John 11

Living By Faith

The book A Voice in the Wind (1993) is about a young Jewish slave girl named Hadassah who is thrown to the lions when she does not confess Caesar as Lord. Although she is mauled, she rejoices in being chosen to be persecuted for her faith.

Every Good Story Needs a Villain

• According the Mishnah, a sanhedrin (means “sitting together” and is used as a legal term, thus “council”) was to be comprised of a “community” of 23 judges.
  a. Numbers 14:27—The minimum size of a Jewish “community” is 10.
  b. Numbers 35:24-25—The purpose of this “community” was to vote for conviction and exoneration in criminal cases. Thus, ten would vote for conviction and 10 for exoneration.
  c. Exodus 23:2—An additional person would be needed to reach a majority (11-10). However, a simple majority could not convict, thus, an additional judge would be added to one side (12-10).
  d. Finally, one more judge would be added in order to prevent deadlocks, thus 23 members.
• The Grand Sanhedrin met in the Hall of Hewn Stones, which was located inside the Temple in Jerusalem.
  a. It was comprised of 71 members:
  i. The Nasi, or chief judge (which could have also been the High Priest),
  ii. The Av Beit Din, or vice chief judge,
  iii. An additional 69 general members.
  b. They convened everyday, with the exception of festival days and the Sabbath.
  c. The Sanhedrin was dissolved in AD 358 with the adoption of the Hebrew calendar.

John 11:1-16

• Many see this narrative as the crux of the Gospel because it appears to point to Jesus’ death and resurrection and also includes the Sanhedrin's plot to kill Jesus.
• This passage is where Floyd Filson develops his theory that Lazarus is the author of the Gospel because who else would love Jesus more than one who had been raised from the dead by Jesus.
• 11:2—This is evidence of the familiarity the early Church has with these characters and stories (Morris, p. 478).
• 11:4—The Son of God will receive glory from Lazarus, yet His full divinity will only be revealed through His own death and resurrection.
• 11:5-7—It was a rabbinic tradition that one’s soul did not fully abandon the body until three days after death. Jesus’ reluctance to go establishes the fact that Lazarus is dead (Brown, 1966, p. 424; Talbert, p. 177).
• 11:9—Is Jesus saying that anytime they go is appropriate because the Light is always with them?
• 11:12—They do not want to go because of what almost happened to them last time.
• 11:16—Some say this is the stuff of heroism because it is better to die with Jesus than to live without Him.
  a. Thomas is typically remembered for his doubting that Jesus had risen from the grave, yet here he shows a tremendous amount of faith.
  b. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die” (p. 89).

John 11:17-27

• 11:17—This affirms the fact that Lazarus is dead.
  a. 11:18-19—Lazarus must have been a man of some wealth. The mourning period was usually 40 days.
  b. 11:21—This is an example of belief in a bodily resurrection in pre-Christians.
• 11:25-26—What is Jesus asking here?
  a. Cullmann says that John’s Gospel carries several liturgical meanings, and this is an example of an early Christian confession (1978, p. 53-55).
  b. Although Lazarus will die again, Martha receives eternal life through her confession.

John 11:28-37

• 11:28—Martha refers to Jesus as “the Teacher.” Women were not allowed to be taught by the rabbis, however Jesus taught all who were open to His mission (Morris, p. 491).
• 11:34—This is the only time we see the phrase, “Come and see,” on the lips of the Jewish leaders. Ironically, they are leading Jesus to see death.
  a. 11:33—What is He “moved” by? Talbert offers four ideas (p. 179-180):
  i. It is a reflection of Jesus’ humanity.
  ii. It is a reflection of Jesus’ grief over sin or lack of faith.
  iii. It is a reflection of Jesus’ anger over:
  a) The intense emotion arising within Him.
  b) The unbelief of the Jews and Mary’s reluctance.
  c) The hypocritical sorrow of the mourners.
  iv. It is a correction regarding the Stoic philosophy about detachment from “the disrupting aspects of human nature.
  b. 11:36-37—The crowd is still divided over Jesus.

John 11:38-46

• 11:40—This is an anticipation of Jesus’ own resurrection.
• 11:41-42—This is not a prayer, but an exacerbation or a mini-lecture. When did Jesus say anything?
  a. 11:43—This is another reference to the voice, the agency of Life.
  b. 11:44—Even though he is bound, Lazarus is brought out by the eternal Word. Is this a commission to help raise people to new life?

John 11:47-57

• 11:48—The presumption is that Jesus is a political revolutionary who is destabilizing the crowd.
  a. This is a major problem for the religious leaders because it is their job to hold things together.
  b. John writes them as not really investigating these incidents.
• The Jews were afraid of losing their “place” (which could also be translated “temple”), meaning they were afraid of losing the little freedom the Romans allowed them.
• Josephus, the noted general and historian, wrote that the Sadducees were extremely rude (p. 135 [20.9.1]).
• 11:49-52—The irony of Caiaphas’ statement is that he did not know what he was saying because he was inspired to speak with a double meaning.
  a. Caiaphas reveals that his intentions are political.
  b. Ironically, the Romans will still destroy Jerusalem in AD 70, and the Sadducee order will vanish forever.

References

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Reprint: 1959. New York: Touchstone Books/Simon and Schuster, 1995).

Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, Anchor Bible 29 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966).

Oscar Cullmann, Early Christian Worship, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978).

Flavius Josephus, The Works of Flavius Josephus, Part 2, ed. William Whitson (Whitefish, MT: Kessigner Publishing, 2003).

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, rev. ed., New International Commentary on the New Testament 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995).

Francine Rivers, A Voice in the Wind, Mark of the Lion Series 1 (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1993).

Charles H. Talbert, Reading John: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles, rev. ed., Reading the New Testament (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2005).