Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together to the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas,
Israel's religious leaders meet at the house of the high priest to decide what to do about Jesus. Commentators ask who is really in charge here: the men holding the meeting, or the One they are meeting about, who had already announced His own death two days earlier.
Matthew records Jesus' words first and the priests' meeting second.
The picture of man's dreadful sin in the crucifixion of Jesus unfolds before our eyes. But the Lord Himself announces it beforehand with all the calmness of One who had come for this purpose. Before the chief priests had met to discuss it, Jesus speaks of it as a settled thing: "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Only afterwards do the priests, the scribes, and the elders meet. They plan how to seize Him and rid themselves of Him.
The two sides of the scene differ in effort.
How much work wickedness takes, and what pains men must go to over it! How easily Jesus spoke and acted, no matter how heartbreaking the circumstances were to Himself!
The word translated "palace" here does not describe a royal building.
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In the New Testament the palace of the high priest, αὐλή, means his court.
Caiaphas held the highest religious office in Israel. But he received it from a Roman official, not by God's arrangement.
Here he first comes into notice. Soon he would be the man who condemned the Lord to death in the council of the Sanhedrin, as high priest, first charging Him with the guilt of blasphemy… He was a Sadducee. He received his office in A.D. 17 or 18 from the Roman governor Valerius Gratus, who made and unmade high priests almost at will… God's order in the high priesthood was set aside. A Gentile, Valerius Gratus, appointed whoever he pleased from the house of Aaron.
These were not irreligious men. They were respected religious leaders — and that is exactly the warning.
Reader, think about this. Here were religious men, men of learning, men of weight and influence among the people. Yet these men hated Jesus. They met in council to plot His death — to seize Him by trickery and kill Him. Now those men could have talked to you about God and His worship. They could have talked about Moses and the law, about the Sabbath, and about all the great rites and ceremonies of the Jewish religion. But they hated Christ… Religiousness is not Christ. On the contrary, the most zealous religious people have often been the most bitter and violent haters of that blessed One.
Rulers gathering against God's Anointed is not new in Scripture.
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No doubt the Lord's faithfulness intensified the hostility of the religious rulers. He was hated without cause. "Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas." Psalm 2 says, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed"… So it is the leaders of the people who are here plotting to take the life of their Messiah.
They decided the death of Jesus must not happen at the feast. It happened at the feast. The guilt was their own; the timing was not.
If one feature stands out in His enemies more than another, it is this: man is powerless. Jesus was the victim, seemingly exposed to every hostile breath. Yet He does everything while He is only a sufferer. They do nothing, though they were free to do all — for it was their hour, and the power of darkness. They do nothing but their own wickedness. And even in their wickedness they do the will of God, despite themselves and contrary to their own plans. They carried out their own will as to guilt. But it was never carried out as they wanted. Their great anxiety was that the death of Jesus, on which their heart was set, should not happen at the Passover. But their decision was worthless. From the beginning God had determined that then, and at no other time, it should be.
- Announced. Before the council met, Jesus had already named the day and the manner of His death. The plotters arrive second, not first.
- Assembled. They met in a courtyard, not a courtroom. And the high priest's office came from a Roman official, not from God's order.
- Religious. These were respected religious leaders. A man can know the whole system of religion and still hate Christ.
- Ancient. Rulers taking counsel together against God's Anointed is the picture Psalm 2 had already drawn.
- Overruled. They chose their crime and kept the guilt of it. They chose the timing and lost it. The Passover they meant to avoid became the day He died.
and took counsel together in order that they might seize Jesus by subtlety and kill him;
The chief priests, scribes, and elders of Israel met together to get rid of Jesus. What stands out here is not only the murder they intend, but the method they choose: stealth.
The council meets to decide something the Lord had already settled and announced.
The picture of man's dreadful sin in the crucifixion of Jesus unfolds before our eyes. But the Lord Himself announces it beforehand with all the calmness of One who had come for this purpose. Before the consultations of the chief priests had taken place, Jesus speaks of it as a settled thing. Afterwards the priests, the scribes, and the elders meet to plan how to seize Him and get rid of Him.
The secrecy they counted on was no secrecy at all.
How little they knew that Jesus knew it all! What they muttered in the dark, He said openly in the light, as One who had come for this very purpose. He talks with His friends about His crucifixion; they, His enemies, plot about it with each other.
Older translations read "by subtlety." The word behind it appears often in the New Testament, and never once in the mouth of Christ.
Deceit. This word is often translated "guile" in the New Testament. It means cunning, craftiness, and plotting to deceive. It usually has to do with what a person says. There was no guile found in the mouth of Christ (1 Peter 2:22)... But it was by guile that the Jewish council sought to arrest Jesus and put Him to death (Matt. 26:4; Mark 14:1).
Why did they need craft at all? The choice of method exposes them.
To carry out their purpose they have to resort to craft. That is sure proof that their motives were evil. They may fear men, but they have no fear of God.
Nothing about this meeting was irreligious. That is what makes it so serious a warning.
Here were religious men, men of learning, men of weight and influence among the people. Yet these men hated Jesus. They met in council to plot His death — to seize Him by cunning and kill Him. Now those men could have talked to you about God and His worship, about Moses and the law, about the Sabbath... But they hated Christ. Remember this most solemn fact. Men may be very religious; they may be the religious guides and teachers of others, and yet hate the Christ of God.
They planned the murder, but they did not control it. Their own timetable — not during the feast — gave way to words Jesus had spoken two days earlier.
They consulted, they plotted. But in the end, if they carried out their shameful plan, they were unknowingly fulfilling the words of Christ to His disciples, not their own plan of wickedness. They said to each other, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people." But He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Did they wish to kill Him? They must do it then. Man has his wickedness, and God has His way.
The date they tried to avoid was the one date that mattered. A lamb was due to die.
The very thing they did not want, God brought about, because Scripture had to be fulfilled. At the very moment when Israel was sacrificing the Passover lamb, as the Word of God had said, Christ, the true Passover Lamb, was sacrificed too. "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" is the touching way Paul describes this (1 Cor. 5:7).
This meeting was not the first of its kind. A psalm had already described rulers taking counsel together against God's Anointed.
He was hated without cause... Psalm 2 says, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed."... So it is the leaders of the people who are here plotting to take the life of their Messiah. "But they said, Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people." But the counsel of the Lord stands, and the Lord was to die at that very time. So their chosen timing came to nothing.
- Counsel foreseen. Before the council met, Jesus had named the time of His death. Their planning came second, not first.
- Counsel by craft. "Stealth" is the language of guile — cunning, plotting to deceive. Needing it proved the motive was evil. They feared people, not God.
- Counsel in robes. The plotters were the religious teachers of the nation. Religion and love for Christ are not the same thing.
- Counsel overruled. They said "not during the feast"; He said "after two days" — and His word, not theirs, fixed the date.
- Counsel fulfilled. On the day Israel killed the Passover lamb, the true Passover Lamb was sacrificed. Their scheming only acted out what Psalm 2 had already described.
but they said, Not in the feast, that there be not a tumult among the people.
The rulers of Israel meet in the high priest's palace and rule out the feast as the date, in case a crowded Jerusalem riots. Their plan is careful — and it collapses, because the day they rule out is the day God has fixed.
Jesus had already named the Passover as the time of His death. The council chose the opposite date.
They said to each other, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people" (v. 5). But He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified" (v. 2). Did they wish to kill Him? They must do it then. Man has his wickedness, and God has His way.
No stronger plan beat them. God used their own plan to carry out His.
In short, we see first the wonderful purposes of God, and the submission of Jesus. He submitted because He knew those purposes, and He knew the events that would carry them out. Then we see the wicked plans of men, which only carry out the plans of God. The rulers arranged one detail: they would not take Him on the feast day, because they dreaded the people. That arrangement was not God's, and it fails. He was to suffer at the feast.
The old Passover lamb pointed to Christ, so its own day was the only fitting day for His death.
This was their opinion, but not God's. The Lord must die as a true Passover lamb, killed for us. He must also die on the very day of the Passover. His death would go far beyond the sacrifice commanded in the law. That sacrifice looked back to the rescue from Egypt, and it pointed forward to a far more precious rescue: deliverance from guilt before God, and from the rule of sin.
The match was not only in the day. It was in the hour.
God brought about the very thing they did not want, because Scripture had to be fulfilled. Israel was killing the Passover lamb, as the Word of God commanded. At that very moment — I repeat, at that very moment — Christ, the true Passover Lamb, was sacrificed too. The apostle Paul describes this in a touching way: "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7).
The stated worry is public disorder. That single motive tells you what these men did and did not fear.
Now, at last, the time has come. They are determined to take Him and put Him to death. To carry out their purpose they have to use trickery. That is sure proof that their motives were evil. They may fear men, but they have no fear of God. The people had little sense of their own need of Christ. Still, they could see His goodness and enjoy the good His miracles did.
Events undid both halves of what they said. The second half turned in a way they never imagined.
The chief priests and scribes were as cunning as they were full of hate. Yet they were only tools in Satan's hands. They said, "Not during the feast," yet it happened during the feast. They said, "Lest there be an uproar among the people," yet the uproar came — only it was on their side and against the Christ of God. They little knew the power of the devil to whom they had sold themselves.
They had the will to kill. What they lacked was a method.
They were cowards, every one of them, base cowards, and they feared the people whom they despised. They had no need to fear them. Those people swayed this way or that like young trees in a gale. They were as foolish as they were sinful, and had no love for the Lord. All they cared about was the food He had given them. They would defend Him if He fed them well; if not — "Let Him be crucified." But the rulers' problem vanished when one of the Lord's own disciples crept into their council. Here was the answer to their difficulty.
- Counsel — Man's plan met God's purpose. The rulers ruled out the feast in a palace, but Jesus had already named the feast as the time of His death.
- Calendar — God's purpose required the feast. Christ had to die as the true Passover lamb, at the very hour Israel was killing its lambs.
- Cowardice — Fear of a riot moved them, not conscience. Men who use trickery may fear people and still have no fear of God.
- Collapse — Both halves of their plan failed. It happened at the feast, and the uproar came — turned against Christ, not for Him.
- Consequence — One of His own disciples walked into their council, and their timing problem vanished. The plot they could not schedule became the sacrifice God had planned from the start.