Scripture: John 12:9-11 (ESV)
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. 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.
In the mid-19th century, a Hungarian physician named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis noticed something odd. He was working in Vienna’s General Hospital, and he noticed that the mortality rate among women giving birth in the clinic attended by doctors was significantly higher than women giving birth surrounded by midwives. Semmelweis wanted to understand what could be causing the increased death rates and so set about to study the two different clinics and in the end he concluded that the doctors and their students often moved directly from performing autopsies to assisting in childbirth. The problem was that they didn’t wash their hands in between. We now know that the doctors were inadvertently bringing bacteria into the maternity wards. Semmelweis suggested that the doctors should wash their hands in chlorine solution before helping the labouring mothers, and when the doctors did, the mortality rate dropped by over 80%. Unfortunately, Semmelweis was ultimately rejected by the medical establishment because the idea that doctors themselves might be responsible for spreading disease was just too offensive. After all, doctors become doctors to help people, not hurt them. How much easier it is to remove the person speaking the truth, than to deal with the truth.
That heart reaction the people in Jesus’ day too. Lazarus had clearly died. He had been dead and buried for a number of days. Everyone knew it, everyone saw it, and yet here he was walking and talking. The proof that Jesus could raise people from the dead was right there for everyone to see. Many people accepted the proof and began to believe in Jesus and we saw that this meant that the Pharisees started plotting to kill Jesus. But now we see that they also wanted to get rid of the proof of Jesus’ power. They plotted to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus as well. How much easier it is to remove the person speaking the truth, than to deal with the truth.
Now what does this have to do with us? Well I think this leaves us with two key applications.
The first way this applies to us is we need to recognise that our hearts are really not all that different from those of the Pharisees. They would rather silence the truth than deal with it. We can be the same. Every time the Bible says something, we don’t already agree with, we can be tempted to silence Scripture. To ignore a specific passage, or to stay home from church the week that passage is preached on. It is much easier for us to silence the truth than to deal with it. But when we do that, we are actually not all that different from the murderous Pharisees in our passage. We should be aware of that.
The second way this applies to us is to prepare us for when the world at large wants to silence us. If you have been a Christian for some time, you will likely have tried to share the good news about Jesus with someone. Maybe this was a bad experience because the people tried to silence you, telling you to keep your religion to yourself. Perhaps you have been told that if you bring Jesus up with a friend again, that they would no longer be your friend. Perhaps you have actually lost friends over this. This passage prepares us for that. It is much easier to silence the person speaking the truth, than to deal with the truth. But don’t lose heart. They wanted to do it to Lazarus but they did do it to Jesus. You are in good company.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, please give me boldness to speak about Jesus. Please give me the right words to say. Please give me comfort when others reject me. Help me keep my eyes on Jesus. Amen.
Spiritual Challenge:
Think of those who have been previously closed off to the good news of Jesus. Could you contact them and let them know you are praying for them?
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