3-20-11 John 11:55-57 The Wrong Kind of Seeking

55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

(Pharisees in the Temple, Rembrandt)

Thoughts: In chapter 12 some Greeks came and said, "We would see Jesus."  Some look for His presence out of curiosity.  Some look for Him out of love- like a child longing for his father to come home.  Some look for His presence so that they might embarrass Him (as in these verses).  Many fight against God with all that they are, but they will not win in the end.  The Temple is the place where people came to seek God.  Many were looking for Jesus, even though they didn't believe He was the Messiah.  When we seek Jesus- it shoudl be seeking to worship Him.


Prayer: May my heart long for you, my soul thirst for you like in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 


John Calvin Abridged: The Evangelist wanted us to see that the fame of Christ had spread so that all in the Temple were looking for him after a human fashion.  Yet in seeking Him they discover that it is the tyranny of the priests that is preventing Him from coming.