| “Then from that day forth they (the Jewish chief priests and Pharisees) took counsel together for to put Him to death” (John 11:53). |
| “For he (Pilate) knew that for envy they had delivered Him” (Matthew 27:18). |
| The Lord Jesus had just performed a most amazing miracle — He had raised from the dead a man who had been dead four days. The Jewish leaders could not deny it, for Lazarus was living evidence of what had happened, and as a result, many people believed on the Lord Jesus. But as our first verse today says, those same leaders decided that they had to get rid of Jesus, because He did so many miracles. We know, of course, that in putting the Lord Jesus to death, they were only doing what God had planned from a past eternity, for there was no other way for us to be saved. But all this does not make those who plotted to kill Him less guilty. |
| We learn from our second verse that it was mostly for envy that the Jewish leaders delivered the Lord Jesus to Pilate, asking that He be crucified. Envy is one of the strongest and most wicked emotions in our sinful nature, and in Proverbs 27:4 we read, “Who is able to stand before envy?” What is envy? It is wanting something that rightfully belongs to someone else. The Jewish priests, scribes and Pharisees wanted authority and influence over the people, and took the place of being their religious leaders. However, while they taught the people what was right, they themselves always found ways to do what they wanted, and resorted to lying, Jewish traditions, and their own “loopholes” to avoid keeping the law. When the Lord Jesus exposed all this, they hated Him, and wanted to get rid of Him. They even considered killing Lazarus, because so many people believed on the Lord Jesus when they saw the wonderful miracle of raising Lazarus back to life (see John 12:10). Back in the Old Testament, Joseph’s brothers envied him too, and it was largely because of this that they sold him into Egypt (see Genesis 37:11), hoping that it would be the end of him. |
| This is a good lesson for us. It is easy to be envious of others who have something we do not have, whether it is possessions, abilities, good looks, and perhaps other things. But envy is a most serious sin, and as we have seen, it even led people to put the Lord Jesus to death. Let us be content with what the Lord has given us and use it for Him. |
