WEBVTT 00:00:01.250 --> 00:00:04.849 Don't tell me they doubted it. They knew it was 00:00:04.849 --> 00:00:09.349 real. That's why they reported him, because it 00:00:09.349 --> 00:00:18.269 was about to cost them everything. You're standing 00:00:18.269 --> 00:00:21.789 just outside of Bethany. The stone is still rolled 00:00:21.789 --> 00:00:25.789 back, the linen still on the ground, and Lazarus 00:00:25.789 --> 00:00:30.179 is breathing like a man who shouldn't be. The 00:00:30.179 --> 00:00:33.520 crowd hasn't left yet, but it's changing. The 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:37.039 silence that held everyone has started to crack. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.420 And what you're about to see isn't just a miracle. 00:00:39.539 --> 00:00:43.320 It's what people do with one. Now, slide your 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:45.179 chair in close. The plates have been cleared. 00:00:45.259 --> 00:00:47.520 The coffee is still hot. The room's settling 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.700 into that familiar hush where we all know something 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:52.979 worth hearing is about to be said. So go ahead, 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:56.439 lean back, loosen your shoulders. We're not rushing 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.420 into this. We're just turning our chairs towards 00:00:59.420 --> 00:01:01.759 the word and letting it find us where we are 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:05.439 tonight. And I'll see you on the other side. 00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:14.599 I am going to start, but before I do, it's been 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:16.459 a couple of weeks. I was starting to worry whether 00:01:16.459 --> 00:01:19.159 maybe we've lost Wayne to the Presbyterians or 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.780 something. But he's back and here we go. We have 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:26.170 a thumbs up. Hey, all right. Thanks for everybody 00:01:26.170 --> 00:01:28.890 filling in for Wayne while he was away from us. 00:01:30.629 --> 00:01:35.709 So, if you were with us on Sunday morning, then 00:01:35.709 --> 00:01:39.670 we began walking with Jesus towards Jerusalem 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:44.250 for that final Passover celebration. And if you 00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:46.689 were with us, you remember we were walking and 00:01:46.689 --> 00:01:50.209 there was no Jesus. Then we get to Bethany and 00:01:50.209 --> 00:01:54.719 there's a dead Lazarus. Then we find Jesus, and 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:00.879 now there is an alive Lazarus. And to be quite 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.420 honest, I mean, Easter only comes one time a 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:07.959 year, right? And Lazarus is the kind of sermon 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:10.819 that really deserves more than just one Sunday. 00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:18.360 So we are still there. We are still in Bethany. 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:23.310 The tomb is still open. You can see it from here. 00:02:24.250 --> 00:02:27.370 The stone has been shoved sideways, the dark 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:31.069 mouth of the cave, the pile of linen on the ground 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:34.229 that nobody's picked up yet because nobody wants 00:02:34.229 --> 00:02:39.289 to touch what's been wrapped around a dead man 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:44.030 just 20 minutes ago. And the air has this mixed 00:02:44.030 --> 00:02:49.020 smell of burial spices and wet stone. But then 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:51.860 there's also something underneath that. There's 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:57.099 something warm and animal. It's the smell of 00:02:57.099 --> 00:03:00.780 a body that was shut in the dark for four days 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:06.960 and is now standing in the sun blinking while 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.879 his sister holds his arm like she's afraid. If 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:14.259 she lets go, he might fall back down. Lazarus 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:19.500 is alive. That much you know. You watched it 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.900 happen. You're still watching it happen. He's 00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:26.879 right there, 30 feet away from you. And the people 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.939 closest to him keep reaching out to touch his 00:03:29.939 --> 00:03:33.419 shoulder, his hands, his face. The way you touch 00:03:33.419 --> 00:03:36.099 something when you're not quite sure that it's 00:03:36.099 --> 00:03:40.400 real. And you were on the road to Jerusalem. 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:45.539 You were passing through. But your feet stopped. 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:48.819 in that moment and they haven't started walking 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:53.080 again. The dust is settling on the path behind 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:57.379 you. The pilgrim traffic is flowing towards Jerusalem 00:03:57.379 --> 00:04:01.680 like water flows around a stone. But you're not 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:06.240 leaving. Not yet. Because something else is happening. 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:11.439 Something quieter than the miracle. And you can 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:16.300 feel it before you name it. The crowd It's shifting. 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:22.920 Not moving. Shifting. The way the temperature 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:27.699 in a room changes when two people realize they 00:04:27.699 --> 00:04:33.500 don't agree on the same things. No one has a 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:38.439 raised voice. No one is left. The unified silence 00:04:38.439 --> 00:04:42.439 that has held everyone together for those first 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.949 few stunned moments. That silence is breaking, 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:50.829 and you need to stay long enough to see what 00:04:50.829 --> 00:04:55.269 it breaks into. And there's a moment you almost 00:04:55.269 --> 00:05:01.110 miss it when everyone was on the same page. It 00:05:01.110 --> 00:05:06.290 lasted maybe 10 seconds, maybe less. The stone 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:09.810 was rolled away, the voice still echoed against 00:05:09.810 --> 00:05:14.230 the rock face, and the man... was standing in 00:05:14.230 --> 00:05:19.410 the entrance of his own grave with linen hanging 00:05:19.410 --> 00:05:24.089 off him like shed skin. Every single person in 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:27.370 that cemetery, mourners, neighbors, strangers, 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:31.250 skeptics, sisters, disciples, the curious, the 00:05:31.250 --> 00:05:35.269 dutiful, the ones who had to come because that's 00:05:35.269 --> 00:05:39.550 what you do, you show up when someone dies. Every 00:05:39.550 --> 00:05:43.810 one of them had the exact same expression. Mouths 00:05:43.810 --> 00:05:48.350 open, hands still, eyes locked on the one thing 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:51.790 that should not be happening and is happening 00:05:51.790 --> 00:05:57.769 anyway. And in that moment, there's no theology, 00:05:57.769 --> 00:06:01.149 no politics, no affiliations, no denominations, 00:06:01.149 --> 00:06:05.370 just the raw, unprocessed fact of a dead man 00:06:05.370 --> 00:06:10.449 now breathing. Martha's hand went over her mouth. 00:06:10.610 --> 00:06:14.810 Mary was on the ground. Someone behind you whispered 00:06:14.810 --> 00:06:17.430 something in a language you didn't catch. A child 00:06:17.430 --> 00:06:21.550 pulled at his mother's sleeve, and for that sliver 00:06:21.550 --> 00:06:26.029 of time, you were all just people standing in 00:06:26.029 --> 00:06:29.110 front of something too big to make sense of. 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:37.290 Then someone blinked. Someone swallowed. Someone 00:06:37.290 --> 00:06:44.100 took a step, not towards Lazarus. but away, just 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:48.079 shifting weight. And the moment that it cracked, 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:54.160 the way ice cracks on a pond, one line, finger 00:06:54.160 --> 00:07:00.899 thin, almost invisible. But everything on either 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:07.220 side is already drifting apart. So friends, tune 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:09.959 your ears to the reading of Holy Scripture tonight. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:12.699 Our section comes to us from the Gospel account 00:07:12.699 --> 00:07:15.500 according to the Apostle John, beginning in the 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:20.480 11th chapter of his account and verse 45. Therefore 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:22.860 many of the Jews who came to Mary and had seen 00:07:22.860 --> 00:07:26.740 the things which Jesus did believed in him. But 00:07:26.740 --> 00:07:30.240 some of them went to the Pharisees and told them 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.860 the things that Jesus had done. Chief priests, 00:07:34.060 --> 00:07:36.639 therefore, and the Pharisees gathered a council 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:41.790 and said, What are we doing? For this man does 00:07:41.790 --> 00:07:47.769 signs. If we leave him alone, everyone will believe 00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:51.629 in him, and the Romans will come and take away 00:07:51.629 --> 00:07:57.810 both our place and our nation. But a certain 00:07:57.810 --> 00:08:01.329 one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that 00:08:01.329 --> 00:08:05.310 year, said to them, You know nothing at all. 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:09.399 Nor do you consider that it is expedient for 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:14.180 us that one man should die for the people and 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:18.779 that the whole nation should not perish. Now, 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:21.779 he didn't say this about himself, but being high 00:08:21.779 --> 00:08:25.120 priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:28.879 die for the nation and not for the nation only. 00:08:31.050 --> 00:08:34.710 that he might also gather together into one the 00:08:34.710 --> 00:08:38.330 children of God who were scattered around. So 00:08:38.330 --> 00:08:41.690 from that day forward, they began to take counsel. 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:46.429 They might begin to put him to death. Jesus, 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:50.250 therefore, walked no more openly among the Jews, 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:53.509 but departed from there into the country near 00:08:53.509 --> 00:08:57.110 the wilderness to a city called Ephraim. He stayed 00:08:57.110 --> 00:09:01.740 there with his disciples. Now the Passover of 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:05.539 the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:08.580 to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:12.500 Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:15.220 another as they stood in the temple. What do 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:18.740 you think? That he isn't coming to the feast 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:22.720 at all? Now the chief priests and the Pharisees 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.500 had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:30.490 he should report it. that they might seize him. 00:09:31.649 --> 00:09:35.269 Thus ends the reading of the Word of the Seeming 00:09:35.269 --> 00:09:41.769 Prince. Same mirror, same afternoon, same town 00:09:41.769 --> 00:09:46.990 of Bethany, same dust in the air, two different 00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:51.129 walks home. And I want to start tonight with 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:54.340 a question most of us skip past because I think 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:57.659 the story just moves fast. Who are these people? 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:04.080 John says, many of the Jews who came to Mary. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:09.039 That's specific language. These aren't disciples. 00:10:09.659 --> 00:10:13.120 They aren't Galileans who've been following Jesus 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:16.779 around the countryside. These are Jews from Jerusalem. 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:21.129 John tells you back in verse 19 that they had 00:10:21.129 --> 00:10:24.289 come to console Martha and Mary about their brother. 00:10:25.149 --> 00:10:29.190 That's a social obligation. In first century 00:10:29.190 --> 00:10:33.350 Judea, when someone dies, you show up. You sit, 00:10:33.490 --> 00:10:37.529 you mourn, you bring food. You don't have to 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:40.649 believe anything about the dead man's religion 00:10:40.649 --> 00:10:47.210 or what kind of rabbi he was. to be in that house. 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:52.610 You just had to know the family. So the crowd 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:57.110 at Bethany that day is not an assembled congregation. 00:10:57.429 --> 00:11:02.990 It's a neighborhood. It's a mix of genuine foreigners, 00:11:03.350 --> 00:11:08.649 social obligation visitors, family friends, people 00:11:08.649 --> 00:11:12.070 who knew the sisters from the synagogue or the 00:11:12.070 --> 00:11:16.850 marketplace. Some of them, may have been sympathetic 00:11:16.850 --> 00:11:23.269 to Jesus. Some of them almost certainly were 00:11:23.269 --> 00:11:29.590 not. But they were all there, and they all saw 00:11:29.590 --> 00:11:33.610 the exact same thing. A man who had been sealed 00:11:33.610 --> 00:11:37.309 in a rock tomb for four days walked out when 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:42.169 Jesus called his name. And John splits them right 00:11:42.169 --> 00:11:46.419 down the middle. Verse 45, many believed. Verse 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:50.940 46, but some of them went to the Pharisees and 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:55.240 told them the things Jesus had done. Now, here's 00:11:55.240 --> 00:11:58.379 what I want, here's what I need you to hear. 00:11:59.419 --> 00:12:03.059 Because this is where most readings get the passage 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:08.279 wrong. We assume that the ones who went to the 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:11.320 Pharisees went because they didn't believe in 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:15.480 what had happened. We read them as skeptics, 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:20.299 doubters, people who for whatever reason couldn't 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:23.879 accept the evidence. But that's not how John 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:28.940 reads. Let me read verse 46 again. They went 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:33.580 to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus 00:12:33.580 --> 00:12:40.320 had done. That's not a denial. That is a report. 00:12:42.029 --> 00:12:44.909 That's not saying we don't think it was real. 00:12:46.289 --> 00:12:48.570 They're saying you need to know what just happened. 00:12:49.389 --> 00:12:53.789 They believed it happened. They saw the same 00:12:53.789 --> 00:12:58.330 thing everyone else saw. And their response was 00:12:58.330 --> 00:13:03.049 not to worship. It was a briefing to the authorities. 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:10.169 So the question isn't, why didn't they believe? 00:13:12.679 --> 00:13:18.559 The question, friends, is what kind of belief 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:23.039 sends you to the authorities instead of your 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:27.899 knees? And this is where it gets uncomfortable. 00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:34.100 Because we want the line between faith and unfaithfulness 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:38.799 to be clean. We want to say the believers saw 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:43.259 clearly and the reporters were blind. That's 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:47.720 not how John tells it. He tells it as the same 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:52.059 evidence, the same afternoon, the same miracle, 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:56.080 and it produced two completely different responses. 00:13:56.220 --> 00:13:59.639 And neither group was confused about what they 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:04.620 had just saw. Which means the dividing line isn't, 00:14:04.620 --> 00:14:10.720 did you see it? The dividing line becomes, What 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:15.759 will it cost you if it's true? Think about who 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:20.700 those people in that crowd were. Jerusalem, Jewish 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:25.799 people, connected to the temple system. Many 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:29.419 of them are part of families whose livelihood, 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:33.840 social standing, religious identity depend on 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:37.120 the existing power structure. The priesthood, 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:40.580 the Sanhedrin, the arrangement with Rome that 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:43.639 keeps the temple running and the nation intact. 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:47.740 For those people, a miracle worker from the Galilee 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:52.000 who can call dead people out of the grave isn't 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:57.559 good news. It's a crisis. Because here's what 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:00.940 resurrection does when it leaves Jesus' hands. 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:04.779 Up to this point, the authorities could manage 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:09.519 him. He heals, healers come and go. He teaches 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:12.360 with authority, so did the baptizer, and the 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:15.399 wilderness took care of him. He feeds crowds, 00:15:15.539 --> 00:15:20.399 crowds disperse. But this is different. This 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.700 isn't a healing you can question or a teaching 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:25.860 you can debate. A man their neighbors buried 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:30.419 four days ago is walking around in Bethany, and 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:34.759 Jesus didn't do it quietly. in some Galilean 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:38.639 backwater back in the hills. He did it a mile 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:42.539 and a half from Jerusalem in front of a crowd, 00:15:42.659 --> 00:15:48.139 many of whom live in that city. Many witnesses 00:15:48.139 --> 00:15:51.620 are going back to the city to go home tonight. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.559 Witnesses who will be a part of the temple system 00:15:55.559 --> 00:15:59.100 tomorrow. Many of the witnesses who know other 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:03.049 important, powerful people. Resurrection. When 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:06.429 Jesus does it to somebody else, it's no longer 00:16:06.429 --> 00:16:10.870 containable. And that's what that high priest, 00:16:11.029 --> 00:16:14.470 Caiaphas, that's what he understands. Look at 00:16:14.470 --> 00:16:19.870 what he says. It is expedient. It's a good thing. 00:16:20.049 --> 00:16:24.230 It is expedient for us that one man should die 00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:26.389 for the people and the whole nation should not 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:31.809 perish. That's not theology. That is cost -benefit 00:16:31.809 --> 00:16:36.909 analysis. That is a man standing in the highest 00:16:36.909 --> 00:16:43.009 office religiously in the nation looking at the 00:16:43.009 --> 00:16:46.190 most powerful sign God has performed in a generation 00:16:46.190 --> 00:16:51.610 and is doing the math. And his math isn't wrong 00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:57.769 politically because if Jesus keeps doing this, 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:03.460 Rome will notice. And when they notice, Rome 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:08.359 will respond. When they respond to the temple 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:13.220 arrangement, the careful, fragile deal that lets 00:17:13.220 --> 00:17:17.359 the Jewish nation survive under occupation will 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:23.539 collapse in on itself. Caius is protecting the 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:28.339 institution. He's not crazy. He's efficient. 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:34.819 But efficiency is a terrible lens for looking 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:39.400 for God. And let me tell you what John's really 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:42.779 doing here, because he's doing something extraordinary, 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:47.319 and I think he knows it. In verse 51, he stops 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:51.640 the narrative cold and says, now he didn't say 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:55.549 this of himself. But being high priest that year, 00:17:55.609 --> 00:17:58.190 he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. 00:17:58.809 --> 00:18:02.950 John is telling you that Caiaphas, the man who 00:18:02.950 --> 00:18:08.829 just ordered his execution, accidentally preached 00:18:08.829 --> 00:18:13.609 the gospel. He said the truest thing in the story 00:18:13.609 --> 00:18:17.109 that has been said so far, and he said it for 00:18:17.109 --> 00:18:20.849 all of the wrong reasons. One man dying for the 00:18:20.849 --> 00:18:25.880 people. That is the plan. It's just not Caiaphas' 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:30.900 plan. It's God's. And the high priest, the one 00:18:30.900 --> 00:18:35.180 man in Israel whose job it is to stand between 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:40.299 God and the people, becomes the very instrument 00:18:40.299 --> 00:18:43.319 of the very sacrifice he has yet to understand. 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:47.240 He thinks he's protecting the nation from a dangerous 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:51.440 rabbi. He's actually setting the stage for the 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:54.920 salvation of the whole world. That's John showing 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:59.400 us exactly what happens when the machinery of 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:04.039 power encounters the power of God. When that 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:09.240 happens, it never stops God. It gets used by 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:13.440 God. Sometimes it doesn't even know it's being 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:17.240 used. But I need you to see something else tonight. 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:22.279 Because this is where Lazarus changes everything 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:26.420 for the season we've been walking through. Before 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:30.200 Bethany, you could argue resurrection was theoretical. 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:34.880 Martha believed in it, talked about it on Sunday. 00:19:34.900 --> 00:19:39.700 She said, at the last day. And when she's talking 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:42.819 about resurrection, she's using good theology, 00:19:43.099 --> 00:19:48.380 safe timeline. Resurrection filed away at the 00:19:48.380 --> 00:19:50.880 end of history where it doesn't have to rearrange 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:55.220 your Tuesday. The Pharisees believed in resurrection 00:19:55.220 --> 00:19:59.880 as doctrine. The Sadducees didn't, but that's 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:04.460 a whole other fight. What Lazarus does is he 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:09.779 drags, Jesus drags resurrection out of our theological 00:20:09.779 --> 00:20:13.539 filing cabinet and stands it right in the middle 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:17.549 of that dusty road. And it's no longer a proposition 00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:20.069 that we can just mentally or intellectually hold. 00:20:20.210 --> 00:20:24.829 It's a man you can touch who smells like a tomb 00:20:24.829 --> 00:20:29.490 and who's eating dinner at his sister's table 00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:35.410 in chapter 12. And all of this matters for where 00:20:35.410 --> 00:20:39.950 we're actually headed. Because when Jesus himself 00:20:39.950 --> 00:20:45.190 comes out of a tomb on Easter morning, And if 00:20:45.190 --> 00:20:49.049 that's the only resurrection in the story, you 00:20:49.049 --> 00:20:53.109 could call it a one -time event. A divine exception. 00:20:54.109 --> 00:20:57.089 God doing something for his son that doesn't 00:20:57.089 --> 00:21:01.769 necessarily extend to anyone else. But Lazarus 00:21:01.769 --> 00:21:06.150 is already out. Lazarus has already happened. 00:21:06.990 --> 00:21:11.529 Which means resurrection is not just something. 00:21:12.970 --> 00:21:17.690 Jesus does for himself something he does for 00:21:17.690 --> 00:21:22.089 others. It's transferable. It means resurrection 00:21:22.089 --> 00:21:26.890 moves outward. And that's what makes it uncontrollable. 00:21:28.210 --> 00:21:31.549 That's why John chapter 12 and 10 says the chief 00:21:31.549 --> 00:21:36.250 priest made plans to kill Lazarus too. Not because 00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:40.130 Lazarus had done anything wrong. Because Lazarus 00:21:40.130 --> 00:21:43.970 alive? was proof walking around in the daylight. 00:21:44.150 --> 00:21:46.549 And you can't cross -examine a man whose own 00:21:46.549 --> 00:21:50.329 death is a matter of public record. The evidence 00:21:50.329 --> 00:21:54.630 isn't the problem. The evidence of being alive 00:21:54.630 --> 00:21:59.029 is the problem. So here's where I want us to 00:21:59.029 --> 00:22:01.109 land tonight, because we're building towards 00:22:01.109 --> 00:22:04.069 something, and I want you to carry this into 00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:08.549 the next week. Two groups of people leave Bethany 00:22:08.549 --> 00:22:12.759 that afternoon. Believers and reporters, both 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:15.940 of them saw the same thing. Both of them walking 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:19.420 back to Jerusalem, and in a few days, both of 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:23.440 them are going to be on the road when Jesus borrows 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:27.880 donkey and rides down the Mount of Olives. And 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:31.980 the believers will be waving palm branches. Some 00:22:31.980 --> 00:22:35.819 of those reporters, or people they reported to, 00:22:37.090 --> 00:22:41.230 They'll be in the crowd too, watching. Luke tells 00:22:41.230 --> 00:22:43.829 you the Pharisees are right there in that parade, 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:48.009 close enough to tell Jesus, to tell his disciples 00:22:48.009 --> 00:22:51.809 to calm down. John tells you the Pharisees are 00:22:51.809 --> 00:22:54.250 watching, and they are saying to each other, 00:22:54.329 --> 00:22:57.809 we're getting nowhere. The whole world has now 00:22:57.809 --> 00:23:02.289 gone after us. And on Friday morning, early, 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.700 Before those Galilean pilgrims even know what's 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:11.180 happening, there's a crowd at Pilate's courtyard 00:23:11.180 --> 00:23:16.059 screaming for Barabbas. And now you know where 00:23:16.059 --> 00:23:20.619 that crowd came from. Not the palm branches. 00:23:21.099 --> 00:23:24.480 Not from the pilgrims who walked with Jesus from 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:28.839 Galilee. From the system that decided back in 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:32.460 Bethany that the evidence was the problem. And 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:37.339 the solution was this cross. We need to sit with 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:41.660 that just for a second. Because this isn't just 00:23:41.660 --> 00:23:46.200 a first century story. Some of you have lived 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:49.099 a version of that story. You have been loved 00:23:49.099 --> 00:23:53.200 on a Sunday and condemned on a Friday. And then 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:55.180 you have spent years trying to figure out how 00:23:55.180 --> 00:23:58.720 the same people could do both to you. You've 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.109 carried that weight. Weight of believing. That 00:24:02.109 --> 00:24:04.950 the voices that praised you and the voices that 00:24:04.950 --> 00:24:09.609 buried you belong to the same mouths. That weight 00:24:09.609 --> 00:24:13.410 teaches you something brutal. That love is actually 00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:19.009 temporary. That praise is just a setup. That 00:24:19.009 --> 00:24:21.269 the people who sing your name will eventually 00:24:21.269 --> 00:24:26.269 scream for someone else. But what if they weren't 00:24:26.269 --> 00:24:30.390 the same people? What if the ones who loved you 00:24:30.390 --> 00:24:33.789 on Sunday didn't stop loving you on Friday? What 00:24:33.789 --> 00:24:35.849 if they just weren't in the room when the deal 00:24:35.849 --> 00:24:39.990 was made? What if the voices that tore you down 00:24:39.990 --> 00:24:42.789 were never the voices that actually built you 00:24:42.789 --> 00:24:44.890 up? You just couldn't tell the difference because 00:24:44.890 --> 00:24:47.609 it all happened within the span of one week in 00:24:47.609 --> 00:24:51.109 the same city. And the pain made it feel like 00:24:51.109 --> 00:24:57.740 one story instead of two. who waved palm branches, 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:02.700 did not scream for Barabbas. The ones who loved 00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:05.460 him on Sunday did not stop loving him on Friday. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.380 They were camped outside the walls. They didn't 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:11.000 even know what was going on until the cross was 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:16.920 already up. And that matters. Not just for understanding, 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:20.240 I mean really understanding the passion, but 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:24.900 for understanding of your own. Now, next Sunday 00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:28.200 is Palm Sunday. I'm going to show you who's on 00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:31.539 the road and why. Every layer of that crowd, 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:34.960 where they came from and for what they thought 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.400 they were waving at. And then on Good Friday, 00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:41.240 we're going to walk into that courtyard and see 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:45.480 who's actually standing there. But tonight, tonight, 00:25:45.579 --> 00:25:49.619 I needed you to see where it started. Not on 00:25:49.619 --> 00:25:54.190 the road to Jerusalem, here in Bethany. at the 00:25:54.190 --> 00:25:57.710 mouth of a tomb should have stayed shut, and 00:25:57.710 --> 00:26:01.089 resurrection got loose, and the people who couldn't 00:26:01.089 --> 00:26:04.950 afford for it to be true spent the rest of that 00:26:04.950 --> 00:26:09.690 week trying to put it back into the ground. So 00:26:09.690 --> 00:26:12.829 may the God who calls the dead by name call you 00:26:12.829 --> 00:26:16.029 out of whatever tomb you've been sealed, shut 00:26:16.029 --> 00:26:20.019 in, and accepted as final. And when you come 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:22.380 stumbling out of the light, may you be surrounded 00:26:22.380 --> 00:26:26.880 by people who unbind you, not people who turn 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:41.599 you in. Amen? Amen. You know, maybe what you 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:44.299 need to hear right now, tonight, is that what 00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:48.269 you saw was real. even if not everyone around 00:26:48.269 --> 00:26:51.549 you knew what to do with it. But the moment wasn't 00:26:51.549 --> 00:26:54.089 false just because the room fractured afterwards. 00:26:55.049 --> 00:26:59.509 Same dust, same afternoon, same miracle, two 00:26:59.509 --> 00:27:02.609 different walks home. And maybe that's where 00:27:02.609 --> 00:27:05.269 you've been living, trying to make sense of why 00:27:05.269 --> 00:27:08.410 something holy in your life doesn't hold everything 00:27:08.410 --> 00:27:12.430 together. But listen, truth doesn't stop being 00:27:12.430 --> 00:27:14.650 true just because it costs somebody something. 00:27:15.349 --> 00:27:18.289 And grace, grace doesn't lose its power just 00:27:18.289 --> 00:27:21.130 because somebody tried to manage it. So don't 00:27:21.130 --> 00:27:23.450 let the ones who filed a report talk you out 00:27:23.450 --> 00:27:26.230 of what you have witnessed. Stay with what you 00:27:26.230 --> 00:27:29.910 saw. Stay with the one who called it forth. And 00:27:29.910 --> 00:27:32.170 if something landed tonight, if you heard something 00:27:32.170 --> 00:27:34.789 you hadn't heard before, maybe heard it in a 00:27:34.789 --> 00:27:36.650 way that finally settled into your bones, go 00:27:36.650 --> 00:27:38.549 ahead and throw your like in the offering plate 00:27:38.549 --> 00:27:41.309 like we do down at the church. Just let us know 00:27:41.309 --> 00:27:44.240 you're here and that the message mattered. And 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.660 if you'd like to keep walking with us down the 00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:48.799 road towards Jerusalem all the way to Sunday 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:51.980 morning, make sure you tithe your subscribe so 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:54.799 you'll know when we're gathered again. And until 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:56.440 then, friend, be blessed.