Answering Life's Daily Questions...

How do we come up with the answers to life's daily questions?

John 11:45-53

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he

did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told

them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered

the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.

48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the

Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of

them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know

nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one

man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he

prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation

only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered

abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Here we pick up the story right after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the

dead. There is no disputing this fact. Even when we see the chief priests

and Pharisees gathering together to plot to kill Jesus they never dispute

this. They never say this is made up or a lie. They actually say the

opposite. They say in verse 47, "What are we to do? For this man performs

many signs." They know that the miracles Jesus is doing are real, even His

raising Lazarus from the dead!

But now we come to the question they ask one another. “What are we to do?

For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone

will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place

and our nation.” This question is a basic one. It is pretty clear, "What are

we to do?" So in order for them to answer the question they begin to list

the consequences of the situation they are in and then they look at answers

based solely on how the answer will affect their current or future

situation.

The chief priests and Pharisees come to the conclusion that if they continue

to allow Jesus to go on with these miracles that many will believe in Him

and the Romans will come and take their place (that is, their place of

importance as priests and Pharisees) and the Romans would take their nation.

A bit of history here: the Romans had control of Israel at this time.

Pontius Pilate was put in charge of Israel by the Romans and he was in

complete control. As the Romans took control of Israel they allowed Israel

to keep many of their same customs and religious activities, so the scribes and

Pharisees still had power as religious leaders.

So we see here that the chief priests and Pharisees looked at the

consequences of Jesus' actions, how this would affect them, and then made a

decision to kill Jesus. They did not want to give up the power they still

had as religious leaders and they did not want the Romans to come and take

away the little amount of freedom they still had as a nation. They based

their decision solely off of future consequences, not truth. The priests and

Pharisees never thought that maybe Jesus is the Messiah! They never looked

at the facts at how Jesus was fulfilling prophecy after prophecy showing

that He truly was the Messiah. All they considered was consequences, not

actual truth!

How often do we make daily decisions based only on how this decision will

affect our life? How often do we set boundaries and rules yet break them

because of the situation we find ourselves in? This is what the chief

priests and Pharisees did. They didn't search for truth! They did not think

through the situation logically but only pragmatically. As Christians today

we do this more often than we think. I have heard many Christians try to explain

away their sin by saying, "You don't understand what I am going through!" or

"You don't know how bad my life is right now!". All of that may be true, but

that doesn't change truth! Truth is truth! Right is right and wrong is

wrong! Our circumstances do not change that fact, ever!

Look at Matthew 21:23-27. Here we see the Jewish leaders asking Jesus where His authority comes from to be able to clear the Temple and speak as He does. Notice the quick turn in the story. Jesus asks them a question in verse 24: "Jesus answered them, 'I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.  The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?'"

Now this question should have been fairly easy for them to answer. Instead

of giving an honest answer they got together and tried to figure out what

would be the best answer at that time, in that situation.  (Verse 25-26) And

they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he

will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him? But if we say, 'From

man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a

prophet."

We see here that the truth did not matter to the chief priests and elders.

The only thing that mattered to them was how people would respond to their

answer. That was more important than truth itself. The problem with this is

that it is not truth at all but a lie! Commandment number 9 says "You shall

not bear false witness against your neighbor." You shall not lie! No matter

what the consequences are. You can't change truth based on your situation.

Truth is truth! Jesus says He is the way, the TRUTH and the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me. He is the truth; therefore, truth is

important.

So let me ask you this question in closing, do you always tell the truth, no

matter what situation you are in? Is truth important to you? It is to Jesus!