Is It Still Happening?
When the wise men were seeking Jesus after His birth, who was it that told them where He would be born? What group became some of the fiercest enemies of Jesus during His ministry on earth? What group leveled accusations against Jesus and also helped to incite people to demand His crucifixion?
As many who read this probably already know, the answer to all of these questions is the chief priests. On some occasions, these men were also joined by others, but that was not always the case.
The purpose of this post is not to get into a detailed discussion of who these men were, how they came to their position, or how the religion of the Jews was practiced during the earthly ministry of Jesus. Instead, the purpose of this post is to motivate all of us (including me) to do some serious self examination. I’m wondering if and/or how many today could be motivated by the same concerns as was the case with those men.
The reason for my thinking has to do with a passage in which these men, along with the Pharisees, made a statement to the Counsel (the Sanhedrin). The report had come to them concerning the news that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.
Please think with me about their response to this news:
…What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation (John 11:47-48).
I believe that it is significant that these men did not deny the fact that Jesus was performing miracles. It is also significant that they did not doubt the veracity of the men who brought the report. There is also no indication that they had any doubt about the fact that a man had actually been raised from the dead.
Their statement exposed the fact that their real concern was their “standing” in the religious community and in society in general. Their statement suggested strongly that they were more concerned about those matters than they were in accepting abundant evidence that the One whom they failed to visit after His birth, the One to whom they were now bitterly opposed, and the One in whose death they would play a significant role was, in fact, the Messiah.
I’m wondering if this is still happening. I’m wondering if there are religious leaders today who teach something other than what The Master Teacher taught because they might lose their standing in certain religious circles.
I’m also wondering if people in all walks of life could be guilty of the same thing. Are there those who refuse to be truly committed to Jesus because of what family, friends, employers, neighbors, and others might think? Could it be that our “standing” is more important to us than our eternal souls? The “standing” that should matter to all of us is that time when all of us will be standing before Jesus in judgment. That will not be a pleasant experience for those who think more of anything or anyone than they do Him.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
