The beautiful story of the raising of Lazarus is to be read in St. John's Gospel (ch. xi.). Martha's faith seems to have been weak; for though she believed that Jesus could have saved her brother's life had He come in time, she certainly did not believe that He could now restore him to life. Mary, too, seems only to have thought that Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying; but her faith was stronger than Martha's, for she made no objection to the taking away the stone that lay upon the cave in which Lazarus was buried. Jesus here sets us an example of feeling for others: He saw the great sorrow of Martha and Mary, and, although He was going to remove the cause of their grief, yet He felt for them in their distress--"Jesus wept." What a comfort to all who are in trouble upon earth, to know that their Lord in heaven feels for them, and will hear their prayers for help and comfort; though He will not answer them in the same way that He answered the prayers of Mary and her sister. "Many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them," determined not to acknowledge Him as the Messiah, "went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done." The Chief Priests and Pharisees immediately called together the members of the Sanhedrim, or great Council, and said, "What do we? for this man worketh many miracles." They could not deny that Jesus had worked many miracles; for multitudes of the people had seen, and been benefited by them. To the question, "What do we?" or rather, what shall we do? We might reasonably expect the answer, We will acknowledge Him as the Messiah, the Son of God; but, no: they did not say this; on the contrary, their only thought was to prevent others from believing in Him. Rightly did they judge, "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe in him": but they added, "and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." In their blindness as to the spiritual nature of the Messiah's kingdom, these Jews thought, that if they acknowledged Jesus, the Roman Emperor would consider them as rebels, wishing to set up a temporal kingdom, and would send his armies to destroy them utterly. Far better would it have been for these unhappy men, if they had _only_ considered the proofs before them, and acknowledged Jesus to be the Messiah, without fearing what man could do unto them. In a few years moreover, the very evil which they so wickedly strove to avoid did come upon them: their nation was totally destroyed, the people scattered over all lands, and the temple burnt to the ground.