John 11: 1 – 57
The Subject We Avoid Talking About
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” 12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” 17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” 45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” 49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. 54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples. 55 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56 Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that He will not come to the feast?” 57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.
From the Latin word ‘muse’ we get the idea of being absorbed in thought. If you place a letter ‘a’ before the word it means ‘not to’. So, when we have the word ‘Amuse’, it means not to be absorbed in thought. It is amazing that Americans spend billions of dollars each year not to think. Wow!
One subject which I think you will agree with me is ‘death’. We do not want to talk about it or even think about it. We go about our lives ignoring the fact that 100 % of us will die. Sure we all hope that we are part of the generation that our Lord Jesus will transform from life to instant eternity in His 2nd Coming.
I believe we have all experienced the phone call that so and so have died. What happens then? Our lives and plans have to be rescheduled. Like it or not, we then are forced not only to think about the dearly departed loved one but are forced to somehow consider our own existence.
So, today as we go over this subject I want you to think about your own lives and eternity
The least expensive mode of transportation during the time of our Lord Jesus was, of course, walking. Walking speed depended on the climate, season, and terrain, but one could generally walk about 20 miles in a day. Jesus, like many of his contemporaries, crisscrossed the country numerous times.
Every devout religious Jew was to be at least ‘three’ times a year Jerusalem. We read in the book of Exodus 34: 23 “Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the Lord God of Israel”. Foremost among the many religious feasts was the ‘Passover’. Remember in our Lord Jesus’ public ministry of 3 years He was once at “Feast of Booths” (John 7:2) in Jerusalem and once He was at the “Feast of Dedication” which we learned in our last study of the Gospel of John 10:22-39. He was in Jerusalem during that 3-year period at least three times for the “Passover” (John 2:13-22; John 5:1-47; John 12: 12-19). You have Jesus during His 3 year public ministry making ‘at least’ five separate trips to Jerusalem from Galilee.
The mileage from Jerusalem to Nazareth and Capernaum and vice versa is: approximately 120 miles (193 km). The way included mountains, valleys, rivers, desert and wilderness. There were bandits and killers hiding along the wayside. The most direct route would be about 90 miles; however this would be through Samaria. This was an area between Jerusalem and the Galilee area to the north. The Jews as a whole hated the Samaritans and they the Jews. Travel through Samaria was to be avoided because of the mountainous conditions and the racial hatred. We have already learned that our Lord Jesus did not discriminate against the Samaritans. If we take the time to figure the total Miles our Lord Jesus walked during His 3-year public ministry is 3,125! (5,029 km).
Now over time He met some people who became His personal friends. This family was composed of two sisters and a brother. Upon His visits to Jerusalem they opened their home to Him and His group of followers. Their home was up the hill over the garden of Gethsemane with a direct path to the eastern gate of the city.
Now with this background let us pick up today’s scripture.
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
We learn the names of our Lord’s friends. They were Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Please note that this Mary was the one who came to our Lord Jesus and broke a jar of perfume and anointed out Lord Jesus right before He was arrested and went to the cross.
I want you to take special note of what our Holy Spirit says about Lazarus - “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” We will come back to this point.
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
We just spoke about the distances people had to walk. Upon the stress of seeing their brother was seriously ill the sisters sent a runner to come and not only inform our Lord Jesus as to Lazarus’s condition but assumed that He would drop all things and rush back to Bethany.
If you have been with us on our journey through the Gospel of John you will understand that our Lord Jesus speaks many times of spiritual situations while His disciples and the people could only filter what He said in physical ways. So, when He hears of Lazarus’ illness He comments that Lazarus’s illness He is not talking about physical death as we see happens to Lazarus but He is talking about spiritual death
Please note again the emphasis on how the Lord loved this family. So, we would expect that our Lord Jesus would drop everything and return to Bethany. Is this what He did? No, He stayed put where He was for two days.
6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
Say what? Our tendency is to think what kind of love is this? You are needed and you just brush it off.
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
The disciples had been with our Lord Jesus when He had the major showdown with the religious leaders. They had picked up stones to kill Him but He just walked away and ultimately left town. Now He tells His disciples that He is going to go to His friends home. Its funny that the Lord’s disciples needed to have to remind our Lord that the religious leaders we bent on killing Him, like He didn’t really know this fact.
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” 12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
Our Lord Jesus tells His followers that Lazarus is asleep. Again He Is talking about spiritual facts about the sleep of death. Thinking of natural ways the disciples respond that sleep is a good way toward recovery.
You know is today’s hectic lifestyles we are all too necessary and valuable to take some time off from work when we get sick. If we just stayed home and ate some good home cooked chicken soup and rested then in a couple of days we would be good to go and probably would not be sick for the rest of the season. What do we probably do? We buy some items from the pharmacy and continue to go to work. The medicine we take does not heal our condition it only masks the problem. So, a simple flu turns into bronchitis then to pneumonia then to death.
To correct His disciples incorrect thinking our Lord Jesus tells them straight up.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
If this news wasn’t shocking to them the following words definitely stun them.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
We come back to my point on focusing on the statements on how much our Lord loved Lazarus. We are blessed because we have the ending of what happened. But picture you being there and hearing these words from the Lord Jesus. How would you think now? I know we would think, ‘Did I just hear what I thought I heard? He really didn’t say that He was happy that Lazarus died? Didn’t He love this guy and his sisters?
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Thomas might still be pondering what his fellow associates had warned our Lord Jesus about. He has been slammed by people over generations as being ‘Doubting Thomas’. Here we see though that under serious thought that he was willing to go with the Lord Jesus and give his life if necessary. Thomas later in his life be the disciple who made his way to India and faithfully evangelized this country.
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
We find here that our Lord Jesus and His disciples where two days away or about 40 miles from Bethany when word came to them of Lazarus’s death. Therefore when they arrived at this town Lazarus had already been laid in a tomb for four days.
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Word came to their home that Jesus and all his group were back. Upon hearing this Martha jumped up and went and met Him as He was still on the road. She did not fully understand the Power of Jesus. In her thinking she felt that if Jesus had physically been there He would have made sure her brother would not have died. Now that He was physically back she knew that He had the power to do amazing things in harmony with Father God even raising people from the dead. Not only will our Lord Jesus do an amazing thing of bringing Lazarus back from the dead He Is going to do awesome work in His followers lives in teaching them about Himself.
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
We all need to stop and think what our Lord has just said. It is important for our eternity. The Lord Jesus says to Martha that Lazarus will rise again. Martha picks up this point relative to scripture that God will resurrect believers in the last days. So Martha responds that she believes that one day in some unknown future the resurrection of the dead will occur.
Our Lord wants Martha and us to understand that He Is The Resurrection and Eternal Life. If we believe in Him we will never die. We have to be real and state the obvious. My loved ones believe in Jesus yet they have died. I cannot comprehend what he says here.
Remember our Lord Jesus while He was away from Bethany with His disciples said that Lazarus was asleep? If you are willing to accept this challenge then do a personal study and look up the word ‘sleep’. You will find that for believers when they die they are referred to as ‘sleeping’. Non-believers are just dead. Each day our Lord shows us about our resurrection. Each night we have to recharge our aging bodies. We fall asleep. Our God Is so amazing that while we are recharging He doesn’t allow us to get bored. He shows us some mini movies while we sleep. We call them dreams. Then in the morning He resurrects us. We wake up. For all believers the ultimate waking up will occur. You will hear His voice say Michelle wake up. Your eyes will open and you will see the smiling face of our Great God and Master Jesus Christ. It doesn’t get better than this.
Now the big question to ask you comes from the mouth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He said, ‘Do you believe this?’ This is a question that you cannot just shrug off. You must do your own inventory and think is this exactly what you believe? Martha understood and responded to the Lord that she believed in Him.
28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
With an uplifted spirit Martha ran back to her house to get her sister Mary. Please note that when Mary arrives she has the same thoughts that Martha had before her talk with our Lord Jesus. She also felt that Jesus had to physically be in a spot to do His miracles. Our Lord is going to prove to all believers that He does not have to physically be in a spot to do wonderful things for all of us.
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
As a Pastor it is very difficult to go and visit hospitals and to do funerals. For me I often enter into the heartache and sorrow that family members deal with. It is very heavy. Here our Lord Jesus also felt the same way. You can see from the shortest verse in the bible verse 35 – Jesus wept.
37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Again the people have the same wrongs thoughts and ideas about our Great Lord Jesus. They mockingly respond, ‘Hey didn’t this guy love Lazarus. He should have been here to help him and his sisters. He could have kept Lazarus from dying if He would have cared enough to be here on time.’ Our Lord gave out a groan as to this continued insults and belief in Him
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Even though these people gave Him a hard time look at the authority our Lord had. He told them to move the heavy stone away from the tomb Lazarus. They ultimately obeyed His instructions. Then for the benefit of those standing around our Lord said communicated with Father God out loud. He wanted them to know that Adoni Yahweh sent our Messiah to earth. Crying out He called Lazarus back from the sleep of death. If He didn’t specifically say Lazarus name probably all people who were ever buried in this tomb would have come back to life.
45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” 49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.
Believers celebrated and the others ran to the religious leaders. This caused them to have an emergency meeting. How do they handle this new and amazing problem? They felt that if they didn’t do anything about Jesus then the whole nation will believe in Him as the rightful heir to David’s throne. If they Romans hear about it then they will come and deal with the matter and as a result the religious leaders will lose their cushy jobs.
We see here an important spiritual fact and it is this, ‘does The Holy Spirit ever speak through non-believers?’ The answer is yes, We see here that the person appointed by Rome to the position of High Priest by the name of Caiaphas speaks up and prophesies how our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will die not only for the Jews but for all of us.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples. 55 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56 Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that He will not come to the feast?” 57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.
Our Lord to a certain extent now takes the time to do a retreat with His followers. This is special for Him. He wants to spend some time with them laughing and crying. Following this He with steadfast love makes His return journey back to Jerusalem where He will fulfill the prophecy that Caiphas had uttered. Thank You Lord Jesus. We love You.
