John 11:45-52

John 11:45-52 - Daily Devotion - 15 August 2026 St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park 45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.47 Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”49 But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”51 Caiaphas did not say this on his own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one.REFLECTIONSWritten by Andy RowlandsHow could some of the Jews, after seeing Jesus raise Lazarus, go and tell the Pharisees? How could they not believe in him? It flies in the face of people who say, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” because here, seeing isn’t believing! It reminds me of what Jesus said to Thomas after his resurrection: “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).This passage shines a light on how we respond to Jesus, because rejecting him isn’t always about having sufficient knowledge or proof. When friends have told me that they needed more proof or to see Jesus to be able to believe, it’s often that – like the Pharisees here – they really don’t want their lives to change. They’ve become too attached to the life that they have, and they think that Jesus’ authority will only get in the way of them doing the things that they want to do.And yet, this doesn’t get in the way of God doing his work in the world! The Pharisees and the high priest here reject Jesus and his authority, but God uses them to proclaim what he is going to do through Jesus. “It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish,” says Caiaphas. He thinks that Jesus is a problem, and by getting rid of that problem they will save God’s people. But God planned Jesus as the solution, the perfect sacrifice whose death would save sinners – including us – from eternal death and bring us into the body of Christ.God used this rejection of Jesus to bring about good, and this same God is at work today. Only God can bring good out of evil, and only God can change the hearts of those who reject Jesus. As we pray that God would work in their lives to bring them into the one body of Christ, I am comforted knowing that he is working all things for good, by building his church in this messy world today. ABOUT THE AUTHORAndy is one of our Student Ministers.