die, not in place of the political nation Israel, but on behalf of the true people of God; and he would save them, not from physical destruction, but from eternal destruction (cf. 3:16-17). The understanding of Caiaphas’ words in a sense that Caiaphas could not possibly have imagined at the time he uttered them serves as a clear example of the way in which John understood that words and actions could be invested retrospectively with a meaning not consciously intended or understood by those present at the time.