House of Caiaphas
Upper City
Jerusalem
First week of Nisan, 3790
Caiaphas is a wealthy man. He’s been fortunate. His father-in-law, Annas, acquired money and power for the family during the nine years he was high priest. Though the Romans saw him as a threat and removed him, his fortune has served Caiaphas well. The family grew more prosperous still and rose in the right circles of power. They are among the aristocratic families of Judea who prosper through their priestly connections. Caiaphas has heard his father-in-law insist upon it often: The temple is the nation’s source of power and the priests control the temple. The old man would do anything to strengthen his family’s control. He has married his children into the best families and made sure money has reached the right hands. There is little he would not do for power.
All of this has served to make Caiaphas a high priest. It is a rich man’s role. Even aside from the bribes and the constant campaigning, the high priesthood is a costly position. The man who holds the seat is expected to make lavish sacrifices at the temple each year, particularly on the Day of Atonement. The bills are huge. There is also the cost of servants, the cost of feasting the governor and, of course, the cost of the proper robes and adornments. Together, it amounts to a fortune.
Yet Caiaphas has done well. He has been high priest for fifteen years. It is an accomplishment, particularly since he serves at the pleasure of the fickle, demanding Romans. He has learned how to finesse them, how to soothe the savage soul of the empire. He has even come to terms with Pilate. It helps that Caiaphas never fails to offer a bull and a lamb—every day—for the emperor and the people of Rome. The Romans insist upon it, and Caiaphas fulfills his duty despite the outrage of other priests. He has also kept a tricky but workable tension with the Pharisees, who are ever in a stir about some trifle of the law.
Impressive rewards come to a wise high priest and Caiaphas has worked hard to be wise. He lives in a mansion in the Upper City with numerous servants and enviable grounds. His position allows him to put his relatives in choice positions of power—like temple treasurer. Annas taught him well, so he has learned how to expand his control and increase his percentage of the trade in the lively temple markets. There is no reason his sons, and their sons after them, should not be able to do the same.
They will, however, need to keep an eye on Rome. These people are sensitive about their gods, their Caesars, and receiving all due honor. They don’t like the Jews and they don’t understand the narrowly religious. They find the Torah to be filled with myths and the laws of God to be offensive, particularly those laws that make Jews treat Romans like something to be scraped off of a sandal. If any of this goes wrong, it can mean blood, even loss of money or power to the ruling families.
This is precisely why Caiaphas has been insistent about the troublemaker Jesus. He has become so concerned he is convening a meeting today at his house. He warned the leaders and then he warned them again: this man is different and has to be dealt with. Annas had warned Caiaphas, and Caiaphas in turn warned the Sanhedrin. They were like children though—squeamish and incompetent. The Pharisees tried to kill the Galilean when he first became public. The bumblers could not do the job. Then the Herodians joined them. Together they still failed. Ever since, the trickster has been roaming the nation at will.
Now, the matter has become a crisis. Days ago this Jesus concocted a scheme to make it appear that he had brought a man back from the dead. Some fellow helped him—a man from Bethany named Lazarus. The people went crazy with delight. Now the Galilean’s support is broadening and it is happening at the worst possible time: at Passover, when pilgrims flood by the thousands into the city. It is a bad time to have a rogue rabbi stirring things up. And it hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that this particular rabbi speaks openly against priests, the temple, and even the law.
This crisis called for an emergency meeting. The elders have been summoned, as well as the top scribes and the priests who work for Caiaphas. The leaders of the opposition party, the Pharisees, will also be there.
This is important. There has to be a consensus. The Pharisees are too popular with the masses to be left out but Caiaphas never has understood their appeal. With all their rules and their intricate little systems overlaid on the law, it is a wonder anyone follows them. Perhaps it’s their reputation for being a popular front, for being reformers. Most of their leaders come from rural villages, live simply, and seem to care about doing God’s will. The people probably admire them because they are everything the usual temple priests are not: zealous, disciplined, and holy—in their own way.
Caiaphas is a Sadducee. His party is more influential among the upper classes. This suits him. To be a Sadducee requires intelligence and a broader understanding of the world that the people just don’t have. The elite and sophisticated are Caiaphas’ tribe. Besides, they are the Israelites with money.
It is probably best that things remain as they are: the Sadducees tending the aristocrats, and the Pharisees appealing to the people. Both parties are effective at what they do. The Sadducees hone religion to an acceptable minimum. They rework the mystical aspects of religion into something reasonable, something more compatible with life. The Pharisees might win the people with their zeal, their tales of a divine predestination and their certainty about supernatural things. Caiaphas finds it all too fantastical. He lives in the real world. He doesn’t believe that the future is determined. He doesn’t rely on the rescue of miracles. And he will not be forced to believe that every holy book floating about is to be taken as scripture. He’ll remain in the safe confines of the Torah—as the Sadducees have learned to interpret it.
These theological differences are part of the reason he has called the meeting today. The whole city is ablaze with the news of this Lazarus coming back to life. Of course, it is all an illusion concocted by the rebellious rabbi, but for the people to believe in resurrections is a threat to the Sadducees more than anyone else. The Sadducees know such things do not occur, so a widespread resurrectionist movement could erode their base of power.
The appointed number has now assembled in the high priest’s home. The formal greetings are offered, the seatings by rank are made. Now the worrying can begin.
What is to be done? This man’s popularity is greater than ever and it is because he does such astounding wonders. The people are rallying to him.
There is much nodding and rubbing of chins.
The Romans won’t have it. They’ll think this radical is leading a rebellion—which he probably intends to do—and they’ll convince themselves that all Jews are under his influence. We’ll lose our place and the Romans will crush the nation.
Caiaphas has heard this kind of fearful prater for years. The Pharisees may believe in divine preordaining but it certainly hasn’t made them courageous.
“You know nothing at all!” he explodes. “You do not understand!” This is typical Sadducee rudeness. They’re famous for it.
“It is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed!” Caiaphas is incensed. These men are idiots. The frustration of it! Why can’t they ever see their way to a solution? And act!
The other leaders do see the danger. The feast is upon them. The Romans will reinforce Antonia. And the city’s population will increase five times. It comes just when the masses talk about almost nothing else but the mystical powers of this Jesus.
It is a time for cool heads and, perhaps, cooler hearts.
Here is the conclusion of the matter: Kill him. Kill them both—this Jesus and this man Lazarus. End the threat. Then there will be no more of this pretend Messiah and his sidekick telling the world the dead have come back to life. Kill them. Kill them now.
This last phrase causes the nervous among them to urge caution. Kill them, but do it in secret. You don’t want to incite the people, particularly the easily influenced simpletons from the countryside. They would riot and all would be lost.
All nod agreement. The meeting is done. It occurs to more than a few among them that they have made such plans before. Nothing has come of them.
Caiaphas worries that once again the Galilean will be allowed to slip away. During the two days since the meeting, things have only gotten worse. This Jesus entered the city on the first day of the feast and in such a bold manner that no one missed his meaning: he thinks he’s the rightful king. Huge crowds gathered around him as he rode a donkey from the east through the city gates. The idiot somehow thinks he’s Solomon! Now, between the rumors he raises the dead and his announcement that he is king, the whole situation is becoming even more dangerous than it was before.
The high priest worries. Then comes news. A messenger at the door brings word from the temple: One of the rabbi’s men will lead us to him. He asks little. It seems he has become disillusioned with the one he has been following. With your permission, we’ll finalize plans.
Caiaphas is pleased. His permission? Of course. Nothing could be better than executing this Jesus and laying the blame on one of his own men. Proceed.
The man breaking away from the Galilean troublemaker is Judas Iscariot–Ish Kerioth, a “man of Kerioth.” It is a town nearby, in Judea. He is the only one of the rabbi’s followers who is not from the north. It might be part of the reason he feels apart from them now. None of the rest seem to have trouble with their leader’s behavior.
He was eager to be one of Jesus’ men at the beginning, but it was not long before things went badly. The man just started teaching such odd things. He insisted that the only way to draw near to God was to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Who would demand such a thing? He allowed women to travel with him who tended his needs and gave him huge amounts of money. And as the rabbi grew more popular, the money poured in. Judas would know. He was the treasurer.
It was in the authority of this role that Judas broke with the rabbi. It was clearly a matter of sin. Just last night, in Bethany, a woman poured a year’s wages worth of perfume on Jesus while he just sat there taking it in. She unbound her hair and knelt at his side. And that was before she touched him!—using her hair to rub nard on his feet. It was an outrage.
It shouldn’t go without mention that the woman was the sister of Lazarus—the man the rabbi claimed to bring back from the dead. Judas expressed his disgust at the moment and then left, certain that everyone in the room thought as he did: the woman’s actions were shameful. He alone had the courage to get up and leave.
He thought about it as he went and then he knew exactly what to do. It is the reason he has come to the high priests tonight. “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?”
The chief priests and the temple guard ask him to wait. They secure approval from Caiaphas and offer a price. Whether Judas knows it or not, this price has great symbolic meaning. It is likely what the priests intend.
Thirty pieces of silver. There could hardly be a more demeaning price. It is the standard rate for the purchase of a slave.