The Question Everyone Is Asking
Text: John 11:45-57
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 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.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
Introduction:
I heard a story once about two traders at the Owino Market in Kampala. The two were bitter rivals. Their stalls were directly across from each other in the market, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business. They both were selling household items. So, if one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival and the other would burn with anger. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, "I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?" The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!"
This illustrates the attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees when they heard about the resurrection of Lazarus. They couldn’t stand it! They looked at the score board and Jesus was way ahead and leaving them behind. This is similar to what we are experiencing today in the midst of this health and economic crisis.
Our text this morning contains one simple question. It doesn’t appear to be all that important right at first. But, when you read it you find it is the single most important question to be asked in John’s Gospel. In fact, it is the pivotal question of all time! How the Jewish leaders answer this will change all of human history. They asked,
What are we to do?
This morning people in Tulsa, Oklahoma and across the USA are asking this same question.
What are we to do?
The Chief Priest and Pharisees were very familiar with the ministry of Jesus. Some of them were looking on when blind Bartameus cried out “SON OF DAVID HAVE MERCY ON ME!” They knew that was a messianic title…and, they knew healing of the blind was a messianic sign. But they ignored it.
When John is writing his Gospel….he selects eight sign miracles out of the life of Jesus to show us that Jesus is, indeed, the Son of God.
In John chapter 2 he turns water into wine: He is the master of quality.
In chapter 4 Jesus Heals the noble man's son: He is the master of time and distance.
In chapter 5 Jesus heals a man who has lain sick at the pool of Bethesda: He is the master of sickness and disease…even long term chronic disease.
In chapter 6 we find him feeding 5,000: He is the master of quantity.
In chapter 6 we find him walking on the water and calming the storm: He is the master of Nature.
In chapter 9 we find him healing the man born blind: He is the master of Darkness
And, in chapter 11 we find him Raising Lazarus from the dead: He is the master over Death.
And, in chapter 20 we are presented with the empty tomb: He is the Master of Life…Life Eternal!
I grew up around people who loved old time southern Gospel music. I still sing those songs—when I am alone—and let me share with you the words of a song I was singing when I wrote this section. They are words from an old gospel song that I think sum up what I am talking about:
I SEE THAT SEA WALKER, THAT BLIND MAN HEALER,
THAT LEPER CLEANSING MAN FROM GALILEE,
I SEE THAT SOUL SAVER,
THE ONE WHO SET ME FREE
TAKE MY HAND AND FOLLOW ME,
But, the Chief Priests and Pharisees ignore all the facts and make a decision to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. If I was there I might want to say something like, “Excuse me, has it ever occurred to you that someone who has the power to raise from the dead a man who had been dead for 4 days…MIGHT be tapped into greater supernatural power than you understand?”
But, why? Why did this happen? The answer is simple, they were blinded to the truth. Unable to grasp simple logical facts…their pride and prejudice became something like a grid—like polarized sun glasses—that only allow in certain kinds of light and rejecting others. Their pride only allowed in those facts that aligned with their theological, political, and social ideas.
Their prejudice did not allow for a messiah that would come from Galilee. Galileans were thought of as simple small town country bumpkins. Uneducated…uncultured…tasteless…weak…poverty stricken. In today’s society Galilee would have been a “fly-over” state. Not worthy of consideration in Jerusalem.
Isaiah saw this coming hundreds of years before this meeting of the Council. Listen to this from Isaiah 28:
This describes how God sees the Chief Priests and other leaders:
In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
6 and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 These also reel with wine
and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
8 For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.
Now we get to listen in to the conversation around the table…The Chief Priests and Pharisees …. you’ll see what I mean in a moment.
9 “To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”
See what I mean? They are drunk on their own pride!
Now God is speaking again:
11 For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
12 to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
God is promising REST and REPOSE! But, the Priests and prophets…the Pharisees and Saducess…want rules…and, law…and not grace…because they KNOW BETTER….
13 And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
THAT MY FRIEND IS EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!
THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND PHARISEES ARE SAYING “WOULD GOD SHOW THE RUBES FROM GALILEE SOMETHING LIKE THE KINGDOM OF GOD?” THEY WERE DRUNK ON THE WINE OF PRIDE…AND THEY WERE SNARED AND TAKEN.
As bad as their pride and prejudice was…their own self-interest was even worse … watching out for NUMBER ONE … at the expense of the people they were to serve. This is clear from the statement the High Priest made to the council:
“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.”
His “place” was a very lucrative position. He wants to guard that at all costs. The others on the council had fared well under the Roman occupation…they wanted to keep their place as well.
ALL OF THIS ADDED UP TO A VERY, VERY POOR DECISION THAT WOULD IMPACT ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY! JESUS WOULD INDEED DIE FOR THE SIN OF THE NATION…NOT ONLY THE NATION BUT THE SIN OF THE WHOLE WORLD!
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
We live in perilous times. Our nation…and, indeed the entire world…is in the grip of a pandemic. It may have history changing, social, economic, health and safety impacts. We are awash in information and mis-information about this crisis. There are competing ideas about how to handle the crisis.
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
As Christians we have a very powerful ally in this moment. Our ally is called the Holy Spirit…and, the Holy Spirit indwells each and every Christian believer. The New Testament calls the Holy Spirit “The Helper” and “The Spirit of Truth”. Listen to this from John’s gospel:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
We are not left alone…awash and adrift in a sea of competing voices and political/social agendas! We have a Helper, a Spirit of Truth, who will guide us INTO ALL THE TRUTH. Take your pen out and underline that verse 13 in John 16. ALL THE TRUTH!
Not limited to theological truth!
Not limited to doctrinal truth!
He the, Holy Spirit, can…and will…guide us into ALL TRUTH.
I found this so real one day in Liberia…in the very midst of the civil war. I was walking with a pastor to visit his church—which turned out to be in a huge swamp just outside of Monrovia. That swamp was where the rebel forces hid during the day from the ECOMOG peace keeping troops. The Holy Spirit…the Spirit of Truth…impressed on me the importance of visiting that congregation. As we made our way through the swamp we never knew exactly where we might encounter rebels. It would mean certain death. There was that still small voice inside telling me…Go left not right…watch over there…go straight ahead. We made it through the swamp both ways without any incident. It was the HOLY SPIRIT guiding me…into ALL truth!
We have to learn to put aside our political/social/economic/self interest agendas and hear that still small voice in these times.
The Holy Spirit not only guides us—as the Spirit of Truth—but he is also there to give us courage and assist us in His role of “Helper”. John quotes Jesus as saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
That is why the apostle Paul could write to Timothy, these words, “…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” I look around…and, listen around…I hear people so caught up in fear … even Christians living in fear of the virus. We do not need to live in fear because we have been given the Holy Spirit for just a time as this.
Let me be careful here. I am not talking about some kind of weird fanaticism…mystical…otherworldly kind of strange things. I’m talking about something practical, and real world oriented. A lot of times I see people trying to connect the Holy Spirit to a lot of foolishness! The Holy Spirit of God does NOT hit you in the head and cause you to do lots of stupid things. Here is something my Dad taught me:
“The Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman. He never behaves in an unseemly manner. He never draws attention to Himself.”
I’m not too sure where he got that…but, those words have been a guide to me all my life. Once I learned that I also learned to trust that still small voice inside…the voice of the Holy Spirit.
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
Times of pestilence and plague are not exactly new to the human experience. The entire world population has endured several pandemics…and, yet the human race still survives. Our pride … that we moderns have the science and technology to escape this kind of pestilence is being challenged…but, maybe, just maybe, God is doing that. Certainly, this pandemic has put the entire world on “pause”. Could it be that God’s purposes are being worked out?
But, God doesn’t promise that believers will escape these threats. In fact, God visited Solomon in the night…and, gave him a road map through a time of pestilence. Here is what God told Solomon:
“…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Now is a good time to turn of the TV…shut out social media…look away from your e-mail, and turn unto God. When I was growing up we used to sing a gospel song that described it like this:
Shut in with God
in a secret place,
there in the Spirit
beholding His Face...
Finding more power
to run in the race...
I long to be
shut in with God!
THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT TO DISCONNECT FROM THE NOISE AROUND US AND SHUT OURSELVES IN—FOR A SEASON—WITH GOD!
BUT, I am not talking about a complete withdrawal from society. I am not talking about running away from the virus. I am talking about taking time in your now not so busy schedule to hear from God in prayer.
WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
The Church—Tulsa International Fellowship—must remember that we have a dual calling in the community. We have a priestly calling and we have a prophetic calling. My sermon today has been more out of that prophetic calling…but, I have seen and been used in the priestly calling as well.
For two thousand years Christians have been on the forefront of ministry to the sick and afflicted during times pestilence and plague. Doing this without concern for their own health and safety…because it was the right thing to do.
EXAMPLE:
In 249 AD, a plague erupted in Ethiopia and spread across the Mediterranean like a fire. At the peak of the pandemic it was reported that 5,000 people per day were dying in Rome. Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, witnessed the plague and wrote about it…that while others were consumed with self-interest Christians ran towards the plague to minister to those affected by it.
After giving a long and gruesome description of the plague Cyprian writes, “…that from the weakness arising by the maiming and loss of the body, either the gait is enfeebled, or the hearing is obstructed, or the sight darkened;—is profitable as a proof of faith. What a grandeur of spirit it is to struggle with all the powers of an unshaken mind against so many onsets of devastation and death! what sublimity, to stand erect amid the desolation of the human race, and not to lie prostrate with those who have no hope in God; but rather to rejoice, and to embrace the benefit of the occasion; that in thus bravely showing forth our faith, and by suffering endured, going forward to Christ by the narrow way that Christ trod, we may receive the reward of His life and faith according to His own judgment![7]"
WOW! That’s Bible! to struggle with all the powers of an unshaken mind against so many onsets of devastation and death!
Yeah sure…you might be saying…that was a long time ago. But, this kind of response by Christians continued continued through out the centuries. Christians ran towards the plagues and not from them. And I have seen with my own eyes and experienced with my own body this very thing!
In Uganda in the mid1980’s…the HIV AIDS plague came.
—Tell the whole story of how the Church was the first—and for several years the only—source of help to the people. People that came to faith in Christ at the start of our ministry there…and, how they died in faith…and how we ministered to them.
I NO LONGER HAVE THE STRENGTH AND STAMINA TO DO THESE THINGS. I HAVE GROWN OLD AND CAN NO LONGER BE EFFECTIVE ON THE FRONT LINES. BUT I AM SPEAKING THIS MORNING TO YOUNG PEOPLE WITH ENERGY, AND STRENGTH, WHO CAN BRING THIS PRIESTLY MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH TO BARE IN THIS TIME OF CRISIS.
And now my friend, it is now over to you.
WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
