To the end of John 11.
Which if you go to Black Church Bible, it's page 898.
!
Christ is risen.
The Lord, the giver of life who conquered death.
We sang of it, didn't we, this morning.
Come people of the risen King.
Who delight to sing his praise.
We've sung of the triumph.
Crown him with many crowns.
Songs of joy.
Songs of gladness.
Because Jesus Christ has triumphed over the grave.
But now we come to a passage where people are plotting his death.
And we feel a tension.
It's an ironic tension.
And the passage that we're going to look at is full of irony.
In fact, I think that is the way to understand it.
To see the irony.
It's the major transition point between the two halves of the Gospel of John.
It stitches them both together.
And it weaves a continuous tapestry.
It's often overlooked.
People often go just from the raising of Lazarus.
Straight into Mary being anointed.
Jesus being anointed by Mary in chapter 12.
But it's so important.
And what it does in the most interesting way.
Is it shows us the same Jesus that we've seen for the last 10 or 11 chapters.
Whose whole desire, do you remember, is to give life to the world.
Why did John write his Gospel?
John wrote his Gospel that you might believe in him and so that you might have life.
What word has come up in John's Gospel again and again and again in the first 12 chapters?
50 times the word life has been used.
He came to bring life.
He is the life.
In him was life.
But in the second half, he is the one who is going to be crucified and put in the grave.
And what our passage does for us in a beautiful way is it stitches together those two things that seem so incompatible.
It shows us the irony of the fact.
And what it does is it takes us into the depths of that irony.
And it teaches us mysterious and yet marvellous truths about the Gospel.
We'll see two ironies.
The first irony is this irony of personal resistance.
The second one is political realism.
But the first is personal resistance.
Now remember two weeks ago, Jesus called forth, didn't he?
Lazarus, come out.
And Lazarus, who has been in the grave for four days, comes out with his grave clothes hanging on him.
The unthinkable has happened.
Jesus has reached into death and pulled out.
He came out.
Jesus says, and bind him.
And in response to Jesus, there's always a mixture.
So look at the response, verse 45.
Many of the Jews, therefore, because of what has just happened,
they'd been with Mary, they saw what he did, and they believed in him.
But verse 46, some of them went to the Pharisees, the religious authorities,
and they told what Jesus had done.
There's a mixed response, isn't there, to Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave.
On the one hand, many believe, but on the other hand, you get others telling tales.
And the chief priests and the Pharisees, in verse 47, they gather together to discuss and to deliberate,
what do we do in response to Jesus?
If you skip down to verse 53, you get the verdict of the council.
So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death.
This group of people plan to put to death the man who has just conquered death.
They plan to put to death the one who says, I have come to give life to this world.
And he holds true to his word.
In verse 25 of this chapter, Jesus declared, I am the resurrection and the life.
And yet the religious authorities want to kill the life.
Why?
Verse 47 and 48, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said,
what are we to do?
For this man performs many signs.
Just notice again, they don't deny the evidence.
They don't deny the evidence.
They don't say, oh, the miracles could never have happened.
No, his opponents say, no, the miracles definitely happened.
And if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.
And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
Now that might seem a little bit random to you.
But the Jewish people at this time were living under Roman occupation and authority.
A bit like Welsh people.
Live under the occupation and the authority of Westminster.
Bitterly oppressed.
And the Romans weren't too concerned about their affairs.
The parallel goes on, isn't it?
But as long as the Jewish leaders kept some of the law and order and nothing got too serious,
the Romans would leave them alone.
But if there were any signs of political upheaval, then the Romans would get involved.
And they would use violence and oppression if they needed to keep people in line.
If you look down at verse 55, but given more context, you'll see that it's Passover week.
And during the Passover, estimates range really that it's around 200,000 people end up in Jerusalem.
They'd flock from the countryside.
They'd come into the city of Jerusalem during Passover.
And they were celebrating.
They were celebrating, weren't they?
The whole of the Passover was about celebrating God's goodness in liberating his people from the oppression of Egypt.
Do you remember?
The reading of the law.
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
And the Passover was all about that.
Celebrating it.
So you can imagine how the Romans were just a little bit nervous, weren't they?
That in a festival that commemorated the throwing off of slavery and oppression, how during Passover time, religious and political fervor would run high.
And we know, don't we, that there would be messianic figures who would say we need to lead a revolt against the Romans.
And so the Romans had a particularly watchful eye on the people during those seasons.
They wanted to see, is there any potential for upheaval?
And if there was going to be, let's squash it immediately.
And so the Jewish leaders are very, very much aware of Jesus' rising popularity.
And they are worried that they will be dethroned by the Romans.
Now don't get too hung up on the cultural background here, but don't miss how subtle and sneaky the motivations of the leaders really are.
Just look at verses 47 and 48.
And notice with me the personal pronouns.
What are we to do?
For this man performs many signs.
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.
And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
What are they afraid of?
Do you see the frantic fear of losing their position?
They are concerned with their own well-being.
Notice that clause, they will take away our place and our nation.
And I think our place is referring to what they found their most security in.
It's referring to their security.
It's referring to their position in life.
It's referring to their identity.
It is wrapped up, isn't it?
We are the leaders of the nation.
And as you will know, when our deepest sense of security and our deepest sense of identity is threatened, we do one or two things.
One is we withdraw.
We kind of go to ground.
Or the other thing we do is we lash out.
And in this passage, they lash out.
They plan to put to death a man who has just conquered death.
And that is the irony, isn't it, of personal resistance in this chapter.
I want to pause there for a moment because I think it's got a real pastoral implication for us.
We should be very aware of the resistance that there is in our lives to the Lord Jesus.
It's really easy, isn't it, to look at the Jewish leaders in this passage and to throw mud at them and rocks at them and tomatoes at them.
To think we are so unlike them, aren't we?
And even in reading John's gospel, we can get on our high horse and we can fail to see the resistance that lies in the depths of our own soul, in my soul.
But the Bible won't allow you to do that.
As you read the Bible, it functions a lot like a mirror.
It shows us, doesn't it, what is deep inside of us.
That's why reading the Bible and hearing the Bible preach is often so uncomfortable.
And we should at times be appalled at the resistance to Jesus that is in our lives, but not surprised.
And we shouldn't underestimate how subtle it can be that this resistance often is the underlying motivator to so much of what we do in life.
And it often rises, doesn't it, when it comes to decisions.
So a council is gathering and is making a decision.
And I think that's often the case in our own lives, that our resistance to Jesus is seen at that point.
Because our decisions reveal where our true loyalty lies.
And even more, how and why we make the decisions we make show it.
They show our decisions, the true orientation of our lives.
Of whether we really do believe and love the Lord Jesus.
I read an article this week on making kind of big decisions as a Christian.
It's an article in the book.
And the writer of the book, who's a kind of author from Canada, he gave three searching questions, he says,
which expose your heart as you make decisions.
First is this.
Is there anything in this decision that arises from an inordinate desire for wealth or financial security?
Am I making this decision because there's an inordinate desire, too much of a desire for wealth or security?
Secondly, is there anything in this decision that arises from an inordinate desire for power or influence?
The third question, is there anything in this decision that arises from an inordinate longing for recognition and affirmation?
Too much of looking for recognition and affirmation.
And I think as we meditate on those questions, as we make those decisions, we can see, can't we, where am I resisting the Lord Jesus?
And we should be honest this morning, unaware, but not surprised.
We shouldn't despair over it either.
It's dangerous, isn't it?
Of despairing of our hearts.
But we shouldn't despair.
Because in this passage, wonderfully, their personal resistance does not stop Jesus' ultimate purpose to give life.
Isn't it wonderful that it's at the point of strongest human resistance that God's determination to give life actually proves to be most tenacious?
God turns the whole thing upside down.
And it's when the council plots to kill Jesus that the Lord, the giver of life,
through that act of killing Jesus, Jesus brings life.
God's determination.
Available to the entire world.
And this is the second irony of our passage.
The irony of political realism.
Look at verses 49 and 50.
In the middle of the council, the chief priest stands up,
and he says, you've not got a clue what you're doing.
He says to the council,
you don't understand.
You don't know what you're doing.
It is better for you that one man should die for the people than the whole nation should perish.
Caiaphas speaks words that bear all the force of political pragmatism and realism.
He says, guys, there is an obvious solution to this problem.
Just kill one man.
Kill one man and you spare a whole nation.
Kill one man, you're good to go.
Problem over.
One person or 200,000.
You take your pick.
It's an obvious decision.
And in a sense, he is right.
But in saying what he does,
he shows us something really deep about the gospel, the good news.
John explains it to us in verses 51 and 52.
He wants you to see the meaning of it.
In verse 51, he did not say this of his own accord,
but being high priest for that year,
he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.
And not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one
the children of God who are scattered abroad.
So two things.
Jesus is going to be a substitute.
And Jesus is going to be a magnet.
He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.
That's substitutionary language, isn't it?
Let's think for a moment about substitution.
We try to take the throne of God, don't we?
We put ourselves as God's substitute.
We say, I will make the rules.
I will live my life the way I want to live it.
We put ourselves as God's substitute.
And God takes the penalty for our humanity.
He puts himself as the substitute for sin.
We don't live in a culture anymore
where there are animal sacrifices.
We don't even live in a culture
where there's a kind of common understanding
of the fabric of life.
There's not an understanding
that if you do certain actions,
that will bring certain consequences.
That is eroding away in our culture.
In fact,
we now live in an age, don't we,
where people see themselves
far more as victims of circumstances
than sinners
in the hands of a holy God.
But you and I need to understand
that the word substitute
lies at the very heart of the gospel.
So look at verses 50 to 52
and you'll see that three times
the word for shows up.
Three times the word for shows up.
It is better for you
that one man should die for the people.
Verse 51.
He prophesied that Jesus would die
for the nations.
He died on behalf of his people.
The word for there,
it's an Old Testament word.
It's an Old Testament sacrificial word.
It connects what Jesus is doing
with what happened in the Old Testament.
We've seen the theme already,
we're right at the start of the gospel,
John 1, 21, 29.
Jesus shows up on the scene
for the first time
and John the Baptist says,
behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world.
The Lamb of God,
it's sacrificial language.
If you go to John chapter 19
at the end of the gospel,
Jesus is hanging on a cross
and there's two criminals
on either side.
Jesus says,
it is finished.
He breathes his last breath
and John tells us
right at the end of John 19
that the soldiers
did not break Jesus' legs.
They broke the other two criminals' legs
but they didn't break Jesus' legs.
Why are we told that in detail?
Because sacrifices in the Old Testament
were meant to have no broken bones
and Jesus had no broken bones.
He is the perfect sacrifice on the cross
and so Jesus is being portrayed
as the Old Testament sacrificial lamb.
So in the Old Testament
when you had sins
that needed to be dealt with,
you brought a lamb
to the temple
and you put your hand
on its head
to symbolize your sin
and your guilt
and your shame
being transferred to that lamb.
A priest would come up
with a knife
and he would slit the throat
of the lamb
symbolizing the penalty
that was meant to be paid.
And you would watch
the blood of the lamb
pour out.
It's a horrific picture
on the floor.
The priest would then
gather up the blood
in a bowl.
He would walk into
the center of the temple
or the tabernacle
and he would sprinkle
that blood.
Or he'd pour it
on the ground
before the presence
of the Lord
and he would say
spare your people
O Lord
for the blood
has been spilt
in their stead.
And so what John
is doing
is through
Caiaphas' words
we are coming
to the very heart
of God.
Of God reaching
out to humanity
and saving them
from their sins
and providing
the Lord Jesus
as a substitute.
Let me read you
a quote from John Stott's
The Cross of Christ.
John Stott says this
The concept
of substitution
may be said then
to lie at the heart
of both sin
and salvation.
For the essence
of sin
the heart of sin
is man
substituting himself
for God.
While the essence
of salvation
is God
substituting himself
for man.
Man asserts himself
against God
and puts himself
where only God
deserves to be.
But God
sacrifices himself
for man
and puts himself
where only man
deserves to be.
man claims
prerogatives
which belong
to God alone
and God
accepts the penalties
which belong
to man alone.
Jesus is our
substitute.
But secondly
Jesus is a magnet.
Look at verse
52
and I think
this is a little
bit unexpected.
Verse 52
John is speaking
about Jesus'
death
for the nation
but not only
the nation
but also
to gather
into one
the children
of God
who are scattered
abroad.
That's us.
The imagery
is the biblical
picture of
I'm being
gathered in
from exile.
It's somewhat
telling isn't it
that one of
the primary
purposes here
of Jesus'
death
is to gather
his people
together
in unity.
And I think
this verse
will speak to us
slightly differently
depending on
what background
we come from.
For some of us
we've grown up
in a Christianity
that really
emphasises the cross
and it emphasises
personal salvation.
that Jesus
died for your
sins personally
and that is
wonderful.
But sometimes
a background
like that
can emphasise
very little
church unity.
And what this
does is it
slightly distorts
our understanding
of Christianity
Christianity.
Because unity
is essential.
There's no
such thing
as individual
Christianity.
We are
together.
Jesus died
for our sins
but he also
died to make
us one family.
And so what we
see here is that
unity is one of
the major
purposes of
Jesus'
ministry.
That's why in
John 17
just before Jesus
dies he
prays to the
Father one
last time
and he
says,
Father I
pray that
my people
may be one
as you
and I
are one.
Why?
So that the
world may
know that
they are my
disciples.
There is
some sense
in which
when we are
united in
life
giving
relationships
with one
another
that when we
come around
the Lord
Jesus Christ
it shows
the world
what God
is like.
And so that
means in
church life
our
relationships
are deeply
important.
Maybe for
others you've
grown up in
churches that
love and
emphasize
unity,
church unity
but tragically
the cross
might not have
been as
central as it
should have
been.
And the
major question
has to be
what is it
that unifies
the people
of God?
What unifies
us as a
church family?
It's not
primarily a
common interest.
It's not a
fondness of
musical style
or that you
like a certain
preacher.
It's not a
vague sense
of humility.
It's not
tradition.
It's not even
ecclesiastical
structure.
But what
unites us
first and
foremost is
Jesus Christ
in his
person and
him crucified.
In the
act of him
giving his
life away
for the sake
of his
people.
And what
unifies us
is the
person of
Jesus on
the cross
for our
sins.
And that is
important because
that is the
only thing that
will bring
healing to a
fractured and
fragmented
world.
in a world
that is more
divided than
any time in
my lifetime
and it is
more fractured
than at any
time.
In church we
see the Lord
Jesus who
substitutes his
humility for
our pride.
And that
changes the
way that we
relate to one
another.
He substitutes
his grace for
our shame and
our guilt and
that changes the
way we relate to
one another.
He substitutes
his life for
our sin and
our brokenness
and our death
and that changes
the way that we
relate to one
another.
So to conclude
Jesus, John
wants us to
see the
ironies of
this passage.
That the
leaders plan to
put to death
the man who's
defeated death.
And when their
plan is
accomplished
it means more
life for all
the world.
And I think
it's no wonder
is it that when
we come to
Revelation chapter
5 and
God
gives to
John a
glimpse of
his
triumphant
church.
And we get a
glimpse of the
company of
heaven
marvelling
at the
wonder and
the wisdom
and the
power of
God.
And we
have all the
living creatures
and all the
angels and
all the
saints and
all the
elders bowing
before the
throne of
God.
And they
are singing
what Revelation
5 describes
as a new
song.
And what is
the new
song?
It is
worthy is the
lamb who
was slain.
Worthy is the
lamb who was
slain to
receive power
and wealth
and wisdom
and might
and honour
and glory
and blessing.
for you
were slain
and by
your blood
you ransomed
for God
a people
from every
tribe
and every
language
and every
nation.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Amen.