Five-year Bible reading plan for 8 June 2024

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

John, Chapter 12, verses 1-11

¹ Jesus excuseth Mary anointing his feet, ⁹ The people flock to see Lazarus, ¹⁰ The high priests consult to kill him

¹Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

²There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

³Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

⁴Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,

⁵Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

⁶This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

⁷Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

⁸For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

⁹Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;

¹¹Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

Read more:John, Chapter 12

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12

12:1 Six days before the passover - Namely, on the Sabbath: that which was called by the Jews, "The Great Sabbath." This whole week was anciently termed "The great and holy week." Jesus came - From Ephraim, Joh 11:54.

12:2 It seems Martha was a person of some figure, from the great respect which was paid to her and her sister, in visits and condolences on Lazarus's death, as well as from the costly ointment mentioned in the next verse. And probably it was at their house our Lord and his disciples lodged, when he returned from Jerusalem to Bethany, every evening of the last week of his life, upon which he was now entered.

12:3 Then Mary, taking a pound of ointment - There were two persons who poured ointment on Christ. One toward the beginning of his ministry, at or near Nain, Luk 7:37, etc The other six days before his last passover, at Bethany; the account of whom is given here, as well as by St. Matthew and Mark.

12:7 Against the day of my burial - Which now draws nigh.

12:10 The chief priests consulted, how to kill Lazarus also - Here is the plain reason why the other evangelists, who wrote while Lazarus was living, did not relate his story.

NOTES

Today's reading once again returns us to Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Although he remains in the background, he nevertheless takes part in such events as...

Today's reading once again returns us to Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Although he remains in the background, he nevertheless takes part in such events as the anointing of Jesus (vv. 1-11) and the Lord's entry into Jerusalem (vv. 12-19). At the beginning of the account we meet Lazarus in the house where the events unfold (vv. 1-2), and his presence draws many people's attention to what is happening when they might otherwise have noticed nothing (v. 9). According to the evangelist, even Jesus' triumphant reception in the streets of Jerusalem was connected to a significant degree with the rumors spreading through the city about the man who had died and whom He had raised (vv. 17-18).

Such attention to Lazarus and to everything connected with the miracle of Jesus raising him is, of course, no accident. For most believing Jews, the resurrection of the dead was a sign that the day of Judgment and the messianic Kingdom had arrived. Someone capable of performing such miracles was naturally regarded as the long-awaited Messiah. Jesus Himself, who had previously concealed His messiahship and revealed the mystery of His ministry to only a few, now bears direct witness to His mission: He accepts the greetings of the people gathered in the city streets, who welcome Him as the Messiah (vv. 12-15). Indeed, after so evident a manifestation of the Kingdom's power before everyone, it would have been utterly impossible to continue concealing His messiahship. On the other hand, Jesus now had very little time left before completing His earthly ministry, so He no longer needed to fear being drawn into religious and political games by being made the leader of yet another messianic uprising.

But even such plain evidence apparently did not convince everyone. Neither the Temple leadership (vv. 10-11) nor most of the leaders of the Pharisaic movement (v. 19) changed their opinion of Jesus. Yet this position can hardly have been determined by any evidence or arguments. Had arguments been at issue, one could scarcely find one weightier than the living Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised before a multitude of witnesses. But judging by the evangelist's account, the priestly circles' only response to this argument was a plan to kill Lazarus and thus rid themselves of him as living evidence that Jesus was right.

This is plainly no longer about evidence or theological discussion but about a political game whose outcome is known in advance. Those who play it have no need of the Kingdom. They need religious and political stability in society, which in their view justifies any sacrifice. If at first the issue concerned only One (John 11:49-50), it now concerns at least two. Such is the logic of earthly power when it opposes the Kingdom: unwilling to acknowledge the obvious, it merely multiplies its victims as it tries to eliminate everyone who might become a witness to the Kingdom. It is the logic of the powers of darkness that leads the Savior to the cross.

Why does an enthusiastic crowd meet Jesus on the streets of Jerusalem? The Evangelist answers this question quite plainly: because the news that He had raised Lazarus had already spread through the city, since...

Why does an enthusiastic crowd meet Jesus on the streets of Jerusalem? The Evangelist answers this question quite plainly: because the news that He had raised Lazarus had already spread through the city, since Bethany is very close to Jerusalem. And, of course, many people then thought that the long-awaited Messiah had finally come: it was His coming that would mark the beginning of that universal resurrection before the Last Judgment, in which most believing Jews of that time believed and for which they waited. It would seem that this faith and these expectations fully matched the main goal of the Savior's earthly ministry, whose fulfillment was already very near. Victory over death was close; it seemed that nothing now prevented Him from declaring it openly.

And yet there was something that substantially distinguished the people's expectations from the new reality coming into the world. The report of Lazarus's resurrection, or more precisely the reaction of the Jerusalem crowd to it, marked this difference as clearly as nothing else could. The people truly were waiting for and wanted a universal resurrection. But they saw this resurrection as a return to the understandable and familiar life of the untransfigured world, which, if only it were freed from illnesses and the threat of an unavoidable end, seemed to them an ideal. Of course, a solution to all social problems was also expected: in the messianic Kingdom there would be not only no sick people, but no poor people either; everyone would be fed and, if not rich, at least well-off. And many of those who greeted Jesus thought that now, when "the process had begun," He would finally proclaim Himself openly as the Messiah and take up what had long been expected of Him: drive the Romans and other Gentiles out of Judea, stand at the head of the newly created state, solve all social problems, issue just laws based on the Torah, and solve every problem miraculously, just as He had acted until now, healing, raising the dead, and feeding the crowds.

And perhaps only Jesus Himself knew that nothing of the sort would happen. The resurrection would begin only at the moment of His death on the cross, when the tombs would be opened and the first righteous people would come out of them, raised not to their former life but to a new life, to the life of that Kingdom which He brought into the world.

Actually, it is a perfectly reasonable thought: not to spend money on some symbolic actions, but to go and give it to the poor. And for some reason Jesus approves this gesture, which brings...

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