Why did the Jewish Leaders seek to kill Jesus

[Hobie]

While doing the studies on the Sabbath I came across many verses that had the Jewish leaders riled up and plotting to kill Jesus. But I came across something and I want to see if others have come across it. So lets take a look at why the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus..

First we have Matthew 12:
1At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
3But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
4How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
5Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
6But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
7But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
8For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
9And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:
10And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
13Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
14Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
15But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;

Now you can take your pick from Matthew 12, the Pharisees were seeking to kill Jesus because he broke the Sabbath, He declared Himself 'Lord of the Sabbath' or He did miracles healing on the Sabbath.









But now take a look at John 11:

1Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
8His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
16Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
17Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
18Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
19And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
30Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
31The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
34And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35Jesus wept.
36Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
45Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him…… 46But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
47Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
48If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
49And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
50Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
51And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
53Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
54Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.
We see a great miracle in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. John 11 seems to be expanding on the same meeting of the council of chief priests and the Pharisees, and how Jesus stayed away after the council. The council seemed to be worried about what the miracles were doing to the peoples belief in Christ, but then it takes a interesting turn in verse 48:

"If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation."

Notice the taking away of 'our place' which seems to be refering to their power, and then our 'nation'. Why the Romans would destroy the nation and strip them of their power, because of the miracles Jesus did, seems to be more a political excuse to kill Jesus rather than the real reason.

Then we have in verse 49, Caiaphas the high priest say " Ye know nothing at all.. 50Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not."
It seems to be inferring that Jesus was stirring up the people against the Romans, nothing could be further from the truth and the leaders knew this from all the questions they had done to test him.

Then Caiaphas does something that seals the fate of Jesus, and unknown to the council their own spiritual lives. In verse 51, its clear he spoke in his capacity as the high priest and then he goes even further, Caiaphas "prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad."


So here is the reason, that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and the diaspora, and somehow this would result in bringing them together and make them one. What prophecies were they reading?

[janine]

Maybe it was a fresh one not written down, new to Caiaphas.

I read it as if Caiaphas thought it would revitalize and unite Jewry... but in the end it revitalized and united all God's children, Jews or not.

[Lifesaver]

While doing the studies on the Sabbath I came across many verses that had the Jewish leaders riled up and plotting to kill Jesus. But I came across something and I want to see if others have come across it. So lets take a look at why the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus..

Anyone knows whether Jesus also raised Lazereth on the Sabbath day?  I am trying to see whether there Jesus' death has some connection with Him breaking the Sabbath day.

Lifesaver       

[todd_vetter33]

Part of the Problem was that Christ ran out all the animals from the temple the day before the passover sacrifice.

G-12 text on cleansing of the temple
AND the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up again from Bethany into Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting.  And when he had made a scourge of seven cords, he drove them all out of the temple and loosed the sheep and the oxen, and the doves, and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s House an House of merchandise. Is it not written, My House is a House of prayer, for all nations? but ye have made it a den of thieves, and filled it with all manner of abominations.  And he would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel of blood through the temple, or that any animals should be slain. And the disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thine house hath eaten me up.  Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Again I say unto you, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his Body.  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  But the scribes and the priests saw and heard, and were astonished and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, seeing that all the people were attentive to his doctrines. 
-------And when even was come he went out of the city. For by day he taught in the Temple and at night he went out and abode on the Mount of Olives, and the people came early in the morning to hear him in the Temple courts. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, many believed in his Name, when they saw the miracles which he did. ------
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man.  And Jesus seeing the Passover night was at hand, sent two of his disciples, that they should prepare the upper room where he desired to eat with his twelve, and buy such things as were needful for the feast which he purposed thereafter.

Later that same day two thieves broke into the temple and stolen the Laws of Moses which caused the jews to believe this action by the thieves was the end result of Jesus Teachings.