Jesus uses the metaphor of the shepherd to explain His role in the world. He says that people who are going to a farm must go in through the front gate. If they try to sneak in another way, they're just thieves. The shepherd also goes through the front gate to tend to His sheep on the farm. Inside, the sheep know Him and follow the sound of His voice. Sheep are natural followers. The Gospel explains that Jesus is using figurative language to try to describe Himself, but the people still don't understand what He means. So, Jesus tries again. And speaks very, very slowly. Jesus = the shepherd. He leads his flock and protects His sheep. He'll even die for them. If He were just some hired sheepherder, working out in the pasture, he wouldn't care less about the sheep. If he saw a wolf coming, he'd just step aside and let the wolf gobble them up. The good shepherd is different, though. He'll fight that wolf if He has to. He'll even get mauled or killed just to protect the sheep from harm. Jesus tells them again that He's going to die. If this seems awful, don't worry. No one's going to force death on Him. He's going to let himself die. All of this is God's will. As usual, the people aren't sure what to make of Jesus. Is He insane? Is He holy? Only His God knows for sure.
Now we move ahead. It's wintertime in Jerusalem and people are celebrating Hanukkah. Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights and it remembers the rededication of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, in December. Jesus is walking in the temple when some of the people there corner Him. They tell Him to stop messing with them and just tell them if He is the Messiah. Haven't they been listening? Jesus has been over this before. He's told these guys who He is and they don't believe Him. It's probably because they don't belong to His flock of sheep. Again, the people are ticked. They pick up some rocks and try to stone Him again. What, He asks them, are you going to stone Me for this time? Is it the miracles? The people want to stone Him because He's a huge blasphemer. How dare He pretend to be God? They try to get Him arrested yet again. But Jesus, manages to sneak away unharmed. He decides to leave Jerusalem, and the angry mobs, and head east to Jordan.
In Bethany, which is in Judea, one of Jesus' friends, Lazarus, is very sick. Lazarus lives with his sisters, Mary and Martha, who send a message to Jesus telling Him that His friend is sick. Hurry, Jesus. Jesus gets the message but isn't too concerned. Two days later, He finally decides to head to Bethany. But the disciples are a little leery. Didn't an angry mob just try to stone Jesus in Judea? Didn't this happen a couple times? Jesus isn't worried. He tells them that Lazarus is asleep and that He will wake him when he gets to Bethany.
When Jesus arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead for four days. In fact, he's already been put in a tomb. Things are looking pretty hopeless. Since Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, some of the people from the city have come to offer their condolences to Mary and Martha. Jesus comes to the house, and Martha goes out to meet Him. She tells Him that, if He had come sooner, her brother wouldn't have died. But she also has a feeling that Jesus could still do something for them. Jesus tells her that Lazarus will rise again. Sure, Martha says. He's going to rise up at the end of time like You're always saying. But that's not quite what Jesus has in mind. Jesus tells her that He is "the resurrection and the life." People who believe it are never really going to die. Does she get it now? Martha tells Him that, yes, she believes all this. She knows that He is the Messiah, God's son. After He finishes with Martha, Jesus has the same conversation with her sister Mary. If only Jesus had come earlier, Lazarus wouldn't have died.
Mary takes Jesus to Lazarus's tomb. When He gets there, He breaks down and cries. Some of the people think it's touching that Jesus is weeping because He loved Lazarus so much. Others think that, if He loved him so much, maybe He should have come earlier and saved him. Jesus dries His tears and surveys the tomb; it's a cave with a stone lying against it as a door. He tells them to remove the stone. Martha is a little skeptical. She reminds Jesus that Lazarus has been in there for four days. It's going to smell pretty bad when they open the tomb. But, for Jesus, anything. So she has the stone removed. When the tomb is open, Jesus says a prayer to God and then yells, "Lazarus, come out!" And out comes Lazarus, still wrapped up like a mummy, but now very much alive.
Because of all this impressive stuff, lots more people start believing in Jesus. But others sneak off to let the religious authorities know what Jesus is up to. As you might imagine, they're pretty miffed. Jesus's miracles are getting bigger and better all the time. They can't complete with this guy. Soon everyone's going to believe in Him. If all your friends started following the Messiah, would you? This could be not so good for Judea. If the Romans—the guys in charge of the country—catch wind of this, they will not be amused. They might even march in with an army and destroy the city. Or worse, destroy the temple. Caiaphas, the high priest, tells them all, that it would be better for just one man to die than for the entire nation to be destroyed. So, that day they decide: they are going to have Jesus executed.
Because of all the we're-going-to-kill-you craziness, Jesus doesn't go to Jerusalem anymore. He and the disciples head for Ephraim, which is north of the city. Later, as Passover nears again, many people start going to Jerusalem to get ready for the festivities. The people in the city keep wondering, will Jesus show up for Passover? Is He going risk death to come to Jerusalem? Passover is one of the most important holidays in Judaism. It commemorates the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt, and is celebrated annually either in March or April, depending on the dates in the Hebrew Calendar.
Six days before Passover is going to start, Jesus heads back down to Bethany to stay with Lazarus and his sisters. They host a dinner party in His honor. After dinner, Mary takes a huge jar of very expensive perfume and pours it all over Jesus's feet. Then she wipes His feet with her hair. Judas suddenly pipes in: Why is this perfume being wasted like this? They could have sold it and raised tons of money to give to the poor. Of course, the gospel tells us, Judas doesn't really care about the poor. In fact, he is in charge of the money the disciples give to the poor and steals from this stash all the time. Jesus defends Mary, explaining that she has anointed Him with perfumes because He will be buried soon. Later, other people figure out that Jesus is in Bethany, and they start coming to see Him. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the guy who raised Lazarus from the dead. Speaking of Lazarus, the religious authorities have decided that while they're at it, they're going to kill him, too. After all, it's kind of his fault that people are so worked up over Jesus, right?
The next day, the people hear that Jesus has come to Jerusalem for Passover. They pull branches from palm trees and yell "Hosanna!" as He enters the city on a donkey. The religious authorities watch all this and are convinced that the whole world has gone Jesus-crazy.
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