With this question
from Jesus, and His reference to belief and the glory of God, an observers thoughts
are returned to the beginning of the story of Lazarus. As Lazarus and his plight is introduced into
the Gospel narrative, Jesus says that “This sickness will not lead to death,
but to God’s glory” (11:4b). Once again, one must look past the immediate
circumstance of the Lazarus issue, hearing the story as a component of a wider
narrative (within a wider narrative) with a certain theological, sociological,
and religious objective, in order to truly understand that to which Jesus is
referring when He speaks about the Creator God’s glory. Without making
that effort, it would be tempting to think that the glory of the Creator God
will be demonstrated through the raising of Lazarus, but in reality, the
raising is only relational, and it serves only as a catalyst to that which will
truly reveal the glory of the covenant God of Israel.
The author reports
that Jesus casts His eyes heavenward (11:41), and, one would have to imagine, thinking
through what it was that is going to be accomplished through the events that
this Gospel portrays as being set in motion through this raising, Jesus offers
thankfulness for the power that will be put on display that will have the
result that the people “may believe that You sent Me” (11:42b). Having
done this, Jesus, with a loud voice, said, “Lazarus, come out!” (11:43b)
As should be expected from all that has been reported to this point in the
story of John, that is precisely what happened. Lazarus came out of the
tomb. What was the result? The author says that “Many of the people who
had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him” (11:45),
thus setting the stage for the previously mentioned glory of the Creator God
that was soon to be manifested.
John indicates that this
growth in the number of those that believed in Jesus caused a widespread
furor. Honestly, one can only imagine the response to reports about a
dead man being raised back to life. In what
is said to be a direct response to this occurrence and the furor that it
created, “The chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and
said… If we allow Him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in Him”
(11:47a, 48a). This statement thus continues the march towards uncovering
that to which Jesus was referring when He spoke of the glory of His God in
connection with Lazarus’ death and raising.
Continuing this same
story that began with the report of Lazarus’ sickness, some short period of
time later, when there was “six days before the Passover” (12:1a), the reader
learns that “Jesus came to Bethany” (12:1b). This place, of course, was inhabited
by those that had seen the great miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead. This would, undoubtedly, be a defining moment
for Bethany for all of its existence, so it is wholly unsurprising that the
author reports about “a large crowd of Judeans” that “learned that Jesus
was there, and so they came not only because of Him but also to see Lazarus
whom He had raised from the dead” (12:9).
Here one can note that Lazarus’ raising, as it was drawing people to
Jesus, and ultimately to His mission and way of ushering in the kingdom of
heaven on earth, was still being used as an instrument in the Creator God’s
hands for the purpose of His own glory.
Apparently the
“Lazarus event” was quite well known, so much so that “the chief priests
planned to kill Lazarus too, for on account of him many of the Jewish people
were going away and believing in Jesus” (12:10-11). This was a problem on
many levels. One of the reasons that it was a significant problem in the
eyes of the chief priests and Pharisees that the people were going away and
believing in Jesus, was that Jesus was seen as somebody that was not rigorously
keeping to the covenant markers (works of the law) that were so vitally
important to Israel’s national interests in that day.
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