Lazarus having died, and lying in a tomb for four days, is alive! God had indeed performed a miracle. The onlookers, however, responded differently. Some saw it as absolute proof of the deity of Jesus, while others ran to the Pharisees. “Have you heard what Jesus did? He raised a man from the dead!” As God worked to fulfill His plan for redemption through His Son Jesus Christ, the Jewish Religious Leaders fell right in step. Their anger, jealousy, and fear caused them to ask “What shall we do?” The miraculous event of Lazarus’ resurrection caused a disturbance. It compelled the leaders to pull the council together, to scheme a plot, invoking the question, “Whose plan was it anyway?”
A Disturbance
As members of the public flagged the Pharisees about the latest miracle of Jesus, they erupted. They pulled the council together. “What are we going to do? This man works so many signs!” “What will happen to us? Everyone will believe in Him and then what? We’ll lose our place and our nation to the Romans?” Fueled by anger, fear and jealousy, a more sinister determination arose; to be rid of Jesus.
A Plan
Caiaphas was the High Priest for the year. Everyone listened. “Don’t you know anything?” he asked them. “Don’t you know it is more expedient for one man to die than the whole nation?” The thing was, he was prophesying. John the author tells us he didn’t do it on his own authority. He was proclaiming the word of God that not only for their nation, but that all the children of God scattered abroad would be gathered together as one, through the death of this one man. Jesus had to die.
Whose Plan Was it Anyway?
They devised a plot and issued the command, “If you see Him, report it.”
The Passover was at hand. People were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves for the great feast that God had set in place. They wondered if Jesus would still show up. As a righteous Jew, He came to all the festivals. However, Jesus didn’t walk among the Jews in the same way anymore. He went out to the wilderness and stayed with His disciples. God’s plan was falling into place. The Lamb of God, destined to take away the sin of the world, was nearing the altar. The miraculous event caused a disturbance. It compelled the leaders to pull the council together, to scheme a plot, invoking the question, “Whose plan was it anyway?”