Be Steadfast!- Pontius Pilate- Encounters with Jesus

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

Have you ever been caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place? This is the encounter of a man who found himself caught, by the hand of God, in between politics and religion. Sometimes we try to define who we are by how we are perceived by the people around us. We simply care too much how the outside world sees us. We try to define ourselves through our outward perception instead of our inward character.

This man was stuck between political powers where no choice would be the right choice. Leadership has its responsibilities. Pontius Pilate bore the responsibilities of the Roman Empire in a very pivotal part of the world. Palestine was a crossroads for trade, a military bulwark, and a governmental outpost. Rome had conquered the area only 60 years before this encounter, so the presence of Rome in Jewish culture was still relatively new. There was not a lot of precedence in place in how to handle the situation Pilate found himself in, an outsider being called upon to handle what was obviously an internal matter. He was about to meet the One at the center of it all. Pilate, a gentile unbeliever, was to have his perception of how things worked called into question.

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. John 18:28

            ‘They’ referred to in this verse is the Sanhedrin, the ruling body made up of religious and political leaders who convened to hold a hearing of what should be done with Jesus. They had him arrested, though there was no warrant for his arrest. So they worked the system in reverse, arresting and then went to get the charges sworn out, which meant taking him to Pilot, who would decide on the charges, pronounce judgment, and carry out the sentence. He would be their means to the end. They could get rid of their problem by using the hated Gentiles and that way save face among the people.

 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

 They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”

Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”  that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. John 18:29-32

            Pilot doesn’t easily go along with their plan. He’s no one’s pawn, except maybe the emperor’s, but he is being paid for that role. He didn’t get into the position he held by being someone’s nephew. He earned it. He had served the empire and risen to his position. He had done this by being the fist of Rome against anyone who would come up against the Empire. He was a brutal ruler, who policed his way through any situation. Yet when Jesus is brought before him, rather than wave his hand and have Jesus taken away, he actually gives this one man a hearing. This was not like Pilate. It makes one wonder why. Jesus didn’t hold Roman citizenship, so he had no right to appeal. It was the charges they brought against him that intrigued Pilate, insurrection.  To lead a rebellion against Rome resulted in public execution in order to deter anyone else from getting any ideas to rebel against Rome. Pilate wanted to hear the troublemaker, so the encounter began.

 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”

 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”

 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:33-36

            In his initial questioning of this alleged insurrectionist, Pilate gets down to the main issue at hand. Is Jesus claiming to be the rightful ruler of the territory that Rome has established to be part of the empire? Jesus answers his question with a question. Jesus assumes the authority by questioning Pilate as to where he’s getting his information. It was a way of asking him by what authority is he judging. Pilate then has to let Jesus know that he is doing the work of the people who delivered Him up for judgement. Pilate asks what Jesus has done to deserve the hatred that Pilate is so familiar with feeling himself. Jesus doesn’t deny being a King, but He does point out that if He was the King of those who delivered Him up then wouldn’t they be fighting for him, not delivering Him over to their enemy? Yet, Jesus answers that He is a King, just not of this world. This was a claim to deity. The statement had to throw Pilate for a loop. To see before him a prisoner, a Jew, without Roman standing, claiming deity and in the pantheism of his beliefs, not just godhood, but to be a king of gods, he had to have branded Him a lunatic in that moment. He didn’t seem to be a lunatic, because Jesus spoke with such authority.

 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John18: 37

            He has his answer about if Jesus is a threat to his position in Palestine, therefore, he has no call to harm Jesus. Yet, Pilate asks if Jesus is then a king. Yes, we know Jesus is a King. He is the King of all kings. Jesus’ answer isn’t to establish His kingdom in Pilate’s land but in his heart, and it does establish His kingdom in the hearts of men all the same. It is the dividing rod that lies down the boundary between those who will enter into Christ’s kingdom, and those who will not. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, the truth is that God has put us in the place of judgement, and it is our decision that will decide our fate. We call this freewill, and it is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions in the world. Choice. Choosing to hear the message, and take in the truth, and allowing it become our guide. It is called submission. Jesus was in the position in that moment of demonstrating in its fullness what submission looked like. As He had just said, He was a King. He had dominion over the situation and could have his subjects fight for Him. Consider what was subject to him. Mark 4:41 ”And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him! " Matt. 10:1 "And when He had  called his twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to  heal all kinds of sickness and all kids of diseases." Matt. 11: 5-6  ^“The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”  Jesus didn’t need the testimony of others. His own deeds and words had enough power of their own, and yet there He stood with Pilate who was to decide the fate of Jesus. What would Pilate do with the truth before Him? Surely Pilate knew of who Jesus was apart from what was being told to him by the Sanhedrin. Surely it was more than just a legal matter. Yet was there enough evidence to convict Jesus under Roman law of the crime of insurrection?

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.

Pilate could find no grounds for condemnation. He had not stood in opposition to the Emperor. He had not led the people to rise up in arms against Rome. Pilate had no grounds to do what they were asking of him. Legally he could not put Jesus to death and appease them. Jesus was not at fault. More telling than that was his rejection of the truth. His answer to the truth was one we hear so often in our world today, “What is truth?” It has become a humanistic mantra, but even more so a war cry of the enemy to get us to doubt the Truth of God. It was the same as the old serpent in the garden asking Eve, “Did God really say…” It is the same as saying, “What is truth?” From that moment on man has been trying to do an end run around his God. From that moment on Pilate was trying to do an end run around God as well. He wanted out of that situation without having to take the brunt of the decision he would be forced to make, to release Jesus, or to have him executed. He sought to have them make it for him.

 “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. John 18:39-40

Barabbas- the name means son of a father, simply put a man, anonymous, no one special. He had robbed and that was all that history knows of him, other than he was deserving of the penalty he was under. Jesus was switched out for someone who deserved the beating Jesus received.  

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.  And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.

Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”

Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”

Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” John 19:1-6

Pilate has had Jesus beaten brutally. We know this was to fulfill scripture found in Isaiah 52-53, but in Pilate’s mentality he was trying to show his fierceness in dealing with those who would cause uprisings. He had hoped that the beating would satisfy the religious leaders and the mob of people they’d gathered with them. Yet they would not relent. What had to be going through his mind at this time. He had to wonder at the hatred shown toward Jesus. We as Christians become so angry when people show such hatred toward Christianity forgetting what Jesus himself said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt.5:11-12 We should not be angry when people are offended by the Lord. Jesus said it would happen.

 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”

Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. John19:7-9

Pilate is fearful. What is it that this bully is afraid of? He is afraid of what everyone who rejects the truth is afraid of once they pull the trigger on their decision. What if they’re wrong? What if what Jesus has said is the truth? What if he is messing with God? What power has he unleashed on himself? For Pilate, in his arrogance, like many, his way of handling it is to try to regain control and remind himself, and Jesus, of what control he does have.

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” John 19:10-11

These are the final words spoken to Pilate by Jesus. Their encounter ends here. Pilate has been told that he has no power over Jesus at all, but is simply a pawn in the annals of history, a position appointed to him from the moment of his birth, ordained for him by God, and when the moment of his choice came, he chose death over life, not Jesus’ death, for that would have come about by some other means perhaps by another prefect would have condemned Jesus in a second trial overruling Pilate. The fact is it was Pilate who stood condemned at this point, not Jesus, because of his decision to reject the Truth of God.

From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”

 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.  Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,  where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, andLatin.

Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” John 19:12-22

And so the story of Pilate’s dealing with Jesus ended. He had tried to get out of it, but under the pressure of two cultures clashing he didn’t have the strength of character to stand above the fray. We can find ourselves in Pilate’s position as well. How often do we vacillate in our faith when it comes to the accusations or demands of the World’s systems to crucify our Christianity, even when we know we have no grounds for condemnation? What is interesting to know is that Pilate died only a few years later. He was ordered to commit suicide. The reason for order was due to his wrongly condemning men without a proper trial. 

What should we take away from Pontius Pilate’s encounter with Jesus? First, that not all who we meet will come to Christ, even when they encounter Him and the truth is revealed to them. Secondly, that within all of us is the call to stand up to the systems of this world for the Kingdom of God, despite the cost and not give in to the crowd of voices calling for the crucifixion of our Lord. He has already died for our sins, we don’t need to nail Him again to our cross of pride, or to deny His sovereignty again. Our King will reign in glory when next we see Him. And finally, that we know the Truth.

In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for inquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil." Prov. 16:6

Be Seen-The Man Born Blind- Encounters with Jesus

The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. Isaiah 9:2

In the book of John there’s a chapter dedicated to an encounter in which a healing took place where the person healed didn’t see the healer until after he’d been run through the testing of his faith in the event. It’s an encouraging chapter for many reasons, but mostly because it speaks to us about where faith is born in all of us, in the experiences we have had that no one can take away from us. God is undeniable.

Have you ever felt invisible? Some people just naturally draw attention, and other seek it out. Still others just seem to blend in like big globs of human camouflage. I’ve known people who as children seem to disappear into the background and never come out. It saddens me to think they are never seen by anyone but maybe their parents, and if they’re lucky a few who pass by. This is the story of one of those kinds of people. Maybe you feel like you’re one of those people. Well, take heart, Jesus sees you.

 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” John 9:1-2

It was Jesus who saw him, not the disciples, or the other people. Jesus saw him and it was the Lord who drew the attention of others to this blind man. Yet, what is it that the others do when they see someone who has a major and obvious disability? They ask why and make assumptions that something bad must have caused it. Someone did something wrong or he would not be blind, because, after all, we all know that good things happen to good people, and bad things only happen to bad people, right? Wrong. We are all children of a fallen world, and we all suffer the consequences of a fallen sin filled world. To make the assumption that it is only bad people who suffer is to assume the worse of the poor, the needy, and those who are sick. It also would mean the inverse would be true, that those who have everything have it because they have great morals and are not greedy or that they never suffer at all. We know that neither is true. Everyone has hard times, and “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:3-5

Jesus explains a truth we all need to understand. Bad thing do happen at times so that God may be shown strong through them. One thing about storms is that we have to get rained on to know what it is to be soaked to the skin in order to know why we need to take shelter. A child needs to feel the heat to know not to stick their hand in the fire. He goes on to point out that Jesus was sent by the Father and had a mission to fulfill. He warns that there is coming a time when His purpose will not be able to continue, when he will have to die for the sins of all. For the time being He brings the light into the darkness of men’s hearts, and in this case into his actual life.

 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. John 9:6-7

Jesus then takes the very elements man was created from and uses them to make the means of the healing. Notice that the man didn’t ask for his sight. He didn’t seek it out, but Jesus knew what this man desired. Jesus sent him to go wash this salve out of his eyes. What’s interesting is that the man came back to the spot seeing, but it doesn’t say that he saw Jesus. He wouldn’t have known what Jesus looked like. He didn’t know his own face. He didn’t know anyone’s face! Can you imagine seeing a sea of strangers for the very first time, and yet some of them actually know you, and you know them? What must that have been like for him? What must it have been like to find his way back to the spot where he sat and begged every day, and actually be able to see it for the very first time? Something that had always been so familiar was suddenly so foreign to him, yet in a good way! In an amazingly brilliant way! It had to be similar to hearing our baby cry for the first time and knowing it’s healthy because it let out such a wonderful wail! The joy of it all must have filled his heart so that he laughed and cried out of those newborn eyes of wonderment. “Oh, so that’s what you look like,” he might have said to those around him. “My, you’re pretty too! And you have no hair, I thought you had a lot of hair! And you, I expected your nose to look very different.” 

 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.” John 9:8-12

Not only was the former blind man seeing these people for the first time, but they seemed to be seeing him for the first time. They didn’t even recognize him. He had eyes that were working. No longer where his eyes atrophied. He had eyes wide opened and they moved and followed them! He could see. How was this possible. The simple story of clay on his eyes and washing it off seemed so…miraculous! But there he was, blinking and looking them in the face, telling them what happened. So they asked him, where was this man? How would he know? When last he had encountered Jesus he couldn’t see him. He only knew his voice. If Jesus wasn’t asking the questions He could have been standing right in front of this man and he wouldn’t have known Him. He had been blind. You don’t ask a blind man to give a description, do you?

Why then do we go asking the spiritually blind to give us a description of how to worship? Or ask them where to worship?  We need to wait until they too can have the experience when their eyes are opened by the Light of the World before we go asking them to identify what is holy.

They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” John 9:13-15

The sign of a good witness is that his story doesn’t change. It just gets simpler because it’s the facts. There is no need to add to it. There was no amazing change of details. This man knew what happened so no matter how many times the questions get asked or who is doing the asking, he tells the truth, especially when it’s the priests doing the asking. One doesn’t lie to a priest.

 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.” John 9:16-17

What a great observation of human nature John makes here. You have all of these people who have just experienced the same event, a man blind from birth, receiving his sight, and all they can do is debate about the personality of the man who performed the miracle instead of basking in the event itself. It’s like watching a beautiful sunset and saying, “if only those clouds weren’t so low it would be perfect,” when the low clouds are creating a contrasting purple to the orange glow of the sun. Who are we to critique God? Yet we do it all the time. We go the distance to find fault with ourselves when we look in the mirror, and in others when there is no mirror around. And yet, when God sees us He finds us worthy of His Son’s life. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” John 9:18-22

Plausible deniability seems to be running rampant because they can’t get the formerly blind man to change his story. So what do they do? They try to get the parents to say that the poor man was not really blind; that he’d been faking all along! Isn’t it crazy the lengths some people will go to in order to have us deny what we know to be fact. I have a friend who will say, “I know that I know that I know that Jesus is Lord because…” and then he will talk about some event in his life in which he prayed and God answered his prayer. It could be a great big miracle, or a little thing, like finding a parking spot near the door of the emergency room when he needed one. It’s the small things that make a mighty God seem even more enormously loving towards us. “I cried out to God with my voice— To God with my voice; And He gave ear to me.” Ps. 77:1

 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”

He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” John 9:24-25

Once again there is no arguing with the facts. Those who doubt cannot remove from any of us what we know to be fact. When he was blind he was in darkness, and now he sees the light. He cannot undo what has been done for him. We cannot undo what has been done for us either. When you know Christ, and you have felt His presence in your life, witnessed his power, felt His love fall upon you, it cannot be denied. The spirt of God moves into the recesses of your heart and brings light. It’s a light that doesn’t have a switch. To turn that light off you would have to deny the very character of God. This man could not. He could only say that he did not know, but what he did know he was certain of, completely certain.

 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”

 The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

 They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out. John 9:26-34

At this point the questioning is turning into harassment, but the man still doesn’t change his story. God is giving him strength, and Jesus’ prophesy about him giving glory to God is quickly becoming evident in this exchange. The man turns the table on those who would accuse Jesus of being of Satan, so he asks them if their reason for asking is because they want to be his disciple. Then he follows it up with a bit of a lesson for them, this beggar from the street has been a student for years. He points out that only God can restore sight according to Moses, whom they call themselves disciples of. “So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? “ Exodus 4:11 He is stating what they all know to be true. It has to be a work of God that he has his sight. There can be no other explanation, unless they deny God. He is calling them out. He is a true disciple of Jesus and through this encounter he has learned from the Master that he cannot deny what Jesus is, the Son of God. He has no other out but to be put out, and so he is put out of the synagogue. He is then an outcast, but at least he has his sight, which leaves him better off than he was before when he was an outcast and didn’t have his sight.

 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?

 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. John 9:35-38

Jesus finds him after he’s been cast out, and the man doesn’t know who he is. When Jesus asks if he believes in the Son of God his answer is not one of disbelief, but of belief. He wants to see Him, so that he can believe, so that he finally come full circle in the exercising of his faith. He wants to finally see, with his very own God given eyes, the one who gave him his sight. Jesus tells him, in His own way, “You’re looking at Him.” I imagine that to that man it was as if Jesus just defined what total beauty really looked like. Nothing could have compared to the face of Jesus in that moment. How could he not worship Him. Jesus brought light into this man’s existence. That beauty is what I desire to behold when I get to heaven and the scales of this dark existence fall from my eyes.

 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41

Some may read this passage and think that Jesus is saying that He came to judge the world, but what He is saying is that he is causing judgement to come; that he is bringing definition to people’s spirit. It is by His very presence in their lives that they will fall on one side or the other of the truth. Are they going to see the light or remain in the dark?

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19

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Be Alive- Encounters with Jesus- The Friends of Jesus from Bethany

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

1 John 3:1

Do you have a sister or a brother? Are you close to them? This week’s blog touches on the special bond that siblings hold. Jesus has siblings. We’re his siblings. Can you imagine being perfect and having you as a sibling? Yet Jesus loves us so much that even in all our imperfections He still gets in there with us and does what a good big brother does. He fights our battles for us.

This week we’re going to look at three siblings who were blessed enough to be called friends of Jesus. As we look at these three people I’d like you to think about which one of these three you’re most like. The oldest, Martha, the middle child, Mary, or the baby, Lazarus. I don’t actually know their birth order, but it just seems to me that since that’s the order they’re listed in that’s the order they came in. It’s sort of like when Mama gets mad she calls out the names of the kids in the order she birthed them until she gets to the one who is causing her problems. My mother-in-law had ten kids. My husband was ninth. She almost never called for him even if he did cause problems. She was calm by the time she got to his name, which is why she told our kids he was such a good boy, or maybe she was just tired. Maybe you’ll find you’re more Martha and a little Mary, but hardly ever Lazarus.

There are three places in scripture that we find the story of this family’s encounter with Jesus, so rather than going verse by verse, I’m going to break it up, and we’ll look at it event by event as He deals with each of them. First up, Martha-

                        Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.”

 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

            This story has been used countless times to reprimand busybodies who want to criticize people who they feel like aren’t doing their fair share at the church function. “Sister So-and-so didn’t help me wash the dishes, Pastor, aren’t you going to tell her to stop talking to the people over there and get to those dishes?” Pastor turns and says those immortal words, “Mary has chosen the better part…” and the Martha walks away rolling her eyes because the dishes still aren’t getting washed and so she’ll have to do them herself-again. Take heart, Martha, Jesus sees you washing those dishes. He sees what happens next.

Marthas are born for serving. It’s just in their nature. It’s a gift, but that wasn’t her issue, and it wasn’t that which she was corrected for by Jesus. It was that she was expecting Mary to be like her, and to think like her. In a sense it was that she wanted Mary to understand what the need was and to meet it without being told because that was what women at that time did. Mary wasn’t fitting into Martha’s expectations. Maybe Martha had done a lot of throat clearing, and finger waving, and finally, realizing she could not divert Mary from the drool stare she had going on with Jesus. Martha finally had to shake her up and embarrass her by interrupting and saying that all too familiar… “Don’t you see that I’m doing all the work around here?” I often wonder if she was actually addressing Jesus or simply expecting Mary to jump right up and get to it; after being called out like that most of us would have jumped up and grabbed Jesus’ empty dishes.  But Jesus will have none of it. He sees Martha’s gift of service, but He also sees Mary gift as well. He sees she’s just as attentive, just in a different way. He tells Martha that Mary has chosen…Mary made a choice. She chose to be at Jesus’ feet. He’s not going to remove that privilege from her. Yet, the scripture doesn’t say that Martha sat down, or that she went away sad. It just says that He said Mary chose the better part. Martha had responsibilities that had to be met, and Jesus understood that. He didn’t remove those from her, but He also didn’t insist that Mary take them on.

Some of us are called to tend to the temporal things, but it doesn’t make us any less important to the Lord. Dishes need to be done.  Food needs to be prepared. Hands need to be about the cares of the physical body. “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:34-40

We see more of Martha, and how she related to Jesus, in the Gospel of John when we meet her brother, Lazarus. This passage reveals a lot about these three individuals and Jesus’ relationship with them. It’s divided into His encounters with each of them. So I’ll continue with Martha.

“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  Therefore, the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”  These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

                Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

                Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.  Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

                Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.  Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

                Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

                She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

                And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” John 11:1-28

            The stage is set for Jesus’ great miracle, the one that cannot be denied or explained away. Never in the history of mankind has a man stepped out of the grave, and it’s about to happen, but before we get to that, there is the exchange that Jesus has with His disciples. He first explains to them that Lazarus’ illness with result in the glorification of God. How many of us are willing to undergo a painful illness for the purpose of glorifying God? Then He fills them in that Lazarus is dead so they must go to Bethany. The disciples are assuming they’re heading to the funeral to comfort the family, though by tradition they were arriving more than halfway through the observance of Lazarus’ passing. Yet when we first read of this Martha is the first one mentioned. Martha, whom Jesus loved, despite His rebuff about Mary choosing the better part, it is Martha that is called by John as Jesus’ friend. What an honor! If this is what washing dishes for Jesus will get me… load that sink!

            The exchange between them is so tender, it could only occur between two friends who truly love each other at a time when something so devastating has happened. All pretense is gone at times like that. Martha is at her most real with Him. The first thing she says, the first word out of her mouth, shows she is in total submission to Him. She calls him “Lord.” The equivalent of Master, King, Ruler over me. And she follows it up with a declaration of her faith. “If you’d been here it wouldn’t have happened, but even now You can fix it.” What great faith! It seems that while she was serving she was also listening. Some people can multitask. Some people can walk and chew gum. Some are Marthas and need to keep their hands busy so they’re ears can focus in, because if they try to sit and listen all they do is think about all the stuff around them that needs attending to, so they listen while they do. Martha was listening all along.

            Jesus sees her faith, and He gives the promise of eternity to her. “I am the resurrection, and the Life...” Other than John 3:16 this is probably one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. This woman who does things believes Jesus is going to do something, and she’s right! So she goes to get her sister.        Mary-

                As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.  Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:29-32

            There she is again, Mary, at his feet. She started out in the house, but when she heard Jesus had come she left so suddenly that everyone assumed she was going to mourn. The professional mourners went with her. They went along assuming they needed to go and engage in their loud lamenting, as was the custom. She went out not to the tomb but to Jesus. She says the same thing that Martha said, without the profession of her belief that Jesus could make it all better. She had been listening, yet for her it seemed too late. Lazarus was dead, and not just died dead, but long since four days dead. She wasn’t as comforted by His being there. Isn’t it interesting that she who had been so intently listening had not gotten the whole message? She had chosen the better part, but what had she done with it? It would come into play after Lazarus returns to her. But at this moment, all she knows is pain, all she knows is she loves her brother and he’s no longer there. Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus knows our grief. He feels it with us. He felt it with her as deeply as she did.

                Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

 Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”John 11:33-39

            Finally, we arrive at Lazarus. Here is a man who is the support of his sisters, the light of their lives, and it’s been extinguished as far as the community can determine. Jesus is moved by his loss. He sees not just the loss of this man from their midst, but how destitute this leaves his sisters. This shows me several things about these people. First of all, I would hazard to guess that Martha and Mary were not married, and for what reason we could only speculate, which would mean that Lazarus was their provider. I would also say that now, without his provision, there is no one left to care for them. They are in the same position Ruth and Naomi were in, and they need a redeemer to step in and provide for them. Hollywood would have us picture these sisters as young women; but what if they weren’t? What if they were older women, beyond child barring years? Then losing their brother would really put them at risk. It would also explain a lot of the relationship Jesus had with them. Seeing these women so grieved caused Jesus to grieve, to groan. He wept. When the Bible says he wept this wasn’t a simple tearing. It’s followed by the groaning. This was a renting of sobs the way a person does when they learn of the death of a dear friend. It was not out of place. I’m sure it brought all those around to tears as well because of the remarks they made about how much Jesus loved Lazarus. This man was very well loved, by both man and God.

                Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”  Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:40-44

            We could say we’ve come to the end of the story, but we haven’t. There is so much here to see, but I’ll draw your attention to the most interesting part of it all. Jesus is talking to Martha again, because she was worried about the stench, but there is no stench. He turns His eyes to heaven and thanks His Father. Notice that he doesn’t ask for the resurrection. He uses the past tense, “have heard me”. It’s already done. Lazarus is already alive! Those there just need to be shown that he’s alive, so Jesus calls him out of the tomb. The great miracle worked for so lowly a family of siblings. Why? He did it for Martha— to fulfillment the expectation, for Mary so the words becoming action, and for beloved Lazarus, who tasted death, so he could have life.  

What a great encounter, but it didn’t end there.

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.” John 12:1-8

Jesus returns one last time to visit with these friends of, and how they must have rejoiced to have Him there. Notice what positions they’re in. Martha is back to serving. Lazarus, is once again at the table with him, and Mary…she is putting her faith in action, a memorable action. She takes a pound of Spikenard, not a small amount which is all that would be needed, but an entire pound, and anoints the feet of Jesus. Where else would she be but at His feet? She gets criticized for it, but she loved him, and so she was willing to extravagantly give to him. Jesus response to this was that she was doing for him what she would have done for her brother. As her brother, he was about to provide for her life--her eternal life. This last look at the friends of Jesus is a picture of heaven for these siblings.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13