The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

John 11:46-48, “But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which

Jesus had done.

47Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, ‘What are

we doing? For this man is performing many signs.

48If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take

away both our place and our nation.’”

With virtually everyone you know, there are positives and negatives that work in conjunction to identify their lives. The Pharisees were like that. They believed in angels and miracles like most of us today. One of their huge errors, however, was that they were fiercely legalistic in the practice of their religion. Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law of Moses, but the Pharisees clung to the Law so rigidly that they missed its true meaning altogether.

In the verses preceding our verses today, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. Many of the people who witnessed this miracle believed in Jesus as God’s promised Messiah. But the Pharisees among the crowd raced feverishly back to their leaders and the chief priests, as if their very lives depended on it. Interestingly, both the Pharisaical leaders and chief priests cried, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many (miraculous) signs.”

Allowing who the Pharisees were and what they religiously believed, one would think they would be excited that Lazarus had been raised. Yet, something more important – important to them – lay at the root of their cry. Listen carefully to the remainder of their thinking: “If we let Him (Jesus) go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

Now, we see what’s in play! If the people accept Jesus as the Father’s Messiah, they will all turn to Him and –where does that leave us? On the other hand, any scuffle between the people and us will bring the Romans in and we will then lose our place (positions) and our nation (which we control). In short, Jesus was standing in their way. The Romans did not worship as Christians or Jews. They tolerated all religion, so long as it didn’t cause uprisings among the masses. But, the loss the Jewish leaders would experience was just too much.

An awful lot could be said in commentary here; yet, briefly, we should all consider our priorities. Are we Christians regardless of whether we have “position,” or is “prominence” among people our true concern? When we leave this world for a place in eternity, how we will be remembered will be of infinitely little importance when compared with where our eternal residence is. Get your priorities straight! The place of your eternity depends on it! And eternity could come at any moment!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”