THE RESURRECTIONS BEFORE THE RESURRECTION (part five)
John 11:1-46
1) "The one whom you love is sick." (1-16)
"Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
They didn't outright ask for Jesus to come and heal their brother. The telegram didn't need to. "The one you love is sick" is all they felt they needed to say in order to provoke Jesus to respond favorably. Same with us. If we are told of a stranger's sickness we can feel empathy and be moved to prayer but when told that someone very close to us is sick our natural inclination will be to do more than just pray.
"When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days."
So Jesus gets this word that his close friend is very sick and instead of leaving to go to him he stays put for two whole days? That doesn't make any sense. It would be like your best friend's sister calling you saying, "He could go any time and he's asking to see you." And you respond with, "Gee, I don't know; I just got out of church and I've got a lot going on. How about Friday? Do you think he can hold on until then?" you wouldn't say that; it would be cold and heartless.
So why does Jesus do that? For God's glory and so Jesus could be glorified. How so? We'll be finding out. So it's obvious that his lack of immediate action wasn't because of a lack of care. How many times have we felt like God didn't care because he didn't act immediately? "
"Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”
His disciples thought it was suicide to go back to the place where he almost died previously. What was Jesus saying in his response? It's understood that he was saying that it was still daylight, meaning his work was not yet done and that it would keep going until the 'night' arrived.
It makes me think of what Jesus said at his arrest, "This is your hour; when darkness reigns". He would continue to do what he needed to do until the daylight hours were over. We need to be like that. We're working for the Lord and time is getting shorter as each day passes. So, regardless of the risks involved, we need to stay busy doing what he has called us to do, "while it is still called, 'today'".
"After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Just a few minutes ago Jesus said this sickness will not end in death but here he says that Lazarus is dead. Which is it? Both. How? You'll see.
"Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Thomas makes a noble statement. He figures if Jesus is heading back into hostile territory where he could die, he didn't want him to go it alone.
2) "Your brother will rise again." (17-37)
"On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 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.”
"Four days". This comes into play in calculating the series of events. Where Jesus started from was about a day's journey to Bethany. When he heard the news he stayed where he was for two days. Given that the messengers would take one day to get to Jesus we can see that most likely Lazarus died shortly after the messengers left to tell Jesus. That is why Jesus tells his disciples, 'Lazarus is dead'.
"If you had been here". Later we'll see Mary saying the same thing to him. Since Lazarus died so soon after the messenger left, I don't think the sisters meant, 'if you had left when you heard the news' it was more along the lines of, 'if you had already been here my brother would still be alive'.
I'm not saying their mindset was they expected Jesus to not go anywhere in case they needed him; that would be selfish. I just think they are speaking out of severe grief and they had wished Jesus would've been close at hand when they needed him.
But that's the blessing we have. Wherever we go Jesus is right there when we need him. We will never have to wait four days for Jesus to come to us. That's a privilege we have that they didn't.
"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. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Jesus makes it clear that it's not about there being a resurrection in the future; he is the resurrection so the ability to make it happen is already here. Jesus is the life and that if we believe in him we will not face spiritual death.
Jesus said in John 14:6 that he was the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the father but through him. That means he is the only way that eternal life is possible. No other belief, not other way, no amount of goodness I think I possess will be enough to make me right with God. It's all about Jesus.
Interesting that Jesus asks Martha, "Do you believe". I wonder what would've happened if she had said, 'no'?
But her response is interesting: she didn't say, "Yes, I believe you are the resurrection and the life", she said, "I believe you are the Savior". I think what this means is that she didn't really understand what Jesus meant but in believing that Jesus is the Son of God if he said he was the resurrection and the Life then she believed it.
We can be like that too. We might not understand everything Jesus said but that doesn't mean we don't believe it to be true. Since we have faith that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior and Lord we can believe anything he says whether we fully comprehend it or not.
"And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
So Mary comes and expresses the same grief-stricken sentiment that her sister had.
"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
It's been asked, "why didn't Jesus ask the same questions of Mary as he did Martha when she went to him?" I believe it's because Martha was one on one with Jesus while Mary brought a crowd with her. It says that Jesus stayed where he was while Martha went to get Mary. I believe Jesus was hoping to have a one-on-one with Mary like he did with Martha. But when people came with Mary that changed the plans.
"Jesus wept."
Jesus was deeply moved in his spirit. He was getting very emotional. He was troubled by all the grief and the mourning going on and the element of death was prevalent. By this time Jesus is becoming overcome with emotion. He sees the despair of these two sisters that he loves and he bursts into tears. I don't think his tears were for the loss of Lazarus because he knew Lazarus would be alive shortly. His tears were for what his sisters were going through.
We see here the tender connections Jesus had with people and how he cares deeply what they're going through. When we weep, when we're troubled, when we're burdened and feel weighed down Jesus connects with our emotions. We have a sympathetic and compassionate God!
"Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Here we see the contrasting reactions from the people. You have the ones who cheer and the ones who sneer. You have, "Look at how much he loved him" followed up with, "Well, if he loved him so much where was he when he was sick?"
Do we not have that derogatory spirit at work against us at times. Whether it's Satan whispering in our ear when Jesus isn't 'Johnny on the spot' or when it's nay-sayers when something bad happens to us and it's, 'where's your Jesus now?' Either way, these types of statements are meant to get us to look at Jesus in a negative and incorrect light. We need to resist that.
3) "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." (38-44)
"Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
So what's the significance of four days? Jesus waited where he was two days because he purposely wanted four days to pass before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Why? The Jews believed that when someone died their spirit stuck around the body for three days. Therefore, if it was day four then all hope was lost of the person coming back. So, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead at day four would've removed any doubt that a magnificent miracle had taken place. As has been said, "Jesus was four days late but right on time".
"Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
Jesus reiterates what he said to Martha earlier. Jesus repeating himself makes me think of what parents do. "What did I just tell you? Don't make me come over there." And if our kids push it we get out of our seat and at start to make our way over to where they are and they jump into action.
How often does God have to repeat himself with us? Sometimes we don't spring into action until God gets out of his seat and starts making his way over to us. As much as we want our kids to listen to us the first time we speak maybe we could work on ourselves being that way when God speaks.
Like the time an elderly lady after shopping, returned to her car and found four young men in the act of leaving with her car. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun. She screamed at the top of her lungs, "I have a gun and I know how to use it! Get out of that car!" Well, they didn't have to be told twice. They got out and ran like mad.
The lady, somewhat shaken, proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and get into the driver's seat. She discovered her keys wouldn’t fit into the ignition. Then it dawned on her why as she looked around the interior of the car and noticed that things didn't look quite right. "This isn't my car", she said.
She got out and soon spotted her rightful car parked four or five spaces farther down. She embarrassingly loaded her bags into her car and drove away.
"So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!"
Interesting he specifically says, Lazarus. I mean, what's going to happen if Jesus just said, 'come out'? Would Lazarus be sitting there looking around saying, 'you talking to me'?
In actuality, it's believed that if Jesus had not been specific, his command would've raised everyone else who was dead and buried. Interestingly, when Jesus resurrected many other people resurrected and came out too.
Matt. 27:50-53, "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people."
What a testimony to the resurrection power of God. The people in this story were about to see an example of resurrection power.
"The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
We see why Jesus waited before going to Bethany. Just like what happened with Jairus' daughter, how much greater of a miracle was it that Jesus raised the dead instead of healed the sick? As he had stated earlier, "it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it". As well as when he told his disciples earlier: "for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe". And he reiterates that in his prayer before calling out to Lazarus, "For the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me".
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead so that people (including his disciples) would be convinced that God had sent him and so that people would be convinced that he was the one who had the power over death; so that people would realize that he was the Savior. Jesus avoided performing a good miracle in order to perform the best one; for God's glory and to show and convince people who he is.
4) But not everyone rejoiced (45-46).
"Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done."
Because of this convincing miracle, some put their faith in Jesus while others saw it in a negative light. Whether they were spies for the Pharisees or just on their side I don't know.
After this, six days before Passover we have Jesus being anointed at Bethany by Mary. Then we find something interesting in
John 12:9-11, "Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him."
So we see that many people were putting their faith in Jesus as a result of raising Lazarus from the dead. So much was the effect that the religious leaders sought to put Lazarus to death along with Jesus to try to make sure the effect of Jesus died out.
Obviously, the people who went and told the Pharisees believed in the legitimacy of what Jesus had done but they refused to put their faith in him. How many people have experienced true miracles in their lives that are unexplainable yet have still not chosen to put their faith in Jesus?
For the Pharisees, the proof was right in front of them but they chose to have the wrong response. Instead of embracing Jesus they wanted to kill him. Why? Because he was a threat to their establishment and because he called them out regarding what they were doing that was wrong.
People today can't deny the legitimacy of Jesus but they still want to shut him out because he's a threat to their established ways and they don't like Jesus showing them what they do wrong.
But the bottom line is this: Jesus is the resurrection and the life; he is the way the truth and the life and no one goes to heaven but through him. If you think you get there on your own you're wrong. If you think you can do it your way, you're wrong. Do you want to live even though you die? Then you need to trust in Jesus as the only way.
