Friday, November 2, 2012


Joh 11:32 -36 "Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see.  Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

Jesus was on a mission to demonstrate the power and glory of God, a demonstration of His relationship with the Father. In the midst of showing His glory God shows compassion, patience, and absolute love. Jesus both God and man demonstrated emotional distress and the experience of pain.

Jesus as a human experienced deep empathy and a strong connection to the people around Him. Some, though hated His very existence as God within the wrapper of man.

Joh 11:37 "But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?

Jesus was moved by both reactions, unbelief was deeply disturbing for what it brings. Unbelief brings death.

Jesus came to defeat sin, death and Satan. "He commanded; "Take away the stone from the tomb."

They all knew that it was going to stink, the lifeless body would be full of decay.

"Jesus said emphatically; "I told you I was here to demonstrate the glory of God in giving life to the dead." "I want you to believe in the power of God, His mercy, grace and love."

Joh 11:38-40  Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

They opened Lazarus tomb.

Jesus talked loudly, everyone could hear Him. He wanted to provide opportunity for more evidence to believe in Him.

"Father you always listen to Me, Thank you"; Jesus prayed.

Then He exclaimed: "Lazarus come here."

Lazarus body raised up and he came out alive wrapped up in burial clothes. "Unbind and release him, he is not dead, I have raised him to life." 

Joh 11:41 - 44 "So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Many of the religious leaders believed what Jesus had told them about Himself. Others refused to see the truth and ran off to tell the religious elite, who held themselves up as keepers of truth. 

Joh 11:45, 46 "Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,  but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done."

The high and mighty, self righteous religious elite gathered a council. They were afraid of the political leaders and the civil authorities, they were afraid of the people. Mostly they were afraid of losing their own power and lives. They had lost the fear of God and denied His power and glory even though it had been clearly demonstrated by Jesus. 

Joh 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."

"One of them though, thinking He was the brightest and best, had a plan. (He didn't realize that the plan was exactly what God had planned. He unwittingly prophesied.) Caiaphas said; "We must make sure this one person dies, for the salvation of the people and Israel." 

The religious elite made plans on how to put Jesus to death.

"Jesus would be sacrificed for the sins of people who believed in Him." 

Joh 11:49 - 53 "But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all.  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. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.  So from that day on they made plans to put him to death."

No comments:

Post a Comment