Resurrection foundations (John 11:17-44)
The whole meaning of Easter is summed up in what Jesus said to Martha: I am ‘the resurrection and the life’ and because He is who He is, we pray that He will so raise us, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness’
When Jesus said that He was the ‘resurrection and the life’ He was speaking to Martha when He arrived at their home and learnt of Lazarus’s death.
Lazarus had been dead 4 days and decay had begun to set in and we’re told of a very human reaction of how Martha approaches Jesus and basically tells Him - "I know the theology, but if you had only been here..."
Good theology was cold comfort. But then Jesus repeats the theology and asks Martha the oddest question:
"Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (good theology)
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…."
And then comes the odd question: "Do you believe this?"
That question is also aimed at us, there is a lot of difference in reading and understanding theology but believing and making it part and parcel of our everyday lives is something totally different.
Jesus was asking if she believed in HIM, He WHO WAS and IS the resurrection and the life.
Have you ever bought a product with a warranty? A LIFETIME guarantee? – what ever that means
The irony is that the product with a "lifetime guarantee" is only as good as the paper its written on!
After all how long is that lifetime going to last? Just how long is that company going to be in business?
The guarantee is only as good as the one who gives it!
Jesus was telling Martha that resurrection was a reality, not because it was good theology - but because He was guaranteeing it.
It would happen because He was going to make it happen.
If we believe this: it makes all the difference in the world… through His own death and resurrection.
With this kind of conviction in our hearts, the idea of our own resurrection is not just cold theology - it’s a burning fire that drives us.
Such conviction makes all the difference in the world:
- It ensures we are Who we are: In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he say’s "But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." (Romans 8:10-11)
Paul’s basic thought is that the Christian is integrally united, one with Christ.. Christ in us and we are in Christ.
Now Christ died and rose again; He conquered death; and the one who is in Christ is one with death’s conqueror and so shares in that victory.
It still remains true that the Spirit-controlled, Christ possessed person is on the way to life, LIFE ETERNAL.
Death is but an inevitable interlude that has to be passed through on the way and that surely affects the way we are.
– Believing that Christ is the Resurrection and the Life dictates How we live: The OT book of Job gives us all the hope in the world as to the way we should live the Christian life:
"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes-- I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27)
When you hear this passage of scripture in Handel’s Messiah its hard to belief that its from the OT.
It is used as an Aria between the Hallelujah chorus and the chorus: Since by man came death, by man came the resurrection of the dead… both from the NT!!
But its not out of place, in fact it complements, stressing the Christian hope that Jesus has won for us by His glorious resurrection.
I know that my Redeemer lives…
I know that I will see God…
I know that I will live beyond the grave..
I know that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life..
How we live is based on what we believe and our attitude to live itself, with Christ’s victory we have the hope beyond every hope, eternal life beyond this life.
This hope gives us a positive attitude to our lives and helps us - How we face death: Paul again in 1 Thess4:13 "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope."
Paul lays down a great principle: Those who have lived and died in Christ are still in Christ even in death and will rise in Him.
Between us and Jesus this loving relationship is unbreakable, a relationship which overpassess death.
Because Christ died and rose again, so we who are ONE in Him will rise again.
Nothing can ever destroy this loving relationship with Jesus, indeed any loving relationship never dies and lives well beyond the grave… St Paul puts this over uniquely in his letter to the Romans
‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For 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.
Here is a vision to take away all loneliness and all fear – even the fear of death itself.
Indeed you can think of every terrifying thing that this or any other world can produce or throw at you.
Not one of them is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ, who is Lord of every terror and Master of every world.
Of what then shall we be afraid, of what situation that we will not be able to cope with.
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Joe Bailey in his book "A View From a Hearse" tells of the day when his son died of cancer.
He had returned to the clinic to thank them for their kindness and care of his son.
As he spoke to the receptionist, she motioned him toward a woman whose son was playing quietly with toys in the waiting area. "He has the same cancer your son had" she said. "Why don’t you go over and see if you can talk with her."
Bailey went reluctantly over to sit next to her and they whispered just out of hearing of the boy. "It must be hard bringing him in for the treatments," he said, more a statement than a question.
"Hard," she turned with anguish in her eyes. "I die every time I have to bring him in.
What makes it worse is that I know it’s not going to stop the cancer and that he’s going to die."
Uncomfortable, Bailey ventured: "Still it is some comfort to know that when that happens there is no more pain and suffering, and that they go to a better place."
"No, when he dies I’m just going to bury him in the cemetery and I’ll never see him again."
Bailey wanted to leave. It was uncomfortable to be reminded of his loss and even more uncomfortable to speak with this woman who obviously had no hope in any way.
Then he spoke quietly, "I buried my son just yesterday, and I’ve only come today to thank the doctors and nurses for their kindness.
I know what you’re feeling but I also know that there is a better life for my son now."
"How could you believe such a thing," she challenged.
And then Joe Bailey told her about Jesus.
