FACING YOUR GIANTS
“Learning to Let Go”
John 11: 17-44
The Bible records 34 miracles performed by Jesus. He changed water to wine, he healed the deaf…
• made the blind to see
• the crippled could walk
• those with leprosy were made whole
• He fed the hungry with practically nothing.
He also raised the dead. I love to read about every miracle Jesus performed but the resurrection of someone from death back to life is clearly the most powerful because it has more to say to us than any other miracle Jesus performed. I find 10 times in the Scripture when someone was brought from death to life. The Old Testament names three. The New Testament names seven.
In the book of Acts, Peter raised a woman named Tabitha from the dead. Also in the book of Acts, Peter raised a man named Eutychus from the dead. In seminary my NT professor said..... when we were covering this passage, reminded us that Eutychus died in church. He was sitting in an open window listening when he fell asleep, and fell out of the window to his death. He said it’s a strange name, Eutychus; but if you had fallen out of the window you would’ve cussed to. I never forgot it. Jesus, of course resurrected himself along with a widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter and of course his friend Lazarus. And I want to repeat that I believe this miracle has more to say to us than any other miracle Jesus performed.
Now the Scripture tells us that Lazarus was sick. He was from the town of Bethany and He and his two sisters, Mary and Martha were all close friends to Jesus. When Jesus traveled through Bethany he would often stop and stay in their home. So they sent word to Jesus saying, “Lord the one you love the sick.” His response to the message was “this sickness will not end in death.” But rather it has a purpose --- that God will be glorified.”
It is of interest I think that when Jesus heard this news, the writer tells us two things. [1] Jesus deeply loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus and [2] Jesus chose rather than going to be with them immediately--he chose to remain where he was for two more days. Jesus then announces to the disciples that Lazarus has died and that he is going there to wake him up. The only information they gave Jesus was that Lazarus was sick. Jesus says this sickness will not end in death yet now he says Lazarus has died. The only conclusion I can gather from that is that Jesus somehow knew Lazarus had died even though no one told him.
There is not a hurt, a pain, a tragedy or a death that escapes God’s attention. All life is significant to our father in heaven.
But it is when God does not respond in the way that we might expect or want him to, that we are deeply troubled. It is when we wrongly begin to think that God does not really care about us. The fact that Jesus did not go to Lazarus immediately does not mean he did not love him, it simply means that his plan required a different response.
Look at what these verses tell us about Jesus and our grief we deal with. (1) We have a Savior who can handle our honesty. Vv 17-22. Jesus first comes into contact with Martha and her first words to him are found in verse 21. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. In all honesty I would say that all of us at one time or another have felt like asking the same question... Lord where were you? Where were you when I needed? And if you struggle with being that honest with God I want to share another truth with you....
It is not sinful to tell God how you feel.
Guess what? He already knows. So you can’t hide it anyway. Certainly we should always be respectful but that does not mean we are not allowed to tell him how we feel. In fact some of us have feelings we should share with him. You see, God is more patient and accepting than we realize. And that’s what Martha was doing here---sharing her feelings of hurt; perhaps even bitterness---when she said “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus answers her by saying in verse 23, “your brother will rise again.” Martha responds in verse 24 and says “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” But that was clearly not what Jesus was speaking of. Jesus then makes one of the most significant statements ever regarding who he is has he says: verse 25.
Jesus did not mean that believers would not die physically. He is not saying that as believers we will never pass through this gateway we call death but rather that the life he gives continues even through death. Death cannot blot out the life that Jesus gives. Paul tells us in Romans…”I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.
Jesus then ask Martha the most important question that anyone can ever face. He looks at Martha in verse 26 and asked this question, “Do you believe this?” Jesus is not asking, “Do you believe in God?” He is not asking “do you believe in an afterlife?” He is asking “do you believe in me?” Do you believe I am the resurrection and the life? And how we answer that question determines whether or not we will spend eternity with Christ. So what does Martha say? Verse 27.
Without going through all the details of the Greek NT what Martha is essentially saying is this.... “Yes, Lord I have believed. I never stopped believing. Despite all that’s gone on these last four days, I’ve never stopped trusting you. You are the son of God.” She then runs to tell her sister that Jesus has arrived. Mary then goes out to meet Jesus and in verse 32 she says the exact thing Martha has said... “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” At this point we see that Mary begins to weep. Martha begins to weep. All those with them begin to weep. And then we read the shortest verse in all of the Bible, “Jesus wept”. The Jews responded by saying, “look how much he loved him.”
Grief counselors describe 3 things we need when we lose someone.
(1) time –grief does not usually process quickly...the grief process takes time…..so don’t try to rush it...sometimes a few months....sometimes a few years. It is different with each person.
(2) Tears- when Jesus learned of the death of His friend Lazarus the scripture tells us that Jesus wept. Tears are O.K.
(3) talk- share memories, stories, talk is therapeutic.
[1] We have a Savior who can handle our honesty.
[2] We have a Savior who is moved by our grief. Vv. 23-38 Jesus wept over Jerusalem when they rejected him; Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died. These are the only two times we see this emotion expressed by Jesus. There are two things that seem to grieve him. He is grieved when we choose not to love and accept him. Here is why…it is because we are literally choosing hell over heaven. AND He is grieved when we lose someone we love.
Notice that even his enemies said look at how he loved Lazarus. The fact that Jesus wept reminds us that although God allows us to suffer/grieve, he also feels it with us. Jesus is deeply moved by the grief of his children.
[3] We have a Savior who can help us. Versus 39-41. There are some things Jesus will do for us and there are some things He also calls on us to do. Look at this. Jesus could have rolled the stone away himself but He asks those who were present to do so. For Martha it was not necessary to remove the stone. She appears to be distressed in fact. Verse 39b. She tries to reason with Jesus about it. He’s been dead for four days. How is this going to help? What if he had been there for only an hour? It was still useless to her.
Verse 40.
Verses 41-42
Jesus gives three commands in this passage if you’ve been counting.
v. 39 take away the stone.
v. 43. Lazarus come out!
v. 44. Loose him and let him go. As is always the case, Jesus was concerned with everyone who was present. That is why he prayed out loud. He wanted the bystanders to believe also. He orders the stone to be removed and then he shouts out for Lazarus to come forth. This is not a request. There is no question here. This is a shout of complete, raw authority. An order. In the fourth century Augustine said that it was good that Jesus called Lazarus by name or else the whole cemetery would’ve come out of the grave.
In my mind this is the most fascinating miracle Jesus ever performed. The crowd waiting, breathless, probably listening so clearly they could hear their own heartbeat when slowly out of the tomb walks the same man they buried four days ago. Moving slowly with difficulty-wrapped head to toe in grave clothes. And there he stood-alive. Ever wonder what Lazarus was thinking? There are strict rules, by the way about touching the dead. So who is going to help him?
Verse 44.
Every miracle Jesus ever performed resulted in a choice. People could believe or people could reject the truth and walk away. Verses 45 and 46. The Bible says many believed... Others rushed to report what Jesus had done in hopes of killing him. We have the same choice today receive him or reject him
Let’s face it. Jesus ruined every funeral he ever attended because the dead always got up and left. I read about a young boy. Who was sent by his mom to the corner store to buy a loaf of bread. He was gone much longer than it should have taken him. When he finally returned, his mother asked, "Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you."
"Well," he answered, "there was a little boy with a broken tricycle who was crying. So I stopped to help him."
The mom said, "I didn’t know you could fix tricycles!"
The boy said, "I can’t. I just stood there and cried with him!"
