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.
Why the crowd came
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.
Not for Jesus only
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.
A living testimony
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.
A people from another sphere
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.
The warning hidden in the verse
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.
Summary
- 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.