Living Stones – Thursday, December 14, 2017

Collision course

John 11:47, 48

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

Most of us reading this devotional are living in Guyana, the United States of America, Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica, a few regular readers live in two countries in Africa. All of us live in countries where, today, we have a lot of freedom to practice our faith in conditions of security. As a matter of fact, in some, if not all, of the countries listed, we have come to expect that the security apparatus, both the legislative as well as the executive, will take actions to protect us if and when necessary. We expect protection from the hostility of nefarious and criminal elements, and in some places, Christians have even come to expect protection from other religious groups.

In the relative security in which we live and operate we have lost sight of the real life and death dangers that Christians face in other parts of the world, but also, our relative security has also worked to blind us to the real and present danger we face, not for our lives necessarily at this time, but ultimately our worldview is under threat and we would have to face a more dangerous and hostile world in the very near future. Many things are going to change fundamentally.

Many are afraid of contemplating a world where our views about life, and liberty, and family, and sexuality, and gender, and rights, face a hostile headwind. We quickly forget that our faith, the Church, was birthed in a hostile religious, social, and political context and survived the most turbulent and frightening circumstances. And this is not some farfetched ancient history, this is also as recent historically as the communist era and contemporaneously in the rise of ‘Islamic States.’

If we read the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead again we would get a clear picture of a tense and dangerous environment where Jesus was being cautious about the timing of the inevitable confrontation with the religious and political authorities and the consequent social upheaval.

We have already seen that Jesus’ life was in danger, there was an attempt to stone Him the last time that He was in Bethany and His disciples were unsettled by it, “The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”” John 11:8. And although He came to die, we know that the timing was very important, “Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”” John 2:4.

When Jesus finally set off for Bethany, with Lazarus rotting in a tomb, He stayed outside of the town itself because He knew that, given its proximity to Jerusalem, the Jews were going to be there in their numbers, and among them were going to be the informants ready to report on His presence and activities. John is very clear in His reporting of the situation, “Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.” John 11:30. He also reported that, among the Jews who were present, “… some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.: John 11:46.

It is amazing how, in the face of the miraculous signs that Jesus was performing, both the religious leaders and rank and file Jews could be so distracted by the other surrounding issues. When we looked at the healing of the man born blind it was evident all over. The people who had sight all along were asking the man who was blind all along if he was indeed he. He never saw them before, they were seeing him all the time and yet they were the one who seemingly could not believe their eyes. And the leaders, rather than call the man up at testimony time, interrogate him about the doctrine of the Sabbath and throw him out of the ‘church.’

Now Lazarus is raised from the dead, he was clearly from a prominent family because, “… many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.” John 11:19. They had made the two-mile journey from nearby Jerusalem.

As Lazarus walked away from his grave clothes and that stone cold tomb, the situation for Jesus heated up and became more dangerous than the recent stoning attempt. John reports that “…. the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.””

A man was raised from the dead, the unprecedented had taken place, but to those with power, maintaining their power, securing the political arrangements, and guaranteeing the preferred social order were more important than whatever God was doing. God’s agenda was on a collision course with that of the men with power. The situation won’t change even if, for a while, we seem to have enjoyed relative security and stability. It didn’t change for Jesus.

Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples. John 11:53-54.

Think on these things:

1. What are the issues of our time that could bring the church into “fresh” conflict with national and global leaders in the near future?
2. Many Christian leaders of the church today crave endorsements from politicians, how far should the church go in involving political leaders in the activities of the church?
3. There are Christians who are involved in politics, many make significant contributions the development of our societies, how do you see their role as the inevitable collisions take place in the coming years?

Prayer focus:

Let us pray today that we would be more conscious of the social, cultural, and political changes taking place and support those on the frontlines of the battle for the souls of men.

In His Grace

Pastor Alex