John 11:45-48 45Then many of the Jews, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together the Sanhedrin and said, “What do we do because this man does many signs. 48If we allow him in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
The next passage fits in between events in the Synoptic Gospels and is assumed in Mark 14:1. The Jewish leaders got wind of the great miracle of Lazarus’ rising from the dead and plotted how to get rid of Jesus. There were two different responses to Lazarus’ resurrection. These responses are typical throughout John and have been echoed throughout history.
On the one hand, many of those mourning with Mary in the house saw and believed. The verbs had seen and believed set the pattern for discipleship and the path to eternal life. John purposefully recorded signs like this one in his Gospel so that readers would believe in Jesus (20:30-31). The “seeing” that those during Jesus’ ministry experienced is replaced by the reading and imagination of the reader. We can picture in our minds all the events John records. We are then invited to accept his testimony as accurate and the truth. This seeing gives the reader the choice of what to do with Jesus. Will we believe the truth or not?
Other witnesses chose the other path. John does not give their motive. It could have theoretically been to give a testimony to the Pharisees and help them come to believe, but more likely, they were tattle-tells who stirred up trouble because there is no reference to this second group believing. Those who told the Pharisees represent the position of many Jewish leaders who refused to accept Jesus’ claims. It is also unclear why they went to the Pharisees, who had been the problem and in conflict with Jesus in John’s account since chapter 1. The situation had gotten so bad by this point that the ruling council of Jews got together. This would be equivalent to Congress or Parliament getting together. The situation with Jesus had gotten to be such a big deal that the leaders of the Jewish nation gathered to discuss what to do and how to get rid of him.
The rhetorical question at the end of verse 47 indicates the Jewish leaders’ frustration and that they had reached the end of their patience. Verses 48 reveals the reason they did not believe and hints at why people do not believe today. They were afraid of losing their position of power and influence and thought Jesus would create a revolution, causing the Romans to crush the Jewish nation. Their motive was all about self-preservation. They liked their influence over the people. It is not wrong to take one’s position seriously and have a strong sense of responsibility, but these leaders went too far in their selfishness. History repeated itself with these leaders acting like ancient Israel during the period of the judges when the people did not trust God as their King. The Pharisees and Sanhedrin would not accept Jesus as their messianic King either. The decision people of all levels of society must make today is similar: will they accept the sovereignty of Jesus, trust in the claims of truth about him, and obey his teachings?
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