As we move toward our remembrance of the Passion of the Messiah and the glorious celebration of His resurrection, I want to look at what drove some who wished Jesus dead and gone. Matthew 12:14 is the concluding verse of two events typically viewed as Sabbath controversies, and its words seem extreme: “But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus” (NIV). The late, legendary “voice” of the L.A. Lakers’, Chick Hearn, described calls made when players barely touched each other as “ticky-tac” fouls. It would seem, even by the Pharisees’ standards, let alone considering the healing of folks, to be ticky-tac fouls. Was something more at play here?
Mark’s parallel account adds an interesting feature to this story: “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus” (Mark 3:6). Talk about an odd couple. The Herodians would have hardly cared about minor violations of the Pharisees’ interpretations of Sabbath laws. Were these two very different groups opposed to Jesus for very different reasons, or essentially the same reason? Any answer involves speculation, but let me speculate.
What reason might unite these two groups? In John 11, after Jesus raised Lazarus from his tomb, we find:
47 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. 48 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” (John 11:47-48 NIV).
There are reasons to suspect that these folks may not really have been afraid of Roman reprisals against Jesus, leading to the destruction of the temple and nation. By this time, it would have been clear to an observer that Jesus did not threaten the Romans. When Jesus was on trial, Pilate had to be pushed to crucify Him. All that the chief priest and Pharisees feared actually did happen later. If they were afraid most by these dire results, they would have targeted the Zealots and their Sicarii assassins, who would initiate the doomed Jewish Revolt.
Jesus didn’t threaten the nation, but He did threaten them. He threatened the Pharisee’s prestige and loyal following as the keepers of their religious traditions. He threatened the Herodians hold on their political power. Israel’s Kings were not usually supportive of her Prophets unless they could control them. John the Baptist couldn’t be tolerated, and now, neither could Jesus. Governments often demand the kind of loyalty reserved only for God. The chief priests saw themselves as guardians of the Temple, and Jesus threatened both their position and revenue through their money changers.
In our tradition, David Lipscomb sounded the alarm about the danger civil governments posed to Christian liberty and loyalty to the Lord. For years, I thought Lipscomb was simply over-reacting to the Civil War. I now continually find myself being drawn closer to this prophetic voice and more disillusioned by governments and their corruption. I still vote, and honor those who serve in our military, but I now see more clearly how our leaders have been seduced by power and threatened by those who refuse to give them their full loyalty.
The death of the Messiah was not simply the result of forces at work among the leaders at the time. Caiaphas spoke in favor of having Jesus killed, but was unwittingly doing God’s will (John 11:49-53). Jesus was crucified both by the hands of evil people and by the will of our ABBA, with the willingness of His Son, for our sake.
We will misread the Gospels if we see opposition to Jesus as a reality only of the past. There are many who are threatened by Jesus, today. Let us pray that we will never be among them. Jesus, not Caesar or his later day incarnations, is still LORD!
Tim Kelley