Jesus and Lazarus: World Tour

This past Sunday I attended Watkinsville Baptist church for the first time and the pastor gave a phenomenal talk about when Jesus returns to Jerusalem after raising Lazarus from the dead. He called this Jesus’ Elvis/Beatles/Bieber moment, which I found to be quite hilarious. I think the reason this message hit me so hard is because it was very convicting. I will try and portray it as best as I can and I hope that you can get something out of it.

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

John 12:12-19

Like I said earlier, this is Jesus’ Bieber moment. He comes into town and the entire town is buzzing about him. This is very unusual and unexpected. If we look at John 11:7-8, we see this.

 “and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

So what happened that changed the city and made them excited for Jesus to come? A miracle is what happened. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He raised him from the DEAD. Like how amazing is that? And of course, the people of the city thought it was as amazing as I do, so word spread and people began to become curious and fascinated with Jesus and what He could do. Another hilarious comment the pastor made was that this was the “Jesus and Lazarus: World Tour,” one and only stop: Jerusalem. However, then he got serious. In this passage, there are two types of people: the Pharisees and the crowd.

The Pharisees:

One of the worst insults you can give someone is to say “oh you’re such a Pharisee.” The Pharisees are afraid of Jesus because they can take something from him. If you look at John 12:19, it says “So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” and John 11:46-48 says, “But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” They are afraid that if the people start realizing how amazing Jesus is, they will no longer pay attention to the Pharisees and all their power will be taken away.

It is very easy for me to get caught up in this mindset. It is easy for me to say “No Jesus, I got this. Don’t worry about it.” I sometimes get caught up in wanting the power and authority for things in my life, when really I should be giving it all over Jesus and saying “This is Yours, let Your will be done with it and all the glory goes to You.” I have been trying to stay in this mindset throughout college.

The Crowd

This crowd wants Jesus solely for what he can give them, not because of who He is. As you will see during this Lent season, they are shouting “all glory to Him” on Monday, but only a short four days later they will be shouting “crucify Him!”

Luke 19:38-44 says:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Basically Jesus is saying, “You are saying all the right words, but your motives are wrong.” We can be the crowd because we can get excited that Jesus has been good to us. We can get caught up in the emotion of everything. If you get furious with God because something doesn’t go right, you are using God, not loving Him. Basically, the crowd is coming to see the show. They don’t really notice Jesus.

There is a third person that is very important in this story. For this, we need to go back to the story of Lazarus in John 11. When Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, realize that he is very sick that call on Jesus to come and heal him. Now, we need to remember that Jesus is very fond of Lazarus. Think of your best friend and that is basically who Lazarus is to Jesus. So we would expect Jesus to go straight to Lazarus and heal him, however he stayed where he was for two more days. When Jesus finally arrives, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha confronts Jesus saying, “if you had been there, my brother would not have died, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” (John 11:21) Martha gets it, she just gets it. She understands that it is about Jesus and not what he can do. He didn’t come and save her brother when she knows he could have, but she still trusts in him. That takes a lot of faith to do something like that. If you keep reading, you will see in verse 27 that Martha proclaims Jesus. What is important about this is that it is before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, before he performs his miracle. Martha realizes it is not about what Jesus can give her, but it is just about being with Him and trusting in Him.

We need to be like Martha, proclaiming Jesus and his glory during the good times and the bad. We shouldn’t just proclaim Him when the good things happen, but also during the darkest parts of our lives. God does what He does so that we can always have a glimpse of His glory. Sometimes something bad may have to happen in order for His glory to be shown, which is exactly what we see in this story. Lazarus had to die in order for God’s glory to be shown through Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

So as you finish up the rest of this week, strive to be like Martha, proclaiming Jesus through the sunshine and the rain.

God Bless!