What Are We Doing?

Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." (John 11:47-48)

What are we doing? This man is performing many signs....

This question comes to me and everyone of us sooner or later. What am I doing in the face of the signs sent from God meant to induce belief in my heart. The truth is standing in front of me in the person of Jesus Christ and His example given to display more clearly how God feels towards me. But the vital question is, What am I doing about it?

John mentions many times throughout his writings that these signs were given so that we might believe in the Son of God. I have been learning that this means Jesus came to reveal just what His Father is really like, that I don't need to be afraid of Him but that I need to change my opinions about how He feels about me. It is my own misapprehensions of God that block me from coming into sympathy with His view of reality and to allow my patterns of thinking and living to synchronize with heaven's. It is by coming to believe the evidences presented by Jesus in a multitude of ways that I am transformed and drawn to embrace the truth about God and am thus made safe to come close into His presence.

What am I doing in response to these many signs that Jesus is giving me to entice me closer to Himself and into fellowship with His Father? What are we doing? This man is performing many signs, and the question persists, what are we doing in response to them?

The evidences presented by Jesus sooner or later force every one of us to have to ask of ourselves this question. We cannot live in indifference to God's love indefinitely. Either I will surrender my resistance to Him and renounce the lies I have embraced for all of my life about Him, allowing Him to reintroduce Himself to me and redefine my perceptions of Him, or I will cling to my traditions, my fears, my religion in place of the real truth about Him and end up like these men who were so intent on maintaining their religion they refused to change their stance toward God based on the signs from Jesus.

If we allow Him to continue like this, all men will come to believe in Him....

Really? All men?

Well, maybe not quite all. These leaders themselves were making a fatal decision to dig in their heels, to continue their intense opposition to the wooing of the Holy Spirit on their hearts through the many signs of Jesus declaring the goodness and love of God towards them by steeling themselves in their established views of God. In doing so, by rejecting any new ideas about what God was like and how He relates to sinners, they were hardening their hearts to the point of destroying their very capacity to be changed by love. By resenting the compassion and scorning the signs and seeking to discredit the greatest witness for God the world has ever seen, these men were becoming examples of the unpardonable sin.

Just what is the unpardonable sin? It is not some mystery of theology or some horrible act of violence or obscenity or shocking act of blasphemy. It happens through a subtle and repeated resistance over time to the softening influence of the Holy Spirit on the heart seeking to change our opinions about God, pleading with us to see Him as far better than we ever thought was possible. It occurs from resisting the truth that God loves unconditionally no matter how wicked a person may have become and refusing to accept that He never holds onto offense in His heart about any act of trespass against Him.

I am startled by the profound truths embedded in words from men who were fast becoming the greatest opponents of the truth about God ever seen in history. Like their leader Caiaphas who unwittingly prophesied truth about Jesus while relying on human logic, these men were uttering a truth that needs to be taken seriously by anyone facing the choice of how to respond to God. Indeed, if Jesus is allowed to continue to testify as to the real truth about God it will indeed exert an overwhelming influence to draw all men to Him. Jesus stated so Himself in the very next chapter. (12:32)

If He goes on like this all men will believe in Him. Oh that this were allowed to actually happen! Yes, if people would really allow Jesus to continue to infiltrate their minds and hearts with the truth about God He came to reveal to us without continuing to resist Him, we could all come to believe in Him. This statement was true, yet the conclusion they drew about what would happen next was based on their false perceptions rather than heaven's. Their beliefs of how life operates was based on Satan's principles of government rather than God's methods. The Roman empire epitomized dependence on the use of force and fear to govern and control its subjects while Jesus came to establish a kingdom based on very different principles. The conclusions assumed by these men were based on earthly logic and reasoning. As a result all they could see in their future was their being overcome by the forces of their enemies if they did not continue to maintain their defenses they had so carefully put into place.

For their survival these Jewish leaders had come to depend totally on their ability to negotiate compromises with their enemies while harboring deep hatred for them at the same time. It would be no stretch to say there was no love lost between the Jews and the Romans. But at the same time these leaders had carved out a tentative though fragile peace if it could be called that with the Roman occupiers. Jesus' influence was seriously threatening that fragile balance of power and they knew that the status quo was impossible to maintain so long as the ideas of Jesus continued to increase His influence in the hearts of the masses. Jesus presented a fatal threat to the economies of this world, the politics of this world, the methods and religious of this world. This had become unavoidably clear to these men and they were determined to do whatever it would take to stop His influence and try to return things to the way they believed life must operate.

Notice that there are two specific things mentioned that are under threat from the ministry of Jesus. The first is our place.

After examining a number of translations of this verse I am reminded how nice it would be to have a more complete knowledge of the original languages to better understand what this might mean. It appears they may have been referring to a specific but unmentioned place such as their city but more likely their temple which they revered more than God Himself. One version even implies that they may have listed three things rather than two, the third being themselves.

My impression from my study of this is that they are afraid of losing their power and prestige at least as much or more than their losing a physical place. But if the place, especially if that place was the temple upon which their prestige and power was based, were to be removed by the Romans, then they felt that this would likely be the worst thing that could ever happen to them. This potential of losing their identity and temple which had become the source of their status in connection to worship as they had defined it, and their political position which was dependent on their fragile arrangements with the Roman occupiers, was simply untenable.

Another fact I see emerging from this passage and the comments of Caiaphas is that up to this point in the narrative they seem to not have accepted the option of creating a detailed, overt and coordinated plan to destroy Jesus. While the gospels report a number of instances where they wanted to kill Jesus, evidently that desire had not yet coalesced into a willingness to degrade themselves to the point of coordinating their efforts together to consciously work out overt plans to eliminate Him. Apparently it was in this meeting that the sadistic, pragmatic high priest finally found his opportunity to present his option of forming coordinated plans to destroy the work and person of Jesus as a matter of policy for the nation. Rather than having various leaders simply wish that Jesus would die or attempting uncoordinated attempts to put Him away, they had all now become so united in their fear and hatred of Him that they were willing to stoop all the way down to endorse a united plan to kill Jesus. They were now willing to do whatever it took for the sake of maintaining what they considered more important for their own agenda and to protect their preferred sources for value and identity.

When people come to the place where they are willing to sacrifice another person's life to maintain the status quo and protect their own agenda, it is then that they have sunk to dangerous levels of satanic immorality. The world thinks little of resisting this kind of thinking because the world is largely in sympathy with the principles of Satan's kingdom. But it was to expose these false principles by bringing to light the true principles of heaven's government that Jesus came to this earth. It was through revelations of the goodness of God that all of this was brought to a head and that flushed into the open these attitudes, pushing these leaders to stoop to choosing to kill an innocent man rather than to question their own agenda.

This spirit of placing higher priority on self-preservation and the status quo above human life is a hallmark of the kingdom of darkness. It was to contrast this spirit with the disposition of God that Jesus came to this planet. Far from coming to appease an angry God bent on punishing sinners, the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth was to reveal a God who was not at all like what we have become.

While it sometimes appears that Jesus' death may have come about because of the plans of evil men, it was in actuality the free choice of Jesus to submit to the outworkings of humanity's selfishness. He allowed Himself to be treated as He was to the point of death to expose the true nature of sin. No amount of planning on the part of humans or even demons could have brought about the death of the Son of God if God Himself in Christ had not chosen to submit Himself to be subjected to those schemes. Jesus' death was His own free choice to willingly allow evil to fully expose itself without resisting it. It was in this way that God induced evil into the open, to be seen more clearly so that in horrifying every intelligent being they might be completely cured of ever again choosing to take any direction that would tend in a direction of sin and selfishness. By allowing these circumstances to mature God was working out His incredible plan to inoculate the universe against the virus of sin ever being repeated.

Status Quo Guards

Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs." (John 11:47)

I see here an admission by these leaders that Jesus is clearly able to do things to substantiate His claims of true leadership that they cannot do. They are increasingly jealous that His abilities to perform miracles in support of His radical teachings about God carry so much power to change people's views of God. But this very shift in public opinion about what God is like is the very thing undermining their own influence and control over the masses because they have built all their power structures on pictures of God as one who employs force and fear and shame to maintain their allegiance.

In this statement they are forced to admit that they seem powerless and wimpy in the face of such overwhelming and compelling signs that Jesus has been using to draw the people to Himself. While Jesus is performing sign after sign and they have been unable to discredit even one of them as hard as they have tried, in contrast they cannot think of anything they have done to really effect a viable alternative to keep the people's allegiance for themselves. They have set themselves up in direct competition against Jesus and yet they have been unable to match anything He has been doing to win that competition. They are now becoming frantic in their desire to do something – anything to win this contest even if it means violating the rules of the game and surrendering the last remnants of their moral integrity.

The whole book of John is focused on the evidence of signs in support of Jesus' claims about what God is like. John wants to make sure we see that Jesus is the one winning the competition and here he reveals what the opposition is feeling as they realize they are losing. At this point they are ready to grasp at anything, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, to protect their status, to maintain their positions of dominance and control and to preserve the status quo at any cost.

These leaders were aware of their responsibility to fulfill the obligations of their offices and positions for leading the people. These men were the religious instructors of the people, they were to be an example of holiness before the public, their job was to set the tone for a whole nation of people that depended on them to know how to live rightly before God.

These men were also powerful political leaders of the people. They controlled most of the commerce and wealth and were in charge of the legal system of the country. Although the Roman occupiers had taken over much of the enforcement by martial law, the Jewish leaders still had been allowed considerable latitude to enforce local civil and religious requirements. These men had worked hard to manipulate themselves into the positions they had attained and they were not about to let all of those years of effort and promotions slip away from them easily.

Because of this the leadership of the Jewish nation viewed Jesus as a rebel, a maverick, a constant and growing threat to the social stability of their nation. In many ways Jesus was disturbing the fragile 'peace' that they had worked so long and hard to carve out for their nation. Yes, there were many problems and corruption and criminals that were everywhere, but this Jesus threat had come from a very different direction. Never before had they ever encountered a person that was so unique and so friendly and yet so threatening to the status quo. They found His approach of challenging the establishment through grassroots involvement with the masses far more of a threat to their power base and prestige and honor than that of any wild-eyed rebel or prophet or religious fanatic they had ever encountered before. This man was seeking to redefine the very roots of their identity as a people.

As Jesus during His ministry performed miraculous sign after sign while spreading around His disturbing views of God that undermined much of what was promoted by the religious teachers, the leaders kept doing everything they could think of to discredit His theories and discount His miracles. In growing desperation to keep the people believing in traditional views of how society should operate so as to maintain their own control and influence, they knew they had to soon contain this strange threat that was stealing away the minds and hearts of the masses. Yet every tactic they tried, each plan carefully crafted to entrap Him, each question calculated to trick Him into incriminating Himself publicly always backfired only to bring even more dishonor to themselves instead of to Jesus. This had become a major source of irritation for them.

One of their main concerns was that Jesus was unbalancing the careful arrangements they had forged with the foreign powers dominating them. They had spent years crafting compromises and acquiring privileges from the Roman government that other countries did not enjoy, but these privileges were dependent on keeping everything carefully in place politically. If someone came along and upset all the arrangements and secret deals they had put in place they could threaten the fragile security and limited peace that had already been forged and chaos would surely result. Something had to be done to stop this man from ruining everything they had worked so hard to put in place, but so far every tactic to stop His influence among the people had failed spectacularly.

It was from this background that these leaders now convened an emergency council of the religious and political leadership in reaction to a home run grand slam that Jesus had just performed (using a baseball analogy). Every other time Jesus had raised someone from death He had done so soon enough after their death that people could reasonably question whether the person had really been totally dead. In those days before medical techniques allowed people to know better information about the internal systems, it was not hard to make a mistake and assume someone was dead when they were really only in a coma. Sometimes people had awakened spontaneously after a day or two and this gave opportunity for doubt that Jesus had really used supernatural power to awaken them from supposed death.

But it was well known that after three days if a person was not awakened by then that decay would take over the body and it would begin to rot and stink. As long as Jesus had not raised anyone from the dead after three days the religious people could keep circulating questions to fuel the minds of doubters. But this time Jesus had smashed past the three day limit and had intentionally waited four days to make His point absolutely clear. In doing this He had performed a sign that was totally irrefutable, a sign that could not be discounted. Jesus had moved the competition to a whole new level and the impact of this miracle had created dramatic effects to undermine and expose the hypocrisy and true motives of the leaders.

This miracle had pushed them to believe they had to take desperate measures to meet a desperate situation if they were to keep in place the status quo protecting their livelihoods and their influence. Whether their plans were within legal limits or not, they now realized that nothing they had done in the past had really won much ground and they were fast losing control of the masses to this carpenter.

What are we doing? An interesting question indeed. Of course it could not be a truly honest question, for to admit what they were really doing would be to admit defeat. But this was one of the very things that Jesus had come to expose. The ways and plans of men in the name of God have ever been contaminated with selfishness and grasping for power and desire for control over others. To admit their selfishness would be to admit they were counterfeits and not worthy o public trust. Keeping the status quo in place always requires a certain amount of deception and intimidation of those under one's control. The fundamental principles of this world's ways of governing requires the use of fear, shame and force.

Jesus had come to this earth to initiate a new kingdom. But this kingdom was to be in sharp contrast with all the ways people were used to governing and being governed. The principles of the kingdom of heaven are so different that they are a direct threat to the function of the kingdom structures of this world no matter how much they may claim to operate in God's name. Whether it be a nation or a church, the underlying principles used to hold people together under a social system are either based on the principles of Satan's kingdom or must be subject to the sovereignty of God and rely on His principles to bond people together while maintaining full respect for their individual freedoms.

Jesus came to reveal the truth about how heaven treats people with respect and love, honoring their right to choose for themselves. This threatened the very adhesive of society that the world's systems use to keep their groups in place and their leaders in power. Jesus was injecting solvent into the fabric of earthly society that was making their kingdoms come unglued. Because of this the source of this solvent had to be eliminated and the damage contained. Otherwise society as they knew it would fall apart and then what would happen to the status quo and all who depended on it for their livelihoods and their identity?

What are we doing? In comparison to all the things Jesus had been doing that drew attention to Himself, swaying the opinions of people about how God wanted to relate to them, the religious leaders seemed to be doing very little to limit His influence. Somehow they had to come up with a way to contain the damage from this man that they were not able to intimidate. It was time to take extreme measures to meet an extreme threat to the world's system of control. It was time to do whatever it took to stop this man so the damage could be repaired as soon as possible.

Furthermore, it would even seem reasonable that it might be necessary to put Lazarus to death as well to eliminate the living witness that Jesus had produced who was helping spread His infectious beliefs. It was time for an extreme response as soon as possible if they were to protect the very existence of society as they had maintained it. In contrast to what they had attempted previously, what they now had to do needed to be dramatically more radical. If threats, deception, logic and trickery had not worked, it was time for brute force like the Romans had used so effectively.

Whatever it takes. That is the tactic that the kingdoms of this world and every religious system relying its methods have had to resort to when faced with erosion of their existence by the kingdom of heaven.

The Sisters

Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. (John 11:45)

I have previously noticed the curious differences I see in references throughout this story and in other places to Mary. Sometimes Mary and Martha are mentioned together and at the beginning of this story that is the case also. Other places they are mentioned alone and even the sequence in which they are listed I believe may be significant.

I believe that John was making intentional inferences in the way in which he referred to these sisters particularly throughout this story and in the order in which he listed them each time. At the beginning of the story, since the story is primarily centered around Lazarus, he is listed first and then Mary and then Martha. The location of this event is 'the village of Mary' and then her sister's name is added.

I believe that one of the reasons John is so careful to arrange their names in various places is to make some important points for those who would read between the lines and ponder the differences between these two sisters. Different people can relate quite differently to these stories because they have different personality traits that resonate with one or the other sisters. I have observed that for years and have found it to be helpful and instructive.

I have long gotten the sense that Mary was not only quite attractive physically but she also likely had a very magnetic personality that tended to draw people to herself, especially men. Whether she intended to exploit that natural gift or not it was simply a fact of who she was. On the other hand I sense that Martha may well have been much less glamorous physically and her personality was likely very different from that of Mary's. This could at times have caused some insecurity on the part of both women for different reasons. Martha being the more pragmatic and thinking type usually gravitated toward noting what needed to be done and paid attention to social details. This is why she became so frustrated when Mary was spending so much of her time sitting at Jesus' feet while Martha was stewing in the kitchen in more ways than one. Mary on the other hand was much more focused on people rather than on surroundings and could easily be distracted by social interaction.

The reason Mary was sitting with the men and was mesmerized by the words of Jesus was because she had come to realize her weakness in this area and how much she needed to keep close to Jesus. She had learned from very painful experience that this was the only choice that could empower her to keep from falling into sin so easily. Martha did not face the same sort of temptations as Mary because she did not have the same physical and social disposition and attractions as Mary. Because of this Martha's temptations were along a different line. She was used to trusting to her own resources, skills and experience to get things done expeditiously. She was an organizer efficiently bringing people together to do whatever needed to be done to keep things moving smoothly. Mary on the other hand was the talker, the life of the party wherever she went. Her smile was irresistible and her personality and appearance drew people around her like a strong magnet.

Because of these differences there could have been times of tension between these two sisters. Mary's life of moral failure must have been a source of deep embarrassment and shame to Martha. Yet because she was her sister she was willing to let her come home because she was unwilling to view her like so many others who were more interested in condemning her than in caring for her heart. I find it interesting that almost nothing is said about Lazarus as far as his personality or relations with his sisters. In fact I cannot think of a single instance where Lazarus is quoted as saying anything at all.

I can't help but think that John called this village the village of Mary because she was by this time so publicly known for various reasons. Her loose lifestyle and many friends from various backgrounds made her well-known for quite a distance around. She is also known in other references as Mary of Magdela or Mary Magdelene. Magdela was a city some distance away where many Roman troops were stationed. It was an army town and very likely Mary had spent considerable time there 'servicing' the baser desires of the soldiers in exchange for lucrative profits.

Throughout the gospels the story of Mary can be pieced together to understand her better. Apparently Jesus had taken a keen interest in Mary earlier in His ministry and had come to her rescue at least seven times by casting out demonic spirits that had taken over her life due to her promiscuity or other activities. When Jesus began working with her she was likely far from being welcomed back home and it was only through His persistent intervention that she was later finally able to even come home and feel welcome enough to hang out there when Jesus was around.

Mary had a long and intense history with Jesus and because of this had much deeper emtions for Him than possibly anyone else at that time. Being an emotionally-oriented person to start with, Mary had spent a lot of time getting her life turned around, for the typical methods that others used to 'get their act together' didn't really work for her. Each time she made resolutions to change her lifestyle and begin 'living straight' her emotions would overcome her and she would be sucked back into indulging in familiar activities that had become her source of temporarily feeling good. She was a classic case of an addict dependent on her 'drugs of choice' to keep going. But Jesus able to demonstrate in her life the truth that love, compassion and forgiveness can change anyone who is willing to hang in with Him.

Based on considerable history up to this point, John identifies the village of Bethany as 'Mary's village' along with Martha. These siblings had come to open their home to Jesus anytime He was near, to provide a safe place for Him to hang out, rest and refresh Himself without feeling threatened by the ever-present enemies from the religious establishment. The more these siblings got to know Jesus the more they wanted to have Him visit, for His presence and influence brought a blessing to their souls like nothing they had ever encountered before. In becoming some of Jesus' closest friends they had not been disappointed for He had accepted their affections for Him and blessed them possibly more than any other family.

The intensity of affection from this family and particularly in Mary's heart is the reason John takes special note to make sure the readers know this is the same Mary that was involved in the scandalous event where she washed His feet with perfume and had stirred up so much trouble with the establishment for doing so. That is another very compelling story but it must wait till I get there in the next chapter. But the point John wanted to make here is that this is a woman who was intensely emotional and expressive of her feelings far more than others around her.

While Mary's emotional makeup made her a powerful magnet attracting many friends of all types, her ability to draw people to her also created a great deal of jealousy and even hostility among the religious leaders who were themselves quite addicted to recognition and public attention. Ironically it would not be at all surprising if some of these very leaders had had improper relations with Mary themselves and had exploited her for personal pleasure but then turned around to betray her and condemned her publicly for things they had participated in themselves while covering up their own involvement.

The differences between Mary and Martha's personalities I believe figure prominently in this story and John seems to want to note that carefully. It was evident for people to see how easy it was to be affectionate of Mary for she was such an attractive person already. Nearly everyone liked Mary in a way but for different sorts of reasons and even those who wanted to condemn her for her many sins were drawn to her physically. While they didn't love her with kind of love that cared about her as a person, few could resist the allure of her natural attractions.

On the other hand Martha was a very different person. I sense that Martha very possibly was not nearly so much a naturally attractive person. She may have been quite reserved and maybe even plain looking. She did not have the charisma that Mary had and may have even at times been jealous of her sister growing up for this very reason. But as she saw how much trouble Mary's natural attractiveness caused her sister she may have begun to wonder if her plainness might not be a blessing in disguise. Yet I suspect that Martha had come to compensate for her lack in this area by depending heavily on her performance as a good host and her abilities to network and please people in other ways than Mary did to help make herself feel valuable.

While Mary had learned she could use her personality and her body to attract attention as her method for feeling valuable, Martha had her own ways to prop up her self-image. But Jesus was intent on addressing the inadequacies of both approaches for defining a person's value. Jesus wanted these sisters and everyone else to come to realize that the only real source of value and identity and a sense of self-worth comes from experiencing how God feels about them and knowing in their heart that they are His special children. He wanted them to come to know this, not from anything they could do to earn attention or affections from others but by receiving it directly from the Son of God.

Because of this background I find it significant in verse five that John says Jesus listed Martha first as the one He loved rather than Mary or even Lazarus. In fact, this verse does not even mention Mary's name. I believe that was because by this time there was little question that Jesus loved Mary after their long history of rescues and redemption and their growing close relationship. But Martha at this point was really struggling with her feelings about herself and what God thought of her. Yes, Mary was also struggling with her feelings about Jesus right then too, but Martha had not experienced the same personal encounters with Jesus that Mary had so many times so here John makes a point of noting that Jesus' love specifically included Martha, the less lovable (in her own mind), less attractive sister.

In verse 19 the sisters are listed again and this time Martha is listed first again. This is in reference to the Jews who had come to share in their grief which I find instructive from another angle. In this case, unlike a similar reference in verse 45, some of the Jews may have likely come to try to reinforce doubts about Jesus in the mind of Martha in particular during her most vulnerable moments. It is clear other places in the story that some of these Jews were intentionally wanting to insinuate doubts about Jesus' intentions and character. These were friends of higher leaders who had come to deeply hate Jesus and were looking for every excuse possible to discredit Him with as many as possible. So when they saw this situation developing in the lives of some of Jesus' best friends they thought they had found the perfect opportunity to exploit it to their advantage to encourage bitterness in the hearts of these sisters. If nothing else they could hurt Jesus as deeply as possible by turning these two women against Him.

Because Martha was the one possibly struggling the most between her emotions and her head beliefs about Jesus, it was Martha that first chose to go out to meet Him upon His arrival. Though it is not specifically noted in the text, I am increasingly of the opinion that Mary likely also knew that Jesus had arrived but was unwilling to go face Him because of her deeply conflicted feelings about Him and her disappointment that He had seemingly failed them. But Martha was willing to give Jesus a chance to speak for Himself so she went out to dialogue with Him – which turned out to be vitally important in the outcome of this story. Because Martha was willing to engage with Him even in her great pain, Jesus was able to draw valuable faith from her heart and increase it through His gift of heavenly life and wisdom. Martha became the 'link of permission' that allowed Jesus to continue His plans to reverse the evil that presently clouded their thinking.

Even after receiving the words and promises of Jesus initially, Martha was still having a hard time putting all the pieces together in her mind while Jesus kept pushing her beyond her comfort zone by asking to have the stone removed. Jesus kept working with her as He wanted to teach her to trust Him implicitly even when surrounding circumstances seemed to be overwhelmingly against trusting in His goodness. I feel Jesus was working primarily with Martha in this story as her faith was being tested severely, but because of her willingness to listen and cooperate with Him her faith was also being dramatically strengthened.

Nothing is said about their inevitable emotional feelings after Lazarus was finally unwrapped and welcomed back to the land of the living. There is no doubt that most everyone present experienced intense reversals of the feelings they had previously been experiencing, but not all those involved shared in the unexpected joy. Those who had been gloating over the apparent failure of Jesus to maintain His reputation of compassion and had been attempting to exploit this to their advantage likely felt humiliated and even angered by this amazing miracle. That is the tragic effect of sin which causes us to have opposite priorities from heaven's priorities. Rather than celebrating the goodness of God and the joy of these sisters they had come to 'console', these men rushed away to deliver the 'terrible news' to the leaders that their well-crafted plans to undermine Jesus had backfired once again and they were now in a serious dilemma politically and in other ways. While Lazarus' family was celebrating and soaking in the goodness and glory of God, others were hatching a plot to kill both of them.

In this last reference in verse 45 only Mary is listed in reference to the Jews who had come out to be with them. I see here again a distinction made between those who had come primarily for Mary's sake and those who had come to undermine Martha's faith in Jesus. Many of those who were real friends of Mary and had come to share in her grief did not share the dark motives of those who were in sympathy with the animosity of the religious leaders. These friends of Mary were much more open to the testimony about what God is like demonstrated through this grand miracle of grace and responded by dramatically increased belief in what Jesus had come to reveal about God.

But those who had come to infiltrate the mourners to spread doubt and unbelief to as many as possible and especially to Martha were the ones who in verse 46 hurried away to consolidate new plans to exterminate this increasing threat to their position and power. Martha had been saved from their evil intentions to wean her growing affections away from Jesus, but the future of Jesus' ministry on earth had definitely reached a turning point in the performance of this miracle for her family.