Daily Devotions
John
Mixed responses
Text: John 11 : 45 - 57
MIXED RESPONSES
A dead person resurrected from the dead! Who could believe such a thing could happen? Yet it did! You would imagine that all present would have come to faith in Jesus? John recorded mixed responses from the crowd. The first and very welcome response was that of faith in Jesus.
“Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary,
and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.”
John 11:45
Yes, “many of the Jews” believed! How could they have denied what they had just seen? They had not believed in Jesus. But if they were honest with themselves, the works of Jesus compelled them to rethink their theological prejudices against Jesus.
Nicodemus, one of the more prominent Pharisees had sought Jesus out one night and he said,
“Rabbi, we know that You are a Teacher come from God;
for no one can do these signs that You do unless
God is with him.”
John 3:2
That famed teacher of Israel was right! Now, even more of the fair-minded Jews yielded to the proof that Jesus presented to them! Their hearts and minds were convicted. They believed in Jesus! This sign-miracle of Jesus must compel faith in Jesus the Christ!
There was another group of people who could not bring themselves to believe what they saw! How they could have denied what their eyes saw was beyond imagination! John noted the second response from among the Jews.
“But some of them went away to the Pharisees
and told them the things Jesus did.”
John 11:46
It is obvious that John recorded both responses as a contrast for the careful reader to observe. Compelled by unbelief, and now made worse by confusion, some of the Jews returned to their superiors to report what they had just witnessed! Their response was one of contradiction to all that their senses indicated! Their reaction was one of obvious rejection of Jesus!
A COUNCIL OF WAR
Those who had hated and rejected Jesus were now even more determined to plot His death. John noted this hatred and traced it in the writing of his Gospel. Let’s take time to review what John had written about the plots of the Jews. Let us also note the reasons why the Jews felt that they had to do away with Jesus. They allowed their imagination to run wild and then blindly followed their contrived evil inclination.
Two primary issues bothered the Jews. They felt that Jesus deserved death because of these two unresolved issues.
1. The Sabbath Issue
The Sabbath was sacred to the Jews. They felt that anyone who broke the Sabbath couldn’t be sent from God! He was a lawbreaker!
The real issue was never the Sabbath doctrine. What Jesus resisted was the way in which the Jews interpreted and practised their understanding of the doctrine of the Sabbath. The Jews were wrong! Jesus did not break the Sabbath Law at all! John noted carefully how the Jews felt when they plotted to kill Jesus.
“For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus,
and sought to kill Him, because He had done
these things on the Sabbath.”
John 5:16
2. The Divinity Issue
Jesus always carefully distinguished His Father from Himself. He loved and honoured His Father at all times!
However, He also laid claim to the fact that He shared the same divine essence as His Father. He was in fact teaching that He was Deity too! The reaction of the Jews to this declaration of Jesus was most predictable.
“Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him,
because He not only broke the Sabbath,
but also said that God was His Father,
making Himself equal with God”
John 5:18
To the Jews, Jesus had blasphemed and thus must be put away.
“The Jews answered Him, saying,
‘For a good work we do not stone You,
but for blasphemy, and because You,
being a man, make Yourself God.'”
John 10:33
THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN!
The Jews had tried every means possible to curb the ministry of Jesus. They sent people to interrogate Him and if possible embarrass Him theologically. They tried to use the law to arrest Him. They tried mob violence too. On at least two occasions they almost succeeded in stoning Him.
The Jews were perplexed. Nothing they tried had worked! Meanwhile, the popularity of Jesus kept growing. His miracles were impossible to explain away! The Jews were beside themselves as they held a council of war to discuss how they could do away with Jesus. They had met to discuss this problem before. Now, they were even more determined to kill Jesus. Even the high priest was involved in the plot to kill Jesus!