Daily Scripture Reading John 11:32-57
As we go through life, there are many realities of life that occupy our attention. We need an income so we can buy food, clothing, and shelter. There might be political or economic trends that affect us. The crime rate impacts how we live our lives.
The Jews who lived in the Holy Land during the lifetime of Jesus lived under the Roman Empire. Rome allowed the Jews to practice their religion. However, Rome also expected law and order. The Jewish leaders were under constant pressure to maintain law and order in order to keep their religious autonomy.
Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders were so absorbed with the temporal task of pacifying Rome that they completely missed the eternal reality of who Jesus is. This reminds us to make sure we do not get so immersed in the temporal that we miss the eternal.
Jesus was in the area beyond the Jordan River and heard that His friend Lazarus was sick. Two days later, Jesus traveled to Bethany and learned Lazarus had died four days earlier. Martha went to meet Jesus. Then Mary also left her house and went to find Jesus.
John 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Mary demonstrated faith that Jesus could have prevented Lazarus’ death, but it seems it did not occur to her that Jesus could resurrect Lazarus from the dead.
John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her crying, and the Jews who came with her also crying, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
John 11:34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
John 11:35 Jesus wept.
John 11:36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
John 11:37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”
In some ways this was a good question, and yet it also showed doubt. Based on the prior miracles of Jesus, the crowd believed Jesus could have helped Lazarus. However, notice the wording of the last phrase of their question. They asked if Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying. They did not ask if Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead. While it was good they believed Jesus could heal, just like Mary, they were not grasping the total power of Jesus.
John 11:38 ¶ So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
John 11:39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time he smells, for he has been dead four days.”
John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Take note of the word “believe”. Yesterday, we read in John 11:22 that Martha had faith that Jesus could do anything. Now, however, she was not anticipating that Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead.
John 11:41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
John 11:42 And I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the crowd standing around I said this, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Once again we see the word “believe”. Jesus was about to do something that would prove the Father had sent Jesus.
John 11:43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
John 11:44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John 11:45 ¶ Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
We saw in verse 42 that Jesus was about to prove that He had been sent by the Father. In verse 45 we see that many Jews believed in Jesus based on Him raising Lazarus from the dead.
John 11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The seventh, ninth, and tenth chapters of John tell us there was division in the crowd about Jesus. Some believed the acts of Jesus proved He is God. Others did not accept that conclusion. We see that disbelief in this verse. While some of the Jews believed in Jesus after He raised Lazarus from the dead, others went to the Pharisees and reported what Jesus had done.
John 11:47 ¶ Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is doing many signs.
Ponder the last sentence of this verse. The priests and Pharisees knew Jesus was performing signs.
John 11:48 If we let Him go on like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Focus on the word “Romans”. Think about who the religious leaders were concerned about and the shortsightedness of their concern. They were worried what the Romans would do.
The religious leaders had seen proof that God was walking among them as a man, and yet all they could focus on was the risk the Romans would take away the temple. In other words they were so absorbed in the temporal, that they missed the eternal. They saw the physical, but missed the spiritual.
It is easy for us to do the same thing. As we go through life, there are many realities of life that occupy our attention. We need an income so we can buy food, clothing, and shelter. There might be political or economic trends that affect us. The crime rate impacts how we live our lives.
It is common for Christians to get so wrapped up in the realities of daily life that we ignore or short-change spiritual needs. We see the physical world around us and forget to think about the unseen spiritual world.
We have to do what we need to do on a daily basis to eat, sleep, and nourish our physical bodies. We should not ignore the forces in our society that impact our safety or prosperity. However, as we do that, we must not allow the urgency of daily life to distract us from paying attention to eternal matters. Life here on earth is temporal. Our existence after life on earth is forever. We need to plan accordingly.
John 11:49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
John 11:50 nor do you take into account that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
John 11:51 Now he did not say this from himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
John 11:52 and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
This is a reminder that God is in control of everything. God sent a prophetic message via a priest who was going to kill God’s Son.
John 11:53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
John 11:54 ¶ Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.
John 11:55 ¶ Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the region before the Passover to purify themselves.
This is the third Passover mentioned in the Gospel of John. The other two are recorded in John 2 and John 6. This tells us the ministry of Jesus spanned at least 3 years.
John 11:56 So they were seeking Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That He will not come to the feast at all?”
John 11:57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.
We saw in verse 48 that even though the religious leaders had seen proof that Jesus was God, all they could focus on was the risk the Romans would take away the temple. In other words they were so absorbed in the temporal, that they missed the eternal.
What are the forces in our daily lives that draw so much of our attention to life here on earth that we forget about eternity?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”