According to John 11:45, many in the crowd that witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus became believers as we might expect. But verse 46 tell us some of them instead went to the Pharisees and reported what Jesus had done. They weren’t disputing what happened or expressing skepticism. They were simply alerting the religious leaders that Jesus had raised a man from death. And since the Pharisees’ opposition to Jesus was well established, it’s clear they’d made a choice, in spite of the reality of what they’d seen, to align themselves with the unbelief of the religious elite.
And that unbelief was not a denial of the facts. It was a conscious resistance to the faith response those facts elicited.
It's really hard for me to comprehend, but the Gospels consistently report this dichotomy resulting from the miracles of Jesus. There were those who were moved to faith by the amazing things they’d seen and those who’d seen the same things but made the choice not to believe.
For reasons specific to his purpose, out of all the miracles Jesus performed, John selected only seven of them for inclusion in his Gospel. Still, it’s an impressive list. He recorded Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana, healing a royal official’s son in Capernaum, healing an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, feeding 5,000 men plus women and children near the Sea of Galilee with five loaves and two fish, walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee, healing a blind man in Jerusalem, and raising Lazarus from the dead in Bethany.
How’s it possible for someone exposed to this array of empirical evidence to willingly resist its powerful call to faith? I honestly don’t know. But I do know that no matter how overwhelming the evidence, faith is always a choice. And that means God has gifted everyone with the right to reject him. The maker and master of all things will never mandate or coerce belief, and he also grants complete freedom to refuse it. But that’s what true love does.
I once wrote these lyrics to try and capture the sense of this:
And although
He knew that it was best
That we should live our lives in his rest
Perfect love must stand the test
And so, he left to us the choosing
Laid his love out on the line
For us to receive
Or turn to follow our own design
It’s sad to imagine anyone doing that. But the truth is, we all have. The first part of Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way.” But then, referring to what Christ has done in response, the last part of the verse says, “And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
In other words, despite knowing many would reject him, Jesus still went to the cross. His love compelled him to take our sin upon himself and pay its penalty with his own life so that there would be a way for the rest of us to be forgiven and made right with God through our faith in his sacrifice.
As hard as it is for me to contemplate the possibility of someone turning away from this amazing gift, I’m deeply moved by the divine compassion that offers it. And I never want to take it for granted. Even though my faith in Christ is the result of a choice I’ve made, the availability of that choice is the result of a love beyond comprehension and a gift beyond measure.
Lord of glory, may the crowning achievement of every day I live be a fresh expression of my faith. I choose to believe. You deserve nothing less.