The Sin of Caiaphas
Psalm 55 • Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23)
Job 38:1-17 • Acts 15:22-35 • John 11:45-54
“Do the math. It’s just common sense.”
Caiaphas: “It is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”
Well, duh. Except... What if that one man is the Messiah?
We all make these ethical calculations. “The greatest good for the greatest number.”
“What’s good for GM is good for America.” Well, GM President Charles Wilson didn’t quite say it that way. But it’s easy to get into the mind-set that what’s good for you and your interests is good for America and everybody else.
1960's Little Rock: We needed an east-west highway corridor. How about putting it right through the African-American business district and those other low-income housing neighborhoods where the costs will be lowest?
To this day Little Rock is a town divided by I-630: North = white; South = people of color. After George Floyd’s death, marchers blocked I-630 in Little Rock as well as I-94 in St. Paul-Minneapolis, a similar project. They felt the connection.
By common sense, by utilitarian measures, Caiaphas was exactly right. “It is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” But he utterly missed the depth of the situation. Jesus wasn’t just one man.
Jesus taught a different ethic. He focused on “the least of these.”
The Sin of Caiaphas. When have you and I participated in that calculus?
Written by Lowell Grisham
Lowell Grisham is grateful for the creative ways St. Paul's is continuing its life and ministries during this pandemic.
Photo: West Capitol Avenue occupied with the State Capitol Building and residential housing, ca.1912-1913. Calvin Hanna Collection (UALR.MS.0206), UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.