John 12:9 Commentary and Bible Study

The raising of Lazarus made a tremendous impact, and impression, upon the Jews. Because of the astonishing miracle performed by Christ in raising Lazarus from the dead, many of the Jews went away from their former loyalty to the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, and believed instead on Jesus. That happens today too. ‘Lazarus is in the way. His being alive reminds people of the power of Christ – get rid of him also!’ That was the reaction of the scribes, the Pharisees, the chief priests, and we have this in a different form today. People oppose the faith. They don’t want the faith of Jesus Christ. ‘This Bible: it is such a witness to him, and we’ve got to discredit that too.’ So you get endless programmes on the television, attempting to discredit the Bible, and how ridiculous from a scholarly point of view, they all are. You get it penetrating the schools too, so often in the RE syllabuses – this undermining of the Bible, and disposing of that. ‘We’ll get rid of Christ; we’ll get rid of Lazarus too.’ ‘We’ll get rid of faith, we’ll get rid of the Bible, and discredit that.’ People never change – still the same methods.