Lent Day 35

John 11:45-57

The leaders of the Jews actively sought out Jesus' death when they realized so many other Jews were beginning to believe in Jesus. How ironic that they sought His death to avoid more people believing in Him and accomplished the very thing they were trying to avoid. How ironic also that they were trying to prevent the Romans from coming and destroying their nation and yet the destruction that came a few decades later had nothing to do with Jesus or His followers.
So many people believed in Jesus after Lazarus' resurrection because they recognized His power to do things no one else could do. Everyone gives up hope for a person's recovery when that person dies; only Jesus has ever been able to resurrect a person 4 days after death. Since no human can do that, many people began to realize that Jesus was more than just human. God Himself made the choice to join us in our weakness even though He knew from the beginning that it would lead to His own death. One death paid=millions of lives redeemed. The Jewish leaders brought about a great blessing for us all even though they didn't realize the full consequences of their actions.