John 11:45-57

To the end of John 11.

Which if you go to Black Church Bible, it's page 898.

!

Christ is risen.

The Lord, the giver of life who conquered death.

We sang of it, didn't we, this morning.

Come people of the risen King.

Who delight to sing his praise.

We've sung of the triumph.

Crown him with many crowns.

Songs of joy.

Songs of gladness.

Because Jesus Christ has triumphed over the grave.

But now we come to a passage where people are plotting his death.

And we feel a tension.

It's an ironic tension.

And the passage that we're going to look at is full of irony.

In fact, I think that is the way to understand it.

To see the irony.

It's the major transition point between the two halves of the Gospel of John.

It stitches them both together.

And it weaves a continuous tapestry.

It's often overlooked.

People often go just from the raising of Lazarus.

Straight into Mary being anointed.

Jesus being anointed by Mary in chapter 12.

But it's so important.

And what it does in the most interesting way.

Is it shows us the same Jesus that we've seen for the last 10 or 11 chapters.

Whose whole desire, do you remember, is to give life to the world.

Why did John write his Gospel?

John wrote his Gospel that you might believe in him and so that you might have life.

What word has come up in John's Gospel again and again and again in the first 12 chapters?

50 times the word life has been used.

He came to bring life.

He is the life.

In him was life.

But in the second half, he is the one who is going to be crucified and put in the grave.

And what our passage does for us in a beautiful way is it stitches together those two things that seem so incompatible.

It shows us the irony of the fact.

And what it does is it takes us into the depths of that irony.

And it teaches us mysterious and yet marvellous truths about the Gospel.

We'll see two ironies.

The first irony is this irony of personal resistance.

The second one is political realism.

But the first is personal resistance.

Now remember two weeks ago, Jesus called forth, didn't he?

Lazarus, come out.

And Lazarus, who has been in the grave for four days, comes out with his grave clothes hanging on him.

The unthinkable has happened.

Jesus has reached into death and pulled out.

He came out.

Jesus says, and bind him.

And in response to Jesus, there's always a mixture.

So look at the response, verse 45.

Many of the Jews, therefore, because of what has just happened,

they'd been with Mary, they saw what he did, and they believed in him.

But verse 46, some of them went to the Pharisees, the religious authorities,

and they told what Jesus had done.

There's a mixed response, isn't there, to Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave.

On the one hand, many believe, but on the other hand, you get others telling tales.

And the chief priests and the Pharisees, in verse 47, they gather together to discuss and to deliberate,

what do we do in response to Jesus?

If you skip down to verse 53, you get the verdict of the council.

So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death.

This group of people plan to put to death the man who has just conquered death.

They plan to put to death the one who says, I have come to give life to this world.

And he holds true to his word.

In verse 25 of this chapter, Jesus declared, I am the resurrection and the life.

And yet the religious authorities want to kill the life.

Why?

Verse 47 and 48, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said,

what are we to do?

For this man performs many signs.

Just notice again, they don't deny the evidence.

They don't deny the evidence.

They don't say, oh, the miracles could never have happened.

No, his opponents say, no, the miracles definitely happened.

And 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.

Now that might seem a little bit random to you.

But the Jewish people at this time were living under Roman occupation and authority.

A bit like Welsh people.

Live under the occupation and the authority of Westminster.

Bitterly oppressed.

And the Romans weren't too concerned about their affairs.

The parallel goes on, isn't it?

But as long as the Jewish leaders kept some of the law and order and nothing got too serious,

the Romans would leave them alone.

But if there were any signs of political upheaval, then the Romans would get involved.

And they would use violence and oppression if they needed to keep people in line.

If you look down at verse 55, but given more context, you'll see that it's Passover week.

And during the Passover, estimates range really that it's around 200,000 people end up in Jerusalem.

They'd flock from the countryside.

They'd come into the city of Jerusalem during Passover.

And they were celebrating.

They were celebrating, weren't they?

The whole of the Passover was about celebrating God's goodness in liberating his people from the oppression of Egypt.

Do you remember?

The reading of the law.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

And the Passover was all about that.

Celebrating it.

So you can imagine how the Romans were just a little bit nervous, weren't they?

That in a festival that commemorated the throwing off of slavery and oppression, how during Passover time, religious and political fervor would run high.

And we know, don't we, that there would be messianic figures who would say we need to lead a revolt against the Romans.

And so the Romans had a particularly watchful eye on the people during those seasons.

They wanted to see, is there any potential for upheaval?

And if there was going to be, let's squash it immediately.

And so the Jewish leaders are very, very much aware of Jesus' rising popularity.

And they are worried that they will be dethroned by the Romans.

Now don't get too hung up on the cultural background here, but don't miss how subtle and sneaky the motivations of the leaders really are.

Just look at verses 47 and 48.

And notice with me the personal pronouns.

What are we to do?

For this man performs many signs.

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.

What are they afraid of?

Do you see the frantic fear of losing their position?

They are concerned with their own well-being.

Notice that clause, they will take away our place and our nation.

And I think our place is referring to what they found their most security in.

It's referring to their security.

It's referring to their position in life.

It's referring to their identity.

It is wrapped up, isn't it?

We are the leaders of the nation.

And as you will know, when our deepest sense of security and our deepest sense of identity is threatened, we do one or two things.

One is we withdraw.

We kind of go to ground.

Or the other thing we do is we lash out.

And in this passage, they lash out.

They plan to put to death a man who has just conquered death.

And that is the irony, isn't it, of personal resistance in this chapter.

I want to pause there for a moment because I think it's got a real pastoral implication for us.

We should be very aware of the resistance that there is in our lives to the Lord Jesus.

It's really easy, isn't it, to look at the Jewish leaders in this passage and to throw mud at them and rocks at them and tomatoes at them.

To think we are so unlike them, aren't we?

And even in reading John's gospel, we can get on our high horse and we can fail to see the resistance that lies in the depths of our own soul, in my soul.

But the Bible won't allow you to do that.

As you read the Bible, it functions a lot like a mirror.

It shows us, doesn't it, what is deep inside of us.

That's why reading the Bible and hearing the Bible preach is often so uncomfortable.

And we should at times be appalled at the resistance to Jesus that is in our lives, but not surprised.

And we shouldn't underestimate how subtle it can be that this resistance often is the underlying motivator to so much of what we do in life.

And it often rises, doesn't it, when it comes to decisions.

So a council is gathering and is making a decision.

And I think that's often the case in our own lives, that our resistance to Jesus is seen at that point.

Because our decisions reveal where our true loyalty lies.

And even more, how and why we make the decisions we make show it.

They show our decisions, the true orientation of our lives.

Of whether we really do believe and love the Lord Jesus.

I read an article this week on making kind of big decisions as a Christian.

It's an article in the book.

And the writer of the book, who's a kind of author from Canada, he gave three searching questions, he says,

which expose your heart as you make decisions.

First is this.

Is there anything in this decision that arises from an inordinate desire for wealth or financial security?

Am I making this decision because there's an inordinate desire, too much of a desire for wealth or security?

Secondly, is there anything in this decision that arises from an inordinate desire for power or influence?

The third question, is there anything in this decision that arises from an inordinate longing for recognition and affirmation?

Too much of looking for recognition and affirmation.

And I think as we meditate on those questions, as we make those decisions, we can see, can't we, where am I resisting the Lord Jesus?

And we should be honest this morning, unaware, but not surprised.

We shouldn't despair over it either.

It's dangerous, isn't it?

Of despairing of our hearts.

But we shouldn't despair.

Because in this passage, wonderfully, their personal resistance does not stop Jesus' ultimate purpose to give life.

Isn't it wonderful that it's at the point of strongest human resistance that God's determination to give life actually proves to be most tenacious?

God turns the whole thing upside down.

And it's when the council plots to kill Jesus that the Lord, the giver of life,

through that act of killing Jesus, Jesus brings life.

God's determination.

Available to the entire world.

And this is the second irony of our passage.

The irony of political realism.

Look at verses 49 and 50.

In the middle of the council, the chief priest stands up,

and he says, you've not got a clue what you're doing.

He says to the council,

you don't understand.

You don't know what you're doing.

It is better for you that one man should die for the people than the whole nation should perish.

Caiaphas speaks words that bear all the force of political pragmatism and realism.

He says, guys, there is an obvious solution to this problem.

Just kill one man.

Kill one man and you spare a whole nation.

Kill one man, you're good to go.

Problem over.

One person or 200,000.

You take your pick.

It's an obvious decision.

And in a sense, he is right.

But in saying what he does,

he shows us something really deep about the gospel, the good news.

John explains it to us in verses 51 and 52.

He wants you to see the meaning of it.

In verse 51, he did not say this of his own accord,

but being high priest for that year,

he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.

And not only for the nation,

but also to gather into one

the children of God who are scattered abroad.

So two things.

Jesus is going to be a substitute.

And Jesus is going to be a magnet.

He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.

That's substitutionary language, isn't it?

Let's think for a moment about substitution.

We try to take the throne of God, don't we?

We put ourselves as God's substitute.

We say, I will make the rules.

I will live my life the way I want to live it.

We put ourselves as God's substitute.

And God takes the penalty for our humanity.

He puts himself as the substitute for sin.

We don't live in a culture anymore

where there are animal sacrifices.

We don't even live in a culture

where there's a kind of common understanding

of the fabric of life.

There's not an understanding

that if you do certain actions,

that will bring certain consequences.

That is eroding away in our culture.

In fact,

we now live in an age, don't we,

where people see themselves

far more as victims of circumstances

than sinners

in the hands of a holy God.

But you and I need to understand

that the word substitute

lies at the very heart of the gospel.

So look at verses 50 to 52

and you'll see that three times

the word for shows up.

Three times the word for shows up.

It is better for you

that one man should die for the people.

Verse 51.

He prophesied that Jesus would die

for the nations.

He died on behalf of his people.

The word for there,

it's an Old Testament word.

It's an Old Testament sacrificial word.

It connects what Jesus is doing

with what happened in the Old Testament.

We've seen the theme already,

we're right at the start of the gospel,

John 1, 21, 29.

Jesus shows up on the scene

for the first time

and John the Baptist says,

behold the Lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world.

The Lamb of God,

it's sacrificial language.

If you go to John chapter 19

John 19 · chapter mention

at the end of the gospel,

Jesus is hanging on a cross

and there's two criminals

on either side.

Jesus says,

it is finished.

He breathes his last breath

and John tells us

right at the end of John 19

that the soldiers

did not break Jesus' legs.

They broke the other two criminals' legs

but they didn't break Jesus' legs.

Why are we told that in detail?

Because sacrifices in the Old Testament

were meant to have no broken bones

and Jesus had no broken bones.

He is the perfect sacrifice on the cross

and so Jesus is being portrayed

as the Old Testament sacrificial lamb.

So in the Old Testament

when you had sins

that needed to be dealt with,

you brought a lamb

to the temple

and you put your hand

on its head

to symbolize your sin

and your guilt

and your shame

being transferred to that lamb.

A priest would come up

with a knife

and he would slit the throat

of the lamb

symbolizing the penalty

that was meant to be paid.

And you would watch

the blood of the lamb

pour out.

It's a horrific picture

on the floor.

The priest would then

gather up the blood

in a bowl.

He would walk into

the center of the temple

or the tabernacle

and he would sprinkle

that blood.

Or he'd pour it

on the ground

before the presence

of the Lord

and he would say

spare your people

O Lord

for the blood

has been spilt

in their stead.

And so what John

is doing

is through

Caiaphas' words

we are coming

to the very heart

of God.

Of God reaching

out to humanity

and saving them

from their sins

and providing

the Lord Jesus

as a substitute.

Let me read you

a quote from John Stott's

The Cross of Christ.

John Stott says this

The concept

of substitution

may be said then

to lie at the heart

of both sin

and salvation.

For the essence

of sin

the heart of sin

is man

substituting himself

for God.

While the essence

of salvation

is God

substituting himself

for man.

Man asserts himself

against God

and puts himself

where only God

deserves to be.

But God

sacrifices himself

for man

and puts himself

where only man

deserves to be.

man claims

prerogatives

which belong

to God alone

and God

accepts the penalties

which belong

to man alone.

Jesus is our

substitute.

But secondly

Jesus is a magnet.

Look at verse

52

and I think

this is a little

bit unexpected.

Verse 52

John is speaking

about Jesus'

death

for the nation

but not only

the nation

but also

to gather

into one

the children

of God

who are scattered

abroad.

That's us.

The imagery

is the biblical

picture of

I'm being

gathered in

from exile.

It's somewhat

telling isn't it

that one of

the primary

purposes here

of Jesus'

death

is to gather

his people

together

in unity.

And I think

this verse

will speak to us

slightly differently

depending on

what background

we come from.

For some of us

we've grown up

in a Christianity

that really

emphasises the cross

and it emphasises

personal salvation.

that Jesus

died for your

sins personally

and that is

wonderful.

But sometimes

a background

like that

can emphasise

very little

church unity.

And what this

does is it

slightly distorts

our understanding

of Christianity

Christianity.

Because unity

is essential.

There's no

such thing

as individual

Christianity.

We are

together.

Jesus died

for our sins

but he also

died to make

us one family.

And so what we

see here is that

unity is one of

the major

purposes of

Jesus'

ministry.

That's why in

John 17

just before Jesus

dies he

prays to the

Father one

last time

and he

says,

Father I

pray that

my people

may be one

as you

and I

are one.

Why?

So that the

world may

know that

they are my

disciples.

There is

some sense

in which

when we are

united in

life

giving

relationships

with one

another

that when we

come around

the Lord

Jesus Christ

it shows

the world

what God

is like.

And so that

means in

church life

our

relationships

are deeply

important.

Maybe for

others you've

grown up in

churches that

love and

emphasize

unity,

church unity

but tragically

the cross

might not have

been as

central as it

should have

been.

And the

major question

has to be

what is it

that unifies

the people

of God?

What unifies

us as a

church family?

It's not

primarily a

common interest.

It's not a

fondness of

musical style

or that you

like a certain

preacher.

It's not a

vague sense

of humility.

It's not

tradition.

It's not even

ecclesiastical

structure.

But what

unites us

first and

foremost is

Jesus Christ

in his

person and

him crucified.

In the

act of him

giving his

life away

for the sake

of his

people.

And what

unifies us

is the

person of

Jesus on

the cross

for our

sins.

And that is

important because

that is the

only thing that

will bring

healing to a

fractured and

fragmented

world.

in a world

that is more

divided than

any time in

my lifetime

and it is

more fractured

than at any

time.

In church we

see the Lord

Jesus who

substitutes his

humility for

our pride.

And that

changes the

way that we

relate to one

another.

another.

He substitutes

his grace for

our shame and

our guilt and

that changes the

way we relate to

one another.

He substitutes

his life for

our sin and

our brokenness

and our death

and that changes

the way that we

relate to one

another.

So to conclude

Jesus, John

wants us to

see the

ironies of

this passage.

That the

leaders plan to

put to death

the man who's

defeated death.

And when their

plan is

accomplished

it means more

life for all

the world.

And I think

it's no wonder

is it that when

we come to

Revelation chapter

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

5 and

God

gives to

John a

glimpse of

his

triumphant

church.

And we get a

glimpse of the

company of

heaven

marvelling

at the

wonder and

the wisdom

and the

power of

God.

And we

have all the

living creatures

and all the

angels and

all the

saints and

all the

elders bowing

before the

throne of

God.

God.

And they

are singing

what Revelation

5 describes

as a new

song.

And what is

the new

song?

It is

worthy is the

lamb who

was slain.

Worthy is the

lamb who was

slain to

receive power

and wealth

and wisdom

and might

and honour

and glory

and blessing.

for you

were slain

and by

your blood

you ransomed

for God

a people

from every

tribe

and every

language

and every

nation.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Amen.