Monthly Archives: March 2014

Let The Games Begin

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LET THE GAMES BEGIN

“Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead He withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where He stayed with His disciples.

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, ‘What do you think? Isn’t He coming to the festival at all?’

But the chief priests and the Pharisees gave orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest Him. “John 11:54-57 NIV.

So this is what happens when a person does the right thing! Because He brought a dead man back to life, He was considered public enemy number one. In the eyes of the Jewish leaders He was dangerous and an enemy of the state. They siphoned all their personal issues against Him into this apparently legitimate reason for having Him caught and brought to trial.

For Jesus it was not a matter of if but when He would be executed. He had to be careful not to show Himself prematurely. He had to fit perfectly into His Father’s timetable and into the fulfilment of all the types and shadows and Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament so He remained out of sight until the appropriate moment.

The Sanhedrin had already decided that it should not happen during Passover because the situation was far too volatile (Mark 14:1, 2). Jerusalem would be filled with Jews from all over Israel and farther afield. Jesus was too well-known and popular to risk a riot at that time. But it was Judas who forced their hand by betraying His whereabouts on the eve of Passover. They might not get another chance to grab Him when He was not expecting it.

According to John they had issued an order to anyone who knew where He was to inform them. But Jesus was no ordinary fugitive. He was in charge. He would show Himself and give Himself up at the precise moment, no matter what their plans and instructions. There were things He had to do before He finally left His disciples. Whether they thought they had Him in their power or not, was irrelevant. He had already made it clear to His followers that no-one took His life from Him. He would lay it down for the sheep at the perfect moment.

So He played cat-and-mouse with them. After raising Lazarus and creating a furore, He remained out of sight in a village off the beaten track. Were the ordinary people aware of the Sanhedrin’s intention? As the worshippers assembled in Jerusalem for the ritual preparations for the Passover, He was the subject of their conversation and the object of their curiosity. Where was He? Would He dare show Himself in Jerusalem during the Passover? Would He risk another public standoff with the Jewish leaders? Tongues wagged all over the city.

The “Jews” laid their plans and waited. They could arrest Him and keep Him in custody until after the Passover when the city returned to normal – so they thought. As long as they had Him safely locked up, they could breathe easier.

But God had other plans and Jesus was in on them, waiting on the Father to reveal His hand in His time. The Lamb of God has to die at the precise moment when the high priest raised the knife to slaughter the first sacrificial lamb that marked the beginning of the ceremony. He had to ride into the city on a donkey as an indication of His claim to the throne of Israel, but not as they expected. He was asking for the allegiance of men’s hearts so that He could reveal the Father to the world through them.

Two kingdoms stood on the threshold of the greatest battle ever fought, the kingdoms of darkness and light, and the outcome was already determined from before the foundation of the world. Only Jesus knew what lay ahead and He was ready for it.

It Had To Be!

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IT HAD TO BE! 

“Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many 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 temple and our nation.'” John 11:45-48 NIV

Wrong! The religious leaders were really being melodramatic! In what way would Jesus’ signs cause them to “lose” their temple and their nation?

Jesus’ miracles, up to that point were in no way disturbing the Romans. What He was doing was evidence that the God who wanted them to worship Him was not the vengeful, demanding and legalistic god of the Pharisees but a loving Father who wanted them to submit to His way so that they would live in harmony with Him and with one another.

Like all the others, including Jesus’ disciples, it seems that their idea of the Messiah was one of a strong political ruler who would restore the Davidic kingdom to its former glory by getting rid of the Romans and setting up His own rule in Israel. Did they think that Jesus’ miracles were His way of getting the people on His side so that, when He made His move against Rome, they would rise up with Him?

Had they only listened without the filter of their prejudice and envy, they would have heard something different from their twisted interpretation of His words and works. Their protests covered up a much more sinister and personal reason for hating Him. Jesus was not shy of showing them up for what they were — greedy and conniving opportunists who used their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the people whom they controlled through their religious demands in the name of God!

This latest challenge, the spectacular and unassailable act of raising Lazarus who had been putrefying in the grave for four days, was the last straw. They had to exterminate Jesus because they did not know what He would do next. What they did not take into account was that nothing He had said or done up to this point, indicated that He had intentions of rising up and taking over. All they knew was that He had great power and they were afraid of Him.

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up. ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take His life.” John 11:49-52 NIV.

Caiaphas was high priest and spokesman for the Sanhedrin. Little did he know that what he had to say, out of his puny reasoning, was actually an accurate and profound prophetic statement of the truth. Caiaphas saw Jesus as the scapegoat for themselves and the people. It was either Jesus or them. However, he unwittingly verbalised God’s redemptive purpose for sending Jesus.

John was quick to pounce on his words and explain that Jesus’ death was indeed a substitute for the Jews in Israel and all God’s people everywhere. Were the words of Isaiah which the prophet had spoken centuries before and which Caiaphas would have known so well, subconsciously emerging from his lips?

“Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV.

Yes, Caiaphas, you were absolutely right! It had to be, but you were part of it and you were guilty!

Convinced Or Convinced?

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CONVINCED OR CONVINCED? 

“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ He said. ‘But Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.’

“Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When He had said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’

“The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'” John 11:38-44 NIV.

What a moment! What went through the minds of the two sisters, of the bystanders when Jesus ordered them to remove the stone? ‘No! It can’t be! Is He out of His mind? Is He really going to go in there? What is He going to do?’ As the heavy stone was moved, so the stench of death wafted from the mouth of the cave and they involuntarily stepped backwards.

Jesus was oblivious to the smell of putrefying flesh. He took a step forward and turned His face heavenwards. In a strong, confident voice He addressed His Father, ‘Abba, we’ve already talked and you have heard my request. Now I want all these people around me to know and believe that it is you who sent me.’ When did He speak to the Father? All the time, no doubt.

Then, without hesitating He addressed the corpse — in a loud voice that Lazarus would hear wherever he was — ‘Lazarus, out!’ The bystanders watched and waited, hardly daring to breathe. Was this just a big show? The seconds ticked by, then…out of the darkness a figure emerged, naked but for the strips of cloth around his hands, his feet and his face and probably encasing his body as well. He shuffled towards the entrance, unable to walk because of the linen ties around his feet.

Miraculously, the odour had dissipated. Lazarus was very much alive but still wearing the evidence of his departure encasing his body. Instead of the stink of decay, the fragrant spices of his sisters’ loving preparation for burial still clung to him released by a fresh breeze which blew away the last vestiges of his untimely death.

Trying in vain to free himself of his encumbrances, Lazarus shuffled out of the tomb. The people stared at him, speechless with shock and disbelief. Only one person was with it enough to speak sense in the situation. I can imagine that Jesus was amused by the bizarre scene — dozens of people gawking like beached fish while a man tied up in burial cloths, hands and feet firmly immobilised, and unable to see where he was going, tries to get free of his bonds and speak to them!

‘For pity’s sake,’ I can imagine Jesus saying, ‘Untie the poor guy and let him go.’ With a jolt, someone would come to and take off the bandages from Lazarus’ feet and hands and untie the cloth around his face so that he could breathe freely again and see.

The Bible abruptly halts the story right there. John was not about telling a story. He was about providing convincing evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, sent by the Father to reveal His Father’s glory. What did the Jews think about that? Was this magnificent sign, the climax of the signs John had recorded to reveal the nature of the Father and convince his readers that Jesus was indeed God’s Son, perfectly reflecting Him in everything He did, enough to tip the scales?

We have to read on to the conclusion that unfolded in the next few days to discover the depth of wickedness in the hearts of Jesus’ opponents that drove them, not to believe but to plan their murderous end to the story!

The Jews

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THE JEWS

“When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there…

“When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him,’ He asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.

“Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?'” John 11:31;33-37 NIV.

Once again the Jews are in the mix! John has consistently called Jesus’ opponents “the Jews”. Are these ones here with Martha and Mary the same people — the ones who were planning to kill Him?

Is it possible that He was using this situation as His trump card against them? In His altercations with them He had insisted that they see His works as His calling card. ‘Who are you?’ they demanded, time and again. His response was always the same. ‘Look at my works and decide for yourself. Whom do I resemble?’ In their perversity they responded, ‘You look like the devil. Demon-possessed! You’re the son of Satan!’

‘Funny!’ He replied, ‘You are remarkably like your father, the devil! Your works look just like him — thief, liar, murderer!’ In spite of their protestations, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants; we are disciples of Moses; we are God’s sons,’ there was an unmistakable likeness to their real father and they hated Jesus for pointing it out.

Now they were in Bethany with the sisters, milling around, observing, even mourning a little with them. Give them their due; perhaps their grief over the death of Lazarus was genuine — or was it also part of their practised religion, sitting shiva with those who mourn?

How was Jesus ever to convince them that He was the Father’s Son, showing them what the Father was like by the works He did? Miracles didn’t do it — they assassinated His character because He broke THEIR rules by healing on the Sabbath. Perhaps raising a man to life who had been decaying in the tomb for four days might do it.

And what about the two bereaved sisters? It was time to take their faith to a new level, especially since He would soon be where Lazarus was, although they didn’t know it yet. What would happen to their confidence in Him when His battered body lay in the tomb and their shattered hopes with Him? Would they recall His words, ‘I AM the resurrection and the life?’ Would their memory of Lazarus keep their faith in Him alive?

Jesus knew exactly what He was doing! This miracle of all miracles would either convince the Jews or drive another nail into their coffin — and His! Did they really want to know who He was or were they looking for another excuse to kill Him? When He called Lazarus from the grave, it was His way of saying, ‘Take that, you Jews!’ and their response. ‘Kill Lazarus! Get him out the way! He’s the reason for all this!’

And Martha and Mary? Time would tell whether this event would forever cement their trust in Him and  bind them to Him in adoring love forever. And Lazarus? What would this experience do for him? After all, he was the one who had crossed the great divide and come back again? We never hear the story from his lips, but we have hints in John’s record that help us make up a story that could well fit the evidence.

How true it is that God always had a reason and a plan for everything He does. Life is lived forward and understood backwards. Our hearts break for the sisters in their grief and disappointed hopes and celebrate with them in their joy when they received their brother back alive. We suffer in our own anguish and pain but, when we trust Him, somehow we receive back in abundance more than we ever lost — and the ecstasy of knowing, after all, that He knew what He was doing!

The Martha and Mary Way

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THE MARTHA AND MARY WAY

“After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside, ‘The Teacher is here,’ she said, ‘and is asking for you.’

“When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him…

“…When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ He asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.” John 11:28-30; 32-35 NIV.

Martha…Mary…two sisters, but two completely different personalities. Martha was the practical one. She loved and served and worshipped with her mind and with her hands. Her joy was to prepare the tastiest meal she could for her Lord and His disciples. She wanted Mary to be like her. She had to learn that she could not force Mary into her mould. Her way of worshipping Jesus was acceptable for her but nor for Mary.

Jesus met her where she was, questioning, reasoning, trying to understand. He spoke to her; He reassured her; He gave her one of the most profound promises in all of Scripture to cling to…’I AM the resurrection and the life.’ Her mind wrestled with His words. In a short while she would understand; her doubts and questions would be laid to rest and she would worship Him again, with greater confidence and freedom because He would show her, once again who He really was. Her worship was expressed in thoughts of her mind and the loving service of her hands.

Mary was the quiet one, content to sit at His feet and listen, to drink in His presence, if not the meaning of every word. Mary worshipped with her heart; she expressed her worship with her emotions. She would not speak — she would weep.  She would wash His feet with her tears and anoint Him with her costliest treasure. She would be there, taking the lowliest place just to be near Him.

When He did not come — and their brother slipped away from them into a place where they could not reach him — they felt their grief in their own unique way. Their rebuke may have been the same but their words were the expression of who they really were inside.

Mary’s tears were her words. She poured out her disillusionment, her disappointment, her distress, her doubts and her brokenness in a torrent of salty anguish — and Jesus heard her heart. He understood and He wept with her; not tears of distress over the death of her brother, or tears of anger over what sin had done, but simply tears of understanding mingling with her tears — speaking to her, ‘Mary, I feel your pain,’ in wet wordlessness.

How precious is the reassurance that Jesus will meet us where we are! Some are Martha-people, expressing our worship in the activity of our minds and the work of our hands. We feel the closest to Him and understand His heart the best when we are doing something to give away His love to someone who has less, is less than we are. He is there when we wipe the tears of one who sorrows. He is there when we fill a growling belly or cover a shivering body with a blanket. We love and serve with His hands.

Some are Mary-people, content to sit at His feet, to love and be loved by being with Him, by revelling in His presence in the beauty of a sunset or the sound of rushing water. Like the lost sheep whom the shepherd carried home on his shoulder, we rest in the joy of being found, content to know that we are loved and cherished enough for the shepherd to give His life for us. We worship with our hearts, with our emotions and our tears.

No matter whether you are a Martha or a Mary, He knows who you are and where you are and meets you there. The question is: Are you ready to let Him meet you and listen to your heart?