What if I told you that surveys suggest that nearly three-quarters of doctors in the United States believe in miracles? And what if I told you that over half of the physicians surveyed noted that they had witnessed what they considered to be miracles?1
Find John 11 with me, if you will.
Ed Wilkinson was a neuropsychologist and a father in November 1984. His eighty-year-old son, Brad, had been diagnosed with 2 holes in his heart. Surgery was scheduled. As the date of the surgery was scheduled, the eight-year-old Brad began to give his toys away, thinking he would die in surgery. The young boy asked his day, “Am I going to die?” The dad was honest: “Not everyone who has heart surgery dies, but it can happen.” Then the boy asked his dad, “Can Jesus heal me?” The dad said, “I’ll get back to you on that.” And a few days later after reading his Bible, Ed told his son, “God does heal, but whether or not he would in Brad’s case, they still had hope of eternal life in Jesus.” Before surgery at the University of Missouri hospital in Columbia, Missouri, tests confirmed nothing had changed with Brad’s condition. The following morning, Brad was taken in for his operation, which was expected to last four hours. But after just one hour, the surgeon summoned Ed and showed him two films. The first film, taken the day before, showed blood leaking from one heart chamber to another. The second film, taken just as surgery started, showed a wall of some sort where the leak had been. The surgeon said there was nothing wrong with Brad’s heart, even though the holes were clearly visible the day before. “I have not seen this very often,” the surgeon said. He explained that a spontaneous closure rarely happens in infants, but it was not supposed to occur in an eight-year-old. “You can count this as a miracle,” the doctor told the father. The hospital risk manager said firmly, “You can see from the films: this was not a misdiagnosis.” Then a pulmonologist added, “Somebody somewhere must have been praying.” Later, an insurance agent called the father to complain about the forms he had submitted. “What’s a ‘spontaneous closure’?” the agent asked. The father replied, “A miracle.” Today, Brad is a grown man with a business and children of his own. He has never had any heart problems since his healing.2
Do you believe in miracles? Our story picks up as Jesus arrives four days after the death of Lazarus. It’s a big miracle!
Today’s Scripture
So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world” (John 11:16-27).
You need to be aware that while many will refer to Lazarus as a resurrection, it’s really a resuscitation.
Why the distinction?
When believers are resurrected one day, they will not return to life just as it is here on earth.
Instead, resurrection means starting a life where death can no longer touch you ever again.3 Lazarus was raised to die again one day.
Sermon Preview
1. When God Drags His Feet
2. Resurrection Was Never Thought Possible
1. When God Drags His Feet
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (John 11:5-6).
Two days longer had to feel like an eternity when you’re waiting on a man who can heal your brother. We are not told exactly how Jesus learned that his friend Lazarus was sick.
1.1 Not What We Expected
When Jesus understands Lazarus is near death, everything in us expects Jesus to leave for Bethany immediately. Instead, Jesus intentionally delays. That goes against our expectations. Can you imagine Mary and Martha pacing the floor, waiting for Jesus? They were at the deathbed of their beloved brother. Can’t you see Lazarus struggling to breathe? The whole time, they’re looking out the window expecting to see Jesus arrive. But Jesus is a no-show, and Lazarus dies. Martha and Mary go into mourning. They lovingly wrap the corpse of their brother in strips of cloth, lay him in a cave, and roll the stone across the opening. Still, there’s no Jesus. Can you imagine what was going through the minds of the sisters?4
1.2 A Prominent Family
A little background on this family, if you will. The Bible calls attention to the prominence of this family in verses 18 and 19: “Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother” (John 11:18-19).
All the people who show up for the funeral service is a possible marker of this family’s deep pockets. That so many people traveled just under two miles is an ancient way of telling us this family is important. People were coming from miles around to the funeral of Lazarus. Martha and Mary must have been “well off” and “well known” for ‘many Jews’ to come from Jerusalem to comfort them.5 Another indication they had money was the amount and expense of the perfume Mary poured on Jesus’ feet (John 12). The point is this was a family that had enough money to expend an entire tube of ointment on Jesus when that tube cost about a year’s salary for a day laborer. Perhaps as much as $25,000 or more. They could expend the whole thing at one time. This family had money, and because of that, they had all kinds of contacts. Many people from the city had come out to console them in their loss. Some speculate that this family was a financial supporter of Jesus’ ministry and the Twelve, even though we have no direct evidence of this.
1.3 Jesus’ Delay Was Strategic
The Bible says Jesus loves Martha, Mary, and their brother, Lazarus (John 11:5). Despite His love, Jesus delays. He doesn’t go directly to them. A little background: had Jesus left immediately upon hearing the news Lazarus was sick, Lazarus would still have been dead for two days. Jesus was a two-day journey from Lazarus when He learned the news of His friend’s sickness. This two-day delay cost Lazarus his life. On the surface, this is a headscratcher. Why doesn’t Jesus go immediately?
1.3.1 Not for A Lack of Love
Jesus’ delay isn’t because He lacks love for the family. But His delay causes a lot of people to question His love.
The story shows us three specific people who question Jesus’ love. First, there is Martha, the sister of Lazarus, in verse 21: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 9:21b). Next is the other sister, Mary, in verse 32: “Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 9:32). Lastly, you have the group of mourners in verses 36-37: “So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” (John 9:36-37).
Almost at every turn, Jesus’ love for this family is questioned. All your friends are married, but not you. Everyone else seems happily married, but not you. Everybody else’s children have successful careers and wonderful marriages, but not yours. You’re the last one left, and you don’t have a “real” job, but all your friends do.6 Where is God?
1.3.2 Waiting and Triage
We don’t like waiting. We don’t like waiting at the checkout counter and at red lights. If you’re sitting at a red light and you’re the second car in line, the light turns green, and it’s obvious the person in front of you is looking at their phone. How long do you wait until you honk the horn? No, we don’t like waiting. We don’t like waiting for medical test results (MRI, CAT Scans, etc.). We don’t even like waiting for someone to text us back. So, when it comes to life-saving medical care, we hate waiting. If Jesus were a doctor, Mary and Martha would have sued for malpractice. Had Jesus been a medical doctor in America today, I could see someone cussing Him out for His delay out of sheer anger. “Where were you when my brother died!?!”
When you enter the Emergency Room of John Peter Smith, our county hospital, you will quickly see the trained medical personnel practicing triage. There is always chaos in a county’s ER, and nurses, EMTs, and doctors know the questions they need to ask a patient in order to determine who has the most critical needs. The word triage comes from the French word trier, which means “to sort.” Doing triage in an Emergency Room is where someone decides which patients need the most urgent treatment. If this did not take place, someone suffering from the flu would receive the same urgency of consideration as someone suffering from the dreaded Ebola virus. If an ER doctor does triage, shouldn’t we expect Jesus to at least do the same?
1.4 Jesus’ Strategy
Look at verse 4 with me: “But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it’” (John 11:4).
1.4.1 How Did Jesus Know?
How did Jesus know the details of Lazarus’ medical condition? How did Jesus know that Lazarus would die and ultimately rise from the dead? Jesus knows what human beings don’t normally know. He has no phone or satellite to make communication like this possible. His intimate relationship with the Father gives Him supernatural information.7
1.4.2 Why Did Jesus Delay?
“Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days” (John 11:17).
Jesus is playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. Jesus is strategic when He delays, and here’s why: It was thought that the spirit of the dead person was thought to hover around the body for 3 days.8 Again, there was a Jewish superstition that when you died, your spirit hovers over you for up to three days and then departs. Jewish rabbis taught that the soul hovered around the deceased person for three days, “intending to reenter” the body unless the soul saw decomposition set it.9 Jesus doesn’t endorse this superstition, but He is certainly aware that a lot of people operated as if it was real in His day. So, if Jesus were to go right away when the sisters call, and He raises beloved Lazarus from the grave, what would everyone say in response? They would have said, “Jesus didn’t have special powers over death. The soul just reentered the body as some of the rabbis taught.”
1.4.3 By Waiting Four Days
By waiting four days, medical people know that decomposition has set in.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days” (John 11:39).
Remember, they are not embalming, as embalming didn’t start until fairly recently. So, by waiting four days, Jesus shows death is no obstacle to Him. By waiting four days, Jesus is strategizing while everyone else is improvising. Jesus is making power moves while everyone else is making guesses. The Bible calls on us to specifically wait on God in faith for the Bible says: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
Mary couldn’t have known that. Martha couldn’t have known that. The Disciples couldn’t have known that. And you won’t know it when Jesus does this same kind of thing in your life. Don’t fire God for a bad performance just because He doesn’t show up on your timeline. When you want to scream at God for not arriving on time, be patient and wait on God in faith. Jesus will delay to strengthen your love and faith.
1. When God Drags His Feet
2. Resurrection Was Never Thought Possible
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:23-24).
Lots and lots of people think there’s life after death in our day. But this hasn’t always been so. It’s always been impossible to believe that dead people rise from the grave.
2.1 Grandmother’s Funeral
Did you hear about the guy who called his boss and said he couldn’t go to work that day, because he had to go to his grandmother's funeral. The next morning, he came to work, and his boss called him to his office. He said, “Do you believe in life after death?” With a puzzled look, the man said, “Yes, sir, I do.” The boss said, “That makes me feel so much better.” The man said, “Sir, why are you talking about life after death?” His boss replied, “Yesterday, after you called to tell me you couldn’t come to work, because you were attending your grandmother's funeral, she stopped by to see you!” It’s always been impossible to believe that dead people rise from the grave.
2.2 Jewish Understanding of the Resurrection
Back to verse 23 again: “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again’” (John 11:23). Martha has a typical understanding of the resurrection from a Jewish perspective in verse 24. When Martha says to Jesus in verse 24, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day,” she’s expressing her grief as well as her faith.
2.2.1 Jesus Was Deeply Moved
Jesus gives a theological answer that we will see in greater detail to Martha in a minute. But He offers Mary something else in verses 33-35: “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (John 11:33). Where the Bible says, “deeply moved” in verse 33, there’s more than simply grieving going on here. The words have the connotation of horses snorting.10 Jesus is outraged here. Coupled with Jesus’ tears in verse 36, what is going on here? Jesus is feeling much more than grief here; He’s feeling inner outrage here. At one level, Jesus is angry with death because it was never part of God’s original design for the world He loves. He is grieving, and He is angry because of all the hurt death has caused and will cause. Remember, death is the enemy.
I love what Jesus does here: to Martha, He gives her a theological answer to the pain she’s experiencing. And to Mary, Jesus offers raw emotions that all of us feel when we face death. Jesus is our model here when death comes our way. There needs to be both outrage and pain on the one hand and trust and quiet confidence on the other. Often, these are mingled of these together.
2.2.2
Back to verse 24 again, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24).
Martha is shocked by what’s about to happen. Nothing in her faith background has trained her for this moment. The Jews only thought resurrection was possible at the very end of time. They rejected the idea that resurrection happened on this side of heaven. They saw resurrection at the end of time, but they didn’t see resurrection happening in history.11
Martha nor Mary expected Lazarus’ resurrection any more than you expected Luka to be traded last week, Mavs fans. I’m not trying to be funny or sadistic to Mavs fans. I’m simply trying to help you understand how shocking the resurrection was to the ears of the people of the New Testament. When Jesus mentioned resurrection, Martha looked ahead to eternity when Jesus was looking at His wristwatch. Martha says, in effect, “Yes, I know he will one day,” and Jesus says, “Watch this.” It’s always been impossible to believe that dead people rise from the grave. It’s always been difficult.
2.3 Pagans
“…he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this” (Acts 17:31-32).
If you flip forward in time around a decade, you have this incredible statement by the Apostle Paul. He’s sharing the gospel with the Ivy Leaguers of his day when he mentions how God resurrected Jesus. The reaction is typical of pagan thought – “some mocked.” The pagans of this day thought death was a one-way street.12 You didn’t come back to the world after you did. Pagans thought the resurrection was impossible, while the Jews thought it would happen eventually. Jewish people thought the resurrection was only at the end of time, and pagans never gave it any credence. Jewish people and pagan people alike were shocked by the idea of the resurrection. It’s always been impossible to believe that dead people rise from the grave.
2.3 Ego Eimi
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
Jesus is not offering the comfort of saying, “Yes, my dear sister, there is a resurrection on the last day.” Instead, Jesus is saying much more than this. Jesus says, “I want you to believe something more than that. I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus says, “Ego eimi” or “I am the resurrection. I am life.” This is the fifth time Jesus gives an “I AM” statement in the Gospel of John. Jesus chooses His words intentionally here. When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” He uses the words, “ego eimi” in the original Greek of the Gospel of John. Bible experts go so far as to call this “ego eimi” formula because these words are so highly specialized.14
When Jesus says, “I am,” He says, “ego eimi” in each of the seven “I am” statements. God’s name was Yahweh in Hebrew, but His divine name was ego eimi in Greek. Martha, don’t think I am calling on you to believe in life after death. Don’t think I am only asking you to believe that your brother will rise from the dead on the last day. Instead, believe in me, Martha. Believe on me as I am the resurrection. Believe in me, for I am life.” He doesn’t just say, “I’m the resurrection.” He says, “I’m the life. I am life. I am the source of all life.” Only God is that. “I can raise this man from the dead.” He says, “I am the power that gives everything life.”
2.4 Believe in Jesus
Will you believe on and in Jesus as the Ultimate One? He is the bread of the world. He is the light of the world. He is the Good Shepherd. He is the gate. He is the resurrection and the life. And He is the true vine. With all these credentials, no wonder Jesus says He and He alone is the way.
1. When God Drags His Feet
2. Resurrection Was Never Thought Possible Until Jesus
Death is a door to a grand entryway for those who believe in Christ. Death is a dark tunnel that leads to paradise.
EndNotes
1 Craig S. Keener, Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, A division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021), 26.
2 Lee Strobel, The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).
3 N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, Christian Origins and the Question of God, vol. 3 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 422.
4 https://gabc-archive.org/wp-content/uploads/s120819.pdf; accessed February 9, 2025.
5 Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 247.
6 J. D. Greear, “ The Disappointed: John 11:1–48,” J. D. Greear Sermon Archive. (Durham, NC: The Summit Church, 2017).
7 D. A. Carson, “ Jesus, The Resurrection And The Life,” D. A. Carson Sermon Library. (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).
8 Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 244.
9 Leviticus Rabbah 18:1
10 Andreas J. Köstenberger, John, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 339.
11 N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, Christian Origins and the Question of God, vol. 3 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 204-205.
12 Ibid., 82-84.
13 Wright, 83.
14 Kruse, 139.
