Summary
Expediency: Two Faces of a Single Word
Expediency carries a double meaning. In its negative sense, it is doing what is convenient, what serves one's own interest, what simply works in the moment regardless of whether it is right. Pilate acted out of expediency when, "wishing to satisfy the crowd," he released Barabbas and handed Jesus over to be flogged and crucified Mark 15:15. Caiaphas spoke the same logic when he counseled the council that "it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed" John 11:50. Expediency is the birth mother of pragmatism: a life shaped not by principle but by what is useful in the moment.
The Religious Leaders Cornered by Their Own Convenience
Four days before the cross, the chief priests, scribes, and elders—the three groups comprising the Sanhedrin—came upon Jesus suddenly and with hostile intent, demanding, "Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things, or who it is that gave you this authority?" Luke 20:1–2. The "things" in view include the cleansing of the temple in the previous chapter, along with His teaching and miracles. The irony is staggering: they are interrogating the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, the heir of David's throne, the Messiah Himself, about His authority.
Jesus answers as a rabbi often does—with a question that drives the questioner deeper: "Did the baptism of John come from heaven or from man?" Luke 20:4. They huddle. If they say "from heaven," He will ask why they did not believe John. If they say "from man," the people will stone them, for they hold John to be a prophet. So they plead ignorance: "We do not know." Jesus replies, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things" Luke 20:8. He has publicly exposed their expediency. They chose not what was true but what was convenient. As Who is Jesus? Expediency 12-17-23 draws out, this is the embodiment of expediency in its ugliest form: ignorance preferred to honesty because honesty would cost them.
How Christ Exposes Our Own Expediency
The same word that exposed the Sanhedrin exposes us. Christ's word reveals the moments when we live not by principle but by pragmatism—when we are more concerned with what is good for me than what is good for the neighbor, when we stand at the fork between the easy way and the right way and choose the easy one because the right way is harder, bumpier, costlier. He sees through the shenanigans, the padded edges and false fronts we build around our motives, and lays bare our sinful expediency.
Christ as the Positive Embodiment of Expediency
But expediency has a second meaning—what is beneficial in the most positive sense. And here Jesus Himself is the embodiment. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, John 1:14). The Son took on flesh and was born to go to the cross, to bear the sin of the entire world—including all our sinful expediency—to pay the debt, pronounce forgiveness, and rise from the tomb with the sacrifice accepted, death overcome, and humanity reconciled to God. Caiaphas spoke more truly than he knew: it was indeed expedient that one Man die for the people, but for reasons utterly beyond his calculation.
Freed for a Life of Principle
Because of Christ, we are freed and empowered to live differently. Released from the chokehold of pragmatism, we are no longer enslaved to the question, "What is convenient for me right now?" We are freed to live a life born from the well-spring of Scripture, a life of principle rather than mere usefulness, a life oriented toward the good of the other rather than the protection of the self. When we come to the fork in the road, grace empowers us to take the right road—whatever bumps or burdens come—because that road brings glory to Him before whom all of life is lived. That is the cleansing freedom of those who belong to Jesus Christ, the One who is Himself the embodiment of expediency in its most blessed sense.
Video citations
- Who is Jesus? Expediency 12-17-23 — Would you open your Bibles, please, with me to the 20th chapter of the Gospel of Luke? If you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that on page 72 in the New Testament, the…