Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
- John 12:18-19

Jesus refused to incite a violent revolution and he chose to avoid the path of retreat. What other options were available to him?

The Jewish religious leaders at the time saw an option clearly: Jesus could become a religious reformer. The people weren’t happy with the religious establishment at the time. When the establishment leaders weren’t corrupt, they were ineffective or irrelevant. If Jesus could grab the reins of the temple institution and set himself up as the new high priest, he’d be in a position of tremendous power and influence.

The moral and spiritual high ground can be so tempting, can’t it? We tell ourselves: “If only people would get their spiritual lives right, everything would be okay.” Revival will fix everything. But wave after wave of revival has come and gone and the broken world remains broken.

Jesus is more than a great High Priest; he’s also our sacrifice and our God. We don’t just need someone to lead us in worship; we need someone to make our worship possible, we need someone to worship. It’s not enough for Jesus to draw the world after him; he had to fundamentally change the way the world worked.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where our best efforts just aren’t enough, where we need surgery and not just behavior modification. That place where prayer and action meet is a place where we can connect with God.

Take some time today to thank Jesus for going beyond reform, for making all things new. Thank him for the new life he’s offered you and given you. Thank him for the new communities he’s made possible. Thank him for taking the decisive action we needed to enter into a renewed relationship with God.