John 12:1-19 - Responding to Resurrection Power

Prayer

Father, thank you for the opportunity to learn about you and your Son Jesus from your Word.

I pray that you would open our hearts to believe what you have revealed about yourself here in these pages.

I pray that you would use the truth we find here to change us into the likeness of your Son through the power of your Spirit who lives in us.

Lord, I don’t have the power in myself to do any of this, so please work through me.

I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Intro

Sometimes… in fact, a lot of the time… our assumptions about truth and lies shape our responses to different things in life.

Let me give you some examples.

When I’m standing in line at the grocery store, and I see the tabloids...

I assume that the headline stories are either outright lies or at least blown way out of proportion...

So I respond by ignoring them.

When I’m listening to a financial advisor tell me where to invest my money...

I assume he is telling the truth and giving me his best advice because his reputation and his own livelihood are dependent on it…

So I respond by doing what he tells me to do with my money.

When I’m listening to my child tell me about how they have been bullied at school...

I assume they’re telling the truth because of their track record and who they are to me…

So I respond by addressing the bullying issue with the school and the other child’s parents.

But when you hear the gospel...

when you hear about a man who has the power to raise the dead just by speaking…

a man who also died and rose from the dead in your place...

a man with true resurrection power.

What are your assumptions, and how are those assumptions going to shape your response?

In our passage today in John 12:1-19, we are going to see three different general responses to Jesus’ resurrection power.

And we see these same responses today.

We are going to walk through this passage one response at a time.

And the first response to Jesus’ resurrection power is celebration in verses 1-8.

John 12:1–4 ESV

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,

John 12:5–8 ESV

“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

So, this is a…

Celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection Power (1-8)

And in the first three verses we see...

Celebration in worship (1-3)

Jesus had recently raised Lazarus from the dead, and the religious leaders caught wind of it and made plans to kill him.

So, Jesus retreated to a place called Ephraim.

But now, six days before the Passover feast, Jesus comes back to Bethany, and Martha, Lazarus, and Mary honor him with a dinner for bringing Lazarus back to life.

And the three siblings all celebrate Jesus’ resurrection power by worshipping him in different ways.

We can also look to these different ways to worship as examples of worship in our own lives.

In light of Jesus’ resurrection power we can...

Serve Jesus like Martha

A number of other incident’s shows us that Martha was very concerned with serving people.

One instance she was corrected by Jesus because she was upset at her sister for not helping her serve.

But here, she was happy to serve, and to let her brother and sister worship Jesus in their own way.

We can take Martha as an example of one proper response to Jesus’ resurrection power.

When you understand who Jesus is and what he’s done for you, it should compel you to want to serve him like Martha did.

To honor him with your service because he deserves it.

This can look different with each of us...

Some may serve Jesus by cleaning up the church building…

Some may serve Jesus by caring for children...

Some may serve Jesus by leading worship music...

Some may serve Jesus by giving food to the elderly or to the homeless...

Some may serve Jesus by teaching others about him...

We all serve Jesus in slightly different ways.

But we can all serve like Martha did.

In light of Jesus’ resurrection power we can also...

Spend time with Jesus like Lazarus

Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with Jesus.

He was just hanging out with him.

He wasn’t really serving like his sister, Martha.

But what he was doing was also a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection power in worship.

We can also respond in celebration by spending time with Jesus.

When you understand who Jesus is and what he’s done for you...

His love for you fuels your love for him, and it compels you to want to know him more.

You want to know what he likes and what he doesn’t like…

what pleases him and what disappoints him.

You want to know everything about him.

You also want to tell him those things about you, too.

So, how do we do that?

We pray to him and we read his Word.

We can all spend time with him like Lazarus did.

In light of Jesus’ resurrection power we can also...

Sacrificially give to Jesus like Mary

This is the response that’s highlighted the most in this encounter because it’s so countercultural.

Mary took a jar of super expensive perfume and poured it all over Jesus’ feet.

This wasn’t just a little bit of perfume, this was probably the whole pound of it so that the entire room was filled with the fragrance.

This was a lavish and truly sacrificial gift.

Probably the most expensive thing that she owned, and she gave it all to Jesus.

When you understand who Jesus is and what he has done it should compel you to sacrificially give to him because of the sacrificial gift he’s already given to you.

This can look like giving money, or property, or labor, or time.

We give these things to Jesus to see his kingdom advanced and to joyfully meet the needs of others.

Our gifts will all be different…

Different amounts, different contents, different contexts…

But we can all sacrificially give to Jesus like Mary did.

And all of this is a response of worship, a response of celebration because of Jesus’ resurrection power in our lives.

We also see in verses 4-8…

Celebration in the face of selfish opposition (4-8)

This celebration, especially sacrificial giving, is countercultural...

The world doesn’t understand it.

And when they see it, they think we’re crazy.

Sometimes they even try to oppose it selfishly like Judas did.

The author, John has quite a few comments about Judas and what he was about to do.

He was one of Jesus’ disciples,

but he was also about to betray Jesus to the religious leaders,

and he was also a thief stealing money from Jesus.

Judas responds the way the rest of the world normally responds to sacrificial giving.

Rather than focusing on how much Jesus deserved to be given for all that he is and all that he gave…

Judas focused on how much he could have gained if Mary had not “wasted” the perfume on Jesus.

There are two principles at work here.

The first principle is that…

Greed opposes sacrificial worship

You’ll find the same principle at work today.

The world says that the best thing to do when someone sacrificially gives to you is to take that gift and run, or figure out some way to get more.

Even if you have to be a little dishonest to get it.

That’s what Judas did, and that’s what we see all throughout the world today.

Greed masquerading as philanthropy.

But that’s not what Jesus deserves, and that’s not what will ultimately be the best.

Greed is opposed to sacrificial giving, and Jesus is opposed to selfish greed.

In fact, after Judas opposes Mary’s sacrificial gift we see the second principle…

Jesus defends sacrificial worship

He says, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

The very first phrase here is a defense for Mary… “Leave her alone.”

She’s doing something beautiful, don’t mess it up, Judas… Leave her alone.

Why? Why should Judas leave Mary alone?

Because she was preparing Jesus’ body for burial.

This is one of many foreshadows Jesus gave for his sacrificial death that would come less than a week after this.

We’re supposed to make a connection here between the high value of the perfume Mary sacrificed for Jesus and the high value of Jesus’ life he sacrificed for our salvation from sin and death.

There’s a cycle of sorts.

Jesus sacrificially gave Mary her brother back from the dead.

Which compelled Mary to sacrificially give this perfume to Jesus as a foreshadow of his death.

And Jesus would go on to sacrificially give his life as a ransom for Mankind to be reconciled back to God.

And now, the cycle can keep going through our sacrificial giving in response to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

What can you give that will continue this cycle of sacrificial giving?

What can you give?

So, the first response to Jesus’ resurrection power was celebration is worship and in the face of selfish opposition.

In light of Jesus’ resurrection power we respond in celebration by serving Jesus, spending time with Jesus, and sacrificially giving to Jesus because of the sacrificial gift of salvation he has given us.

The next response we see in verses 9-11 is contention.

John 12:9–11 ESV

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

So, this is the religious leaders’…

Contention of Jesus’ Resurrection Power (9-11)

The religious leaders have been opposed to Jesus and his ministry from the outset.

We first encountered them in John’s gospel back in chapter 1 when they came to confront John the Baptist.

They questioned his authority to baptize, but they were clearly looking for the Christ like everyone else was.

We also saw them in chapter 2 when Jesus cleansed the Temple,

and they questioned Jesus’ authority to do that just like they questioned John’s authority to baptize.

We don’t see the religious leaders again as a group until chapter 5 after Jesus healed the lame man by the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath.

They concluded that Jesus must not be the Christ because he did not honor their Sabbath rules… even though they turned the day of rest into a day of bearing heavy spiritual burdens.

This was when they decided that Jesus had to die, but they took a while to figure out how to do it.

Then in chapter 7 Jesus went up secretly to the Feast of Booths,

and once he revealed himself, the religious leaders tried to arrest him, but they were unsuccessful.

In chapter 8 they tried to trap him by forcing him to choose to either condemn an adulteress to death going against Roman law, or to pardon her going against the Law of Moses.

But Jesus flipped the script on them and they had to retreat.

And later in chapter 8, Jesus showed that he is just as opposed to these religious leaders as they are opposed to him.

He called them out on their murderous intent and their deceitfulness by calling them children of their father, the Devil.

And when Jesus claimed to be God by saying, “before Abraham was, I Am,” they tried to stone him to death.

Then in chapter 9 Jesus healed a man who was born blind,

and the religious leaders kicked that man out of the Synagogue just for siding with Jesus.

And in chapter 10 Jesus was accosted by the religious leaders in Solomon’s colonnade,

and they tried to stone him again because he said, “I and the Father are one.”

In chapter 11 the religious leaders heard about how Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead,

and they finally got together and made a formal plan to put Jesus to death.

Now, in chapter 12, they have seen how much the raising of Lazarus has affected the people,

and they decide to undo what Jesus had just done…

make it like it never happened…

put Lazarus back in the ground.

These religious leaders opposed Jesus because they assumed something about him from the very beginning.

Their first interaction with Jesus was when he cleansed the temple and they questioned his authority to do that.

They’ve never accepted Jesus’ authority and identity as the Christ, the Son of God.

They’ve always assumed that Jesus is a liar and a blasphemer who is all about stirring up the people and ruining the religious leaders’ lives.

So they respond to Jesus’ resurrection power with contention.

Contention because of the threat to their way of life

Back in John 11:48 they said, “If we let him (Jesus) go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

They assumed that what Jesus was doing would ruin their lives.

And they liked how they were living.

I mean they were looked up to as the religious elite,

and because of their station their lives were not questioned, so they could get away with living in sin as long as they looked good on the outside.

I mean, this is like the best of both worlds.

To be admired as holy and be able to live in the pleasure of sin.

And here Jesus is about to ruin their hypocritical empire by drawing the attention of the Romans.

But they also contended with Jesus because of another threat.

Contention because of the threat to their pride

In verse 11 of John chapter 12, John explains the religious leaders’ decision to kill Lazarus.

He says, “on account of him (Lazarus) many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.”

The resurrection of Lazarus proved that Jesus was the Christ,

But that made the religious leaders look like fools because they have been opposed to Jesus for so long.

Their position required the respect of the people, and if they lost that respect, they would lose their power...

And their pride would be damaged beyond repair.

We see these responses all the time today.

People who want to keep their way of life, their sin, so they refuse to accept Jesus for who he is.

Most often this looks like indifference.

“Jesus is great for you, but I’ll keep doing my thing.”

“You do you.”

“I don’t really want to talk about religion… let’s just watch the game.”

Sometimes, though, it looks like militant opposition.

People being kicked out of their family because they became a Christian.

Famous atheists going on talk shows and telling the world how deluded and backward Christians and Christianity is.

Government legislators passing laws to ban prayer and any reference to God from the public eye.

Don’t be surprised if you run across these responses when you talk to people about Jesus.

Many people will respond in indifference or antagonism.

All you can do is tell them the truth, and rely on the Holy Spirit to allow them to see it as the truth and repent.

So, we saw the responses of celebration and contention to Jesus’ resurrection power, and it may be tempting to leave it there and see this as a sort of dichotomy...

Two opposing sides like good and evil, light and dark, love and hate, for Jesus and against him...

But there is a third response to Jesus’ resurrection power.

That third response in verses 12-19 is confusion.

John 12:12–15 ESV

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

John 12:16–19 ESV

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

So, here we see a sort of…

Confusion of Jesus’ Resurrection Power (12-19)

There are three different things the people, and even Jesus’ own disciples, were confused about.

They were confused about what Jesus came to do, they were confused about prophecies, and they were confused about Jesus’ signs.

The first one was...

Confusion about what Jesus came to do (12-13)

The crowd rightly understood that Jesus was the Christ...

His resurrection of Lazarus had clearly proven that.

What they were confused about was why Jesus had come.

They assumed that he came to free them from the oppression of Rome.

That’s what they meant when they shouted, “Hosanna!”

That word in Hebrew literally means “save now, I pray.”

They wanted Jesus to save them from Rome.

This assumption was not that far-fetched because there are plenty of prophecies that talk about the Christ, God’s chosen one, defeating Israel’s enemies.

And he will do that when he returns in glory.

The problem was that these earthly enemies, specifically Rome at that time, were more prominent in their minds than the enemies of sin and death.

They focused on the prophecies about the Christ conquering Israel’s enemies, and they ignored prophecies about his suffering and taking on the sins of the world.

This is selective belief.

The people who only want to believe some of the things in the Bible, but not all of it.

The people who want God to bless them and give them health and prosperity, but they ignore the parts of Scripture that talk about God’s people suffering and dying for him.

We’ve got to remember that Jesus didn’t come to make our lives more comfortable…

He came to give us eternal life, and joy and comfort in him in the midst of our painful circumstances.

We look forward to when Jesus will come back and make all things new, and wipe every tear from our eyes.

Only then will we enjoy our best life… in eternity… not now.

This life is good in Christ, but it’s not the best yet.

We have to keep this in the front of our minds because it’s so easy to get caught up in the difficulties of life and think that Jesus came to give us a prosperous life now.

It’s so easy to elevate the urgent needs of life to a place more prominent than the ultimate need of spiritual life and forgiveness from our sins… reconciliation with God.

We have to keep these things straight.

The next way the people responded was…

Confusion about prophecies (14-16)

Jesus went along with their desire to make him king because time had finally come for him to die and rise again in glory.

The people tried to make him king before, after he multiplied the bread and fish to feed them in the wilderness, but back then his time had not yet come, so he refused.

But now his time had come to accept the title of king of the Jews… and to die for it.

So, he fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

He is Israel’s rightful king, and he displayed that in riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey to the rejoicing of the people.

In the moment, Jesus’ disciples were caught up in the hype of the crowd, ignoring this prophecy and others.

It was only later that they remembered and made the connection.

It was only after Jesus was glorified… after they had the Holy Spirit to help them remember and discern these things.

This shows us the importance of reading the Old Testament, and understanding it in light of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we ignore the Old Testament then we lose the prophecies and foreshadows pointing to Jesus,

and in our minds Jesus becomes little more than a cultural phenomenon rather than the promised Messiah.

Without the prophecies, Jesus comes out of nowhere and there’s nothing historical to anchor his claims to, nothing to anticipate his arrival or his atonement.

If the prophecies and foreshadows are ignored, then the significance of the person and work of Jesus Christ is severely dampened.

And confusion abounds.

The last confused response to Jesus’ resurrection power was...

Confusion about Jesus’ signs (17-19)

Here, the people who had witnessed Jesus’ sign of raising Lazarus from the dead continued to bear witness.

They continued telling people about what Jesus had done.

And we also see that the whole reason the crowd was there with the palm branches welcoming Jesus as king...

The whole reason for that response was that they had heard the report of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead...

They heard it, but they misunderstood it.

That sign was supposed to point people to the truth that the Christ would have to suffer and die for the sins of the people like it says in Isaiah 53:4-6…

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And that passage in Isaiah goes on to talk about the Christ’s resurrection and intercession for his people in verses 11 and 12…

Isaiah 53:11–12 ESV

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

After his death, the only way for the Christ to have a portion with the many and to actively make intercession for the transgressors is for him to rise from the dead.

Jesus’ signs, and specifically his sign of raising Lazarus from the dead, proved that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and it points us to the truth that he came to die for our sins and rise again in victory over death.

The religious leaders misunderstood his signs as well, and we already looked at their response of opposition to Jesus.

But here, they saw the response of the people welcoming Jesus as their new king, and they despaired of ever getting rid of him.

They had no idea that Jesus was entering Jerusalem for the last time before he would be crucified.

They assumed that this crowd fully embraced Jesus,

but they didn’t understand how the crowd’s confusion left them open to changing their mind about Jesus once he failed to live up to their expectations.

That’s what happens when people only accept part of the truth about Jesus and not all of it.

Eventually Jesus disappoints them because they expected him to be a certain way or to do something for them that isn’t promised in Scripture.

And when we encounter these people, we have to treat them just like those who reject or ignore Jesus.

Keep telling them the truth and let the Holy Spirit fill in the gaps in their understanding.

Conclusion

So, what do we do with these three responses to Jesus’ resurrection power?

What is God’s Word calling us to do or believe or know about Jesus?

I think we’re supposed to be like Martha, Lazarus, and Mary…

We’re supposed to respond to Jesus’ resurrection power by worshipping him from a heart of love for him

because he loved you so much that he went to the cross for you and rose from the dead to give you eternal life with him.

They each worshipped Jesus in their own way:

by serving him,

by spending time with him,

and by sacrificially giving to him.

And we can all do likewise.

Not just picking one or the other, but doing all three as much as we can.

I also think we’re supposed to be like the crowd that witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead…

We’re supposed to tell everyone we can about Jesus, the Son of God, who has resurrection power.

He died for your sins and rose from the dead securing your eternal life with him.

But remember that when you tell people about Jesus, they’re going to respond in different ways.

If the Holy Spirit opens their heart to the truth of the gospel,

then they’re going to respond like Martha, Lazarus, and Mary in worship.

If the Holy Spirit does NOT open their heart to the truth of the gospel,

then they’re going to respond in contention or confusion.

Contention is hard to deal with,

but remember, they are rejecting Jesus, not you,

and it’s not your job to convince them, just to faithfully tell them about Jesus, and leave the rest to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Confusion is also hard to deal with,

because at first glance they look like they’re believers, but they’re only reacting to partial information.

There are lots of people who think of Jesus as a cosmic vending machine to fix their life on their terms by naming and claiming the blessing they want from him.

But this is not the real Jesus we see in the pages of Scripture…

this is a Jesus of their own making…

an imaginary savior made in their own image.

It’s so difficult to see people misunderstand the person and work of Jesus,

but just like those who outright reject him, we just have to faithfully tell them about the real Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

If you don’t believe in Jesus yet, then you have a choice to make right now.

You can either choose to believe in him as the Bible has revealed him, or you can reject him or only believe what you want about him and reject the rest.

Jesus is not a lie, nor is he a liar…

he has not come to ruin your life,

he’s come to save you from eternal death and grant you eternal life if you will believe in him.

Jesus is also not going to give you everything you want in life…

he didn’t come to free the Jews from Roman oppression, and he won’t necessarily free you from your oppression…

he didn’t come to give health, wealth, and prosperity to the Jews, and he won’t necessarily do that for you either.

Jesus is the Son of God, who became a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sins, rose from the dead three days later to secure your resurrection to eternal life with him, and he is now seated at the right hand of God the Father interceding on your behalf…

And all you have to do is believe in him.

So, will you reject him… or will you believe?

Pray

Father I pray that you would work in the hearts of all of us who have just heard your Word.

For those of us who already believe, help us to understand the responses to your gospel when we tell others about Jesus.

Help us to rely on your Spirit to bring people to faith in Christ rather than trying to convince or coerce people into the kingdom.

Help us to not become discouraged when people reject Jesus or when people only accept part of who he is and what he’s done.

And Father, for those here who may not yet believe in your Son, Jesus...

I pray that you would open their hearts to believe the truth of your Word.

Humble them, save them, give them life, adoption into your family, union with your Son.

Free them from sin and death by giving them understanding and faith in Jesus who gave himself on the cross for all of our sins and rose again so that we could be with him forever.

Lord, I can’t save anybody, but you can, and I pray that you would do that now.

Start a revival, Lord, in Benicia, in the Bay Area, that spreads all over the world.

We ask this for your glory, and in the name of your glorious Son, Jesus. Amen.