Background
John 11 is
one of my favorite chapters in the whole of the New Testament. In this chapter we have John’s perspective
about the straw that broke the camel’s back with respect to Jesus’ story. It is in this story that we hear the Jewish
leaders finally decide to do what they were not willing to do up until
now. It is in this story that they
concretely vow to find a way to kill Jesus.
This is a very sad and difficult chapter, but it is an exciting chapter
at the same time.
Before I
get into the story, let’s talk a little Biblical scholarship. In John 11:3 we hear about the sisters
sending word to Jesus that the “disciple whom He loves” is ill. We know this description to refer to
Lazarus. However, traditional Biblical
scholarship teaches that the description “the disciple that Jesus loves” refers
to the disciple John when used elsewhere in this Gospel. When you consider that the description never
occurs in the Gospel of John until after this story is told and after Lazarus
is introduced as such, the possibility that this description refers to Lazarus
and not John makes even more sense. It
doesn’t really change anything, but I do personally believe that the
description “the disciple that Jesus loved” really refers to Lazarus throughout
this Gospel.
Jesus’ Delay
Having
said that, let’s do some genuine theology.
Jesus hears word that Lazarus is ill.
Stop for a second. We know that
Jesus can heal from a distance. Think
about it. The centurion comes to Jesus
in Matthew 8:5-13 and his servant is healed without Jesus needing to go to the
centurion’s home. This should make us
pause for a moment. This means that
Jesus knew that Lazarus was ultimately going to be healed. Although he could have healed Lazarus from a
distance, Lazarus died anyway. What does
this say about Jesus?
What’s
worse is that even after Jesus hears that Lazarus is ill, he waits for two more
whole days! Jesus waits for Lazarus to
die before heading to Jerusalem. If this
story is really about Lazarus’ healing, then Jesus is not painted in the best of
lights.
What it
means is that Lazarus’ healing – or resurrection, if you will – is not actually
about Lazarus. If the point of this
story is that Lazarus is healed, then Jesus is cruel. If the point of this story is that Lazarus
will be back to good health, then Jesus allows Him to suffer into death for no
apparent reason. This is not true; therefore
the healing must not actually be about Lazarus.
The Point Of The Story
Yes, Lazarus
is restored to health. Yes, that is an
incredible thing. Yes, Lazarus gets to
reap an incredible benefit. But, this
story – and all healing stories – are about God. This story is about God’s incredible
power. This story is about glory being
given to God. If Jesus healed Lazarus
from a distance, it would have been a miraculous event. But when Lazarus is raised from the dead, what
is on display is the raw power of God destroying the illusion that death is the
final answer.
Furthermore,
because this story about Lazarus is about the raw power of God it sets up the
conflict between Jesus and the Jews. From
John’s perspective, this story is the first story in crucifixion event of
Jesus. This perspective gives Jesus’
words in John 11:4 a whole new layer of meaning. In John 11:4 Jesus says that this story will
not lead to death. We traditionally
understand this verse to imply that this story will not lead to Lazarus’
death. However, we can also hear these
words of Jesus to imply that this story will not lead to Jesus’ death but
rather to His resurrection!
Jesus And The Sisters
So Jesus
comes to Jerusalem. Martha tells Jesus
that had Jesus been there her brother wouldn’t have died. She also says that she believes that her
brother will rise again into eternal life.
Jesus then says one of the most quoted passages of all time. “I am
the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall
he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” What an incredible promise. Whoever lives and believes in Jesus Christ
will live even if they should die.
Isn’t that
an incredible promise? We don’t have to fear
death. We don’t have to worry what the
time after death is like. We don’t have
to spend our time trying to get as much out of this life as possible. We can put our emphasis on the life to come –
which will be far greater than anything we can get in this life. He who lives in Christ and believes in Him
shall live even if they should die.
Mary then
comes to Jesus. Jesus is deeply moved by
the crowd and Mary and Martha. He
weeps. The crowd noticed His
compassion. Jesus orders the tomb to be
opened; Martha reminds Jesus that he’s been dead for a while and there will be
a stench. Jesus orders the tomb opened
anyway. He prays to God in order to put
the focus of glory upon Him. Jesus
commands Lazarus to come out. Lazarus
does come out and Jesus orders the grave clothes to come off. Jesus has proven that His promises are
good. God is more powerful than death.
Fireworks
Then the
fireworks begin. The Jews are
concerned. Too many people believe in
Jesus for them to ignore Jesus any longer.
They fear revolt. Caiaphas has a
plan. They believe it is better for
Jesus to die and save the country from the Roman force that would come should
the revolt develop that they think Jesus is trying to accomplish. So they plan to kill Him. Jesus can no longer walk openly among the
Jews. The Passover is at hand, and the
Jewish leaders suspect that Jesus will appear again for Passover. The stage is set. Jesus will die. But as with Lazarus, God will demonstrate
that He is more powerful than death.
No, this
story is not about Lazarus. This story
is about Jesus and His crucifixion.
Lazarus’ resurrection is the moment when Jesus’ fate is sealed from a
human perspective. This is the first
event in Jesus’ final move to fulfill what the Father has asked Him to come to
do on this earth.
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What struck me is that Chiapas had a vision on Jesus's death, I never noticed this before. What does this say about God's plan here. He pretty much set up (God that is) His own death in the leaders of the Jewish religion. Makes me think blaming them is a bit overdone, if it's God's will they were doing and they believed it as such
ReplyDeleteWell ... also remember Caiphas' motivation though. He's not doing it because it is genuinely God's will for Him to do it. God may know that His Son will be crucified, but that doesn't mean that God didn't give Caiphas and the other Sanhedrin the option to pick the other side. This is the debate for God's permissive will versus God's absolute will. God's absolute will is that Jesus would die for our sins. But God's permissive will allows for human beings to choose how it happens and what side we're on.
ReplyDeletePaul has some really good things to say in his letters on this topic of the Jewish leaders and their decisions. They condemned Jesus to die because of their tradition and their interpretation of God's Word. I believe they are rightly held accountable for their choice to play that part in the story.
Now, that doesn't mean God can't forgive them. It doesn't mean that God knew they would do it beforehand. But I have to believe that God would have preferred that they came and saw Him as the true Messiah that He was.
Just my thoughts.
Fair enough, but it's pretty clear God provided a vision of Jesus dead to the leaders of the Jewish religion. I imagine that would give a ling way in making them more comfortable that Jesus was not the messiah and that they needed to "get rid of" him. We know they visited and talked to Jesus (in private at night), which sounds like seeking
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. We know of two that definitely sought out and found Jesus: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. And, I can completely agree that God did give a vision of Jesus dead to the Jewish leaders as well. But that doesn't necessarily mean that God's vision was for the Sanhedrin to be the ones who force the hand.
ReplyDeleteIn some respects I make the analogy to a self-fulfilling prophecy. I live my life in such a way as certain things are bound to happen. Everyone knows they will happen eventually. So when they happen, nobody is surprised. But that doesn't mean that God ordained them to happen. It just means that we all knew it would happen.
A great example of this is my nature as a workaholic. Everyone knows that when a person puts in more than 55 hours of work they are setting themselves up for health issues, stress issues, and emotional issues. So when it happens, nobody is surprised. But that doesn't mean God created me so that I could be a workaholic. What it means is that I have not yet come to the point of really believing that my workaholic nature is something that God desires for me to work on.
As for the part that they were seeking ... I would be careful to not let the actions of a few temper too much the true actions of the group as a whole. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus sought out Christ. Church tradition is pretty assertive in saying that these may have been the only two. By the time Peter and John go before the Sanhedrin (post-Pentecost, Acts 4) they are pretty assertive that the Jesus-cult needs to be squashed because it was wrong. When the apostles are arrested in Acts 5, the only reason things go reasonably well is because Gamaliel is there. When Stephen is dragged before the Sanhedrin (Acts 7) things go really badly. Paul is given specific orders by the Sanhedrin to persecute the followers of Jesus before his conversion. (In fact, his conversion is only by the direct hand of God!) Then, Paul doesn't have the best of experiences with the Sanhedrin himself (Acts 22:30-23:22). It is pretty clear in scripture that whatever searching was going on within the Sanhedrin was pretty minor. There were a few, but I personally would be comfortable in saying 10% or more likely less.