CAIAPHAS, PILATE, JESUS, AND THE TEMPLE

MATTHEW 21:15–16; LUKE 13:1; JOHN 2:18–22

The Temple in Jerusalem was a magnet for thousands of people, but not all were drawn to this sanctuary for the same reason. Here we explore how three men—Caiaphas, Pilate, and Jesus—had three very different reasons for coming to the Temple courts. It is these differences that caused a violent collision in the week prior to Jesus’s crucifixion.

Caiaphas entered public office in AD 18 when he was appointed as high priest by the Roman authorities.6 But for those who had waited for the dawning of God’s Kingdom, this appointment was a disappointment and a sham. Only a son of Zadok, priest at the time of David and Solomon, could inherit this office;7 Caiaphas lacked the necessary lineage. As a Roman political appointee, he saw the Temple as a very promising business opportunity. People flocked to this location because it offered them something even more precious than food and water. It was symbolic of their pursuit of a relationship with their Creator. Through the Temple marketplace and other means, Caiaphas planned to build his fortune on the backs of these worshipers.

Pilate inscription discovered at Caesarea Maritima. This first-century Latin inscription states that Pilate dedicated a temple in honor of the emperor Tiberius.
© Dr. James C. Martin. Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority, exhibited at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Caesarea Maritima (view looking north), with Pilate’s residence in the foreground and a hippodrome in the background.

Pilate became the military governor of Judea (or prefect from the Latin praefecus) in AD 26, making him the fifth Roman appointee to hold that office since AD 6. That was the date the Romans had turned Judea into a Roman imperial province—a designation given to those regions that were deemed more likely to rebel against their overlords. Pilate also wanted to gain as much personal wealth from his appointment as he could. But that appointment would be short-lived if word got out that he had failed to suppress seditious elements. This is where Pilate’s interest in the Temple came into play. He knew that if rebellion against Rome took shape, it would do so in the Temple courts. Consequently, he sought to control the Temple from the Antonia Fortress. This tall building located at the northwest corner of the Temple complex housed Roman soldiers who looked down into the Temple courtyard and kept a watchful eye out to stop any insurgencies. When trouble arose, they could be on the scene quickly—as they did in the time of Paul (Acts 21:30–36). The Romans further controlled the Temple by keeping the high priestly vestments in the fortress under lock and key.8

Jesus became a rabbi at about the same time that Pilate came into his office. At his baptism, the Father declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; see also Isa. 11:2). Because his Father’s house had been so horribly compromised by the interests of both Caiaphas and Pilate, Jesus focused on the Temple’s original purposes (Ps. 40:6–8) by offering his life as the full and complete sacrifice for all sin (Heb. 9:11–12; 10:1–10). So it was that Caiaphas, Pilate, and Jesus each came to the Temple with different intentions that brought them into confrontation.

Illustration representing a high priest.
© Dr. James C. Martin. Illustration by Timothy Ladwig.

Aerial view looking north of the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount.
Jesus entered Jerusalem from Bethany, located on the east side of the Mount of Olives.