Running scared.  John 12.1-11

Click to read: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012:1-11&version=NLT&interface=print

Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus. v.10-11

People often resort to evil when they are running scared.  There is a lot at stake for the first century Jewish leaders—Jesus threatens their entire way of life.  At the time, the two main Jewish sects were the Pharisees and Sadducees, and there were the Essenes and the Zealots.  But with Lazarus being raised from the dead, it is the Sadducees who are most ‘up in arms’ at this point in Jesus’ ministry.  They were the wealthy ruling class, who worked closely with the Roman authorities, and Jesus threatened their very beneficial relationship. 

The Sadducees did not believe in life after death or the resurrection of the dead; but, wait--Lazarus had just been resurrected!  Jesus was pulling the rug right out from the underpinnings of everything they taught!  Their power, their influence, their control of the people was ebbing away.  Quick … what to do!  Get rid of the recent evidence—get rid of the new and improved, resurrected Lazarus!  Getting rid of him will at least stop the latest Jesus craze, they thought.

We have seen it before—when David sinned with the all-too-married Bathsheba, he had to get rid of the threat of being found out—so he ordered Bathsheba’s husband into a military position where he would be killed.  David sinned again to cover the first sin in order to maintain his position. 

And now the Jewish authorities are willing to do ‘whatever it takes’ to maintain their positions of power, even it involves murder, by destroying the evidence.

When I sin, I must search my own heart and bare it to God to cleanse, rather than seeking to cover my evil by doing ‘whatever it takes’.  And like David eventually came to say, I must echo—“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;?according to your abundant mercy,?blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,?and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51.1-2)

And then, the evil-driven fear can be washed away, and innocence restored.  Only God can do that, Friend.  “Create in me a clean heart, O God,?and renew a right spirit within me.”  Oh yes, restore to me the joy of my salvation!

Christine