Isn't that ironic?

 

No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!  --Job 12:2

In the movie The Princess Bride, there is an iconic dialogue between Vizzini, played by Wallace Shawn, and Inigo Montoya, played by Mandy Patinkin.  Vizzini has used the same expression throughout the film, saying, "Inconceivable!" when something unexpected happens or whenever his plans go awry.  At one point, Vizzini has cut a rope that the hero Westley is climbing up.  But when he reaches the edge and peers over, Vizzini sees Westley climbing up the cliff face.

"He didn't fall?" Vizzini says incredulously.  Then he exclaims, "Inconceivable!"

Inigo Montoya, who has heretofore been a loyal henchman to Vizzini, innocently says, "You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means."

In the Gospel of John, there is a scene involving the High Priest Caiaphas as he addresses the Sanhedrin that drips with irony when he says, "You know nothing at all!"  John was not a member of the Sanhedrin, so he probably heard about this council meeting from Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea (members of the Sanhedrin who later became Christians) after the fact.  Likely it was after the resurrection of Jesus, which made the exchange all the more ironic. Let's read about it, starting in John 11:45 and following:

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.  But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus did.  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do?  For this Man works many signs.  If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."  --John 11:45-48

 After Jesus had opened the eyes of the man born blind and then raised Lazarus from the dead, many peopled believed that Jesus was the Messiah.  There was simply no other conclusion that could be drawn.  Commentator David Guzik points out that everyone in the council believed it, too.  Ironically, they had changed their opinion of Jesus, but it did not change their disdain of Him.  "First they opposed Jesus because they weren’t convinced He was the Messiah. Now they opposed Jesus because they were convinced that He was the Messiah. They admitted the miracles, but look how they treated the Miracle-worker:

• They denied Him.
• They opposed Him.
• They were afraid of His influence over the people."

The Pharisees were determined to hold on to their elevated place in society.  Even while under the rule of Rome, the Pharisees enjoyed semi-autonomy as leaders in the Jewish nation.  They wanted to keep it that way.  N.T. Wright, in his commentary John for Everyone, says, "Obviously, they thought, He was gathering support for some kind of prophetic or even messianic action, perhaps a march on Jerusalem itself.  Once that happened, if the Romans got wind of it they would call up the troops.  And that would be the end of any national hope they might still have.  As likely as not, it would be the end of the nation itself."

Ironically, this very thing would happen a generation later.  There would be a Jewish uprising in 70 AD that would result in the destruction of the Temple and would leave Jerusalem a smoldering ruin.  Reading the text 2000 years later, we know that this was not Jesus's intent at all, but the Sanhedrin's attempt to maintain the status quo was driving their decision making.

And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."  Now he did not say this on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.  --John 11:49-52

Clearly, Caiaphas thought that killing Jesus would maintain social order and avoid the wrath of Rome.  Little did he know that he was prophesying that the death of Jesus, the Messiah, would in fact become the way of salvation for all people, not just the Jewish nation. Remember what John had recorded Jesus saying to Nicodemus back in chapter 3?  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  2 Peter 3:9 underscores this notion, stating that God "is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Alas, the Jewish leaders did not repent.

Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.  Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.  And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.  Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think--that He will not come to the feast?"  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.  --John 11:53-57

This was the beginning of the end.  The Sanhedrin had issued an all-points bulletin, that if anyone saw Jesus they should report it to them, so that they could arrest Jesus.  

You will remember that John's entire Gospel centers around the feasts of the Jews. Jesus had always showed up in Jerusalem during the important Jewish feasts, even when He had told His brothers that He would not (see John 7:3-15).  So when the Jews started gathering in Jerusalem in the week leading up to the Passover, they wondered where and when Jesus would appear during this important feast. 

Little did they realize that this particular Passover would be the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant; that Jesus would become the Passover Lamb sacrificed for our sins so that the Angel of Death would not consume us.   He would be lifted up like the bronze serpent in the wilderness so that "by His stripes we are healed."  

All the Messianic prophecies point to Jesus alone.

The irony is that people don't see it. Or, like the Pharisees, they see it and reject it for personal reasons. They don't realize that rejecting the salvation offered by Jesus condemns them to everlasting punishment, which is not in their own self-interest at all.