New Life Isn't Always Embraced

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." John 11:43-50

New life isn't always greeted with joy. Lazarus, who had been dead for days, was now living again thanks to a miracle from Jesus. That news brought joy to many, but to those who were in charge of maintaining church order it brought great consternation. They saw the new life as a threat to their position and to their influence with the government. So they decided to kill Jesus.

Around the country it is not uncommon see the same spirit. A change occurs in a local church and there are those who receive the "new life" with gladness. But there are always those who have assigned themselves the responsibility to "protect the church" and they are not so pleased with the change that new life brings. So they set out to rid themselves of the one responsible for endangering the set order of things.

The Pharisees could not embrace the good news that Lazarus had another shot at life. They could only see that people wouldn't be coming to them for their answers; they would be going to the giver of new life, Jesus.

We should always remember that new life is exciting, messy, tiring, challenging and uncertain. It requires us to do things differently. It requires us to reschedule in ways that are really inconvenient at times. It may move us to the background while the recipients of new life get all the face time. But without new life, we grind to a halt. Our paramount responsibility as Christians is to pass the gospel to the next generation; not to keep it familiar for the current one. I plan to be among those who embrace and celebrate new life.