John 11:44, “The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
When they unwrapped Lazarus’ hands, feet and head; when they finally “let him go,” little did anyone know the firestorm that would be unleashed.
First, a firestorm of faith was unleashed. In John 11:45 it says, “Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed him.” In John 12:9 a large crowd comes to see Jesus. “. . .They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.” You might remember how the crowd waved palm branches, as they welcomed Jesus as King, on Palm Sunday. John 12:17 tells us the crowd “had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead” and they “continued to testify.” In John 12:19, the Pharisees were flabbergasted, they lament, “. . . Look, the world has gone after him!” In John 12:21 even some Greeks come to Philip at Bethsaida to make a special request, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
This past week I watched a documentary on Hulu called “The Jesus Music.” It documents the rise of the billion-dollar Christian Music Industry. It began with a handful of disillusioned hippies, turning to Jesus in their bare feet and blue jeans, and it has just exploded ever since. What a spectacle it must have been for the Chief Priests and Pharisees to see all these “Jesus Freaks” shouting in the streets.
Second, a firestorm of hatred was unleashed. John 11:46, while some were running to Jesus, others “went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.” In John 12:47-48, all of Jesus enemies (The Chief Priests, Pharisees, Sanhedrin) convene to ask one question, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take way both our place and our nation.” The authorities were less concerned about the facts. They worried about losing their political power, and their Jewish nation losing its “privileged place” to Rome.
During their meeting it is the High Priest Caiaphas who makes a prophetic declaration that perhaps it’s to their advantage that Jesus should die (for the whole nation), rather than the whole nation perish because of Jesus (see John 11:49). From this point on they resolve that the best course of action is to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus! They give orders that anyone who saw these men should report them. So as Passover approached, in John 11:57, the gossip was, “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival will he?”
Third, a firestorm of hope was unleashed. For a while, Jesus withdraws with his disciples to a small village of Ephraim. But then (of all places) Jesus returns to Bethany to visit with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus! Did Jesus have some sort of suicidal death wish? John 12:2-3 tells us, “. . . Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” When Judas criticizes Martha for wasting the valuable perfume (instead of selling it and giving to the poor) Jesus says, in John 12:7-8, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Make no mistake about it. This was a very disturbing and perplexing development. What did Jesus mean by “day of burial?” What did he mean, “you will not always have me?” In John 12:23-24 Jesus uses a disturbing metaphor. “The hour has come for the Son of the Man to be glorified. Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
We are well acquainted with this metaphor! Every fall, the plants of the field casts their fruit to the ground. Whether its wheat, corn, an oak tree, or apple tree. The fruit falls to the ground and dies, but then it multiplies new life. Jesus is about to die and be buried. He’s about to be cast to the ground. Yet by his death, life will be multiplied! Though he die, yet shall he live. In John 10 he taught the disciples clearly. The good shepherd is good because he lays his life down of his own accord. But the good shepherd will do this great thing—he has the authority to take his own life up again. And more than that, the Son of Man has authority to grant eternal life to whosoever believes in Him!
So here is the metaphor! When Jesus dies and is cast to the ground, he will have appeared to have died. But no, Jesus will be the first fruit of many who will rise to new life. John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus, are you saying death is no longer our destiny? Lest Jesus mince any words…. John 12:25-28a, “The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
When I was reading this, I thought that so much of preaching today consists of “saving me from. . . something.” Lord, come quickly, save me from this hour of trouble. But for Jesus it was more like “Save me through. . . this death, this cross, this burial, this time of being cast down.” John 12:28-36, “28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for me, but for you. 31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.”
“34 Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.” Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.”
John 12:44-50, “Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. 45 And the one who sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said. 50 I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Back to that Hulu documentary, The Jesus Music. It’s amazing to contemplate the power of music to move millions of people. If music has that much power, how much more the very words Jesus has spoken? This Easter would you do this one thing? Like those Greeks, maybe for the first time in your life, would you come and simply say, “We want to see Jesus?” Would you look upon God’s One and Only Son Jesus Christ. . . this one sent from the Father, sent to not only die and take away the sin of the world… but sent to rise and bring hope of eternal life. . . would you look upon him and believe? Will you truly trust him who declared and demonstrated, “I am the resurrection and the life”?
Coming to truly see and know Jesus can set off a firestorm in our lives. Are you trusting he who declared and demonstrated, “I am the resurrection and the life”?