Caiaphas - Phillip Vo

said to me: “That one nailed across the road

counseled the Pharisees that it was fitting

one man be tortured for the public good.

Naked he lies fixed there, as you see,

in the path of all who pass; there he must feel 

the weight of all through eternity.

In Canto XXIII, Dante comes to the hypocrites who must continually walk in a circle with glorious robes on, never-ending and symbolizing what Jesus said when he told the Pharisees that they washed the outside of the cup but left the inside clean; that they were white-washed tombs. But among these hypocrites we find the man, the myth (actually not a myth), the legend (really infamous) Caiaphas, who counseled the Pharisees to crucify Jesus for the good of the people. He lays nailed as Jesus was nailed, naked and in shame, feeling the weight just as Jesus did. An interesting point here is that the true motivation must have been for himself then, not the public good. To preserve his and the Pharisee’s position and to continue his constant cycle of lying about the state of his soul through speech and action, it was fully revealed in hell. 

As we read, I continually am reminded of a passage in 1 Timothy 1:15 where Paul, a faithful servant of the Lord, says this: “ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.” 

In the end, it appears that those who were most aware of their brokenness and willing to submit their lives to Christ are saved, while those who simply wanted to appear holy got what they were always looking for: forever. 

Commented on Cade's and Joshua's