Evil Alive

Does a movement die when the leader dies?

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, "What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed." He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?" Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him. - John 11:45-57

Caiaphas believed the movement that Jesus started would end when Jesus did, but it didn't.  It actually grew stronger.

Did they wait too long to take action against Jesus?

Movements can take on a life of their own, long after the leader is gone.   Remember, the high priests and Pharisees saw Jesus as evil.

He was going to bring death and destruction to all of Jerusalem because of his words and actions.

So, to them, he was a problem.

If you could go back in time and put a stop to some evil leaders in our day, would you do it?

Would it change anything?

We are still trying to eradicate the influence of several evils from our past, and somehow they survive.  Some people continue to follow the beliefs and thinking of slave owners and Nazis.

We may think we can stop evil by killing off the source, and yet it persists.  

For us Christians, it is hard to think of our faith as evil.  It is based on love.  But to those who felt threatened by the teachings of Jesus, evil is what they see.

We may see a person as a threat because of what they believe, but that doesn't give us the right to put an end to that person's life.  

If we all practiced that, none of us would be left alive.

More to come...