stuck in the mud

This morning I read the miraculous story of Jesus raising Lazarus, his friend, from the dead.  You probably know the story...how Jesus was asked to come by Lazarus' sisters when he was very ill.  Rather than rushing to the scene, Jesus waited two more days before responding.  And by the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead and placed in the tomb for four days.  You can picture this "dead man walking" when Jesus commanded him to come out of the tomb and he emerged wrapped in burial linens like some kind of mummy from an old movie.  Unsurprisingly, many came to faith in Jesus that day!   But a few of those who observed the miracle decided to report it to the Pharisees.  This is the amazing part: A man is raised from death and restored to life and yet some people responded in fear and anger.  The chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting and decided that they couldn't let Jesus go on doing miracles because if too many people trusted in Jesus and followed Him the Romans would be unhappy.  The priests and Pharisees had forged a cozy coexistence with the Roman conquerors and their number one concern was to not upset the world's greatest nation.  This seems amazingly short-sighted...to be more concerned with Rome than with Heaven.  But I think this is where many of us are.  While the Lord makes Himself known daily through His word, His creation and His acts of grace, mercy and help we can be so rooted in this world that we may find Him to be inconvenient.  In fact, like the Pharisees, we may suspect that trusting in Jesus might upset our whole comfortable way of life.  When it comes to Jesus, we may be looking at Him through the wrong end of the telescope!

 

John 11:⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

   "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸If 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."

 

blessings,

Rob Smith