Resisting God's Will - March 30
As I read through today's reading from John 12-13 (ESV), one of the things that struck me the most was just how stubbornly the Pharisees and the religious leaders opposed Jesus, even though the text tells us that they could tell He was from God!
John 12:42-43 says, "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in [Jesus], but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God." Yikes! They actually believed that Jesus was from God, but they were so worried about becoming "unpopular" that they were actually going to try to kill Jesus anyhow?!?
Oh, but that's not all! These religious leaders were so worried about their popularity and keeping their positions of power that they were even willing to kill another completely innocent man to keep it! Remember Jesus' good friend Lazarus who He had raised from the dead earlier in John 11? Well, John 12:10-11 says that, "the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus"! The Jewish people had some seriously blind guides leading them! Not only were these religious leaders willing to close their eyes, cover their ears, and shout at the top of their lungs when it came to listening to Jesus' message, they were also fine with using extortion (i.e. threatening to kick people out of the synagogue for believing in Jesus) and murder to maintain the status quo!
Is it any wonder that, with leaders like this, Jesus was able to achieve His goal of being put to death on a cross for our sins? Jesus sure chose the right time to come into this world... The right time to be rejected by men and to become a "suffering servant".
But let's not be too proud ourselves. Let's do our best not to fall right into the same trap that these religious leaders fell into! Let's keep our eyes open, our ears uncovered, and let's stop shouting, so that we can hear whatever messages God may be speaking to us. Let's make sure that we're not resisting God's guidance in our lives, just because we're afraid of making unpopular decisions. There's often a fine line, after all, between being a Pharisee and being a part of the "believing crowds".