On the Road with Jesus: Lazarus
John 11:17-44
March 10, 2019
Many of us are eager for the season of spring to begin. This past Wednesday marked the beginning of a season on the Christian calendar, the season of Lent. What is Lent? Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.
Over the next six weeks you are going to journey with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. You will hear from people that Jesus encountered along the way. Some of them knew Jesus and others he met for the first time on the road. All had life altering encounters with Jesus.
It is hoped that as you join the journey that you will also encounter Jesus. For some you may already know Jesus for some you may encounter him for the first time. Meeting Jesus is a life altering experience.
Today, a young man by the name of Lazarus recounts his encounter with Jesus. Because there are no written words spoken by Lazarus in the Bible some creative liberties have been taken to give Lazarus a voice this morning. Lazarus’ encounter with Jesus is found in the Bible, the gospel of John in chapter 11. You are encouraged to read this chapter in its entirety. Since he was there I will let Lazarus tell you about his encounter with Jesus.
Good morning to all of you. I am so happy to be sharing my encounter with Jesus. I suppose you could say that mine is a life and death story. I am getting ahead of myself.
My name is Lazarus and I knew Jesus. In fact I had met Jesus previous to this story. My sister’s names are Mary and Martha. They were followers of Jesus. They were convinced that he was the Messiah and begged me to come and to listen to Jesus.
Mary, Martha and I are Jews and we had been waiting for a long time for the promised Messiah to come. The prophets had left us with words that God would send someone from King David’s royal lineage. We were sure that this Messiah would restore the nation of Israel. We were ruled by the nation of Rome at the time and it would take a powerful leader to break the grip of Rome over us.
Like I said Mary and Martha were convinced that Jesus was the one prophecied about. I must say that after listening to him teach and watching him heal people, I was pretty convinced myself.
Jesus spoke with such clarity. I had grown up going to the synagogue listening to the scriptures read and explained but I had never heard anything like this. At times it seemed like Jesus had written these words himself. He explained them with such passion.
There were times when his explanations differed from what I had learned growing up but when Jesus spoke it just seemed to make sense. He spoke of love instead of hate, forgiveness instead of revenge. He talked about the Kingdom of Heaven and not a worldly kingdom.
Now there were times when he would say things that would leave me scratching my head but I watched his closest followers and they seemed confused from time to time as well. It didn’t keep me away, I wanted to know more and more. When I was able or when I was close to where Jesus was I would go and listen to him.
Why did I think he was the Messiah? He was different. He was kind to women. He always had time for the outcast. I saw him heal people. He was special for sure. The only problem seem be that he would often clash with the chief priests.
More than once people got upset with Jesus and wanted to kill him. Each time however he was able to get out of the situation unharmed. In fact the last time Jesus was in this area they wanted to stone him and so I wasn’t sure if he’d be back this way or not. To me it was clear that God was with Jesus. I was 95% sure that he was this promised Messiah and I was anxious to see what was going to happen.
I then I got sick. It wasn’t a big deal at first. I just remember that I didn’t feel right. We all have that from time to time right. I figured that maybe it was something that I ate or that it would just pass in a day or two.
At first I was pretty much able to continue on as normal but things started to get a little bit worse. I was just too tired to keep up my normal routine. I got a fever and soon I couldn’t even stand up by myself. Things got bad, quickly. My sisters tended to me as did others and nothing seemed to be getting any better. I could hardly even communicate with them.
I do remember someone suggesting that they send word to Jesus. There was discussion if it would be safe for him to come here so close to Jerusalem but there didn’t seem to be much hope for anything else. I tried to plead for them to do so but all I could do was groan and at some point my world went black. I don’t really remember too much after that. Mary and Martha helped fill in the gaps.
They told me that it was decided to send for Jesus. It wasn’t long after that, that I died. I know it sounds crazy right because here I am talking to you, right. Like I said, my world had gone dark. It was custom in those days that when someone died they were buried that same day. So I was wrapped in grave clothes and placed in a tomb.
Servants brought word to Jesus about my illness but for some reason he waited a few days before coming. By then I was dead and had been placed in the tomb. Remember how I said his disciples were sometimes confused by what Jesus said? He told them that I was asleep and that he would come and wake me up. They said, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” They didn’t want to head this way because Jesus was a wanted man and they feared for all their lives.
Jesus knew even though nobody had told him, he told them, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So they came even though they knew it wasn’t safe.
By the time Jesus got here I’d been dead for four days. Many people had gathered for the mourning period and they gathered at our home. Martha heard that Jesus close so she slipped out of the city and went out to meet him.
She loved Jesus and she believed in him. She told me that she had said to Jesus that if he would have been here that I wouldn’t have died. I don’t think she was bitter, maybe a bit disappointed but also in the midst of overwhelming grief. She took comfort in the fact she believe that I would rise again at the resurrection in the last days.
Jesus had told her I would rise again. She didn’t get that he meant that day. How could she. Jesus then 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?”
Oh yes she did! She called him the Christ, the Son of God. She went got my other sister Mary so she also could talk to Jesus. She also was stricken with grief as she approached Jesus and through her tears also told Jesus that she believed that if he had been here that I wouldn’t have died. Mary hadn’t been quite as discrete when she left and some of the mourners had come with her.
Mary told me that Jesus was also emotional and that he cried as well. I don’t know if he was crying for me or just crying over the situation. You know when you cry because someone else you care for is crying and they are hurting. Jesus was such a beautiful man. He loved so deeply. He cared so deeply for my sisters and so many. Jesus asked where I was buried.
They brought him to the tomb where I had been put. They didn’t embalm the body like you do today. A stone had been put in front of the tomb because as the natural process took place the body would begin to decompose and well, it would start to smell. So when Jesus asked them to roll the stone away people were questioning this request.
In fact, even though my sisters remained steadfast in their faith to Jesus others had begun to question this whole thing. If Jesus had done these miracles for total strangers, well why in the world did he let me die? Funny how people question God. Could Jesus have kept me from dying? Sure he could have but he didn’t and he was about to use it for a greater glory. We don’t always agree with what God does or doesn’t do but his way is always the right way.
Jesus then said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they rolled the stone back and Jesus gave glory to his Father in heaven so that what he was about to do would help the people believe that God had sent him.
He then called out, “Lazarus, come out!” When I heard those words my world snapped back to reality and I took a big gasp of air and opened my eyes. I heard Jesus voice and I saw a light. It was dim at first because I had a grave cloth over my face. When I sat up and it fell to the side, I could see the light coming from the opening of the tomb and so I walked towards the light, still not really knowing what was going on.
As I exited the tomb, there stood Jesus and the others. He told the others to take the grave clothes off of me, then I was, well I was still confused but one thing I knew was that as I stared at Jesus and the grin on his face. I knew he loved me. My heart was at total peace and in that moment there was nothing but pure joy.
Jesus was willing to sacrifice his life for mine. Remember Jesus had kind of become a wanted man in these parts. The irony in all of this was that as he gave me life, it was the beginning of his march to death.
Many of those that witnessed what Jesus did put their faith in him but some went to the Pharisees. They were afraid that if they didn’t stop Jesus that everyone would believe in him. PHISH! Well, yeah. They were afraid that it would cause a ruckus with the Romans and they would then lose their positions and so they decided then and there that Jesus needed to die and he would.
For me however! Jesus gave me life. I was dead and he gave me life. I’m not talking about my physical life, although he did that too which was pretty amazing and because of that he gave me many more years to spend with my family.
I’m talking about the life he gave me in exchange for his. You see because he gave me life, I watched as his was taken from him. He did that so my sins would be forgiven. He did that so I could have life eternal with him.
This morning are you alive or are you dead? Listen to Jesus calling your name. He is calling you out of the death of your sins. He is calling you to life. Open your eyes and follow the light. The light of the world and experience a life in Jesus. Experience a life in eternity with Jesus.
Amen.
There is no copy write on this so feel free to use it however you want. If you would like the pictures I put with this please email me - jamiebogaard@gmail.com.
