Both Faith and Deadly Irony Arise from the Raising of Lazarus

By Tim Trainor

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http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040420.cfm
Ezekiel 37:21-28
Psalm - Jeremiah 31
John 11:45-56

The Gospel today gives the last part of the long episode of the resurrection of Lazarus in Bethany, in the house of Martha and Mary (Jn 11:1-56). The resurrection of Lazarus is the seventh and last sign done by Jesus in John's Gospel which reveals His identity. It is also the pivotal miracle that starts a chain of events that leads to the Crucifixion of Jesus!

As a result of this miracle, we see a variety of responses. Many put faith in Jesus, but others inform the authorities. John doesn't make clear if their trip to the authorities is an innocent one or a betrayal of Jesus. To me, the crowd was well aware of the authorities' concerns over Jesus, so it is probably yet another but now ultimately a tragic betrayal of Jesus.

The report alarms the Pharisees, and so the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court in Jerusalem. It was under Roman oversight with both religious & political powers and comprised the elite (both priestly and lay) of society. Both Sadducees and Pharisees were part of the Sanhedrin. John implies that the chief priests played the dominant role. In John's Gospel, the chief priests and Pharisees are closely associated with Jerusalem. When John mentions opponents outside Jerusalem or its environs, it has been noted, he uses the term "the Jews".

Thus the Sanhedrin now calls its members together as the situation has reached a crisis as they see Jesus' popularity wildly rising and too many believing in Him. They perceive Him as being a threat to the nation, as, His followers could look like a popular uprising that would cause the occupying Romans to clamp down further and take away both 'our' holy place and 'our' nation report these Jews from Bethany to the Assembly. The position of the word 'our' is emphatic. While they seem concerned for the nation, John says they are concerned about their self-interests, as are the temple hirelings Jesus condemned earlier.

The irony is that they do destroy the temple of Jesus' body, but this does not prevent the Romans from later destroying their temple & their nation, nor does it prevent increasing numbers of people from believing in Jesus. Their plotting thus ends up preventing none of the things they fear, even though they succeed in getting Jesus killed. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the story.

Caiaphas, the high priest, speaks up: ... "it is better 'for you' that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation perish." Here again, the self-interest is evident (note the 'for you'). This is a very significant statement for John, as is evident by his dwelling on it. Unknown to Caiaphas, he had prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. He is thinking of Jesus' death as a way to avoid the destruction of the nation by Rome (as he did the math in a cold and sinister way) but John sees the divine intent that Jesus died for their sins in place of the nation. Here is the clearest expression in this Gospel of Jesus' death as dealing with sin. Here John, through Caiaphas's un-known but empowered by God's prophecy, clearly affirms the cross as atonement but in a loving one-for-many ironic type of salvation resulting transaction!

Caiaphas is only thinking of the Jewish nation, but John sees the significance of Jesus' death extending to all of humanity. The 'bringing together of the scattered children of God and make them one' portion of the prophecy speaks to this. This is not a new idea. It is a hope found over and over again in the Old Testament. But now this gathering will take place in a most unusual way — through the death of the Messiah! "Who would have thunk it?"

Jesus' work as the Good Shepherd is accomplished through His death, as He will emphasize shortly. So even in this passage, which touches on the atoning significance of his death, other aspects are developed: The oneness with God that the atonement accomplishes is added to and made complete by the oneness of the people of God drawn from the whole of the human race, not just the Jews. They are all here being referred to as 'children of God' since each one who enters Christ's community has been given to Him by the Father.

Don't miss the fact that by giving life to Lazarus, Jesus sealed his own fate. Also, we see an even greater irony that through his death comes life for the world.

Jesus knows of this increased danger, perhaps through an informant or just common sense. He goes back into seclusion once again, this time to Ephraim, northeast of Jerusalem. His movement in and out of seclusion shows Him working around the intentions of his enemies as He works out the intentions of his Father. There is a similar pattern in his work in the lives of His followers today. He moves in and out of seclusion in our lives, not because His life is threatened but as part of his love for us, to wean us from false attachments, even false views we may have of God Himself.

Today we have set the stage for Palm Sunday. We know what will happen in the days following it as we have experienced Holy Week multiple times in our life. Yet, even though we know how the drama unfolds, it still is very gripping, compelling and painful. Yes, the resurrection will come but the prelude to it is horrific! I think of the contents of the movie "Passion of The Christ."

In the coming days of our virus mandated isolated lifestyle we have a choice:

To mostly spend the time centered on ourselves, buying toilet paper, binge-watching TV and lamenting the travel restriction while largely ignoring the Man who by His death gave us the promise of eternal life; or,

To take advantage of the quiet and do Easter related family things plus walk with Jesus through His Passion, reflecting on the price He freely paid to achieve an eternal and loving relationship with each and one of us.