Jesus gave the religious establishment plenty of reasons to conspire his demise. He constantly pointed out their hypocrisy. On a few occasions, they plotted to grab him, but because it wasn't time for him to die, God prevented it.
But, the Bible records for us a single event that became the tipping point in their hatred of the Messiah. We find it in John 11 in an event that showcases God's power like none other.
Jesus' friend Lazarus had died. His sisters had pleaded with Jesus to come heal their brother, but Jesus delayed. His reason for delaying? He told his disciples it was all happening so they would finally believe. If all the miracles and teaching hadn't convinced his followers, then this event would.
At the same time, it was also going to seal his fate.
The event was phenominal. Lazarus had been dead for four days. His body had begun to decay. And, with a prayer, Jesus spoke three words that changed Lazarus' life, "Lazarus, come out!"
And, he did.
This single event led the Pharisees to start plotting the death of Jesus. And, they didn't keep quiet their plans. With orders out (and wanted posters) that they wanted to arrest Jesus, he stopped his public ministry and stayed away from public areas until it was time to go to Passover.
This single event led many more to people to follow Jesus.
This single event fueled the jealousy of the religious leaders, because all the people flocked to Jesus.
As a result, this single event also led the religious leaders to plot the second death of Lazarus.
This event set the stage for the final act to be played out in God's plan to provide salvation to the world.
You are right to characterize the raising of Lazarus as the 'tipping point', for prior to that the Jewish religious leaders had periodically toyed with the idea of killing Jesus but scripture tells us something different occurred after they received eyewitness reports of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It says, "from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death." So it became an obsession with them, part of their thoughts on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteNice post.
Given that under about me, you wrote "I am searching for answers" you may want to investigate a unique presentation biblical evidence on this "friend" of Jesus who received a one-of-a-kind gift from God when Jesus raised him from the dead.
LazarusComeForth.com has a free Bible study that compares scripture with scripture in order to highlight the facts in the plain text of scripture that are usually overlooked about Lazarus. This study cites nothing but the text of scripture, so the search for truth is not distracted by debates about this-or-that NON-Bible source. You may want to weigh the testimony of scripture that the study cites regarding this "friend" whom “Jesus loved” and may find it to be helpful as it encourages bible students to take seriously the admonition “prove all things”. Hope it helps.