Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

So from that day on they plotted to take his life. — John 11:45-48, 53

Jesus had gotten under the collective skin of the Jews and the Pharisees. He had performed spectacular miracles that pulled the rug from under their feet. He, the son of a common carpenter with questionable fatherhood, born before their very eyes made lofty claims of being the Christ (John 10:25), the long-expected Messiah upon which all Jewish hopes rested; he spoke forcefully against their interpretation of the scriptures and their practices; he called them names like hypocrites and blind guides (Matthew 23). While saying he was the good shepherd, he declared that all who ever came before him were thieves and robbers (John 10:8). The Jews no doubt felt threatened. Their long-held exalted position in Jewish society was being eroded right before their eyes and they shot back. Attempting to maintain their prestige and discredit Jesus, they said he was a blasphemer (John 10:33), was “demon-possessed and raving mad” (John 10:20). They weren’t quite succeeding at this: the people said the words of Jesus were not those of a demon-possessed man. They questioned the ability of a demon to open the eyes of the blind.

To add insult to injury, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This was not some minor miracle done in a room with only a few eyewitnesses to spread by hearsay — it was done before a crowd of sympathizers who had gathered for days. Lazarus was dead and buried, no question about that. For humans, death is the end of all things so to raise a person from the dead is a miracle that cannot be topped. Jesus did it in a way that could not be disputed. He didn’t go to heal Lazarus when he was told his beloved was ill. Even after he died, Jesus didn’t go there immediately, he waited for four days to pass. When Jesus asked that the stone laid across the entrance to his tomb be removed, Martha protested that he had been there four days and by this time, his body had started decaying and gave out a bad odour. Perfect condition for Jesus to display the glory of God to the pain of the Jews. When Jesus brought the dead man back to life, many of the Jews put their faith in him. But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

A Time for Assessment

It was against this backdrop that the Chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. The meeting had only one item on its agenda: how to deal with Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth, that small town from which there were questions about any good coming out of it. They asked, “What are we accomplishing?” They said “this man” was performing many miraculous signs. If he was to be let to go on like that, according to them, “the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation”. How the raising of a man from the dead and several other miracles that benefit the people could result in that, I do not know.

What is important for our meditations here is that these guys had a goal — to stop Jesus — but this goal was failing right before them so they met to consider their options. No doubt their goal was evil but their response to the threat they faced has lessons for us. They put together a meeting and considered what to do.

What plans did you make? Improve on your walk with God? Devotion to Bible study and prayer? Be more committed to that church or church group? Win more souls to the Kingdom? Start or finish that book? Start a new business or improve your practices in the present one?

At the start of this year, maybe you too set out to achieve some goals; you may have made certain resolutions to make your life better. What plans did you make? Improve on your walk with God? Devotion to Bible study and prayer? Be more committed to that church or church group? Win more souls to the Kingdom? Start or finish that book? Start a new business or improve your practices in the present one? Acquire a new skill? Return to school? Improve on all your relationships? What better time to step back and assess your journey so far than now, the second half of the year.

Keep It Simple

When the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting. They didn’t complicate the matter before them; they kept the question simple: “What are we accomplishing?” The time for assessment is not the time to muddle up things with high-sounding words, ask yourself the same simple question that these guys did, “What am I accomplishing? Has the needle moved on your goals for the year? Are you making progress or standing still, or worse still, have you gone backward? In some cases, standing still is tantamount to going backwards. Asking the right questions helps you to arrive at the right answers that take you to your goals.

Asking the right questions helps you to arrive at the right answers that take you to your goals.

Take Actionable Decisions

A lot of discussions must have gone on. The meeting concluded with a simple, actionable resolution: “So from that day on they plotted to take his life”. Note again that they didn’t cobble together convoluted essays on what to do, they kept it simple and actionable — Jesus must die! When you assess your steps so far, you will need to make decisions on how to proceed. It is not helpful to decide what cannot be acted upon. Simplify your resolution to something that you can run with.

It is not helpful to decide what cannot be acted upon. Simplify your resolution to something that you can run with.

Act!

Enough of just talking. Those guys, from that day, plotted to take Jesus’ life. They acted on their actionable resolution. Talk is cheap they say. They knew that talking alone and calling Jesus names wasn’t achieving their goal of stopping him and preserving their place. They needed to act and act, they did.  When the Passover was nigh, many people went to Jerusalem looking for Jesus. The “chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him” (John 11:57).

That meeting bore fruit almost immediately: “Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples” (John 11:54).

The Jews intensified their efforts to achieve their goal and later bought Judas Iscariot to come on board. They succeeded. Jesus was arrested and crucified. Thankfully, their evil plans served to accomplish God’s plan of salvation for you and me.

Over to You

Learn wisdom from the chief priests and the Pharisees. Pause and consider what you have achieved since the turn of the year. Ask the right questions and keep them simple. Take decisions that you can easily act on. But remember, good intentions are not enough; they must be backed up with actions for you to record success.