SCRIPTURE So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. John 12:10-11
THOUGHT Jesus made the religious authorities uncomfortable, just like he does us sometimes – afflicting the comfortable, comforting the afflicted. Satisfied that we have a handle on the truth, we stop discerning and begin protecting systems that protect us. When Jesus bursts on the scene, these leaders have a choice to either believe him, or rail against everything he says and does so they don’t need to change. They choose the comfort of privilege and power over truth. Even those authorities who believe, do so in secret because they love the glory that comes from man (Jn. 12:42-43).
“While Lent is the journey into the most significant event of human history, the three great days [Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Saturday night Great Paschal Vigil] are a life-changing experience of God’s saving work in history. For Christians there is no time throughout the entire Christian year that is more crucial than the three great days. These are days to be set aside to enter into a worship that is the source of our entire spirituality, a moment in time that defines all time for Christians, a moment in time that is the very sum and substance of our spirituality for every season, every week, every Sunday, and every moment of every day. . . . It is imperative for the church to go beyond its present practice to recover the fullness of the three great days and to impress upon us all how important these days are, not only as historical events to be remembered but as events to be lived in our own dying to sin and rising to the new life of the Spirit. For herein lies the source and energy of our spiritual lives.“
Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year
Miracle after miracle, Jesus shows them truth, calling to their hardened hearts. In defiant and almost comical irony, the chief priests decide to murder a man who has already been dead once and resurrected, rather than believe the evidence before them. You can’t make this stuff up! And so they plot to kill Lazarus and Jesus both, because crowds are following them, believing. You can almost hear the disgust and desperation in their voices as they discuss Jesus, “Look, the world has gone after him (Jn 12:19).”
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis observed, “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth….”
It might be more comfortable to kill the evidence than reveal you’ve been wrong, but then there’s Jesus, who just won’t stay dead.
SONG Can’t Shake Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK6j7NccJJE
PRAYER Resurrected Lord, deliver us from pride, forgive us for seeking comfort over truth.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
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