About this time every year, I start to feel like the year is slipping away from me, and sure enough, I can barely believe that we are about to start the second week of August already, and week 5 of our summer sermon series, I Am. Unfortunately I don’t have slides this week, we had to run to Fredericton for the second time in a couple weeks for my Grandfathers funeral and I ran short on time, but we will have slides again next Sunday!
We’ve been spending the summer studying the 7 notable I Am statements of Jesus. As people who live in a world and culture where Jesus and the church are well known, we sometimes can be guilty of taking Jesus for granted. However, for the people Jesus was preaching too, they hadn’t heard the gospel yet, and they didn’t yet know who Jesus was. So this summer, we have been taking some time to go back, and see how Jesus revealed his nature and his mission to the people around him during his ministry.
The first I am statement by Jesus was I Am the bread of life. This was followed by I am the light of the world, then I am the gate for the sheep, and then last week we looked at his fourth statement, I am the good shepherd.
As we progress through these statements, we are getting closer and closer in the Gospel of John to the crucifixion of Jesus. This statement we are looking at this week actually took place during the resurrecting of Lazarus from the dead, which was the event that prompted the Sanhedrin to begin to plot Jesus’ arrest and execution.
Like I said, for the audience present, these statements were the first time they had learned these things about Jesus. In this week’s statement, we will see that Jesus gives a resurrection and eternal life to anyone who believes in him. And then after saying this, he backs up his claim by raising his good friend Lazarus from the dead. So lets open with prayer, then we will look at this statement.
We are going to be in John 11, but we are only going to be focusing on verses 17-21, so I want to start by giving the full context.
After last week’s story, Jesus eventually was chased out of Judea, and they had headed north towards Gaililee, and were camping near the Jordan river.
Word was sent to Jesus that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick. Jesus waited two days after receiving this word, then he told his disciples that they were going to go to seem Lazarus.
So they went down to Judea again, to Bethany, which was less than two miles from Jerusalem. They found out that Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days, and that is where our passage begins:
John 11:17–27 (NIV)
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now 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.” 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. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Something that unites people throughout most cultures in history is the community support of those who have lost someone. Of course this looks different depending on which culture you are in, but there is almost always community support for the family. In Judaism, it was expected that friends and family would come to the family of the deceased immediately following the loss, and would stay for days. The persons neighbors would provide the first meal after the death, and the person would be buried on the day that they died, there was no waiting period or wake, like we would have today.
We think there is a decent amount of evidence that first century jews believed that the soul of the deceased person hovered around the body for three days, seeking “re-entry”. And on the fourth day, when the spirit saw that decomposition had begun, then the spirit would leave to go to Sheol. This isn’t for certain, but there is definitely evidence that there was a distinction between the third and fourth days. So the fact that Jesus waited two days after recieving word, and then showed up on the FOURTH day, was significant. Jesus timed his arrival to coincide with the conclusion of the first three days of intense mourning, until after they believe the sould had left the body, and after the body had begun to decompose. By waiting, there was no way anyone could challenge him and say that Lazarus had not really been dead.
John 11:20–22 (NIV)
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.”
For the first seven days after a loved one had been buried, the close family wouls sit on the floor of their house, and all they visitors would visit with them there. It is still a custom that is practiced today in Judaism, and it’s called Shivah, or “seven days” . So Mary is staying at home in practice of this, but Martha breaks with custom to go out to meet Jesus.
Then Martha says to him, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know even now that God will give you whatever you ask.” Now whatever Martha meant by that, she clearly was not expecting him to restore her brother to life then and there, as we will see from her response. This seems to be more of a general acknowledgement that she knows Jesus is close to God, and that God listens to his prayers.
And this is where it gets interesting. We don’t want to psycho-analyze Martha too much here, but there is definitely evidence in the passage, as we will see, that while she does have strong faith in Jesus, her faith is defective.
She clearly believes that if Jesus had JUST been there, he wouldn’t have died. But it seems that once Lazarus had died, she seemed to think his authority and power could no longer help. Jesus can miraculously make blind people see, or make paralyzed people walk! But bringing someone back from the dead seems too much for him to do.
John 11:23–24 (NIV)
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
If she had really understood what he meant, it might have been startling. But instead, she seems to take it as one of the usual platitutes that she had most likely heard many, many times in the past four days. It is very characteristic of the gospel of John, you often will see these “double-truths”, where one statement has multiple meanings. There is the surface meaning that would have been naturally assumed, and then a deeper, more significant spiritual meaning.
But of course Jesus was not just talking about the final resurrection, he meant that he was about the physically restore her brother to life, which would SYMBOLIZE the resurrection on the last day.
John 11:25–26 (NIV)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
So here we see Jesus’ I Am statement, as well as Martha’s response to it. All of the previous statements we have looked at in some way have to do with Jesus as the life-giver, and we of course see that here as well. Not only is Jesus the life giver, he is life itself. But what we see here, is that he gives us life, by becoming our life.
The two terms he uses here are unpacked in the following statements. First of all, I am the Resurrection: He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And this addresses Martha in the situation she currently finds herself in.
Jesus claims here that it is faith in HIM that brings you back to life at the final judgment. Which means that HE is the source of hope for coming back from death. But then he says, I am the life: Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. If your faith is in him, you will experience eternal life.
So we have two main thoughts; Resurrection from death, and eternal life. Martha shows in the previous verses that she believes in some sort of resurrection in at the end of time, but Jesus essentially is telling her to reshape her hope radically. Resurrection life, which triumphs over death, is not just some distant thing to give her hope, it is present here and now in Jesus who IS the Resurrection, and is LIFE ITSELF. He is the EMBODIMENT of life and salvation, and to believe in him means that death is defeated. And while we may suffer a physical death, it is not the elimination of hope, it is not goodbye. For the believer in Jesus, the present reality IS the eternal life of God received through faith in Jesus.
Then he asks her, do you believe this? And she responds:
John 11:27 (NIV)
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Now you may have noticed, but that isn’t what he asked her. He asked whether she believes that he is the resurrection and the life. She says, yes, I believe that you are the Messiah.
A lot of commentaries that I read this week talk about the deficiency of Martha’s faith, and how she just doesn’t have strong enough faith to believe in Jesus, or to understand what he means. And to that I say, I don’t know what they are talking about. No, she doesn’t understand. But even if she doesn’t know what he means, she knows that she DOES believe in him. And that is how I interpret this. She may now know what he was saying, but her faith is still genuine, and I would argue VERY strong, because she believes even though she doesn’t understand. And I think this is an encouragement to us, as we don’t always understand God’s plans and ways either. It is encouragement to say, even though we don’t understand, believe anyways.
That is as far as we are going to study today, because we are focusing on these I Am statements. But just so we don’t leave the story unfinished, Jesus then talks to Mary, and asks them to take him to the tomb, and remove the stone that covers the entrance. Then he says to them, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
He then prays to God, and commands Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and then Lazarus comes out, alive once again.
So each week, we have studied these statements, to see what they meant to the original audience, and how it impacted them, and then we talk about what they mean for us. So it is clear to see what it meant for Mary and Martha that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, as after he told them this, he resurrected their brother from death. So what does it mean for us?
1. Jesus will resurrect anyone who believes in him
First of all, as the Resurrection, Jesus will resurrect anyone who believes in him. For Lazarus, this was an immediate resurrection. But like I said, there are often double meanings in the Gospel of John, and in this case it very much is also foreshadowing to the resurrection at the final judgment. If you have faith in Jesus, you will experience a bodily resurrection.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NASB95)
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Now, you may hear some people tell you that since we are going to be bodily resurrected, it is wrong or sinful to be cremated, or that it may somehow prevent you from being resurrected.
This is so incredibly absurd that it doesn’t merit a response, but I will respond anyways, by saying this: If God can raise someone who has died, was buried, and decomposed, back to life. Is it really that much different to bring back someone who was cremated, or who died in a fire, or who died at sea?
I argue that saying God can do one, but not the other, is almost comical. I don’t think anyone needs to worry too much about that. If Jesus says you will be resurrected, you will be resurrected. Lazarus is his proof that he can resurrect others, and his own empty tomb is proof that he has the authority and power to do so.
2. Jesus will give eternal life to anyone who believes in him.
Secondly, as the Life, Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who follows him and believes in him. This is the bigger promise. Yes, we will be resurrected, and yes Lazarus was as well. But for all those who believe in him, we will never suffer a spiritual death, we will live forever in his presence.
1 John 5:13 (NASB95)
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
By putting your faith in Jesus, you are putting your faith in him who is the embodiment of Resurrection and Life, and as a result, you will receive both.
So as we conclude this week, let’s think about what that means for us, because it is so much more real and important than all the things we spend our time focusing on in the days between Sunday, myself included.
Jesus didn’t just come and say things, he backed up his words with actions and evidence. And as we study the ways in which he revealed himself to humanity, I hope that it will be impactful and changing to all of us, to experience Jesus and all that he is with fresh eyes and open hearts.
We don’t always understand, we don’t always have strong faith. We are often like Martha in this story. Jesus says that he gives a resurrection and eternal life to anyone who believes in him. But like Martha, it is my hope that even when it doesn’t make sense, and even when we don’t understand, that we will still believe and put our faith in him.
