Week 6, DAY 1

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 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.” John 11:45 – 48 (ESV)

Jesus has just performed one of his greatest miracles by publicly raising Lazarus from the dead.  One would think that the crowd would have responded in amazement, belief and reverential awe for God, but instead it was mixed. Many of the Jews believed. These were not the Jewish leaders, but the text suggests these are the Jewish friends of Mary and Martha who had come to grieve the passing of their brother. Some left and went to the Jewish authorities and informed them of Jesus’ miracle.

It’s amazing as we read in verse 45 the two responses to the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

1. Many witnessed the miracle and believed. They saw the hand of God at work through Jesus and they are convinced He is the Messiah.
2. Others were infuriated and wanted to see Jesus dead. They saw what Jesus did and they went to the authorities and said, “this man needs to be dealt with.”
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The Jewish authorities respond by calling a council and talking about what needs to happen to stop Jesus. We know he had done nothing wrong and the Jews knew this as well. They were not concerned with his good-deeds, as much as they were worried he was gaining a large following and people believed he was the Messiah. They were afraid people would start giving allegiances to Jesus and this would attract attention from the Romans. They figured once the Roman leaders saw the followers of Jesus, they could easily assume a revolt was on the horizon. The Jewish leaders feared the Romans would come in and take their land by violence thus forcing a dispersing of the people. The Jews did not want this to happen. They were concerned Jesus’ agenda would disrupt the peace. Truth be told, God’s agenda did not fit with their agenda and this concerned them. I believe they had no concern for God’s agenda at all. They were clueless as to what God was up to and they had no interest in it.