A great crowd therefore of the Jews knew that he was there; and they came, not because of Jesus only, but also that they might see Lazarus whom he raised from among [the] dead.
Jesus is back in Bethany, the village where He had called a dead man out of his tomb. News travels fast, and crowds come out from Jerusalem — but the verse records a divided motive.
The raising of Lazarus was public, recent, and impossible to explain away. That is what set the roads to Bethany moving.
Jesus' presence again at Bethany attracted some of the common people there. His fame from raising Lazarus had spread. So many people went to Bethany to see Him, and Lazarus too. To the chief priests such a move looked like a setback to their plan. For many of the Jews went away and believed on the Lord. The miracle struck them. No one could deny it. There was Lazarus, the raised one. There was Jesus, the raiser from the dead.
The wording of the verse is careful: they came not for Jesus alone. One writer weighs the crowd's motives, then notes what happened to the priests when some of them believed:
The great crowd, however, seemed driven quite as much by curiosity as by any better motive. Seeing Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, is a very different thing from believing God. Still, some of them were real; and so the malice of the chief priests grew deeper and more deliberate, because many of the Jews were deserting them and believing on Jesus.
Others make the same distinction about who was in that crowd. Sorting them from Judas, whose greed had just been exposed at the supper, one writer places them in a middle category:
There were, however, others present — much people of the Jews — who were moved by no such sordid motives, and yet came, not with faith in Christ, but rather drawn by curiosity to see a man who had been raised from the dead.
Lazarus says nothing in this chapter. He does not need to. One writer points to his presence at the table as the testimony, and traces the priests' reaction back to it.
The man with a new life in communion with the Son of God is a testimony (see verses 9, 10, 11). Many people of the Jews came not only to see Jesus but Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead. Many of them went away and believed on Jesus, simply from seeing the man with a new life, sitting and eating with Jesus. This draws out the jealousy and opposition of the chief priests.
If a man who has come through death draws crowds like that, the question turns back on the reader. One writer presses it, and says what it would cost:
Lazarus is raised. And what is the consequence? They never had such a testimony to Himself before. Crowds come out from Jerusalem to learn about this wonderful thing. And the very presence of Lazarus there — the man who had come through death — is what draws them... Think of a man who had come through death and come out of it! Suppose we understood that we are just such a people. Suppose we grasped, in any proper sense, that we belong to another sphere. What a testimony for Christ that would be! It would indeed bring persecution. It brought it in that case.
Lazarus was worth seeing. That is what makes this a warning and not a rebuke. One writer applies it to anyone drawn to Christian things for reasons just short of Christ:
We must be careful, however, that it is only to Himself that we go out. Anything short of Jesus Himself, or anything more than Him, would put us with the people described in this verse. Of them it is written: "they came, not only on account of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead" (John 12:9). Anything besides Jesus is a Lazarus — even clearer ministry of the Word. Souls so affected are unstable. After they have seen Lazarus, they go back.
- Crowd — The fame of the raising spread. Crowds went out to Bethany to see the raised one and the Raiser together, and no one could deny what had happened.
- Curiosity — Wanting to see a man raised from the dead is not the same as believing God. Much of that crowd ran on curiosity, not faith.
- Witness — Lazarus needed no words; a man with new life, seated in company with the Son of God, drew many to believe on Jesus.
- Cost — That same testimony stirred the jealousy of the chief priests. Living as people who have come through death still brings opposition.
- Only — The verse's warning sits in one small word: only. Anyone drawn by something besides Christ is unstable and will go back.
But the chief priests took counsel that they might kill Lazarus also,
The village of Bethany has become a spectacle: a man who was buried is sitting alive in his own home town, and crowds stream out of Jerusalem to see him. The religious leaders do not investigate the miracle — they add a second name to their death list.
The plot targets a man who has done nothing except come back to life. One writer holds the joy in the Bethany home beside the plotting in the city:
What deep wickedness lies in the natural heart of fallen man! Its unexplored depths hide violence and corruption. Unexplored by man, yes — but the all-seeing eye of the living God searches them, and every depth of wickedness lies bare before Him. Two sisters in the town of Bethany are full of gladness. Matching it, the priests in Jerusalem are plotting to put to death the man whom the Son of God had brought back from the grave. They would not only murder the Son of God — they would murder His witness as well.
They could name no crime. Almighty power had acted on Lazarus, and he had added nothing of his own.
The effect on people was clearly spreading. That might well have made the chief priests stop and think. Instead they took fresh counsel. They now proposed the death of Lazarus as well as the death of Christ. No wickedness was too great, if only it would halt the spread of the movement. Like many others in later times, they thought to work on people's fears. They would take the life of Christ, and Lazarus's life as well. What had Lazarus done to deserve death? He had been the subject of almighty power, over which he had no control. Yet he too must die.
Not everyone in that crowd believed. Some came only to stare at a man who had been dead. A smaller group went further, and that is what provoked the priests.
The great crowd, however, seemed moved as much by curiosity as by any better motive. To see Lazarus, who was raised from the dead, is a very different thing from believing God. Still, faith was real in some. And so came the deeper, deliberate malice of the chief priests, because many of the Jews were deserting them and believing on Jesus.
The plan collapses under a moment's thought — and that is the one thing unbelief refuses to give it.
How true are the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 16:31: "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." The chief priests are so enraged against the truth and against the Son of God that they plot to put to death not only Him but Lazarus too. They do so because the reality of his resurrection had led many Jews to believe on the Lord Jesus. Did they not consider that if the Lord had raised Lazarus once, He could do it again? In that case the outcome would be deeply humiliating for them. But unbelief is blind.
Lazarus preached no sermon. He sat at a table with Jesus, and that was enough to draw people and to draw hostility.
The man with a new life in communion with the Son of God is a testimony. Many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus, simply from seeing the man with a new life, sitting and eating with Jesus. This stirs up the jealousy and opposition of the chief priests, who plotted to put Lazarus also to death.
Answering a witness is hard work. Silencing him is older and easier, as Saul found when he preached in Damascus.
Unable to answer Saul's arguments, they now took counsel to kill him. This has been one of Satan's most common methods from earliest times. Lazarus had been raised from the dead, and had become an undeniable witness to the person of Christ. So the chief priests plotted to put him to death, because on his account many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. It did not matter to them whether the testimony to Jesus was true. They hated it, true or not, and set out to destroy the witness if they could. Nor has this way of getting rid of unwelcome testimony ceased.
The priests were not the only ones with a plan for the death of Jesus. God's plan was the one that prevailed.
Plot as they might, they could only carry out "the definite plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). That plan was "that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad." No one could take His life from Him. He would lay it down of His own accord.
- Proof. No one denied the miracle. Lazarus was walking evidence — and when men cannot answer the evidence, they attack it.
- Blindness. Christ could raise Lazarus again, so killing him settled nothing. Unbelief is blind to the one thought that would undo it.
- Innocence. Almighty power had acted on Lazarus, and he could not control it. For that alone they condemned him.
- Witness. A life shared with Christ testifies without a word — and draws the same hostility Christ drew.
- Counsel. Their plan to kill carried out God's plan: Jesus would die for the nation, and gather God's scattered children into one.
because many of the Jews went away on his account and believed on Jesus.
A man who had been dead was now alive in Bethany, and crowds came out to see him. His life pulled people away from the religious leaders, and that is why they wanted him dead.
The crowd that came to Bethany was not all of one mind.
"The Jews," as people often point out, are not simply Israelites. They are men of Judea, and they are strongly under the influence of the rulers in their hostility to Jesus, as in other things. But they are not the rulers themselves, and you can see the difference in these verses. The great crowd, though, seemed moved as much by curiosity as by any better motive. To see Lazarus who was raised from the dead is a very different thing from believing God. Still, in some of them it was real. The malice of the chief priests grew deeper and more deliberate because many of the Jews were deserting them and believing on Jesus.
Nothing in the account says Lazarus spoke to the crowds. He simply lived where people could see him, and that was enough.
How good it is to know this: if we simply keep walking in communion with the Lord, it will attract people, and some of them will go away and believe on Jesus too. God's grace uses people who have new life and liberty from the Son of God and who are in communion with Him. And here it is not direct service, like preaching and talking to people — as good as that is. As far as we know, Lazarus preached to nobody. It is the new life showing itself, and showing itself so quickly in his ways, manners, business, everything, that others are led to think of Jesus and to believe in Him too. This draws out religious opposition, and the religious leaders try to kill the testimony.
So why could no one stay neutral?
They must now either believe in Jesus or reject Him. His power was so plain that they had to do one or the other. A man raised from the dead in public after four days, alive among the people, left no room for indecision.
Their answer was not to examine the miracle but to erase the man.
Now they discussed the death of Lazarus as well as the death of Christ. No wickedness was too great, if only it stopped the movement from spreading. And, like many others in later times, they thought they could work on people's fears by taking the life of Christ, and the life of Lazarus as well. What had Lazarus done to deserve death? He had been the subject of almighty power, and he had no control over it. Yet he, too, must die.
That hatred has an ordinary human root, and it did not stop with the chief priests.
They would gladly get rid not only of Jesus but of everyone who is a living witness to the grace and power of Jesus. At heart the world is still the same; it does not want Christ, and it does not want those who are faithful witnesses to Christ. Those who live godly lives will suffer persecution. And behind the hostility of religious leaders there is always envy — envy that cannot bear to see their followers leave them to follow Jesus.
The plan had an obvious flaw that the plotters never saw.
The chief priests are so angry at the truth and at the Son of God that they plot to put Lazarus to death as well as Him. They do this because the reality of his resurrection had led many Jews to believe on the Lord Jesus. Did they not consider that if the Lord had raised Lazarus once, He could do it again? In that case the results would be most humiliating for them. But unbelief is blind.
- Raised. Almighty power raised Lazarus, and he had no control over it. He did nothing to earn the new life or the death sentence.
- Displayed. He never preached. The new life showed in his ways, manners and business, and people believed.
- Drawn. The crowd was mixed. Curiosity brought many, but some truly believed and left the leaders to follow Jesus.
- Hated. Envy cannot bear to lose its followers. It turned on the witness as well as on Christ, and the world still wants neither.
- Blind. If Jesus raised Lazarus once, He could raise him again. The plot never asked that question, because unbelief is blind.