Blinded by power and control

Gospel JN 11:45-56

Many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done. 
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and said,
“What are we going to do? 
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them,
“You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you
that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”
He did not say this on his own,
but since he was high priest for that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.

So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews,
but he left for the region near the desert,
to a town called Ephraim,
and there he remained with his disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another
as they were in the temple area, “What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”

The chief priests and pharisees could not see Jesus for who He really was, the Christ, the Son of God.  They were blinded by power and control.  They were threatened by Jesus, who, day by day,  was becoming more popular among the masses.  They felt threatened by the Romans. They were fearful.  Their lifestyle of pomp and circumstance was about to come crashing down like a house of cards. Jesus has a way of doing that in our lives doesn't he?  He wants to shake us free from our comfort zone!  Am I going to push back like the Pharisees?  Or am I going to follow Jesus and depend on Him to lead me along the path of holiness?