We are studying the Gospel of John, and we have come to chapter twelve, to Jesus’ final week before his crucifixion. We are told that many of the Jews knew that Jesus was in Martha’s home and came to see both Jesus and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead (John 12:9). Whenever the word Jews is mentioned in the fourth Gospel, it nearly always refers to the Jewish authorities. It seems obvious that the people were also Jewish, and they feared the Jews (John 9:22), so it makes sense to interpret the Jews as those in authority. It’s only in places where the nation is clearly meant, such the feast of the Jews (John 5:1; 6:4; 7:2) that the word refers to all the Jews. I am making this point because the Jews who came to visit Martha’s home to visit with Jesus and Lazarus were probably of the group who ruled the nation. They were the Jewish authorities; members of the Sanhedrin, rulers of various synagogues etc. The text is making this point for the reader.
Moreover, as I’ve already concluded in a previous study, it may be an interesting reflection to note that many of these same authorities mourned with Martha and Mary, while Lazarus lay in the grave (cp. John 11:19, 31, 36). Why was that? When a considerable number of the important folks in a given community attend a funeral and tend to the needs of the bereaved, it is usually because the deceased or one of the bereaved is also an important person in the same community. With this in mind, would it be such a great leap of one’s imagination to believe Lazarus was also one of those Jewish authorities? In any case, this is my conclusion, and many of these authorities believed, because Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:45). Furthermore, they were still quite in awe over the whole event, in that they kept coming to see Lazarus, and also Jesus, now that he was in Bethany (John 12:9). Thus, Jesus’ latest miracle seems to have created a huge problem for the unbelievers among the Jewish authorities. They were livid over Jesus’ success and greatly confused over what they should do (John 11:46-48). Nevertheless, the officiating high priest at that time, Caiaphas, announced that their problem would be solved once they arrested Jesus and had him killed (John 11:49-50, 53).
Nevertheless, the Jewish authorities’ problem kept snowballing, because many of their own number began breaking ranks and going over to Jesus, trusting he was the Messiah, and this was especially due to the resurrection of Lazarus. Therefore, the unbelieving members of the ruling class met together once more in an effort to address the Lazarus issue. They decided that both he and Jesus needed to be slain (John 12:10-11). Nevertheless, Jesus created quite a stir among the pilgrims at that Passover season in Jerusalem, when he entered the city from Mount Olives and cast out all the businessmen in the Temple, because they were making the House of God nothing more than a marketplace (Matthew 21:1-13). Afterwards, Jesus left for Bethany (Matthew 21:17), which bring us to John’s record in chapter 12.
Therefore, the Jewish authorities had to address the growing Jesus/Lazarus problem without creating a riot among the pilgrims. If that occurred, the Romans would intervene on their own, which would take the power out of the hands of the Jewish authorities, thus defeating their purpose. Why, for example, would Rome want to execute Lazarus, simply because he was alive? Moreover, the Romans weren’t interested in the difference between religious views, so why would they wish to execute Jesus, who had no political aspirations, and simply because he had a large following of believers? Therefore, if the unbelieving Jewish authorities wished to have any say in what happened to Jesus and Lazarus, they had to control events in such a way that Rome would do their bidding, not the other way around?
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