The Cover Up

(John 12:9-11)

When Jesus was discovered by the crowds at Bethany after he had raised Lazarus from the dead, the crowds flocked to see him. They also flocked to see Lazarus and this angered and outraged the Jewish leaders to the point they planned a great cover up.

They planned this cover up by destroying the evidence of Jesus’ power. In this case that meant they plotted to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus also. Why? Because on account of Lazarus many of the people were going away and believing in Jesus. The Jewish leaders were losing their grip on the people, and they were not going to give it up without a fight. Thus they planned the big cover up.

Criminal Intent

As we see from the scripture, the Jewish leaders were planning murder but would disguise it using their law to try and justify their actions. When it came to a cover up they were experts. It was their modus operandi and nothing short of criminal intent.

Every time some great miracle occurred or some inexplicable occurrence took place they tried to engineer a cover up rather than admit that truly God was amongst them. There were many examples of their criminal cover up activities as we shall see.

Cover Up Examples

In this instance we see that they intended to cover up the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection by killing Lazarus. Over time then people would begin to doubt that it had happened and pooh pooh the possibility. But it was impossible to do so when the proof was standing right in front of them.

We see also that when Jesus was resurrected the Jewish leaders tried to cover up that truth as well. They paid off the soldiers who had guarded the tomb and witnessed the events telling them to spread the rumour that the disciples of Jesus had come and stolen the body and taken it away.

Yet how a peaceful group of disciples could stand against armed soldiers to over power them, roll away the great stone at the tomb and take the body, without death or injury to either the soldiers or the disciples is just too far-fetched. The cover up could not hold water, especially when Jesus started appearing to the disciples, including over 500 at one time.

Also when Jesus was put to death and at the point when He died, the great thick and heavy curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom. No man could do such a feat, especially from the top of the curtain. How did the chief priest cover up that miracle? They sewed it back up! They chose to ignore and cover up the sign and pretend it had never happened.

Lessons Today

The mind of a criminal and any other wrongdoer is not driven by the truth. They will always try to cover up what they are doing when they do wrong. Evil is performed under cover of darkness and away from the light so that no one can see the evil being done.

But those who seek the truth come to the light so that what they are doing can be seen. The true light of Jesus and the teachings of the gospel cannot be covered for they expose the evil and cover ups for what they are. As it says in John 3:20-21,

20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Come to the light and do not participate in the cover up of the truth that is Jesus. There are many who would choose to cover up the truth today, but the truth will expose their lies and make them look foolish. You cannot cover up the truth for it will become plain to all in due course, just as the truth could not be hidden by the leaders of the Jews in Jesus time.

(Photo sourced from stock.xchng taken by Aline Dassel)

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