Speaker 1: 0:00

This morning we're going to continue in the Gospel of John and, as you start turning there to John, chapter 11, so that we can finish that section and move into John, chapter 12, I want to talk to you this morning about what I'm calling I'm titling this sermon the Unavoidable Christ. So we've been in the gospel of John now for a number of weeks, maybe a number of months, and we picked back up from something that we started last year. And as we dig into the gospel of John, there is a lot of theological truth about who Jesus is and there's teachings about that, there's interactions with Pharisees and other religious leaders about that, and there's a variety of miracles that have happened, and in fact, there's more miracles in the other gospel accounts and we've seen a lot, we've read a lot, we've heard a lot, but last week we heard something unique, something more than just what's happened before, because the reality is, when you look at all of the other miracles that had been done even other times where, like with Jairus' daughter, they were raised back to life, it was different this time. And so I want to look at what I'm going to call unavoidable evidence. Unavoidable evidence that Jesus is who he says he is, you see, this miracle of going to Lazarus after he's been in the tomb and his body has literally started to rot, and Jesus goes and tells them to open the tomb and commands him to come out. And he comes out and he is perfectly fine. And it happens not in some backwater place, but it happens in Bethany, near Jerusalem, where there's actually religious leaders that are there to witness it, and there's a lot of people and everybody knew Lazarus.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Lazarus wasn't some like no-name guy, he was a prominent guy. It seems from all the stories we have of Lazarus and his family that they had wealth and that God had blessed them and they were well known. So Lazarus dying was big news. Everybody knew. There was no denying it. And in fact, in the passage that we're going to look at today, you'll notice that the religious leaders, as they look at the situation, they don't deny it. They can't. It's irrefutable. Too many witnesses they saw it with their own eyes. Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb and he did Four days later.

Speaker 1: 3:15

So with this you would say, well, now they're going to believe, right? The religious leaders are going to say, oh yes, jesus, he's the Messiah, he's the one. Everybody follow him and let's get behind him and do whatever he says. That's what they're going to do, right? Well, no, you know that, and the original readers of the Gospel of John know that. You see, this isn't written in a vacuum. This is written in a world where Jesus's death, burial and resurrection are testified to. So you don't come to this in suspense, not knowing what's going to happen. Everybody reading this would have known that Jesus was going to die and he was going to be raised again as well. You know that as well, and you know that the religious leaders are not going to do that. The real question is why don't they do that? But then what about others? What about others that could potentially respond one way or another? What about the non-religious leaders? What about Judas? How does Judas respond? What about Mary in this story? How does Mary respond?

Speaker 1: 4:32

We're going to look at these three responses to the unavoidable Christ in just a moment, but first I want to just go ahead and read our passage. So our passage is going to start right where we left off last week, in verse 45 of John, chapter 11. And we're going to go all the way through verse 11 of chapter 12. So not enormous, but a bigger text, but I think you'll see why we're going to go through all of this, together with these three responses, when you would think everything should change, this absolutely unavoidable evidence that Jesus is the Christ. Let's read how things change, or how they don't. Verse 45,.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. So there's some change. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council. What are we to do? What are we to do For this man?

Speaker 1: 6:07

Jesus performs many signs Interesting word, signs that it's not just miracles, but they're miracles that actually point to something. They know it, they're not denying it. He performs many signs and they're scared of something. Listen, if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. The expected response? Right, we just said it. He just raised a man that was dead for four days.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Of course people are going to believe that he is who he says he is, and so if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe. And that terrifies them. Because why? Well, what happens if everyone believes? What do they say? And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. You're scared, but one of them, caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them you know nothing at all, 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. He did not say this of his own accord, but, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. It's interesting. I think he means this one way, but his prophecy actually does turn out. It's just different than what he expects. We'll see. And not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Speaker 1: 8:16

So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death. That's how it changes. Instead of believing, like everyone would have, instead now they started to make plans to put him to death. It wasn't just casual, you know. Hey, you know we get mad because he claimed deity and now we're going to stone him. It's that now they're actually moved on to premeditated murder. They're like we've got to put a stop to this guy, and so they're making plans to put him to death. You'll see, they don't just plan to put him to death, but we'll get to that part.

Speaker 1: 8:57

Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews. You think of last week when Thomas was like, oh well, I guess we'll go and get killed too. He must have been relieved now because Jesus is no longer out walking about in the open, but he's kind of gone into hiding, right. So it says he went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple what do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? They're like, hey, is he going to just stay in hiding or is he going to make an appearance? Everybody's talking about it. Everybody's talking about Lazarus being raised from the dead. Everybody's talking about this miracle. I mean, there is buzz, everybody's talking about it. Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him. So they put out a warrant, right, like they've made it known like Jesus is wanted. Okay. Now it doesn't say necessarily they're making it known that they plan to kill him, but that they want to arrest him, that they want to question him, that they're going to say, hey, let's bring him before us and we can talk to him.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Verse 1 of chapter 12,. Six days before the Passover, jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So Jesus kind of sort of comes to a more prominent location. Right, he's in Bethany now and no longer in Ephraim. Remember, bethany is near Jerusalem. He's less in hiding. And so they gave a dinner for him there. Of course, you know they're going to celebrate Like this is the family of Lazarus. He just raised Lazarus from the dead. They love Jesus, they're good friends with Jesus already, but now they're wanting to celebrate, so they have a party. And what did they do while they were reclining at table? It says in verse three.

Speaker 1: 11:19

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was about to betray him and everybody already knows the story of Judas. Remember, the readers know this. But John is giving them this information to go along with his purpose, to prove that Jesus is not just a good man, not just some prophet, but that Jesus actually is the Messiah, the Son of God. And so he's giving them this information and he's saying hey, here's the trader. And what does the trader do? What does he do in this moment? He said why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and, having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it. Jesus said leave her alone, that she may keep it for the day of my burial, for the poor. You always have with you, but you do not always have me.

Speaker 1: 12:53

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 it's known now where he is. But here's what the chief priests do. They don't just go straight after Jesus. It says 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. I think it's funny that they're like, hey, we're going to kill Lazarus, because can't just Jesus just say, okay, we'll come back again, lazarus, like he already was dead once. Why is that going to solve it? But they plot here to not only kill Jesus but to kill Lazarus as well. So I want to look a little bit more in depth. We obviously read that with a lot of detail.

Speaker 1: 13:50

I'm not going to try to re-go through every element of that text, but I want to look in a little more depth at these three responses to the unavoidable Christ. These three responses to the unavoidable Christ, because this evidence is irrefutable. In fact we know it because even the enemies of Jesus say if it keeps going on, everyone will believe in him, and clearly they don't want that. So the first response we see is that of the Sanhedrin, and their response is fear and rejection. So the Sanhedrin it doesn't say the word Sanhedrin there, but what it says in the text is that the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council. So the council there is referring to the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a Jewish ruling council, that was. It had chief priests, scribes, elders, it was Pharisees, sadducees, it was kind of like all the religious leaders combined, like. They're not necessarily all of them, but the leaders of each of the different sects were combined in this Sanhedrin.

Speaker 1: 15:05

This council and this council held both religious and political authority under Roman oversight. So outwardly, obviously, they claimed to seek God's will. They were actually, as shown by this text, more concerned about maintaining their power and their influence rather than actually identifying the Messiah. In Matthew 23, jesus identifies the religious leaders as sitting in the seat of Moses. Sitting in the seat of Moses basically means hey, you have the job of looking out and identifying the Messiah. But the reality is is they were neglecting their duty. They were not sitting, well, in the seat of Moses, and though that's a different book of the Bible, I think the context here the original readers would have clearly understood that this Sanhedrin, that those people, this council, were the ones who were supposed to have the authority to say the Messiah is here.

Speaker 1: 16:15

Yet when it all came down to it, they responded with fear and rejection. Responded with fear and rejection, their reaction. Instead of believing they plot to kill Jesus and then kill Lazarus, because Lazarus's own existence is proof of Jesus' power. We looked at these two verses already, verses 47 and 48. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said what are we to do? For this man performs many signs. I talked about that briefly. That word signs. It indicates that they recognize beyond just miracles, but that Jesus's actions are pointing to something. Jesus' actions are pointing to something, and so they say that they cannot let him go or everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. They frame this like this hey, if Jesus is allowed to continue on, if Jesus is allowed to continue on, it will destroy the good things we have, it will destroy our country, it'll destroy our power structure, it will destroy our rule of law, it'll destroy all of this. So, with all of this motivating them, this fear of what might happen, it is deeply ironic that, though they were supposed to be looking for the Messiah, they didn't even really want to find him.

Speaker 1: 18:04

What this is kind of like is, you know, you hear like conspiracy theories about pharmaceutical companies. Right, nobody seems to be fans of pharmaceutical companies. If you're a pharmaceutical company, you know, fan, raise your hand. Not really, but like you know, the pharmaceutical companies get a bad rap because they put a lot of money and energy into research and then they sell the drugs that they create and they sell them at a premium price and they're copyrighted or patented or whatever, and so nobody can copy them and they make a lot of money and all of that I'm not going to get into like what they should do or shouldn't do.

Speaker 1: 18:45

But imagine for a moment that someone working in his garage discovers a cure for cancer and he decides I'm not going to make billions off of this, I'm going to just give it away. I'm going to give a free license to everyone and like it's a perfect cure. You take a pill and it's gone. No more cancer, completely cured. The pharmaceutical companies, I would hope, would just be like yay, that's great. But imagine for a moment that somehow that news got out and a certain pharmaceutical company found out and they're like hey, we could squash this and keep making money on all our drugs, that we sell, all of our chemo and this, and that all the things that we currently make to help with cancer, all the research projects we have in the pipeline, everything. And so, though there's a cure over here, we're going to squash it so that we can keep our current system because it's working for us.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Now, if you found out that that actually happened in our world, and especially if you are someone who had lost a loved one to cancer and that pill could have been available, how would you feel about that pharmaceutical company? I mean, it's a rhetorical question. Obviously you would be furious. You would say how could someone be so evil? Are you furious at the Sanhedrin? How could they be so evil? They knew. They knew that this evidence was so clear that people would believe, and so they sought to put him to death. They're more afraid of losing control than rejoicing in the truth.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Contrast that with Mary, who we'll look at in a moment. She pours out her very valuable, costly ointment as an act of worship to Jesus, who raised her brother from the grave. Yet the Sanhedrin clung to what was to them the most valuable thing their power, their position and their influence, even at the cost of rejecting the Messiah. They didn't want to pour out what was valuable to them. They wanted to keep it, even if that meant they couldn't have Jesus. So it kind of raises the question yes, they were in the seat of Moses, but did they even want the Messiah.

Speaker 1: 21:52

We say that the Messiah that people were expecting was more of like a conquering king than a suffering servant. Right, we say that fairly often that there was a widespread expectation that than a suffering servant. Right, we say that fairly often that there was a widespread expectation that the Messiah was coming, but when Jesus didn't line up with their expectations, they rejected him. But I actually think that this particular passage shows that, specifically within the religious leaders, it was more than just, oh, he's not what we expected. I think it's saying, hey, these guys are so gripped by the evil one that they don't even want the Messiah, even their version. They're happy with how things are. They're happy with how things are. So maybe they didn't even want a Messiah that conformed to their expectations.

Speaker 1: 23:05

I think sometimes we look at this and we think of ourselves as so much better than these members of the Sanhedrin and remember, this is us too. We don't of our own want the kind of Messiah that Jesus is. We want someone to tell us we're good enough. We want someone that isn't going to have a high cost. In fact, sometimes we preach the gospel that way, because the gospel, yes, it is the good news that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ and it doesn't require anything of us. That's all true, but at the same time, it is also true that Jesus says let the dead bury their dead and come and follow me. It's also true that Jesus says if you are not willing to forsake your very own loved ones to follow me, you're not worthy of me.

Speaker 1: 24:18

There is a high cost to following Jesus. Not following Jesus is not meant to be easy. Yes, the burden is light. That means that when Jesus says that the burden is light, what he means is that he provides everything we need to be able to follow him. But look at the very disciples themselves. What was their cost? Almost all of them were executed for their trouble. You think that was against God's plan. No, there is a high cost, and what we're going to see when we look at Mary's gift is we're going to see a high cost that was paid to worship Jesus. Mary's gift is we're going to see a high cost that was paid to worship Jesus and ultimately, it's a high cost that the Sanhedrin were not willing to pay the risk of losing everything that was important to them their power, their position and their influence. So that's the first response to Jesus the Sanhedrin. They responded in fear and rejection. The next response to Jesus that I want to look at, even though it's a little out of order, is I want to look at Judas's response. So Judas's response was selfishness and hypocrisy.

Speaker 1: 25:39

So the story transitions right and I already read it. We already read it in quite a bit of detail so I won't rehash all of it, but the very short version of it is hey, they go back, they're sitting at a dinner and Mary breaks out this ointment and uses it to anoint Jesus' feet. And in our culture, in our day, that seems really weird. Presumably it wasn't weird in this culture, but it would have been highly, highly unusual to break out this expensive anointment and use it this way. When Judas says that it's worth 300 denarii, that's like a year's wages of like a worker. So you know, I should have looked this up. I should have looked this up. What is the average year's wage for someone living here? But let's say it's $100,000. It's effectively, she just put $100,000 on Jesus's feet. It's effectively, she just put $100,000 on Jesus' feet and it's going to be gone and it smells really strong and everybody's like whoa, that smells what's going on there. People recognize what it is right. Look at verse 4.

Speaker 1: 26:57

But Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples who was about to betray him, said why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? And he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it. So obviously Judas' response here, we're told, is not because he cared about the poor, it's because he cared about money. And so there was an obvious hypocrisy, is a fundamental misunderstanding of who Jesus is, despite the fact that Judas had seen so much. Now I don't know, I don't know, we don't know what was in Judas' heart all the way along the line. You know the Scriptures paint a rather negative picture of him, obviously, but I don't know that he always thought he had evil intentions. It does say that Satan in some way entered into him or influenced him, and so there was definitely a change. But I think, like the way I see, the way Scripture paints Judas as a whole, is that I think he really wanted a Messiah. I think he was unlike the Sanhedrin. He actually wanted a Messiah, but maybe the things that he wanted in a Messiah were ultimately absolutely not what Jesus was offering and he started to see that and this was a pivotal moment.

Speaker 1: 28:50

I mean, here's the thing. We rightly so give a lot of grief to Judas, but tell me, you don't sympathize with Judas. Tell me this if I had a hundred thousand dollars right here and like, I just used it in a way that you thought was way extravagant to worship Jesus and it's gone, you're going to tell me you're not going to question the wisdom of that, I would question the wisdom of that. I'd be like, well, that's a lot of. Is that worth it? You know, like we could. We're in this beautiful building, we spent a good amount of money on this beautiful building and you know what Some people and the criticism can be valid.

Speaker 1: 29:59

Some people would say, well, why'd you spend the money? Making this building nice and I don't want to overdo this, but we think that a place for gathering to worship God is worth taking care of and making it beautiful and investing in it and trying not to be wasteful in the process and doing a lot of the work yourself and all those kinds of things, but creating a nice space to gather to worship God. We believe that's worth it. But I could totally see how someone would say, well, why wouldn't you just give all that money to missions and just do with what you have? Or why wouldn't you just use it all to missions and just do with what you have? Or why wouldn't you just give it all to the poor, or whatever.

Speaker 1: 30:49

I think we can sympathize with Judas's thought and though it was hypocritical, I think we can. But the reality is this that though Judas was literally stealing from Jesus' purse, my question to you is this do we rob God of the worship that is due him? Are we stingy in giving our time, our resources or our devotion? Do we seek ways to minimize our own cost of following Jesus? You'll see a thread here in all three of these scenarios, all three of these responses are people or groups who have some amount of means, whether that be wealth, whether that's power and influence, whatever it is, whether it's a very, very, very expensive jar of ointment, they all have something of great value. Or, like for Judas, like he values money a lot and he's helping himself to it and all of this, helping himself to it and all of this. And the ultimate question with all of them is are they willing to lose it for the sake of Jesus? Are you willing to lose your reputation to follow Jesus? Are you willing to give generously and sacrificially, in a way that people would say that's stupid? Why would you do that? Are you willing to pour out your precious, whatever it is for the one who poured out his blood for you? You see, obviously Judas and the Sanhedrin were not. But let's look at Mary's response.

Speaker 1: 33:09

Mary's piece in this story, peace. In this story, mary's reaction was worship and devotion. Worship and devotion. Her reaction to the miracle, to who this Jesus was, was extravagant worship. She anoints Jesus' feet with costly ointment, this $100,000 jar, and then she wipes it with her hair. Like I said, it seems weird to us. Presumably it wasn't weird in that culture, it was in some way a beautiful thing. And Jesus says to her in verse 7, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. You see, remember, though in that moment that statement may have been like what's going on?

Speaker 1: 34:22

Because we've been told again and again and again that though Jesus has said lots of times that like I'm going to die and get raised up, that for some reason the disciples just couldn't grasp it, and though they are legitimately fearing for their life, though last week we read Thomas's words about like Lord, we're going to all die when we go to this public place anyway. They don't actually expect to be burying Jesus, but the readers here, they would have known that Jesus was going to be put to death, and, in fact, where this is in the gospel of John. I mean, we're on chapter 11. We're like halfway-ish through the book. The whole thing leading up till now was like all of Jesus' life. The whole rest of the book is basically one week, okay, so we are transitioning into this final week and this anointing is effectively preparing his body for burial.

Speaker 1: 35:25

It is an extravagant act of worship that would not have been lost on the readers that, hey, what is going on here is something profound that Jesus, though he, is ready to die, that there are those who believe in him in such a way that recognize that Jesus is the very Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, that they're willing to take what. I don't really care how wealthy someone was, this was an extravagant gift to pour out on someone's feet, and you know what Jesus was worth it. A thousand times over. She gave what she could give, even if she didn't fully understand everything that she was doing. Jesus recognizes this as preparation for his burial. So what is the right response to who Jesus is presented to be as this undeniable Christ? The right response, well, it's this that true faith sees Jesus as worthy of everything.

Speaker 1: 36:51

Mary's act was costly, both financially and socially. She was getting ridiculed, and I have to say, probably probably, though Judas was the one who spoke out loud. I bet you some of the other disciples were singing the same thing. I think I would have been, don't you think? Maybe you might have been, but Jesus doesn't rebuke her. She saw Jesus as more valuable than anything she owned, and you know what? We still talk about this story today, because it shows us in a profound way that Jesus is worth it. Look at it compared to the Sanhedrin. They feared the cost of loss of power and position, but Mary willingly gave up her most valuable possession. Judas clung to financial security and saw devotion like this as wasteful, but Mary gave extravagantly and didn't hold anything back.

Speaker 1: 37:59

So my question is this Are you willing to worship Him, to worship Jesus without reservation, even if other people mock you or misunderstand you, even if people call you a freak or say you know, why do you spend so much time at church? Why is your religion so important to you? What is the most valuable thing in your life? What is the most valuable thing in your life? Don't give me the spiritual answer. You don't actually have to speak any answer. Think about it in your head. What's the most valuable thing in your life? Are you willing to pour it out for Jesus?

Speaker 1: 39:02

I think it's hard. You know we, we serve a God who is worthy of everything. We serve a God who is worthy of everything. But here's the good news. The good news is this Even though Mary didn't do it perfect all the time, even though we don't do it all the time and we might sympathize with Judas in this story the time even though we don't do it all the time, and we might sympathize with Judas in this story Jesus poured out his own blood Because, though we are not perfect in fact we're desperately wicked Jesus gave it all so that we could have relationship with him, so that we could be called the sons and daughters of God. What a glorious truth it is. And this is where, ultimately, this serves.

Speaker 1: 40:13

In the book of John. This passage serves as a transition to the Holy Week, because here's the thing the raising of Lazarus. It was undeniable. Even Jesus' enemies knew it. But if bringing another man back from the dead was not enough, what would be enough? There's only one thing left for Jesus to do. It was to raise himself from the dead. That would be the ultimate sign that he is the Messiah, that he is the Messiah.

Speaker 1: 40:55

So the question is do you want Jesus? Do you want this one? The Sanhedrin feared losing power. Judas loved his wealth. Mary gave everything up in worship. We all have means. We all have things that God has blessed us with. Even when our life is hard, there are good things in it. Are we willing to lay those at Jesus' feet? We saw this sign last week of the raising of Lazarus, and this week we've seen how everyone, or at least these three, responded. My encouragement to you know who Jesus really is and worship him. Put it all out there. Don't be scared, don't run from ridicule. Be willing to follow Jesus, because he may not be who you would imagine him to be, but he is so much more. So follow him.