2. This account portrays stunning unbelief (11:46-48)
3. This account contains
an accurate prophecy from a most
unlikely source (11:49-52)
4. This account teaches us that
possessing correct information and
outward displays of piety or religiosity do not
make a person a true worshipper (11:53)
We want to
be the kind of people described in 11:45 : "Many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him".
1.
An Astonishing Miracle (11:45)
The concluding verses of the 11th Chapter of John’s
gospel follow the amazing miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus. He was the brother of Martha and Mary who
died, when Jesus raised him simply by the power of His word (11:43). It was an event witnessed to by
many (11:45). This is an astonishing
miracle, considering that he had been dead for four days! We read that many who had seen what Jesus did
believed in Him. This is the most encouraging verse in our passage. Our eternal
destiny hangs on whether we believe in Jesus or not! (cf. John 3:16-18)
2. Astonishing Unbelief (11:46—48)
Secondly, we take note of the astonishing unbelief of the religious
leaders and the Pharisees. They freely admitted
“that this man does many miracles."
(11:47). Instead of taking a good
look at Jesus and deeply thinking about the claims of Jesus, we read that they gathered the council – the Sanhedrin council (11:47) with the purpose of putting Jesus to death (11:53).
Sadly, the religious leaders that ought to be shepherding their people
into the arms of God here are seen as the biggest opponents of the good news
from their God, in the person of Jesus, the Messiah. He was the Lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world (John
1:29,36). Perhaps the most
surprising element of our text relates to the attitude of those, who we might
have thought would be the first to recognise the finger of God, displayed
in and through the life and work of Jesus. But no!
Look at their statement in 11:47-48, “So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said,
“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like
this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both
our place and our nation.”
What then were these religious leaders so afraid of? They were
afraid that Jesus would attract a large following, who would make him their
leader and king. Then, they thought, the Roman occupation would then hear this,
and consider this a rebellion. They had after all installed their puppet king, Herod.
They were scared that if such a
rebellion took place, the Romans would send their army and destroy the temple
and Jerusalem, as the Babylonians did, approximately 600 years earlier.
Two
brief comments on Jesus' take on their phobia:
(i)
Jesus never allowed himself to be made king, even though there was such an
attempt following his feeding of the 5000 in John 6:1. It was thought by men like the Roman governor Pilate that Jesus’ mission was to become the king of the Jews (John 18:33). Nothing was further from
the truth. Jesus emphatically did not come at this point to oppose Caesar. He
plainly taught and affirmed Caesar’s
role, “Therefore render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21)
(ii)
His kingdom was of a different nature
and kind to the political kingdoms of this world. He said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my
kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might
not be delivered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36)
The problem with the religious rulers was that they would not
see him for who He was. He was the glorious
King mentioned in Psalm 2, enthroned
in the midst of the raging of the
nations. All they were concerned about
was that their way of life should not be disturbed. Does that not sound
contemporary? We don’t like it when our comfort zones are challenged. We don’t
like it when invisible viruses like Covid-19 disturb our way of life. Sadly, we
often actually like our current lifestyles more than the lifestyle that Jesus expounded
in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, Chapters
5-7). Jesus has come to challenge us to give up our small ambitions and our
worldly kingdoms, and follow Him, and live according to the lifestyle, logic
and ethos of His kingdom. In John 6:66
we saw what the outcome of Jesus’s call to discipleship produced …many gave up
on Jesus then. Many people think that they lose their freedoms when they follow
Christ. Not so. See what Jesus says in John 12:25,26,
"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also....".
I also remind you that their unwillingness to hear and follow
Christ was a great mistake. The time would come in AD 70, not long after they
had crucified Jesus, that the Roman
armies did take away their place and nation.
Let us think for a moment about the power of unbelief. People
may see signs, wonder and miracles and yet remain hard and unbelieving. If they will not believe the Word of God, their
OT Scriptures which point to the coming of a Messiah, they will
not listen to such a Messiah, even if He came to authenticate Himself with astonishing
miracles. The gospel writer Luke spends
considerable time to show us Jesus’ unusual authority in
His teaching and in His miraculous power. At the end of the 16th chapter he
records a parable, telling
the story of the rich man and Lazarus,
commenting in conclusion of this parable, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:31).
Miracles in themselves have no power to convict or convert
anyone. No-one has ever become a Christian by seeing an extraordinary miracle.
The Bible teaches us that it is by Grace alone, by God given faith alone, through the inward working of the Holy Spirit
alone, that a person is saved alone.”[1]
The Jews of Jesus’ day are a proof to us that we may see signs and wonders, and
yet our hearts remain as hard towards God and His Word. The plain truth is that man's unbelief is far deeper and profounder than we
would care to believe.
Nothing can take
away the
power of unbelief as we see here displayed in our text.
No profounder miracle could
be done than what Jesus had done in the raising of Lazarus and
yet these religious leaders continued to hate Christ. Nothing and no one on earth can deal with a
hard heart like that. Only God can. And remember that if you are a believer in Jesus,
that you have been enabled to do so only by the grace of God. You have no ground
to boast in your own decision to follow Christ.
3. An astonishing prophecy from an unlikely source (11:49-52)
“But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50
Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the
people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his
own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die
for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the
children of God who are scattered abroad.”
Caiaphas was high priest from A.D. 26-36.[2]
How shall we understand this? How can this man, opposed to Jesus the Messiah speak truth? I remind you that it is not entirely strange that God should
speak truth through an unconverted man.
- He spoke through that false prophet Balaam (Numbers 22-24).
- King Solomon spoke God’s truth even when at times he lived so very badly.
- Pilate spoke the truth when he had these words written and attached in Hebrew, Greek and in Latin to the Cross, ‘This is the King of the Jews’.
- We should not be surprised that this high priest could also speak the truth of God concerning the death of Jesus for the nation and the scattered children of God abroad (the gentiles). God can use a crooked stick to strike a straight blow.
With hindsight we know that Jesus had to die for the Jews and
the gentiles. God can make the evil designs of His enemies work together for
the good of His people. In days of trouble, we that love God and His Word may rest patiently in the Lord. The very
things that hurt us now will be for our gain. Covid- 19 is a horrible thing, but
for us who believe this will turn out for out good.
4.
Mere knowledge and outward displays
of piety do not make a man / woman a true believer (11:53)
We saw that Caiaphas saw and told the truth about Jesus accurately.
But none of this truth would help him. He would still encourage the Jews
to crucify the Lord of glory. We need to be reminded that knowing truth in itself has no saving merits. It is not only hearing and knowing, but also believing (11:45) that saves.
We also want to observe what we read in 11:55:
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at
hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to
purify themselves.”
The Passover was one of the greatest feasts in the Jewish
calendar. It reminded them of how the blood of the lamb sacrificed at that time
had caused the wrath of God to pass over them in Egypt. Now here the Jews were
now to purify themselves in remembrance of that event. The great irony here is
that they were going up to Jerusalem at
great cost and inconvenience to have themselves purified, while in a few
days they would sinfully crucify Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was given by YAHWEH to take away their sin. How could they ever be pure before God if
they killed Him who was given to deal with the great issue of sin?
Brothers and sisters, settle this in your mind. Mere outward
expression of religious activity is utterly
worthless in God's sight. The purity that God desires to see is purity of heart-
love for God and love for our neighbour. That is the sum-total of the law.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God." (Matt. 5:8).
So then, as we take leave
of this chapter, let us make sure that we are found among those described in 11:45,
“Many of the Jews therefore, who had
come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.” These
are the one’s now invited to the Lord’s supper.
[1] Romans 1: 16,17
[2] Josephus.
Antiquities xviii. 2, § 2.
[3] Matthew
Henry’s Commentary on the whole Bible
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