JESUS: HATED BY THE SYSTEM. NEEDED BY THE WORLD.
Jesus had a dangerous, punk rock magnetism. The Religious Establishment hated him—The people couldn’t get enough of Him.
01. JESUS IS A THREAT TO THE DARKNESS (vv. 9–11)
I was being chased by thugs when my brother showed up.
The Plot to Kill Lazarus
[9] When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. [10] So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, [11] because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
V. 10 chief priests
The chief priests were mostly Sadducees, and the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection.
A. They plot to KILL JESUS. The Cross is the center of the story of Jesus. The plot thickens. John devotes 50% of his Gospel to the last 7 days of Jesus' life.
Guzik: “This was the large crowd that came for the greatest holidays of Judaism – Passover. Many of them came from Galilee. When they came, they came with lambs. Jewish law required that the Passover lamb live with the family for at least three days before sacrifice (Exodus 12:3-6). When Jesus came and went into Jerusalem, lambs for sacrifice would surround him and everyone else.”
Josphus (ancient Jewish historian) wrote that one year 256,500 lambs were brought up to Jerusalem. You would have seen them being wheeled up all all day long in the thousands. You would have heard their bleating everywhere.
→ How much more significant is it to know Jesus is the lamb of God?
Mormons use a spire. It’s symbolic of climbing your way to God. Their theology says you can become a god. This is reversed from the Gospel.
Every worldview says essentially the same thing: you earn your way upward.
Confucianism teaches you climb the moral ladder through discipline and virtue.
Buddhism teaches you follow the Eightfold Path to escape suffering.Islam teaches you obey the Five Pillars to earn Allah’s favor.
Humanism says we can evolve and improve ourselves through reason, progress, and technology.
But only the Gospel says: you can’t climb up, so Jesus came down.
He didn't come as a coach, a guru, or an example—He came as a substitute. Jesus had to die for our sins, because no one else could carry the weight. When Jesus finds a man, He finds him dead in sin—helpless, hopeless, and utterly incapable of saving himself. So Jesus died—not to help us improve—but to save us from sin and raise us from the dead.
Do you feel your inability to climb to God? Have you come to the end of yourself? Jesus can forgive you and save you. If you have not put faith in Jesus, today is the day.
V. 10 …made plans to put Lazarus to death as well
B. The enemies' hatred blinds them to the point that they are even plotting to kill innocent lazarus after he was miraculous resurrected if that’s what it takes to dismantle the advance of Jesus. This is hardly believable. But this is exactly what hatred of Jesus does.
Charles Spurgeon: “When men hate Christ, they also hate those whom he has blessed, and will go to any lengths in seeking to silence their testimony.”
When the wise men didn't report back to King Herod
He ordered the mass murder of all male infants in Bethlehem under two years old—just to eliminate a baby who might be the Messiah. They were willing to slaughter babies to silence a threat to their throne.
The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572, France)
In Paris and throughout France, Catholic mobs—with political backing—slaughtered an estimated 10,000–30,000 Huguenots (French Protestants) over several days. Entire families were wiped out—including women, children, and the elderly. Eyewitnesses describe babies pulled from mothers' arms and thrown into the Seine.
Protestors & Pursuit NW Seattle
At a public worship event hosted by The Pursuit NW at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle, Christians gathered to sing, preach, and baptize in one of the city’s most progressive areas. But as the service began, activists—believed to be affiliated with Antifa—showed up to disrupt. They shouted profanities, blasted noise machines, damaged equipment, and tried to intimidate worshippers by throwing urine-filled water balloons. It came to clashes with Seattle PD which resulted in arrests. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell dismissed concerns about the church’s public worship gathering by labeling it a “hate rally”.
Jesus is a threat to the darkness.
→ Nobody’s picketing yoga studios.
→Nobody’s shouting down self-help seminars
→But say the name Jesus, and the room shifts.
Could it be that people over and again unite to oppose the mission of Jesus precisely because the powers of darkness know that He is the King? Why is a man who lived 2,000 years ago still the most controversial, magnetic, disruptive figure in human history?
02. JESUS MAGNETIZES THE WORLD (vv. 12–19)
The Triumphal Entry
[12] The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. [13] So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” [14] And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
[15] “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
[16] His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. [17] The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. [18] The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. [19] So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Tasker
They greeted Jesus as a king, though ignorant of the nature of His kingship. It would seem that they looked upon Him as a potential nationalist leader, with whose help they might be able to become wholly independent of foreign powers.”
Guzik: “From the time of the Maccabees palms or palm-branches had been used as a national symbol.”
They were using these a symbol to declare Jesus King!
But Jesus was quite a different kind of leader than they anticipated. He was not a warrior but a substitute.
Morris: “The donkey was not normally used by a warlike person. It was the animal of a man of peace, a priest, a merchant or the like. It might also be used by a person of importance but in connection with peaceable purposes. A conqueror would ride into the city on a war horse, or perhaps march in on foot at the head of his troops. The donkey speaks of peace.”
They also knew their bibles which clarified and predicted Jesus’ importance:
[15] “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
Because they knew (Zechariah 9:9) they saw Jesus’ importance.
We too are called to know God’s Word to clarify Jesus’ importance in our lives.
V. 17 The crowd…continued to bear witness.
V. 18 they heard he had done this sign
V. 19 Look, the world has gone after him.
These three lines give us a feel for John’s intent. We too are to spread the message of Jesus Humble Kingship, His substitutionary death and atonement for sin.
John’s conviction is that Jesus is conquering the world through his humble death.
Are we willing to do whatever it takes to spread the message of Jesus? Do you see Jesus as compelling…as King? Jesus’ name drew the world in His day. Are you as passionate about Him? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make Him known?
APPLICATION
01. Are you invested in God’s Kingdom?
02 Have you put your trust in Jesus?
03. Are you spreading Him to the world?
GROUP QUESTIONS:
What's a situation (serious or funny) where you had to take a side?
What’s controversial about Mary’s act of worship? Why do you think it bothered Judas so much?
What makes Jesus worthy of our devotion?
How did the teaching portion on money land with you?
If someone evaluated your bank account what would they say you worship?
If Jesus really really died for your sin—how should that change the way you live this week?
Where in your life have you been trying to stay neutral about Jesus?
What would it look like for you to fully align your life with Him?