Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
There is an old expression that goes, “Seeing is believing.” It means that people will believe what they see, even if they don’t believe what they are told. It is an interesting standard because sometimes we see things that we shouldn’t believe, like a magician’s tricks or a movie that presents something as real that is actually a deception.
However, in this case, Jesus left no room for doubt. Lazarus was dead; buried, and like the old joke about what Mozart and Beethoven are doing these days, he was decomposing. Jesus called him back to life and people saw it happen. Not just a few people, either. John tells us that “many” of the Jews believed in Jesus after seeing this demonstration of God’s power.
One of the complaints I hear from non-believers is, in effect, there is nothing to “see” now. The irony is that there is a lot to see if we are honest about what we are looking at. Paul writes in Romans 1:20:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Let’s Discuss: What do people “see” today that causes them to believe in God?
I think the evidence is everywhere. But I am not sure any amount of evidence will convince some people. The Israelites saw God as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for forty years, and yet many did not have faith. The problem, no matter what the evidence, is not so much with the head as it is the heart.
Rich,
Thanks so much for your insight. What you say is so true; the evidence is everywhere! It is hard for me to even imagine not believing in God because of the abundant evidence that surrounds us every day. Even the annoying mosquito or fly is a miracle of engineering and physics. The idea that such things just happened by accident seems to me to be much harder to believe than the idea that we are created by a spiritual intelligence much vaster than our own.