Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.

John 12:9 CSB

You can imagine the scene today with people live streaming to FB tracking down Jesus and Lazarus...crowds creating crowds...

Seems that they were looking for a celebrity to connect with (Lazarus) and a leader to free them from the oppression of Rome (Jesus).

Not too different to today is it?

We amplify the lives and opinions of celebrities, and we look for leaders to find a way thru wars and epidemics. 

Yet Jesus' kingdom is consistently not shaped in that way and keeps us thinking about what's really important, and what's going on in the bigger story. 

I would've been part of that crowd, wanting to get to see Lazarus, to say hi to Jesus, to see if they were the way out of my problems or things I was concerned about.

It's hard to hold sometimes that God is at work in a bigger story, a story redemption and restoration...he was then...and he is now. 

There's a tension here with the realities of the world in which we live, and the hope that we have that one day all will be made new. Maybe that's why Paul says "don't stop meeting together", cos we need that shared faith. 

#inthistogether

#onedayallwillbemadenew

#upsidedownkingdom