John 12:9-11, Conspiracy & Cover-up

“Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests had decided to kill Lazarus also, because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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When we don’t get our way, we can quickly move to desperate ideas.  That is how weak we can be…

Lord help me to trust you, even when everything seems like it is shifting out of my favor or when the evidence is not going my way.  Your ways are good and You can overcome even the most damning evidence…just like our salvation!  You made a way when it was beyond impossible for me to help myself!!!

John 12:1-7, Worship Arrested

 “Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray him), said, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?””

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Mary worships Jesus by washing His feet and anointing them with perfume…it was kind of an odd thing to do.  But it was her act of worship!  Judas however, sees only the practical and is irritated.  He uses some excuse to make his irritation sound more socially acceptable by sounding like he actually cared for the poor.  But the reality is that he wasn’t getting what he wanted, and he had to let everyone know his perspective…because his ideas were so correct.

Lord, I have that same pride in me…confident of why my ideas are so right that it is obvious everyone should agree with me…yet I’m oblivious to what other people are doing or saying.  Help me to see my prideful heart motivations and control my words to enable others to worship You!

John 11:45-57, Selfish Manipulation

 “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” “You’re not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.” So from that day on they plotted to kill him.”

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭48‬, ‭50‬, ‭53‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Fear of losing power and freedom was driving the Pharisees to plot to kill Jesus.  They had a good thing going and were worried that Jesus was going to mess it up.  It really is crazy how much they were willing to do to silence Him…because their own desires would be trampled…

That hits close to home…how many times have I tried to manipulate a situation to get the outcome I wanted?  In what ways do I still try to force a result that makes things better for me?  

Lord, help me to see the greater perspective of Your plan.  I know that Your ways ultimately result in the best thing for me.  I know you are trustworthy, because You have always been so.  You have been so good to me!  Thank You for loving me!  Help me to trust You at every turn!!!

John 11:38-44, IF you Believe

“Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.””

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭38‬, ‭40‬, ‭43‬-‭44‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Lord, I want to see Gods glory…give me eyes to see the work You are doing.  I know You are actively working all around me, and I believe that You are actively doing the impossible…but I am often blind to it.

John 11:28-37, Believing Goodness

“As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” 

When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. Jesus wept.”

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭32‬-‭33‬, ‭35‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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It is surprising to me that Jesus weeps for the sorrow they have over Lazarus’s death.  If I were Jesus, I would be so excited to raise him back to life that I would be hyping the crowd and telling them that they didn’t have to be sad.  I would be waving away the real grief they were experiencing…clearly, not the right way to handle it.

We don’t know exactly what Jesus was thinking here, but we do see His compassion.  We see His empathy.  We see His humanity.  And we see the heart of God on display!

Even though God knows the next part of our stories, where everything wrong is fixed, He still grieves with us in our suffering.  He knows our pain, sadness, fear and anxieties!  And He wants us to trust Him like Mary and Martha who just knew that Jesus could have fixed everything.  Or maybe better yet, knew that He was already making things better, even through the pain…

John 11:17-27, Strategic Orchestration

Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 

“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭21‬, ‭25‬-‭27‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Why is it that Gods plans are often so different than mine?  I am an excellent planner, decision maker and all around strategist…well, I think I am anyway!  Yet most often God has a better plan.

The good news is that Gods plans are always better!  I may have strategized to avoid one small pain point, Yet Christ is working a master plan that will transform me and bring glory to God.  He is playing 4D chess compared to my tic-tac-toe…why don’t I just trust Him completely?

Lord, give me faith to trust that You are working, strategically planning and even manipulating the world around me for my good and Your glory!  Give me eyes to see Your fingerprints and patience to wait for You!

John 11:1-16, Gods Plan!?!

So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 

When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 

So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭3‬-‭6‬, ‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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This narrative shows that Gods ways are not our ways!  His plans are always deeper and more profitable than my small mind can comprehend.  I would have wanted Jesus to heal my brother before he died…that would have avoided so much pain and sadness.  That is what I want after all…minimum pain, minimum sadness, minimum suffering.  When those things are increased, I am tempted to feel like God isn’t there, or at least He is not helping.

Yet this passage tells us that sometimes God allows things we would never choose because He LOVES us!  He knows our hearts need to see the impossible so that we can trust Him even more.

Lord, admittedly, I don’t like this strategy…help me to trust Your plan, because I know You ALWAYS do what is BEST for me.