John 11:35. John 11:43, the miracle is not only a happy ending, it is a sign and the sign is bigger than Bethany, but John does not let the scene end with celebration, as soon as Lazarus comes out, the danger around Jesus intensifies. John 11:45 says, many who saw what Jesus did believed in him, but some went to the Pharisees and told them what had happened. Consider that turn, a dead man walks out of a tomb and the next scene is not only worship, it is a report, a council, a calculation, the leaders gather, their fear is not that the miracle is weak, their fear is that it is too powerful. If everyone believes in Jesus, they fear the Romans will come and take away both their place and their nation.
The leaders are looking at a man who raises the dead and they are thinking about what they might lose, then Caiaphas speaks, John 11:50, it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. Caiaphas means on thing, John tells you God saying something deeper through words, Caiaphas did not fully understand, one man would die for the people. John 11:53, then, from that day on, they plotted to put him to death. This lands like a door closing, then from that day on, they plotted to put him to death, that is the turn many people miss, Lazarus walks out and Jesus moves closer to the cross. The miracle that opens Lazarus’s tomb, helps set the path toward Jesus’ tomb, it is not that Lazarus caused Jesus’ death, John is showing that this public sign intensified the leader’s decision to kill him.
That means, Jesus’ compassion is costly, he does not defeat death from a safe distance, he steps into the grief of Bethany, calls his friend out and continues toward the hour when he will lay down his own life. John 11:35 belongs on the road to Calvary, these are not cheap tears, the one who weeps before Lazarus’s tomb, will soon be carried to his own. The one who says, loose him and let him go, will soon be bound. The one who calls a dead man out, will soon enter death himself and unlike Lazarus, Jesus will not come out needing someone to unwrap him into mortal life again, he will rise as the crucified and risen Lord. John 11:35, now the shortest verse is no longer small, it is sitting between a confession and a command. Before it, Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life, after it, Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth and in between Jesus weeps. That is the Savior John is showing you, not distant, not powerless, not hurried past pain, not defeated by death, the resurrection and the life with tears on his face.
The leaders are looking at a man who raises the dead and they are thinking about what they might lose, then Caiaphas speaks, John 11:50, it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. Caiaphas means on thing, John tells you God saying something deeper through words, Caiaphas did not fully understand, one man would die for the people. John 11:53, then, from that day on, they plotted to put him to death. This lands like a door closing, then from that day on, they plotted to put him to death, that is the turn many people miss, Lazarus walks out and Jesus moves closer to the cross. The miracle that opens Lazarus’s tomb, helps set the path toward Jesus’ tomb, it is not that Lazarus caused Jesus’ death, John is showing that this public sign intensified the leader’s decision to kill him.
That means, Jesus’ compassion is costly, he does not defeat death from a safe distance, he steps into the grief of Bethany, calls his friend out and continues toward the hour when he will lay down his own life. John 11:35 belongs on the road to Calvary, these are not cheap tears, the one who weeps before Lazarus’s tomb, will soon be carried to his own. The one who says, loose him and let him go, will soon be bound. The one who calls a dead man out, will soon enter death himself and unlike Lazarus, Jesus will not come out needing someone to unwrap him into mortal life again, he will rise as the crucified and risen Lord. John 11:35, now the shortest verse is no longer small, it is sitting between a confession and a command. Before it, Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life, after it, Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth and in between Jesus weeps. That is the Savior John is showing you, not distant, not powerless, not hurried past pain, not defeated by death, the resurrection and the life with tears on his face.