John 18:1-24

“So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up. 13 First they took him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest at that time.^[d] 14 Caiaphas was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, ‘It’s better that one man should die for the people.’” v.12-14

Both Caiaphas and Annas cared more about their political ambition than about their responsibility to lead the people of God.  Though Religious leaders, they had become evil.  As the nation’s spiritual leaders, they should have been sensitive to God’s revelation.  They should have known that Jesus was the Messiah about whom the Scriptures spoke, and they should have pointed the people to him.  But when deceitful men and women pursue evil, they want to elliminate all opposition.  Instead of honestly evaluating Jesus’ claims based on their knowledge of Scripture, these religious leaders sought to further their own selfish ambitions and were even willing to gill God’s Son, if that’s what it took to do it.

As leaders we have to be careful that we are following Christ and not our own personal agenda, or the agendas of others.  The Pharisees missed it, and it began to be more about them than about God and His word.  It was more about rules than a relationship.  The enemy would love to distract and cause us to focus on the wrong things.  Even following Christ 99% of the time sounds good, but over the coarse of time, that 1%, if not addressed will cause you to be further from Christ than you thought you were.  That’s typically what happens leaving you asking the question, “How did I get here!”