45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Most people would insist that they will believe nothing without the evidence of their own eyes, yet those same people will refuse to believe in the miracles, divinity, and resurrection of Jesus, even in the face of evidence. Here in John 11, the gospel writer and apostle has just described one of the most famous examples of the power of Jesus other than the feeding of the multitudes. Many who saw it believed in him. Still, many saw what happened and were not affected in the slightest, other than to gossip about our Lord to his enemies. What is even more amazing is that the religious leaders who knew their Scriptures, including Isaiah 53, failed to see that the man they opposed was something more than a man, he was the King of kings.
You may be frustrated like I am that our loved ones and friends can hear the evidence for the existence of God and the divinity of Jesus and reject it wholesale without a thought. We can wonder at their inability to see what is right before their eyes. Think back to perhaps another place and time, when you yourself may have had similar thoughts about God and Jesus. It changed only because Jesus revealed himself to you. This should change our attitude toward those who disbelieve in the resurrection that we will celebrate on this Easter Sunday. Today, pray for the eyes of our loved ones to be opened so that they will see what Jesus did…
And believe in him.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church