150322 The Journey to the Cross (1)

John 12:1-11 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. ³ Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. ⁷ Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. ⁸ For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” ⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The Gospel of John is not a chronological account of the life of Jesus. So we cannot be sure how much time might have elapsed between the resurrection of Lazarus and the events recorded here. I am inclined to believe that several days, at least, had passed between the two events. After he had called Lazarus from the grave the opposition to Jesus became very great. Jesus knew that he must be in Jerusalem for the coming Passover. In the meantime, so as not to confuse the issue, Jesus withdrew toward the wilderness of Judea until it was time.

Before the events, recorded in John 12, Jesus had begun his journey to the cross on the east bank of the Jordan River near where John the Baptizer had been baptizing before he was taken and executed. While Jesus was in this secure area he received word that his friend Lazarus was sick. He told his disciples that this illness would not end in death but it would lead to the glory of God. Jesus waited until he knew in his heart that Lazarus was dead. Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” They did not want to make that trip because they knew that Jesus was in physical danger there.

Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus had died but he was going to go to him to wake him up. Thomas told the others that they should go with him so that they could die with him. Thomas was never very optimistic.

Jesus often went to Bethany. After all, it was only a couple of miles from Jerusalem and some of his friends lived there. He had come back from his stay in the wilderness to bring Lazarus back from the dead. He had waited until there was no doubt that Lazarus was dead. He had been in the tomb four days!

Martha was very quick to rebuke Jesus for not being there to heal Lazarus of his sickness. She had no idea that Jesus was about to do something way beyond a healing! Jesus was about to perform the ultimate healing.

Yet when Jesus came on the scene and approached the tomb he wept. I’ve often wondered about Jesus’ weeping since he was about to call Lazarus back to life. His tears were evidence to the people that were there that he loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha. He may have wept because he was going to call his friend back from heaven. He may have wept because of the unbelief of all those around him and he knew they would turn this into an opportunity to persecute him.

John tells us that Jesus was deeply moved when he came to the tomb. He then commanded that the stone be removed from the opening of the cave over the protests of Martha.

Jesus offered a prayer of thanks to the Father so that those who were standing around would know that it was God the Father that was doing the work that day. When Lazarus came out of the grave he was still wrapped in burial clothes.

Jesus commanded that they should unbind him and let him go. This is a picture of what should be done for every person that Jesus calls from death to life. When a person hears the call of Jesus to come to salvation they are bound up by grave clothes -- the habits and sins of the past. The church has, as one of its purposes, the responsibility of unbinding them. In other words we are to help them put aside the habits of the past and take on a new role as a part of the body of Christ.

When this happened many people believed in Jesus. The Pharisees could see that Jesus was gathering many followers and they believed that the Romans would destroy the nation if they didn’t stop Jesus. John tells us that from that day they made plans to put him to death. Since it was not yet time for him to face his accusers and be arrested he withdrew into the wilderness where he stayed with his disciples. Jesus knew that he was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He, himself, was the Passover lamb and he would have to arrive in Jerusalem at the right time. On his way to the cross…

Jesus came to Bethany. Turn with me to John 11:17-18. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,

We see from John’s earlier account that Bethany was the place where he had raised Lazarus from the dead. Since it was so close to Jerusalem, and was the home of his friends, Jesus had often been there. I suspect that Jesus’ friends lived in a humble house. They would’ve not had room to put on a dinner for Jesus to which they could invite many people.

The problem is simply solved, as Matthew and Mark tells us, Jesus came to Bethany to a very public dinner…

As a guest in the house of Simon the leper. Turn with me to Mark 14:3-9. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. ⁴ There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? ⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. ⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Mark, and Matthew, both give a slightly different account than John. Neither of them identify the woman who anointed Jesus as Mary. Both of them tell us that it was Simon the leper that hosted the dinner. It obviously was a large event. After all…

There were two guests of honor. Anytime a major dinner is put on there is a reason, such as an event, or a person, to be honored. By this time Jesus had become the center of many crowds of people. Everywhere he went crowds gathered and he was constantly being pressed by the crowds. So anyone that put on a public dinner in Jesus’ honor should be prepared to provide for the crowds that followed behind him. We can see in the Gospels that there was more than one time when Jesus was honored with a meal. That day at the home of Simon the leper one guest of honor was…

Jesus. Let’s look at two other times when Jesus was honored at a meal. Turn with me to Luke 11:37-38. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. ³⁸ The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. In this example the Pharisee was simply trying to find out what Jesus was all about. Most of the time, when the Pharisees appeared to be generous, they were simply trying to find a way to arrest him and get him off the scene. The other example shows us more clearly what this was all about. Turn with me to Luke 14:1. One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.

Anytime Pharisees appear to be nice you better watch your back! They were trying to find out what they could charge Jesus with.

There is no indication that Simon the leper was doing anything other than providing a large enough place to have a nice meal to honor Jesus and…

Lazarus. Obviously, the primary reason that Lazarus would be considered an important guest at a meal would have been what happened to him several days before. Turn with me to John 11:43-48. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” ⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ 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.”

Some have speculated that it was necessary for Jesus to actually say the name “Lazarus” when he said “come out”! Perhaps if Jesus had not been very clear as to who was being called from the grave his command to come forth might have affected all the dead in the area.

This had become a very newsworthy event. After all, calling people back from the grave was not a common experience. Earlier Jesus had stood by the casket of the young man in Nain, brought him back from death, and gave him to his mother. Also Jesus had gone into the funeral scene at the home of Jairus and called his daughter back to life. I don’t recall any other resurrections. But both these events would have happened within hours of the death.

With Lazarus’ death four days had passed making it a more complicated miracle. It is obvious to me that Lazarus would have been one of the special guests at the dinner that day. The crowds gathered round to see this man that Jesus had brought back to life. Each one of these resurrections I have mentioned returned the person to life only to have them face death at a later time.

Nonetheless the guest of honor list would’ve certainly included Lazarus along with Jesus. The meal itself would be…

Served by Martha and Mary. Jesus had seen the sisters at work previously. Turn with me to Luke 10:38-42. Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Even though they were in the home of Simon the leper Martha would’ve insisted on helping to serve the meal. And as we can see from the earlier event Martha would’ve also insisted that Mary help out. Jesus does not rebuke Martha for her stern work ethic. He does say that Mary’s desire to learn from him is “the good portion”. We need to remember that our work for the Lord is important, however, our learning from the Lord is the most important and can never be taken away from us. Jesus is well aware that he is coming to the cross. At least three times he has told his disciples and they did not understand. Along the way to the cross Jesus performed one of his greatest miracles in the resurrection of Lazarus. We need to recognize that Jesus is prepared to call the spiritually dead — the unsaved — to life. If you hear him call please respond! If you hear his voice that’s an indication that you are one of his sheep.

It must’ve been an amazing experience to sit in the room with Jesus and Lazarus as the honored guests. It is hard to imagine that of those who witnessed all of this there were some who were willing to turn Jesus in to the Pharisees and allow him to be crucified. In a few days Satan will enter into Judas Iscariot and he will sell the information needed by the religious leaders for Jesus to be put death. For someone to walk with Jesus for much of three years and then to betray him requires Satan’s participation. It is sad that Judas will allow himself to be so used.

For the next two weeks we will be following Jesus, using John’s account, from the wilderness to the cross. Next Sunday is traditionally called Palm Sunday. Today we have learned that Jesus was conscious of the plans of the Pharisees. He knew that the Father had approved his death on the cross. Now he has begun the course of events that will lead to his death. We have seen that there was a lot of excitement about Jesus. We’ve also seen that Lazarus was a target of the enemy. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world. He came into the world so that through him the world could be saved. Everyone who is willing may come to him and be delivered. Without him there is no hope of salvation. Everyone is born deserving death and hell and needs to repent of their sins and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior in order to receive eternal life and heaven. Have you surrendered your life to him? Today is the day of salvation we have no promise of tomorrow.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.