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John 11:45-57
Remember yesterday I asked you if you thought that doing something as wonderful as raising the dead would be frowned upon. I mean at least it shouldn’t be something that would get you a response like Jesus experienced.
John 11:45-57 (NIV) Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
Reading this part of the passage today a couple of thoughts come to my mind. Did Jesus hesitation have anything to do with knowing what was ahead? Here He raises Lazarus and now, not just the Pharisees, but the entire Sanhedrin is up in arms looking to put Jesus to death so they can keep the Romans off their backs.
I guess that might not be such a concern for Jesus. But what about knowing the pain and the anguish that was going to come with the crucifixion? We know that Jesus had some sort of idea how excruciating it would be when we see Him praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. And yet – He goes through with it. And this is the point – raising Lazarus – that we see Jesus turning toward the cross.
It is a bit ironic that the meeting here of the Sanhedrin which was directed at stopping Jesus and His ministry from moving forward, actually accomplishes the one thing that Jesus was born to do. Which is to pay the price we could never pay, but would always owe because of sin.
And then I wonder how often do I view life in light of the cross? How often do I look at a situation, or make decisions based on my salvation instead of earthly wisdom? There are times – repeated times – that I need to be led to the cross so that I can remember the price paid for me.