Plotting to Kill Jesus

The Point of the Gospel

The Plot to Kill Jesus {John}

The Pharisees and chief priests were afraid that everyone would believe in Jesus and his miraculous signs, and thereby cause the Romans to take away their temple and their nation.

Caiaphas, high priest that year, said, “You know nothing. You don’t realize it is better to let one man die for the people than for everyone to die.”

Inspired not from within himself, he prophesied as high priest to the death of Jesus for the Jewish nation and all the scattered children of God, so he might bring them together into one body. The Jewish leaders then plotted to kill him.

No longer moving freely in public, Jesus withdrew to Ephraim, a village near the desert. Many were going to Jerusalem to prepare—take part in ritualistic cleansing—for the Jewish Passover. Everyone kept looking for Jesus and asking if he intended to show up for the feast. The chief priests and Pharisees had ordered that anyone finding out where Jesus was must report it so they could arrest him.

Anointed for Death {John}

John places the story of Mary anointing Jesus with an expensive perfume after Lazarus’s raising and says it was during a dinner at the siblings’ house in Jesus’ honor. Here she poured it on Jesus’ feet rather than his head and wiped them with her hair. Judas, instead of all the disciples, objected to the waste, not out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief, kept the group’s money, and used it for himself.

The chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus since his story brought so many to Jesus.

Personal Thought: John doesn’t mention anything more about Lazarus, leaving us wondering what happened to him or if he paid any consequences for the leaders’ determination to stop Jesus.

Fiction Writers Reference Books

The Three Best Reference Books for Fiction Writers

Grammar

Writer’s Digest sells its book the Grammar Desk Reference on its website. Written to help the learning process, previous information is repeated to highlight new facts, which works well with the memory process.

A good dictionary will give grammar tips in its introduction as well as in the definitions, usually headed usage notes.

Content

I’ve written about Donald Maass’s book The Breakout Novelist before. I bought an updated version that included excerpts from his books The Fire in Fiction and The Career Novelist. He has over thirty years of experience as an agent and very definite ideas about what makes a good novel. His view on platform is comforting for the new writer trying to become established. So many harp on the need for a public audience garnered through a blog, website, published works in well-known magazines, etc.

Publishers want to know you have ready-made buyers for your book. Mr. Maass says most novels are sold by word of mouth—not TV exposure, favorable blurbs by critics, book tours. Social media nowadays is a required skill to connect to potential readers but good writing trumps all. Hope publishers and other agents agree with him.

Lisa Cron’s book Wired For Story states that as a species, humans need stories as a means to learn how to deal with situations in a safe manner. Think: old hunter explaining how best to approach dangerous animals to young hunters. She also explains how we respond to stories and what elements satisfy us. We want to be able to identify with the characters—positive and negative qualities—and learn something about the human condition.

These two books together give balanced advice on building a career, creating characters, scenes, plot, an overall theme for your story, and the all-important tension and conflict that drive a story. Learning the difference between inner and outer conflict and how to bring them together is crucial for any story teller.

The Resurrection and the Life

The Point of the Gospel

Reminder: this is an ongoing project on Fridays to bring the four stories of Jesus’ life into one comprehensive story that today’s two-second sound-byte attention spans may find easier to absorb. Any personal opinions or thoughts are labeled as such. Some stories are not found in all four of the Gospels or are slightly different, which is also marked by { } and the name of the writer.

The Resurrection and the Life {John}

Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus arrived in Bethany. Less than two miles from Jerusalem, many Jews came to comfort Lazarus’s sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha went out to meet Jesus and said, “Lord, my brother would not have died had you been here. Even now, God will grant any request from you.”

Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.” She thought he meant at the resurrection, and he said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Believe in me and you will live, even if you die, for no one who lives and believes in me will die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord. You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come.” Martha returned home and told Mary that the Teacher was looking for her.

Mary quickly went to meet him. A crowd followed, thinking she intended to go to the tomb and mourn. She found Jesus and fell at his feet. “Lord, had you been here, my brother would be alive.”

Jesus was deeply moved and troubled by Mary’s and the Jews’ weeping. “Where is he?”

He wept and the Jews said, “He loved him greatly.” But some wondered, as a healer of a blind man, why he hadn’t prevented Lazarus’s death.

Lazarus Raised {John}

The tomb was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Jesus told the people to remove it, but Martha warned him that there would be a bad smell. Jesus said, “I told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.” They moved the stone. Looking toward heaven, Jesus said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. I know you always do, so I say this that the people here may believe you sent me.”

Jesus called in a loud voice. “Lazarus, come out.” He came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth over his face. “Release him from the grave clothes.”

Many who saw this put their faith in Jesus, but some went to tell the Pharisees. They and the chief priests called a meeting of the Sanhedrin (ruling body).

Into That Final Frontier

Saying Goodbye

The pang of grief surprised me. I expected sadness; I would be sad for any family losing a loved one. Other than as an actor whose work I admired, I had no connection to Leonard Nimoy, knew little about his personal life and had no desire to learn more. It’s the characters I come to know and love, not the actors, who are entitled to their privacy no matter what the paparazzi and gossip rags say.

Preadolescent when Star Trek was on, my strict bedtime of 9:30 meant I only got to see half of the story each week. It was enough to hook me. When the show’s fans demanded more of the short series and the reruns came on, I finally got my chance to finish the stories.

I’m not sure I recognized Mr. Nimoy as Paris on Mission Impossible, though I knew I liked the character and the show. I think I realized who he was after I saw the full episodes of Star Trek. I remember going with my father to the first Star Trek movie. Other than Disney cartoon features, this was the only other taste in movies we had in common. Not the best of the franchise and way too long, it still satisfied us to see the returning characters.

Spock’s Appeal

The character of Spock is often people’s favorite of the series. His struggles to balance his emotions with his cultural beliefs resonate with everyone. We all do things we know aren’t the best choices, the most moral; experience guilt at our less than loving, kind, or caring feelings; and question why we can’t do things we’re not sure should be considered wrong or harmful. The Vulcan alien was the truest everyman in those senses.

Still, is this enough to warrant grief? I felt sad at the death of James Doohan, Scotty, and Deforest Kelly, Dr. McCoy, but not grief. Even the death of Robin Williams, whose work I adore, was tragic mainly because of his age and manner of death. Leonard Nimoy lived past the average age in this country and had a myriad of fans.

Maybe it’s the simple fact that Robin Williams was a contemporary while Spock was a part of my formative years, so it feels more like losing part of my childhood. Whatever the reason, I pray for peace for his family and comfort myself with notions of Mr. Nimoy whole and healthy and exploring the stars, that final frontier.

Martha, Mary, and Lazaurs

The Point of the Gospel

Martha and Mary {Luke}

Jesus and his disciples came to a village and were asked to stay with Martha.  Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet to listen to him talk. Making preparations for her guests, Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, tell my sister to help me. Don’t you care that she’s making me do all the work?”

“Martha,” Jesus said, “many things concern you but only one is required. Mary chose what is needed and it will not be denied her.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany {Matthew and Mark}

While in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, a woman brought in an alabaster jar of costly perfume and poured some on Jesus’ head as he reclined at a table. The disciples thought this wasteful. “This perfume could have been sold and would have given us a good sum for the poor.” ({Mark} They sharply criticized the woman.)

Jesus said, “Don’t bother the woman. She has done something beautiful for me. The poor will always be with you; I will not. Her gift prepares me for burial. Truly, wherever my story is told in the world, she will also be remembered.”

Lazarus Dies {John}

In Bethany, Lazarus, brother to Martha and Mary—the woman who poured perfume on the Lord’s head and wiped his feet with her hair—lay ill. The sisters sent for Jesus saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, yet stayed where he was for two more days and said, “Lazarus will not die. This is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified.” He told his disciples they would return to Judea, but they protested.

“Rabbi, you’re going back after the Jews tried to stone you?”

“A man can see in daylight and not trip. At night, with no light, is when he trips. (Personal Thought: Jesus obviously spoke of himself as the light, though he didn’t explain this as he did the next passage.) Lazarus has gone to sleep, but I am going to wake him.” His disciples thought he spoke of natural sleep, so he explained. “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I’m glad I wasn’t there, so you may believe.”

Thomas said to the other disciples, “Let’s go and die with him.”

Next time—Jesus raises Lazarus.