MISSING THE BIG PICTURE (JN 11:45-48)

SERIES: ONE SOLITARY LIFE, PART 83

GCEFC: APRIL 26, 2009

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1.      In our monthly communion series, One Solitary Life, we’ve been recently working our way through one of the most extraordinary chapters in the Bible—John chapter 11.

 

2.      Most of chapter 11 concerns the illness, death, and raising from the dead of a man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany near Jerusalem, and was a close friend of Jesus.

 

3.      Lazarus had become very sick, so his two sisters, Mary and Martha had sent word to Jesus asking him to come to Bethany to minister to their brother.

 

4.      When Jesus first heard the news of Lazarus’ illness, he told his disciples that they would stay on and minister where they were rather than going immediately to Lazarus.

 

5.      It was a full day’s walk to Bethany. So between the day it took the messenger to reach Jesus, and the 2 days he stayed after the message was delivered. And the one day walk to Bethany—Lazarus had already been dead 4 days when Jesus arrived.

 

6.      Of course, Jesus knew that Lazarus had already died before they set out for Bethany. But why did he linger? We don’t know for certain. But the Jews believed that when a person died, their spirit hovered over the body for 3 days, trying to re-enter.

 

7.      But once the body started to decompose, the spirit would not re-enter. So by arriving in Bethany after Lazarus had been dead 4 days, there would be no doubt that he was dead. And no doubt that a miracle had occurred when he was raised.

 

8.      So Jesus arrives in Bethany and everyone eventually meets up at the tomb of Lazarus. There, in V43 Jesus calls to Lazarus: LAZARUS, COME OUT!

 

9.      And Lazarus came out of the tomb, with the grave wrappings still clinging to his body. This would have been astonishing in the 1st century just as it would be in the 21st.

 

A.     THE TYPICAL TWO RESPONSES

 

1.      The words of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus always polarize people into 2 camps. You either believe in him and trust him—or you disbelieve him and reject him.

 

2.      Some believe there’s a third choice. We’ll call it “the myth of neutrality.” The idea that you can hold faith in suspension—neither believing in Jesus nor not believing in him.

 

3.      But think of it like a man drowning in the ocean and a rescue boat comes by. The potential rescuers cry out: Do you want to be saved from drowning?

 

a.       The drowning man either responds: Yes, I do. Or: No I don’t. If he says: You know, I’m not really sure at the moment. I’m going to remain neutral on the issue for while and then decide.

b.      So the rescue crew says: Okay, whatever you wish. We’re going to head toward some other drowning people who want to be rescued.

 

c.       And the drowning man drowns. There’s no neutrality when you’re drowning. Neither is there neutrality when you’re under God’s judgment and the sentence of death.

 

4.      That’s why Jesus states so clearly in JN 3:36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

 

5.      Remember that Jesus said in LU 11: He who is not with me is against me. There is no neutrality when it comes to faith in Christ. Neutrality is just a myth.

 

B.     THE SHORT SIGHTED SOLUTION

 

1.      V45: Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. One of the possible responses to Jesus—belief.

 

2.      V46: 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.

 

3.      This is the other possible response. Unbelief, opposition, rebellion by those who reject Jesus’ words and miraculous works. No surprise there.

 

4.      Every Jewish town had a sanhedrin, its governing body. But there was only one Great Sanhedrin—the body of chief priests,, religious aristocracy, Sadducees, and Pharisees—70 men and headed by the High Priest.

 

5.      The majority of the Sanhedrin was made up of Sadducees, the religious elite and wealthy. The Pharisees were the minority and less affluent.

 

6.      It’s unlikely that those who left the raising of Lazarus to go to the Pharisees were going on an evangelistic campaign, or to tell them that they were all wrong about Jesus.

 

7.      They went because they were concerned about Jesus’ growing influence and popularity with the people. And why was this a problem? We see in V47 why it’s a problem.

 

8.      V47: What are we accomplishing?” they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many wonderful miraculous 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 place and our nation.

 

9.      The Roman Empire had 2 very basic values. Complete loyalty to Caesar, the Emperor. And peace throughout the empire.

 

10.     When a person or movement became a threat to either the Emperor or to peace in the empire, the response was certain—it was crushed without mercy. There was no tolerance for sedition or rebellion in the empire.

 

11.     So as Jesus became more popular and his deeds more extraordinary, the religious leaders of Israel became increasingly concerned.

 

12.     Their sentiment is expressed in the words of the Sanhedrin in V47: Here is this man performing many miraculous 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 place and our nation.

 

13.     Their very real fear was that Jesus would be seen as a threat to the Emperor himself. Remember, Jesus claimed to be a king.

 

14.     And—he would be seen as a threat to the peace because as people flocked to him and responded to his claims, disturbances were inevitable.

 

15.     If it got out of hand, Rome would respond in its typical ruthless way. First, the Temple would be confiscated or destroyed because it unified the people.

 

16.     And the nation itself would lose its Rome-sanctioned autonomy. Israel was able to more or less govern itself because Rome permitted it. Kind of like you as a parent letting your child have some jurisdiction over his own room. It’s a granted privilege—not a right.

 

17.     Of course, with either or both of these things removed, the Sanhedrin would be about as meaningful as Confederate war bonds. No power, no significance, and no authority.

 

18.     It would spell the end of what remained of the once world power known as Israel. Their concern was very real. In fact, as you know, in less than 40 years after this speech, that very thing happened.

 

19.      Their solution to the problem was very practical and very expedient. They would prevent Rome from having to come in and wipe them off the face of the map by getting rid of Jesus—the real problem anyway.

 

20.      Why sacrifice the Temple and a nation for the failures of one man? It didn’t make any sense. What made sense was getting rid of the threat before it became any worse.

 

C.     MISSING THE BIG PICTURE

 

1.      But there is something we must not miss. Notice that the Sanhedrin says: Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.

 

2.      They didn’t say: Here is this imposter. Here is this charlatan. Here is this conniver who had duped the ignorant masses. Here is this lying deceiver.

 

3.      No, they said: Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.

 

4.      They didn’t deny was Jesus was saying. They didn’t deny what Jesus was doing. They didn’t deny that he had performed extraordinary miraculous signs.

 

5.      They denied nothing except what it all meant. They were more concerned about their national identity and their political power and their influence than they were with the remarkable claims of Jesus Christ on their lives.

 

6.      Jesus hadn’t come to lead a political rebellion. He’d come to save the world from its sins—Jews and Romans included.

7.      It’s a good warning to us. That we can actually reject Jesus’ claims on our lives because we prefer our own agenda. Our own cause. Our own plans. Our own ideas.

 

8.      It’s frightening to see how otherwise intelligent and astute people could miss something so obvious. How they could settle for the short term solution and miss the permanent one. But they did. People do it all the time.

 

9.      For us disciples the lesson is similar. That we must be on our guard that we don’t fail to follow Jesus’ lead as our Master because we prefer our own agenda.

 

10.      Of course, we don’t try to get rid of him. That’s not an option we have or want. But sometimes effectively we act as if he wasn’t around. That his way doesn’t matter.

 

11.      But it does. It always does. And coming to the Lord’s Table is a good time to reflect on it. And to not make the same error that the Jewish leaders made.

 

12.      The error of missing God’s big picture to preserve the agenda of our little picture.