7 MORE Good Lessons from 7 MORE Bad Bible Characters (Pt. 3: Caiaphas)

Moving on to Part 3 of our series in exploring deep spiritual lessons from various Bible villains in the New Testament, today we’re gonna get into another amazing lesson from the high priest who judged Jesus when He was put on trial:

CAIAPHAS!

Who Was Caiaphas?

In Matthew 26:57, we find out two little identity marks about Caiaphas.

And those who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

(Matthew 26:57)

So, we learn two things about Caiaphas.

1. His name (obviously)
2. His “ministry position”

Caiaphas’ name means “a searcher.” But instead of being a searcher of God’s love and truth as it is found in Christ (kinda like what Nicodemus did), he became a searcher of fault in the Son of God.

The second identity mark we find about Caiaphas was his “ministry position” as the high priest.

What is the high priest supposed to do? What was on Caiaphas’ “job description?”

Well, I can tell you what the high priest was NOT supposed to do.

In Leviticus 21:10, we read:

‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes;

(Leviticus 21:10, emphasis added)

But in Matthew 26:65, Caiaphas practically disobeyed God’s command for him as high priest:

Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!

(Matthew 26:65, emphasis added)

What sort of lesson can we learn from this as Christians?

Stop Tearing Yourself!

In Joel 2:13, we read a fairly clear application of this lesson from Caiaphas for us as Christians:

So rend your heart, and not your garments;

Return to the Lord your God,

For He is gracious and merciful,

Slow to anger, and of great kindness;

And He relents from doing harm.

(Joel 2:13)

What does it mean to “rend” your heart?

First, I’d like to look into the original word for “rend,” which is qara` (קָרַע). It means to “to tear, tear in pieces, cut out.”

Secondly, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines the word “rend” as meaning “to break asunder.”

What does this all mean? How does it all apply to us?

A Deeper Tearing

In the same way God told high priests like Caiaphas to NOT tear their clothes, God has told us as His royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) to NOT tear our own clothes. In other words, to NOT JUST break, cut, and tear things out of our lives on an EXTERNAL level, but also on an INTERNAL level.

To tear our HEARTS.

It’s kinda like how Ellen White put it:

No mere external change is sufficient to bring us into harmony with God. There are many who try to reform by correcting this or that bad habit, and they hope in this way to become Christians, but they are beginning in the wrong place. Our first work is with the heart.

–Christ’s Object Lessons pg. 97–

Dear friend, I just wanna ask you one simple question today:

Are you acting like Caiaphas, and just tearing what’s sinful on the outside–but not really tearing what’s sinful on the inside?

This all reminds me of what Jesus Himself said in Mark chapter 7:

And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

(Mark 7:20-23)

A Prayer

If you, dear reader, feel convicted for acting like Caiaphas and just tearing your outside looks and behavior instead of also learning to tear your inner heart and character, then I wanna encourage you to just pray the following prayer below:

I would like to conclude this blog post with Nahum 1:13, a beautiful Bible promise you can easily claim along with the above prayer:

For now I will break off his yoke from you,

And burst your bonds apart.

(Nahum 1:13)

Amen! Maranatha!