These revolutionary
movements that had been previously put down by the Romans had obviously been
localized uprisings, dealt with rather easily, without widespread impact for
the whole of the country. It seems clear at this point in John’s tale
that Jesus had gained country-wide support and popularity, at what appears to
be a level far beyond what had been realized by messianic claimants that had
come before Him.
Naturally, the
reports of miracle-working would have played a role in this, but perhaps had much
to do with Jesus’ inclusive practices, inviting all and sundry to join with Him
in His movement. Because of this, a response by Rome commensurate with
the breadth of the movement would have to be far more severe. Rather than
Jesus being dealt with locally, in the way that Rome had dealt with those had
come before, Rome’s inevitable response to this far more popular rival to
Caesar, as imagined by the current political leadership of the nation, would be
to “come and take away our sanctuary and our nation” (11:48b).
In addition to that,
the Romans were not unaware of the history of the peoples that they
ruled. Jesus, some seem to forget, was not the first man to ride into
Jerusalem on a donkey, with this riding accompanied by shouts of
“Hosanna.” Appealing to the sensibilities of the Jewish people, this would
have been taken to be a conscious re-enactment of Solomon’s crowning. Not
only was this a re-enactment of a previous coronation, this riding into Jerusalem
in such a manner was something that had also occurred again within the two
hundred years prior to Jesus, as a great Jewish military hero was feted in this
way (donkey and shouts of Hosanna).
It should be well
nigh impossible to believe that the Romans would have not have been aware of
this, and therefore, when coupled together with the larger-than-usual
population of Jerusalem due to Passover and the possibility of igniting the
passion for exodus and deliverance from oppressors that could easily be sparked
by Passover celebrations, they would probably have been on even higher alert
than usual.
The Johannine author adds
a parenthetical statement after writing about the king’s coming on a donkey’s
colt, attuning those that would hear or read his story to the previously
referenced (mentioned by Jesus) subject matter of God’s glory. He writes,
“His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, but
when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written
about Him and that these things had happened to Him” (12:16). Continuing
to connect Lazarus’ raising with the Creator God’s glory, though not in the way
that some are inclined to consider it, he would go on to write that “the crowd
who had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him
from the dead were continuing to testify about it” (12:17). So here the author writes of glory, while
quickly going to mention Lazarus.
Obviously, the
testimony of the witnesses to the Lazarus raising continued to produce an ever-growing
number of believers, enlarging the size of the crowd that “went out to meet
Him” (12:18b), welcoming the One they seemed to be coming to regard as their
Messiah King. Moving the observer closer to understanding where the
Creator God’s glory is to be found in all of these things, the Pharisees’
response to the entirety of this situation that had been greatly spurred on by
the situation with Lazarus, was “Look, the world has run off after Him!”
(12:19b)
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