The past couple of days, I’ve been reading from the book of John (as part of the MVBC 90 Day New Testament Challenge), and have been soaking in the interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees accounted there (particularly chapters 7 through 11). It’s very interesting to me.
You see, the Pharisees, despite every reason Jesus gave them, continued to persist in disbelief. Miracles… signs… wonders… none of it was good enough for them to simply believe that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Messiah… the Savior of the world. They continually questioned and criticized Him, investigated His miracles… generally butting heads with Him at every point possible in a feeble attempt to argue against what was becoming clearly obvious to everyone.
With the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, enough had become enough. The Pharisees threw up their hands, in a sense acknowledging that they weren’t going to win. “What are we accomplishing?”, they say (John 11:47). Logic dictated that they couldn’t simply let Him go… He’d win too many converts and they’d lose their place of power. Only one option made sense: kill Him. After all, better to kill one man than to lose the entire nation, right?
Amazing the sheer ruthlessness of it all.
I don’t know about you, but I see a couple parallels here.
How often do we, as believers, struggle with accepting something God clearly lays out for us? Maybe it’s a mission trip He wants us to go on, or maybe talking to that co-worker or family member about Christ. Maybe it’s something even more basic… prayer, Bible study, even attending church? Whatever the case, in those times it’s almost crystal clear what God wants for us and from us. Every evidence points to that thing, every inkling of your heart cries out that it’s right. Yet we fight and fight and fight (a losing battle, mind you) against it?
Maybe it’s even the struggle the Pharisees had. Every evidence is pointing to you that Jesus is the Christ. That faith in Him is the sole path to salvation from sin. That loving and serving Him is all that really matters. You know you’re losing the battle with disbelief, so you throw up even more walls to “save” yourself?
What’s the point? Is the struggle (whether with belief in Christ alone or simply with obedience) really worth it? Is upholding your pride that your way is best really worth the misery of fighting a losing battle against God’s calling? What if submission to God’s way really is the only true path to peace and joy?
Think about it.
Kind of shows up the indispensable nature of the indwelling Holy Ghost, doesn’t it? The most perfect law-keepers ever couldn’t see what we’d say is as plain as the nose on your face.
It also highlights, for me, how little of what we do consciously depends on that Power.