John 12:1-11 (premeditation)

In the first part of John 12, the religious power brokers are so afraid of Jesus and Lazarus that they begin to plot their murders in earnest. Why? It makes sense that they’d be irate at Jesus for exposing the emptiness of their illusion. And I can see why they’d want to destroy the evidence, so to speak, by erasing the resurrected Lazarus from the scene.

But I don’t see how they could unequivocally dismiss the possibility that Jesus was telling (and living) the truth. How could they be so sold out to their own propaganda that they couldn’t see the sense-making beauty in what Jesus was saying and doing?

One of the reasons I’m so bothered by this riddle is my uneasy feeling that I could do the same thing. What am I guarding? What am I dismissing? What are the fears in me that skew my perceptions? Whose ideas am I ready to erase in order to protect my own?



Copyright Scott Burnett 2006

dis-illusion

“They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’
and to the prophets,
‘Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
Leave this way, get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!’” Isaiah 30:10, NIV

Oh boy... this is a tough one. My illusions have been very dear to me, and I’ve mourned each one’s passing. Certainly, there are many remaining -- including the illusion that I’m relatively free of illusions!

A world cobbled together with denial is a rickety affair. It won’t hold up against the blasts of reality. It lacks depth of foundation and openness to light. How can relationships find health in a place like that?

Disillusionment is a strange friend, never welcome but often bearing excellent gifts.

Tell me the truth
Show me what is right
Confront me with holiness