Posts
Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:
"Hosanna!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
The King of Israel!"
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
"Fear not,
daughter of Zion;
Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey's colt."
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!"
- John 12:9-19
On Saturday, we read the second half of the account of the raising of Lazarus: After Martha had spoken to Jesus (see the first part of this story, in Friday's reading), she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you." As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there." Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. "The Jews" here refers to people among the families of Jews in Jerusalem, those who are influential among the leadership in the temple and form an essential base for their leadership. "There" is at Bethany; Jesus is at the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and the event skipped over in the lectionary by today's reading is reported in John 12:1-8, in which Mary anoints Jesus with fragrant oil. Judas seeks to rebuke her, and is in turn rebuked by Jesus.
The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! The King of Israel!" This is Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, a day commemorated as Palm Sunday. Jesus approaches from Bethany, from the East, as is appropriate to the Messiah. The people are quoting from Psalm 118:25-26. Hosanna means "Save, O Lord." These verses were repeated daily for six days during the Feast of Tabernacles, and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved. So, we can see that this entire scene is one of Messianic expectation, the Feast of Tabernacles being the feast of the coming Kingdom. We can understand the hope in this multitude.
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt." This is a quotation from the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. John's Gospel gives us a reminder that "enlightenment" is something that happens through a process of time, and of grace; it's after Jesus is glorified that the disciples understand the significance of things that have happened in this ministry and in the life of Jesus with them. The coming of the Spirit would change everything for them. It's similar to the episode of the cleansing of the temple in John's Gospel, which occurs in John in the beginning of Jesus' ministry, when the disciples were to recall later, "Zeal for your house has eaten Me up."
Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!" The raising of Lazarus has been a final capstone to the signs in this Gospel, and it has also been a sign of such significance that it sets a seal on Jesus' fate with the Pharisees. That "the world has gone after Him" in their eyes is their great defeat; all they can think about is putting an end to Him.
How is it that at Jesus' seemingly greatest hour of triumph -- this Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem -- there are the seeds of suffering and death, His Passion? Ultimately, we have to take the whole of the Passion as part of that which is allowed by the Father, for purposes beyond what we can immediately see in this scene. Jesus' death and suffering may serve many purposes that are mystery to me, but it is clear that His death for His sheep is an act of tremendous love and the greatest sacrifice for love. This we know in a number of ways. There is first of all the great, oft-quoted statement in this Gospel: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17). We have Jesus' recent, very explicit statement about sacrifice, from the dialogue in which He spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." In that reading (follow the link) He spoke of the love between sheep and shepherd, that each knows the other and that the Shepherd knows each sheep and calls them by name, a kind of intimacy of understanding and love. The challenge here, it seems to me, is to understand that cross-purposes may at some point be fulfillment or used in God's purposes. That is, what the Father allows may somehow serve the good even if not meant or intended to do so by human beings. Surely the Pharisees and their envy cannot "serve good" in such immediate motives as theirs. They may delude themselves and believe fully they are serving the good. We can think of plenty of examples in which selfish motivation is masked in concern for "the good." I don't think John's Gospel would have us believe in any sense that the motivation of those Pharisees who wish to have Jesus killed is "good." And we are also given examples of those among the Pharisees who are believers in Christ, such as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. But when the Pharisees state among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!" it's a clear statement of exasperation, and of an aim directly opposed to Jesus as a person, regardless of the value of His teachings. The motivation here is envy, which Matthew and Mark teach us is understood by Pilate, himself a man in a position to understand such things. And so, we have to think about envy here, and how it plays out when the crowds welcome Christ into Jerusalem. For Jesus, there is no rivalry; all are invited into His saving truth. For those who envy Him in the leadership, there is only competition. Here, the word for envy (Gr. φθόνος) implies a competitive spirit in which there is only the desire to drag down someone who has succeeded, but not to bring oneself up to that level. It is a materialistic perspective, that only sees through competitive eyes that rank, rather than a desire to do good or do well. It is, on the contrary, a desire to tear down, a form of personal corruption. It is a part of the world we live in, even an archetypal kind of sin in which the good may be attacked simply for being good. Jesus relies on the Father to lead this mission, and His "goodness" will not be stopped by death, nor by suffering. In Matthew's Gospel, He says when He is arrested, "Do you think I cannot pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53). It isn't only fulfillment of the Scriptures that is taking place, but rather God's plan and purpose have everything to do with love and salvation, even in coming up so directly against this form of evil in the world, pure envy. Let us consider what grace may be at work even in our darkest circumstances, when we may be slandered and put to the test, particularly out of envy. Jesus gives us the great example of love, of reliance on God the Father, of that which is always what is best for the sheep. He doesn't shrink from the truth, and the freedom to say what is what, no matter what force of evil wants to suppress even the joy of these people who welcome their great hope into Jerusalem. It's important that we meet any form of evil with a prayerful life, and that we understand that life isn't only what we see in front of us, but that there is more to understand. Justice and injustice encompass much more than we know; and is central to this endeavor to save. Later in on John's Gospel, Jesus will predict to the disciples that a time is coming when they will scatter, and leave Him alone. "Yet," He teaches, "I am not alone, for My Father is with Me" (John 16:32). May we all be blessed to know this love. In effect it has assured us that we have this King with us, each one of us, for all time.
