John 12: Palm Sunday

Now that we’re entering the second half of the book of John, John’s writing is going to shift. He’s going to go from the 3-4 years of the ministry of Jesus to the Passion Week of Jesus. He’s going to shift from touring Galilee, Samaria and Judea with Jesus to just staying in the city of Jerusalem. He’s going to shift from action-packed miracles to solely focus on teachings of Jesus. Things are going to slow down, become more local, and become more focused. Since John is slightly changing up his writing style, I am going to do the same. I’m not going to be as concerned with staying inside the chapter boundaries, the section boundaries, the paragraph boundaries or the verse boundaries. One blog post might have a couple chapters in it or it might have only a section or two in it. I might focus a long time on certain paragraphs, a short on some other paragraphs and some paragraphs I might completely ignore. Why? Since John’s writing is more central in time and location, as well as style (teachings), I don’t have to continually set the scene. For the remainder of John, the setting will remain the same, so the context will remain the same. I’m only going to pull out things that are debated, in which all sides need to be heard, or things that need a deeper explanation to fully understand. My hope is to reveal things to you that you’ve never thought about. If there’s nothing new to reveal, it will skipped over.

The first pericope (story) in John 12 stills has Jesus in Bethany. Now since we’re still in Bethany, it is important to set the scene because it’s debatable. Matthew and Mark also tell this story…or so most believe. The stories in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9 and John 12:1-8 have many commonalities. All take place at Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper. All have a woman breaking open an alabaster jar of perfume (pure nard) and using it on Jesus. All have someone object to the motion, and all have Jesus defending the woman. Yet there are differences. Matthew and Mark just say it’s a woman, while John names the woman as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Matthew and Mark says that the woman uses an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, while John tells the reader it was a pint of pure nard. Matthew and Mark say the woman poured the perfume on the head of Jesus, while John recalls the nard going on the feet of Jesus. John also adds more detail, such as Mary wiping the feet of Jesus with her hair. Mark says everybody watching opposed, Matthew gets specific and says it was only the 12 disciples that opposed, John gets even more specific, calling out Judas Iscariot to the opposer. Yet the biggest difference would be that Matthew and Mark state this happens 2 days before the Passover, while John puts it 6 days before the Passover. What are we to do? Are we to admit that the Gospel writers mixed up their facts and made mistakes in their writing? Never! It just requires some shifting through.

Let’s look at how the scholars have dealt with it. Some scholars have tried to argue that the accounts of Matthew and Mark are the same, but the account of John is a different story. Their proof is Luke 7:36-50. In Luke 7:36-50, Luke also tells a story of a woman cleaning the feet of Jesus with her hair, then anointing it with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, followed by objections. Yet it would be ridiculous to try to say it is the same event as recorded in Matthew, Mark and John. If you thought Matthew, Mark and John disagreed, wait until you see the Luke story. While all stories take place in the home of a Simon, Luke’s story is in the home of Simon the Pharisee, not Simon the Leper (Simon is very common name back then). Simon the Pharisee’s house is in Galilee, while Simon the Leper’s house is in Bethany in Perea. Luke denotes the woman as a very serious sinner, while Matthew, Mark and John make no notation of that (although some have suggested that’s why Matthew and Mark kept her anonymous). Only Luke mentions cleaning with tears, and no one else does. Luke has the opposer being one person, a Pharisee. Definitely from Matthew and John, and possibly from Mark, no Pharisees are present. Matthew and John definitely, and Mark possibly, show the objectors to be supporters of Jesus, no opponents. Furthermore, the objection is different. Simon the Pharisee objects at a sinful woman touching a righteous man. Judas Iscariot, as well as the rest of the disciples, object that it was a waste of money. Lastly, the reaction of Jesus Luke has recorded is way different than the reaction Jesus gives in Matthew, Mark and John. In Matthew, Mark and John, Jesus calls for the disciples to serve Jesus over the poor. In Luke, Jesus says that the sinful woman was more hospitable to Jesus than the so-called righteous Pharisee. So most scholars would definitely agree Luke’s pericope is a totally different story that happened earlier. Yet some people would take it further to show this anointing by women happened more than once so they conclude it happened 3 times. The first time is recorded in Luke, when Jesus was in the early years of the Galilean ministry. The second time is recorded in John, while Jesus is in Bethany six days before the Passover. The third time is recorded in Matthew and Mark, 2 days before the Passover. I will admit, I was tempted to go along with this thinking. They did have a point showing the major differences meant they were different events. Yet I could help but notice that the similarities were too strong to call them different. All of them have the same setting, all of them have the woman using expensive perfume, all of them have the opposition of wasting money, and all of them have the same reaction from Jesus. So Matthew, Mark and John have to be telling the same story, just from different points of view.

Like I said, this takes further sifting, so let’s sift. First of all, let’s talk about John’s use of names. While Matthew and Mark say “woman,” John says “Mary.” While Mark says, “those present,” Matthew says, “the disciples” and John says, “Judas Iscariot.” What’s the deal? Remember, John likes to pick on people, not in a negative connotation, but in for story-telling purposes, like character development. By giving the people names, the story becomes more real to us. So John reveals the woman to be the Mary, the one we all know, the one who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened, the one whose brother was raised by Jesus. John also reveals the objector to be Judas Iscariot. Now I’m saying that Matthew and Mark were wrong by assigning the objections to a large group of people. They easily agrees with one another. I believe that the grumbling about Mary’s actions started among the 12 disciples, as they all indignantly objected to one another. The other people observing, most likely supporters of Jesus, heard the Twelve Disciples grumble, so they followed suit. Finally, Judas Iscariot gets the balls to stand up to Jesus say what’s on everybody’s minds. If everyone was thinking this, and Judas Iscariot was the only one brave enough to say it aloud, you almost want to give kudos to Judas. Yet John uses this moment to reveal Judas is not the stereotype of a good disciple of a righteous man. John reveals Judas to be guilty of embezzlement. Like I said, character development. Also, it could simply be John’s use of details. That would also explain John saying a “pint of pure nard” instead of saying “an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume.” Pure nard was a very expensive perfume, shipped all the way from India. To get even a pint, or a half leader, a person would have to pay 300 denarii, which took about 300 days of work to save up for. This perfume was so expensive, it was put in the finest and most expensive of jars, like an alabaster jar. Simply because John does not mention it doesn’t mean it was not so.

As for where the perfume went, or how Mary anointed Jesus, I don’t think that really matters. If we were to get fussy and care about it, I would compromise and say it went both on his head andhis feet, but still, I think the grander point of this story in John 12:1-8 is all the foreshadowing going on. First and foremost, the whole event is foreshadowing the death of Jesus. Pure nard was a perfume using in burying the dead. Mary anoints Jesus likes He is a dead body. Jesus outright states that soon the disciples will not have Jesus. The ever-present danger Jesus is in becomes more obvious to Jesus, to His disciples and to everyone around him, including Mary. It’s like they all know when Jesus goes into Jerusalem, He’s not coming out alive. On that, the second foreshadowing the reader sees is Judas Isacriot’s role in the death of Jesus. It will be his own greed for money that will lead him to betray Jesus and hand Him over to death.

So that leaves us only to deal with the time frame. Matthew and Mark says it is two days before the Passover, while John says it is six days before the Passover. Well, location could be taken into account. As stated before, it seems like once Jesus enters Jerusalem, he isn’t leaving. In Matthew and Mark’s context, it would seem like Jesus would leave Jerusalem for a day to go visit the village of Bethany during that final week. Yet my ultimate conclusion is going to come from the writing style of John. Once again, I call you to remember the book of John is not a synoptic Gospel, but a supplementary Gospel. Therefore, of all the Gospel writers, John is the least concerned about the proper chronological order. His transition-of-time words have been vague throughout this entire book. If this book were to be written topically, which is most likely was, it would make the most sense to put together the two stories with the same main characters together. In John 12:1-8, Mary, Martha and Lazarus are all present, the same Mary, Martha and Lazarus in John 11. So I do believe Matthew and Mark, who would at least be slightly more concerned about time frame, do have the right time frame. As for Jesus leaving Jerusalem during Passion Week, I say it’s possible. After Jesus cleared the temple shortly after the Triumphal Entry, the Jewish leaders wanted to arrest and put Jesus on trial right there. Jesus probably had to leave the city for a day until things cooled down because it was not his time.

The pericope ends with the chief priests planning to kill Jesus, and Lazarus as well, because Jesus raising Lazarus is bringing so many people to believe in Jesus. I’m not going to talk about in-depth any further because that was already done for last chapter. But I will point out that it further foreshadows the fate of Jesus: Jesus is not coming out of Passover week alive.

By the time the reader gets to John 12:12, the reader hits the story familiar with Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry. Notice while all 3 Synoptic Gospels go into detail on the preparations for the Entry into Jerusalem, but John does not. Once again, Johns knows and expects his readers to have already read the Synoptic Gospels. They know how the disciples prepared, and John has nothing new to add, so he skips over the preparation details. I will mention that it seems like the only preparations the disciples made were the donkey ride for Jesus. It was the greater crowd of followers that did the rest. What did they do? They pull off palm branches and palm leaves to put on the ground and to wave. The Synoptic Gospel writers even add some people put their cloaks on the ground. Then they begin shouting and cheering when Jesus enters. I’ve written down what they are saying below from all 4 Gospel accounts.-

-Hosanna!
-Hosanna to the Son of David!
-Hosanna in the Highest!
-Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
-Blessed is the king of Israel!
-Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
-Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

If you want any further proof that the Twelve Disciples didn’t orchestrate this, John 12:16 tells the reader that Twelve Disciples saw what was going on and had no idea why this was happening. So what’s so important about this? In this second half of the Gospel of John, John’s going to start to portray Jesus as the Son of God by aligning the Son of God portrait with the portrait of Jesus according the Synoptic Gospels. The Synoptic Gospel that John will agree with in John 12 is the Gospel according to Matthew. Both Matthew and John see Old Testament Prophecy being fulfilled. The explicit one both Matthew and John mention is Zechariah 9:9, in which Zechariah sees the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Riding on a donkey has a lot of symbolism within itself. In Bible times, a king would either ride into a city on a horse or on a donkey. If the king rode on a horse, it meant he was going in an act of aggression, such as declaring war or taking control as the conquering king. If the king came riding on a donkey, it meant he came in peace, like making a peace treaty or an alliance of some sorts. Jesus did not come to Jerusalem to start a violent revolt to overthrow the Romans, but to peacefully proclaim and establish the kingdom of God on earth. The implicit Scripture being fulfilled is Psalm 118:25,26. Most Bibles have footnotes that connect the crowd’s shouting to the verse. Both Matthew and John have noted this, but they did not write it down. Perhaps they both assumed it was common knowledge to their Jewish reader. Indeed, this Psalm is believed to a Messianic Psalm. Thus, the crowd shouted it when Jesus entered Jerusalem because they believed this man was their messiah.

What do these people do after they give Jesus His parade? They go out and spread the news that Jesus has come to Jerusalem. What’s their tagline? It’s the Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead! So the people of Jerusalem come out to see this Jesus, hoping to see a miracle. Their faith seems a little shallow, but it’s working. How can a reader know it’s working? Well, for starters, it’s frustrating the Pharisees. So a crowd has assembled large enough to annoy the Pharisees. But on top of that, look at whose attention they get.

The same week Jesus is in Jerusalem, there are also Greeks in Jerusalem. Most likely these Greeks are Greek proselytes (Greeks converted to Judaism), who are in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and worship in Jerusalem, but they could also be Greek philosophers learning about different cultures. Some of these Greeks have heard about Jesus. These Greeks ask Philip if they get see Jesus. Philip asks Andrew, and Philip and Andrew ask Jesus. Let’s pause right there. First of all, notice how popular Jesus is getting. Word is getting around fast about Him. The resurrection miracle really helped, too. It’s nowhere near as many followers as Jesus had around the miraculous feeding, but it’s got to be the second highest spike. Also, we see Jesus getting famous on a bigger scale. While it’s possible these Greeks are from Decapolis, a region east of the Sea of Galilee and northeast of the Jordan River, if these Greeks actually came from Greece, the name of Jesus is getting around fast. People all over the world want to marvel at him. But it’s even bigger than popularity or fame. The Greeks wanting to see Jesus is a sign to Jesus that His ministry is about to explode…in a good way. No longer is it just the Jews looking for the Messiah, but now the world will seek a Christ. But Jesus knows that there’s an important in between step: His death on the cross. Jesus uses the analogy of a kernel of wheat that “dies” and is placed in the ground to produce many more seeds. (Quick note: This is not an error in the Bible, nor does it mean the Bible is not inerrant. This is called the “Phenomenon of Appearance.” A seed looks like it’s not living, and when someone puts it in the ground, it almost looks like it’s being buried. We in the 21st century know it’s not true, but it sure looks like it.) In the same way, Jesus must die in order that many more believers will believe in Him.

In John 12:27,28, Jesus seems to go into a little soliloquy of sorts. When he realizes His time is near, his heart is troubled thinking about taking on the sin of the world, as well as taking upon the pain and suffering of the cross. He states it is very tempting to ask the Father to remove the responsibility, but He stays on task and instead asks the Father to glorify the name of God. A voice from heaven reassures Jesus that the name of God has been gloried and it will be continued to be glorified. Jesus makes clear that this voice from heaven wasn’t to reassure him, but to reassure the disciples and the greater crowd of followers. Yet check out the reaction of the people in Jerusalem. The believers know it’s the voice of God the Father from heaven, but they are the only ones who can make the connection. The non-believers and rationalists try to rationalize it with a natural occurrence, like thunder. The skeptics, those who are 50/50 or those who think Jesus is merely a rabbi or a prophet, try to compromise it by using something indirect, like an angel. Either way, we still see division among the Jews. But the amazing part is that even some of the Jewish leaders, who are unbiased towards Jesus, realize and admit Jesus has to be the Messiah. Yet most of the Jews, especially Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests and Sanhedrin will not come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. How is this possible?

John continues to go back to the Old Testament prophecy in John 12 to show Jesus is Messiah and God. The two remaining quoted passages are both from the prophet Isaiah. The first is from Isaiah 53:1. Isaiah 53 is most famous for its Suffering Servant passage, describing the Messiah’s death and how it will bring about salvation. John sees it even before we get to the events of Good Friday. John believes that the opener to the chapter is stating that despite the Christ revealing Himself to the people as the Messiah, they will not believe in his message. If you’re thinking that’s pushing it, John gives another passage from Isaiah that’s a little more specific and a little more close. The passage is Isaiah 6:10, and it is quoted numerous times in the New Testament. If Isaiah 53:1 is saying the Jews would not listen to God’s Message, then Isaiah 6:10 is saying the Jews could not listen to God’s Message. Both seem to be true in John 12. John concludes both passages are saying the same thing because Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, so Isaiah spoke about Him. Wait a minute, I thought Isaiah saw God, not Jesus. Bingo. This is another way John is telling us Jesus is God. Isaiah recognized Jesus is God, the Jews failed to recognize Jesus as God, so now the reader has to choose to decide if Jesus is God or not.

So in closing John 12, Jesus turns to plea to the crowd to listen to Him and follow Him. Jesus knows His time on earth is running short, so he wants to get as many last minute converts as possible until He leaves up totally to the disciples. He is also well aware this is the last chance for many people, for they won’t convert, even after his death and resurrection. Jesus is no longer playing games. He’s not playing games with Pharisees and Sanhedrin, like dodging trick questions or hide-and-seek. Jesus has to get His Father’s business done. With Christ’s final message comes a stern warning: accept the light now or forever walk in darkness. Jesus puts a strong sense of urgency on the gospel. My prayer is we also carry that same urgency.

John 11: Saving The Best Miracle For The Last Miracle

At John chapter 11, we’re halfway through the book of John (more about later), and we’re already at the last miracle. This is miracle 7 of 7. In my opinion, these miracles have been progressively more exciting, as each miracle is more exciting than the last. The later miracles have all gone along with important teachings. All the miracles have shown the reader that Jesus is the Son of God and God the Son. This last miracle will follow suit with all of these. Being the last miracle, I believe it is the most exciting miracle. Like the Feeding of the 5,000 and giving the man blind from birth sight was the “attention-getting” introduction to a teaching of Jesus, so the miracle will be the “visual aid” to Christ’s teaching. Just like all the other miracles proved Jesus was God, so this miracle will prove Jesus is God, and just like the Feeding of the 5,000 and giving the blind man sight, it will be an “I AM” statement to do it.

Let’s set the scene a bit. Let’s talk about the setting, or where it takes place. Most of the story takes place in Bethany. Bethany is a small village near the Jordan River. Bethany is a village in the region of Perea. Latitude-ly speaking, Perea is within the same latitude lines as Judea. Longitude-ly speaking, Perea is east of the Jordan River and Dead Sea, while Judea is west of the Jordan River and Dead Sea. The name Bethany means “house of suffering,” which may serve as irony for this story.

Let’s set the scene further. Let’s talk about the main characters of the story. It’s a small family of sorts (maybe a bigger family, and the Bible doesn’t mention the rest of the family), with 2 sisters and 1 brother. The sisters are Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha are more famous for their story in Luke 10:38-42, where Martha is doing all the work and Mary is just sitting and listening. John 11:2 reveals that Mary is the one who poured the perfume on Christ’s feet and the woman who washed Christ’s feet with her hair and her tears. John does tell this story, but he doesn’t do it until John 12:1-10 (and we’ll talk about it there), but it does go to show again that John is assuming the reader has read the synoptic Gospel accounts and knows these stories. So the reader should know who Mary and Martha are, and so John will tell another story about Mary and Martha. The person the reader doesn’t know is their brother Lazarus. Only 2 times the name Lazarus appears in the New Testament. The one is here in John 11 (going a bit into John 12) and the other one is in a parable in Luke 16. Now we’ll save the debate if Luke 16 is a parable or not, or whether the people are real or not, because this is a study of John, not Luke. But whatever the case, the Lazarus in Luke is different from the Lazarus in John. The name Lazarus means “God assists” which is also fitting. I should also mention for all 3 characters, Jesus knew them, Jesus loved them, and they were all good friends of Jesus.

So naturally when Lazarus is sick and dying, they send word to Jesus. Now most likely, as we will see later, they are calling for Jesus to come a perform a miraculous healing to make Lazarus all better. They know that Jesus can perform miracles like that. He’s performed them on strangers, surely he’ll heal a good friend. That’s why Mary and Martha carefully choose the words to send to Jesus. They use the Greek word phileo, which means “brotherly love” (yes, this is where we get Philadelphia from). In a way, they are reminded Jesus how much Jesus and Lazarus are good friends and love each other. They’re hinting this is a no brainer, you need to come and heal Lazarus. Yet Jesus does not go. He stays where he is for 2 more days. His reason? Jesus knows God’s Plan is for this miracle to not be another healing of a disease. God wants this to be a resurrection from the dead. God knows that He, the Father, and His Son, Jesus will get the most glory out of a resurrection. Yet John makes it clear that Jesus doesn’t because he hates Lazarus and his family or because he’s not friends with them. John makes it clear Jesus loves Lazarus and his family. This time, John uses the Greek word agape, the Greek word for a higher love between God and man. John shows that Jesus loved Lazarus more than Mary and Martha thought He did. So Jesus waiting was not a cruel action, waiting 2 days, waiting for Lazarus to die. If you do the math (see verses 11 and 19), by the time the word got to Jesus that Lazarus was sick, Lazarus had already died. Jesus probably waited to make sure he was dead. Still, it must have been painful the all-knowing God the Son to know his beloved friend was dying, and he had to wait. At the same time, being God, knowing how everything after life works, He was confident in seeing His friend again.

2 days later, Jesus tells his disciples, “Alright, time to go back to Judea!” After their last time in Judea, the disciples have become just as aware as Jesus is about the present danger. They know of all the times the Jewish leaders tried to have Jesus executed, and they know if Jesus steps foot back in Judea, the Jews will be trying again. Jesus uses metaphorical language in verses 9 and 10 to reassure the disciples that as long as Jesus is following God’s Will, God will keep His Will and not let Jesus die until the appointed time. Jesus then throws in for verse 11, “Besides, Lazarus is asleep and I have to go wake him up. Obviously, in verse 12, the Twelve Disciples have once again missed the metaphorical language. “Falling asleep” is clearly a euphemism for dying, used a lot in both the Old Testament and New Testament. Jesus is clearly talking about death, yet the disciples took this literally. They remember hearing Lazarus was sick. So when Jesus told them Lazarus is sleeping, they conclude, “Lazarus needs his sleep so he can get rested up and get better. Why wake him up?” Jesus has to come straight out and tell the disciples that Lazarus is dead, but then he adds, “It’s all good. This needed to happen to help everyone believe.” The section of the chapter concludes with Thomas saying, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” We call Thomas “Doubting Thomas” because of he doubted Jesus resurrected from the dead, yet in John 11:16, we already see Thomas having doubts. Yes, Jesus does die in Judea, so yes, Thomas was kind of right. Yet I think that Thomas was surprised how long Jesus lasted in Jerusalem. A week was probably longer they he expected. Thomas is kind of doubting God will keep Jesus alive as long as God wants Jesus to be. But let’s not be hard on Thomas. First of all, I bet a lot of the disciples were carrying this doubt. But also, you have to praise Thomas for his dedication. His belief that Judea was a death trap could have caused him to leave Jesus and the other disciples to stay in Galilee. Yet Thomas went to Judea and Jerusalem with Jesus, even if it meant He would suffer the same fate as Jesus.

Before we get into the meat of the story, I’m going to shift my writing style slightly. I’m going into less of a commentary mode and more into storytelling mode. Why? I want us to think emotionally about the story. Too often do we drain the emotion of our stories. Movies and television alike have made these Gospel stories as boring as reading them. Jesus speaks in a monotone voice that carries an echo. The other characters talk in a plain voice, like they know what’s going to happen. That’s not the case. We have a very emotional-filled scene. A man just died, so you already have the funeral feel to it. You’ll be able to tell later that Mary and Martha believe that Lazarus is as dead as a doornail. There’s no hope for him. This story may not be action-packed, but it’s definitely emotion-filled. Let’s enjoy for that as I tell you the story.

Two days later, Jesus made the trek down to Bethany with his disciples. Coming all the way from Galilee, Jesus and His disciples were the last ones there. Family, relatives and friends who lived in Jerusalem, a mere 2 miles from Bethany, had already come. They had come to join Mary and Martha in mourning the loss of Lazarus, but also to comfort them. When Jesus arrived, a messenger sent word to Martha that Jesus has arrived. Martha relayed the news to Mary, “Jesus has come from Galilee and is here right now.” Mary gave a cold stare out of eyes, wet from the tears, and she went back to crying. Mary didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. Martha could tell from her sister’s eyes she wasn’t thinking positive thoughts about Jesus. Perhaps she’s thinking that Jesus is selfish, too concerned about His ministry to help friends. Maybe she’s doubting that Jesus ever loved her, her sister Martha or her brother Lazarus. Whatever the thoughts, she’s too upset to go out and see Jesus. Martha, being the hospitable woman she is, couldn’t turn down a guest like that. She went out to see Jesus.

As Martha saw Jesus in the distance, she began biting her lip and clenching her first. Emotion began to well up in her, and she’s trying everything to hold it back. But when she finally stood in front of Jesus, she couldn’t hold it back anymore. She burst into tears and began to wail and sob. “Oh Lord,” Martha cried out, “if you had only gotten here just a bit earlier, my brother would not have died!” Martha then took a deep breath, sighed, and then said, “But I know now that even God will give you whatever you ask.” Martha’s brain told her that her confession was right, even though her heart was fully there. She was sad that Jesus didn’t come and heal her brother, but she knew that Jesus did not sin for not healing Lazarus, nor did it make Jesus a bad person. Jesus still was the Son of Man and Son of God, as well as a wise prophet and Rabbi. Jesus tried to comfort her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha took another deep sigh and says, “Yeah, yeah, I know. I know Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. I know I’ll one day be with Lazarus in heaven.” Martha’s brain told her this was true, but her heart still missed Lazarus.

I have to pause our story for some modern-day application that goes right along with this. It’s a common scene at a funeral. How many times have we seen and heard someone (or even done it ourselves!) go up to the mourning family and friends and throw out lines like, “He’s gone to heaven and he’s in a better place now, “She’s in heaven and one day you’ll see her in heaven too,” “At the end of time, he’ll resurrect,” and/or “This was all part of God’s Will/Plan and God has it all under control.” Yes, I know these are all true and all factual. Yes, I know these statements are meant to comfort. But sometimes these statements can send across the message “Don’t worry,” “Don’t cry,” or “Don’t be sad.” It’s denying those who just lost someone the right to mourn. Yes, I get it that Christians are trying to make a testimony by making funerals a celebration of a Christian’s successful Christian walk, all the way to their eternal reward, yet I think mourning at a funeral can have just as strong and important message. Remember, death is the price to pay for our sins. When we mourn at death, we directly mourn at the price for sin, so we indirectly mourn because of sin. When we mourn at death, we mourn that we are in a depraved and fallen world. When we mourn at death, we admit this world isn’t as good as it claims to be. Christians, don’t deny a person to mourn. While we might want to comfort, and we might know how to comfort, that mourning person still misses the dead person. And who knows, sometimes mourning can be most the comforting thing to do. So maybe instead, join the mourner in mourning. You can tell from the story in John 11 that many of the Jews had been throwing those kind of comforting statements at Mary and Martha, yet what they needed most at Lazarus’s funeral was for someone to join in mourning, just like Jesus did. Speaking of funerals, this chapter has a very famous verse read at funerals in this chapter. Actually, it’s the next verse in our story. So that verse I am going to up exactly as is.

John 11:25-
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”

Alright, let’s talk about this, before we go any further, because this is a key “I AM” statement. Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection.” If anything sets out Christianity as unique to the rest of the religions out there, it’s the idea of resurrection. Resurrection involves coming back to life after death. A lot of religions do not have you coming back to life. Those that do have reincarnation, which coming, or being reborn, as something else. It could be another person, another animal, or another living thing (flower, for example), but it will never be yourself. Resurrection means you come back to life as you. This shows there is nothing wrong with you, and God made you with the intention of you being you. It shows God makes no mistakes, so if he brings you back to life, it will be the real you coming back to life. Let’s get back to Jesus. Jesus did quite a number to resurrection. First, he clarified any Old Testament teachings of it. The Old Testament was very vague about resurrection. The most an Old Testament Jew could say about it is that it would happen at the end of time, like Martha stated. It even caused some Jews, like the Sadducees, to deny resurrection would happen. The teachings of Jesus not only declared it real, but it revealed more about it. Second, Jesus brought the idea of resurrection upon himself. He was the source of resurrection. Jesus already taught in John 3:16, 5:24 and 10:28, and now, Jesus was outright stating it as an overall teaching, not a side message. Jesus tacked resurrection right onto Him. Resurrection and life were only possible through Jesus. Old Testament Jews understood God to be the source of life, and also resurrection. For Jesus to claim He was the source, He was claiming to be God. Third, Jesus took resurrection from a “not yet” future tense, and put it in a “here already” present tense. Martha didn’t have to wait for the end of time to see Lazarus again, it was coming right now. By Jesus raising Lazarus, he affirmed He had the power of resurrection. Alright, back into the story, but may I make one more note to look into the story. Notice Martha’s reply when Jesus asks if she believes. I’m going to put it down exactly as it is in the Bible. You might want to compare it John’s purpose statement, found in John 20:31…

Jesus turned Martha’s head toward him, looked her in the eyes and asked, “Do you believe this?” Jesus needed Martha to believe. Martha couldn’t help but sigh again. She was still trying to push her heart to be on the same level as her heart. “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” Martha still believed Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, even after all she had gone through those past 4 days. Jesus then said to her, “Where is Mary? I really need to see her, too.” At this, Martha went to find her sister.

Martha found her sister exactly as she left her: in the house, sitting hunched over the table, crying her eyes out. Family and friends surrounded her, quietly mourning, afraid to even attempt to comfort Mary. Martha put her hand on Mary, and Mary looked up to see her sister again. “The Teacher is here, he’s right outside the village” Martha says. “He really wants to see you.” Mary knew that she couldn’t give Jesus the silent treatment any more. She knew Jesus would keep asking for her until she went to Jesus or Jesus found her. Mary swiftly got up from her seat, still in tears, to head off to Jesus. When the fellow mourning Jews saw Mary’s reaction, they knew something was up. They follow her out, to watch out for he best interest.

As Mary saw Jesus in the distance and got closer, her walk became a march. Tears started welling up in eyes, but she wasn’t exactly feeling sad. She was feeling more mad than side. In close range to Jesus, she ran up to Jesus, began angrily pounding on His chest, angrily yelling and screaming, “Oh Lord, if you had only gotten here just a bit earlier, my brother would not have died!” She continued to wail and scream, pounding at the chest of Jesus, until she grew tired, when all se could do was fall at the feet of Jesus in tears, sobbing. When Jesus saw Mary wailing and sobbing in sadness and anger, and when He saw all the mourners also weeping, Jesus began to slowly shed tears as well as well, one by one. Trying to regain his composure, Jesus attempted to speak clearly, “Where have you laid him?” The Jewish mourners, seeing Mary was in no condition to answer questions, said to Jesus, “Come this way, and we will show you.”

The mourning group made a small and slow funeral procession to the burial site, which was a tomb with a large rock rolled in front of it. Approaching the site, Jesus Himself could not hold it back any longer. He too, was moved to the same emotion as the two sisters of Lazarus. He broke down in tears. All the on-looking Jews, who had known both praises and condemnations Jesus had received from the Jewish leaders, finally saw Jesus not just as a teacher was some radical views, but a real life human being. They commented, “See how he loved him!” There was no doubt that Jesus loved Lazarus and his 2 sisters. The disciples of Jesus, who were also mourning, couldn’t help but think to themselves questions. The disciples knew that Jesus was God. They knew that meant He is the one who knew everything about the afterlife, like what happens and where people go. So why was He crying? Most people cry because they don’t know the fate of their loved ones. Yet Jesus knew exactly why He was crying. He was, and thus, He was the creator. He Himself separated the sea from the sky and the sea from the land. He Himself filled the sky with birds, the seas with fish and the land with mammals, reptiles and amphibians. It was a beautiful creation, but look what sin and evil were doing to it. It was bringing pain, suffering and death. The thought brought him to tears. In all that sadness, he couldn’t help but be a little agitated at the Devil bringing all the sin and death into the world. How much he looked forward to getting back at Satan and take him down for ruining His lovely creation!

Once again, Jesus tried to regain composure. Jesus wiped the tears of his face, cleared his throat and said, “Take away the stone.” Everyone there gave Jesus a bewildered look. Martha was brave enough to speak up what was on everyone’s mind. “But Lord,” said Martha, “Lazarus has been dead and in there for 4 days. His rotting body is beginning to decay and smell.” Jesus seemed to snap back at Martha, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” Jesus didn’t mean to be snappy, but he really needed Mary and Martha to believe right now. He needed Mary and Martha’s permission to roll back the stone. Martha gave permission, and strong men among the Jewish mourners rolled back the stone.

Jesus wiped back the tears off his face, but as he did, more tears came rolling down. This time, they weren’t tears of sadness, but tears of joys. If the Jewish crowd knew they were tears of happiness, they would have been confused. Why would Jesus be crying and happy at the same time? Yet Jesus was justified in His emotions and tears. “Father,” Jesus began to pray, “I thank you that you have heard me.” Jesus began to grin under all His tears. He continued, “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” Now a full smile broke out on the face of Jesus, despite the tears still coming down. “Lazarus,” Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Come out!” Everybody stared into the darkness of the cave. They saw a figure move in the darkness. Was it a ghost? Was it a zombie? No, it was Lazarus, full alive and fully healthy! Now everyone was crying tears of happiness and smiling big smiles, just like Jesus. Jesus said to Mary and Martha, “Help the poor guy. He’s looks like a mummy with all those bandages wrapped around him. Mary and Martha ran to embrace their brother and unwrap the bandages.

In story telling, most of the time the story ends. I can understand why storytellers do this, as the action ends there and the rest of the chapter is men talking. So I’m going back out of storytelling mode and reverting back to commentary mode. The rest of the chapter, verses 43 to 57, serve as a “epilogue” to the raising of Lazarus. The epilogue focuses less on Mary, Martha and Lazarus, although we will hear about them later on, early in the next chapter. This epilogue will give us the inside scoop on the thoughts in the Sanhedrin. Before we look at those thoughts, I thought it would be cool to show you how this passage show the Holy Spirit is at work in writing the Scriptures. The conversation in John 11:43-57 takes place behind close doors among the Sanhedrin. That means only 70 people heard it. So how did John hear about it? Obviously, none of the Gospel writers were involved in this meeting because none of them were Sanhedrin. In fact, they were probably despised by the Sanhedrin. So how did John find out? Well, we could take the easy way out and just say that believer in Jesus, like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimethea reported it to John, but we have no clear evidence that John ever met with Nicodemus or Joseph. I think it’s a safer bet to say the Holy Spirit revealed it to John. After all, the Holy Spirit is God, and God is omnipresent and omniscient. He was present behind the closed doors of the 70 Jewish leaders. There will be more proof of that soon to come.

Let’s link the story to the epilogue. Remember that family, relatives and friends from Jerusalem came into Bethany to mourn alongside Mary and Martha. John 11:47 says that many of these people, when they saw the miracle, believed in Jesus. These new believers spread the word throughout Bethany, Perea, Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding areas. What were the results? Many others came to believe in Jesus, but not everyone. The Pharisees and chief priests get word of this, too, and they don’t like it. They recognize this is the biggest miracle yet, so now the stakes are higher. They need to make a decision, and make one fast. So they call an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin, the 70-member Jewish ruling body, including the High Priest. The Pharisees and chief priests make the whole council aware that trying to find contradictions in the teachings of Jesus is not working, trying to set traps is no longer working, and calling out accusations is not successful, either. And that’s just Jesus. Even after threatening to shun any Jew who believes Jesus is the Messiah, Jews are still coming to faith in Jesus. Why are the Pharisees and chief priests so concerned? Are they concerned about the religious or spiritual well-being of the Jewish people? No, they are worried about the political well-being of the Jewish people. The Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, had made many compromises to appease to the Romans, to give them some freedom. The Sanhedrin now feared that Jesus was going to undo all of this. The Sanhedrin was afraid that Jesus would lead His followers into a revolution against the Romans. They predicted that this revolution would fail, and the Romans, in turn, would take away all Jewish freedom and make every Jew a slave to them. So the Sanhedrin turns to Caiaphas for assistance in this problem.

This is Caiaphas’s ruling: “It is better for one man to die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” There’s a lot we can take out of this line alone, as well as Caiaphas’s reaction. First, it’s a good example of original intent vs. prophecy. Usually, when Christians talk about prophecy in the Old Testament, they automatically we explain the verse in terms of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Yet they easily forget that the Old Testament Jews did not know Jesus, nor did they know how the prophecy was going to unfold, so they would not understand it in terms of Jesus in the 1st century AD. They have to be reminded to go back and see it from the Old Testament Jewish perspective. Even though this isn’t an Old Testament prophecy (it’s more like a New Testament prophecy), I want to remind you that we need understand Caiaphas’s words from a Jewish understanding just as much as a Christian understanding, and John would agree with me. When Caiaphas passed his ruling (from the Jewish understanding), he meant that it would be right to execute Jesus in order to prevent the Romans from taking control of the Jewish nation and to preserve Israel. What John sees (from the Christian understanding) Caiaphas saying is that the death of Jesus is necessary for the salvation of mankind, especially the Jews, who have been waiting on their Messiah to bring deliverance. There’s debate to whether “the scattered children of God” means the Jews not in Israel or the Gentiles in other nations, but it is clear that not only with the death of Jesus bring salvation, but it will also bring unity to God’s people.

The other thing I want to pull out from Caiaphas’s ruling is that God has not abandoned His chosen people who are in charge, especially the high priest, despite they hate His Son. In fact, it seems like God is still using Caiaphas. First, God uses Caiaphas to pass a prophecy of sorts. So God is still speaking through his High Priest. But better yet, God is still using Caiaphas in his role as high priest. One of the high priest’s most important task, if not THE most important task was to sacrifice the sacrificial lamb of the Day of Atonement once a year to sprinkle its blood in the Holy of Holies in the temple, so that Israel’s sins may be forgiven. We as Christians know Jesus became the sacrificial atonement. So what Caiaphas is doing, even though he doesn’t know it, gives his first sentence for Jesus to be executed, or should I sacrificed. Caiaphas, the high priest, whose job was to shed the blood of the lamb yearly for the atonement Israel’s sins, would now shed the blood of the Lamb of God for the “once and for all” atonement of the world’s sins. Caiaphas was still doing his high priest duties with Jesus.

So what’s Caiaphas’s and the Sanhedrin’s plan? They are out to shed blood. Not just the blood of Jesus, but also the blood of Lazarus. You would think that’s odd that they would kill a man whose just come back to life, but they seriously were! You can’t find out about this in chapter 11, but it is written in John 12:9-11. Check it out-

John 12:9–11-
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

The Sanhedrin hated the fact that this resurrection was causing so many people to believe in Jesus. So I bet the chief priests’ plan was to kill Lazarus, deny Jesus ever raised Lazarus from the dead, and thus give them room to accuse Jesus to be a false teacher and a false prophet. At the least, it would bring down the numbers of those believing in Jesus. Jesus became well aware of the danger He was in now, so he had to leave Bethany, but He couldn’t go into Jerusalem yet because of the same danger (see John 11:55-57). So Jesus and His disciples go to the nearby desert town of Ephraim and lay low there until the danger level decreases at least a bit.

Let me add an epilogue or a supplementary appendix of my own. This is indeed the last recorded miracle in John, and it was the best for last. It was a resurrection. Yet this isn’t the only resurrection. There are 3 definite resurrections of Jesus, and a possible 4th, depending on your interpretation. The first resurrection is when Jesus raises the widow from Nain’s dead son (Luke 7:11-17). The second resurrection is the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler (Matt. 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56). The third is the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45). If you would include a 4th, it would be Jesus raising Himself, but it all depends whether you would count raising yourself, or if you debate whether it was the Father who raised the Son or the Son raised Himself. So why did John choose a new resurrection, one that none of the Synoptic Gospel writers have? Why not just repeat one (or both) of the other 2 resurrections. I mainly think it’s because John’s central teaching, or I could say John’s “thesis” for the chapter, is the “I AM” statement in which Jesus states “I am the resurrection and the life.” It connects back to his original purpose in John 20:31, that Jesus is the Son of God. But I also think John wanted this pericope to point out another word in his purpose: believe. Notice how many people believed in Jesus after this miracle. It might have been in the hundreds, or even the thousands! It was sure enough to catch the Sanhedrin’s attention. It seems like this miracle was just as popular as the Feeding of the 5,000. Why so popular? For the same reasons that I mentioned in the Feeding of the 5,000. I said the Feeding of the 5,000 was so popular because only a few people can relate to blindness, deafness, muteness or paralysis, but everyone can relate to hunger. For the resurrection of Lazarus, once again, only a few people can relate to blindness, deafness, muteness or paralysis, but everyone can relate to death. Everyone has had someone die, whether it be family, relative or friend, and ultimately, all people themselves will face death. It is a very real reality that everyone faces. Yet Jesus comes along with the solution. He can raise His believers from the dead and give them eternal life. Everybody wants to live forever, so everyone wants to follow the one who can give it. The only way to get it is to believe in Jesus Christ, the one who would die and rise again. But we can’t just believe. We need to follow Jesus, which means to die like Him, so we can rise like Him. In the bigger picture, I see this miracle pointing ultimately to Christ’s death and resurrection.

In closing, I’m not sure if you noticed this, but John 11 is the halfway point of the book of John. We’ve finished the first half and we’re about to going into the second half. There are 2 features I want to give everyone a “head’s up” in the second of John. First, the second half of the book of John will be just in Jerusalem. We will go from touring Israel to remaining in Jerusalem. Second, the second half of the Gospel of John will just be the Passion Week of Jesus Christ, what we Christians know as Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Yes, you heard right, the whole second, a total 10 chapters, is focused on one week. Well, if John did that, that means there is something important about this one week that reveals Jesus is God the Son. Let’s stay tuned and check it out. And who knows, this might get you excited for Lent, Palm Sunday and Easter!