March 21, 2005 John 12:9-19

 March 21, 2005                                                                                  John 12:9-19

 

John 12:10-11, 17-19 “So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus… So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.  It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!"”

 

Have you ever tried to halt a blizzard?  How about a thunderstorm?  Not possible is it?  I imagine that the Pharisees must have felt the same way when Christ rode into Jerusalem.  Here is this upstart prophet, who does everything but blaspheme in public and the people love him!  No wonder the Pharisees felt so helpless.  I suspect they felt like Don Quixote chasing windmills without a hope of stopping one.

Christianity, the religion that grew from the followers of Christ, has always been able to stand tall in spite of obstacles, even today.  In the Soviet Union, religion was outlawed for nearly 70 years and yet it thrived.  More recently, Christian efforts in Pakistan, and other countries that consider it illegal to evangelize in the name of Christ, have shown great promise.  How and why is this?

Personally, I believe it has to do with some of the truly distinctive aspects of Christianity.  First, Christianity stresses care for the less fortunate.  Mother Theresa, Father Damian, all the great missionary figures we can think of found their calling reaching out in practical ways to those in need.  And that outreach was always one on one and personal, even when at great physical risk to the caregiver.  All these things and the comfort we find in Christ can be quite troubling to those in power.

Governments find it unsettling when a religion teaches suppressed peoples that, “In Christ there is no male, nor female, no slave, nor free…”  This becomes especially troubling when the barriers to freedom such as: poverty, illiteracy, poor nutrition and lack of health care are removed by folks reaching out in Christ’s name.  It must be down right frightening in the midst of this change to find people praying for their leaders – even when it is those very leaders who oppress them!  Such behavior defies all human logic.

Shortly after Christ died, Peter and the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin for preaching about Jesus.  The body wanted to punish them but a wise Rabbi Gamaliel spoke and urged the Sanhedrin to let them be.  He reasoned that if the followers of Christ were but a flash in the pan, Christianity would die.  If not, they would be fighting God almighty!  As believers, we know how wise that rabbi was.  Perhaps his wisdom may someday be apparent to the world.  Maybe we can follow the example of the apostles, “every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.”

 

Loving God, when your Son entered Jerusalem, the Pharisees recognized his rule in the world.  We pray for the leaders of our world that they too may come to know Christ as King of kings.  Amen.

 

Contributed by Anonymous