I Am The Resurrection And The Life Series

About this time every year, I start to feel like the year is slipping away from me, and sure enough, I can barely believe that we are about to start the second week of August already, and week 5 of our summer sermon series, I Am. Unfortunately I don’t have slides this week, we had to run to Fredericton for the second time in a couple weeks for my Grandfathers funeral and I ran short on time, but we will have slides again next Sunday!

We’ve been spending the summer studying the 7 notable I Am statements of Jesus. As people who live in a world and culture where Jesus and the church are well known, we sometimes can be guilty of taking Jesus for granted. However, for the people Jesus was preaching too, they hadn’t heard the gospel yet, and they didn’t yet know who Jesus was. So this summer, we have been taking some time to go back, and see how Jesus revealed his nature and his mission to the people around him during his ministry.

The first I am statement by Jesus was I Am the bread of life. This was followed by I am the light of the world, then I am the gate for the sheep, and then last week we looked at his fourth statement, I am the good shepherd.

As we progress through these statements, we are getting closer and closer in the Gospel of John to the crucifixion of Jesus. This statement we are looking at this week actually took place during the resurrecting of Lazarus from the dead, which was the event that prompted the Sanhedrin to begin to plot Jesus’ arrest and execution.

Like I said, for the audience present, these statements were the first time they had learned these things about Jesus. In this week’s statement, we will see that Jesus gives a resurrection and eternal life to anyone who believes in him. And then after saying this, he backs up his claim by raising his good friend Lazarus from the dead. So lets open with prayer, then we will look at this statement.

We are going to be in John 11, but we are only going to be focusing on verses 17-21, so I want to start by giving the full context.

After last week’s story, Jesus eventually was chased out of Judea, and they had headed north towards Gaililee, and were camping near the Jordan river.

Word was sent to Jesus that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick. Jesus waited two days after receiving this word, then he told his disciples that they were going to go to seem Lazarus.

So they went down to Judea again, to Bethany, which was less than two miles from Jerusalem. They found out that Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days, and that is where our passage begins:

John 11:17–27 (NIV)

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Something that unites people throughout most cultures in history is the community support of those who have lost someone. Of course this looks different depending on which culture you are in, but there is almost always community support for the family. In Judaism, it was expected that friends and family would come to the family of the deceased immediately following the loss, and would stay for days. The persons neighbors would provide the first meal after the death, and the person would be buried on the day that they died, there was no waiting period or wake, like we would have today.

We think there is a decent amount of evidence that first century jews believed that the soul of the deceased person hovered around the body for three days, seeking “re-entry”. And on the fourth day, when the spirit saw that decomposition had begun, then the spirit would leave to go to Sheol. This isn’t for certain, but there is definitely evidence that there was a distinction between the third and fourth days. So the fact that Jesus waited two days after recieving word, and then showed up on the FOURTH day, was significant. Jesus timed his arrival to coincide with the conclusion of the first three days of intense mourning, until after they believe the sould had left the body, and after the body had begun to decompose. By waiting, there was no way anyone could challenge him and say that Lazarus had not really been dead.