Introduction: Belief
Do you believe in Jesus? Do you BELIEVE in Jesus? Do you really believe in Jesus? That I think is the compelling question that we’re faced with as we read this passage today. What does it mean for you to believe in Jesus? As an abstract question it’s probably easy enough to answer. Yes I believe in Jesus. I believe he’s the Son of God. How else could he have done those miracles? I believe he died and rose again. (Sounds like the words of a song doesn’t it?) The evidence for the resurrection seems overwhelming.
The Disciples’ Belief
The disciples believed in Jesus. Peter had spoken on behalf of all of them when he confessed Jesus to be the Christ. But how far did their belief in him go? Well, let’s have a look and see.
When Jesus heard that Lazarus, his friend, was sick, he wasn’t worried. He knew what the outcome would be. So he waited 2 days before announcing to his disciples that they were going back to Judea to check on Lazarus. And what was the disciples response? "Hang on Jesus, it isn’t very safe there at the moment. It’s not that long since the last time we were there and the Jews tried to stone you. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?" How far did their belief in him go? Far enough to trust him to keep them safe? To even keep himself safe? It doesn’t sound like it does it? In fact when he tells them that Lazarus has fallen asleep, they think of natural sleep and think this gives them an out. If he’s sleeping then he’ll recover, so there’s no need to go back at all. Phew! But in fact it isn’t natural sleep that Jesus is talking about, it’s the sleep of death. So Jesus tells them plainly. "Lazarus is dead." Then he says what seems a strange thing. "And for your sake I’m glad I was not there, so that you may believe."
How could anyone be glad that a friend has died? What about the pain that Mary and Martha are feeling at that moment? Doesn’t Jesus care about that? Or is it that all he cares about is making his point with the disciples? Well it becomes quite clear as the story progresses that he does care. Twice we’re told how he’s moved with emotion, moved to tears, as he sees the sadness of those who are there to mourn Lazarus. But still, he knows that there’s more at issue here than their sadness and he knows what the outcome will be. He’s already said that this illness won’t lead to death. Rather it will have the twofold result of God being glorified and the disciples and Martha and Mary growing in faith, in their belief in Jesus. And that’s what makes him glad.
The Need for Deeper Faith
You see the disciples’ belief in Jesus still needed to grow and be strengthened. Even though they’d spent all this time living with him, they still didn’t really understand who he was. And when it came to the crunch their faith still wasn’t enough to sustain them. I read an old Irish proverb the other day. It said "Never doubt in the darkness, what you believed in the light." There’s an echo of John’s gospel there isn’t there? Look at v9: "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." Interestingly those words are almost identical to what Jesus said at the start of ch9, when he was talking about giving sight to the blind man. So John obviously intends there to be a parallel here with that earlier miracle. But here the idea has been developed further. Here the implication is that while you walk under God’s direction, while you remain close to Jesus, the light of the world, your path will be clear. Even when the darkness of opposition is threatening, if you walk in the light you’ll be safe. But there was a danger that the disciples would be so overwhelmed by the darkness that they would forget what they had already learnt as they walked in Jesus’ light. Again, this is why they need to grow in their faith in Jesus.
The Purpose of the Delay
In fact this is such an important thing that Jesus has delayed his departure so that by the time they arrive Lazarus will have been dead 4 days. That is, he’ll be really dead!
Now imagine that you were Mary or Martha at that moment. You’ve sent a message to Jesus to come urgently because Lazarus is sick, and you wait and wait and nothing happens! What would you be thinking? Would you be wondering whether Jesus cared? Would you begin to doubt whether maybe Jesus was delaying because this case was too difficult? They could have been forgiven for thinking like that couldn’t they?
Have you ever wondered why God takes so long to answer your prayers? Perhaps there are things you’ve been praying about for weeks and weeks, or months and months, or maybe even years and years, and still God seems to be delayed in answering. What does that do to your faith in him? Do you start to doubt? Do you ask yourself whether this prayer is maybe beyond him? Or whether your asking the wrong thing? Or maybe you start to think that prayer is a waste of time. That in the end it’s just wishful thinking. Well, it could be that you’ve been asking the wrong thing or with the wrong motives. James has something to say about that in James 4.
But it might also be that God is waiting for something. Waiting for the time to be right perhaps. Waiting for attitudes to change. Waiting for an opportunity to act that will further the gospel, that will bring the greatest glory to God. You see God’s delays aren’t signs of failure. In fact when you think about the story of the Bible, the theme of God’s plan being delayed runs right through it. When you get home today open up Hebrews 11 and read through that list of people of faith and you’ll discover that the common theme that runs through all of them is that they were all waiting for God to fulfill his plan, but that none of them saw it. And even now that we’ve seen God’s plan come to fruition through Jesus death and resurrection, we find we’re still waiting for God to bring about the final redemption of the world. 2 Peter 3 talks about this: (2 Pet 3:8-10 NRSV) "But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed."
But it’s hard, isn’t it. To wait for God to act when our world seems to be disintegrating around us, when the things we long for God to fix don’t get fixed, when evil seems to triumph. It’s at those moment in our lives that we need to have a long view. At those moments of darkness, we need to think back to the moments of light when we could see things clearly. We need to remember the promises of God to be with us, even to the end of the world. We need to look forward to the good things God has planned for us in the future. And we need to continue to walk in God’s light, trusting him to keep our feet secure.
The Path to Belief
As we move on in the story to Bethany we discover a remarkable level of belief on the part of Martha, yet even that faith needs to be strengthened and applied to her current situation in a new and radical way. Martha goes out to meet Jesus and expresses her belief in his ability to have healed Lazarus had he been there before he died. And then she adds, almost despairingly, "But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." It’s not clear what she’s asking him to do here, given the responses she makes in v24 and later in v39 where she objects to the tomb being opened. Perhaps she doesn’t know what she’s asking. Perhaps it’s just the plea of someone who’s lost all other hope.
But all hope is not lost. Jesus assures her that Lazarus will rise again. Well, Martha understands about the resurrection from the dead, but that doesn’t ease her current pain. So Jesus says it another way "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." Here is a general statement that he’s about to apply in the specific.
Now this is very important, not just for Martha and Mary and the disciples, but for us as well. What Jesus is about to do is meant to illustrate what he’s just told Martha. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. "Those who believe in him, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in him will never die." We can concentrate so much on the miracle itself that we miss the full significance of it. The raising of Lazarus is about learning to believe in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.
Martha’s response, of course, is quite right: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." What are we meant to discover from this last sign in John’s gospel? That Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, that he’s the one who has come into the world. But there’s more to it than just that. We’re also meant to learn that the reason he’s come into the world is to bring the gift of resurrection and eternal life.
Jesus the Resurrection and the Life
And so we come to the Tomb. Jesus orders the stone to be taken away, much to the distress of Martha who can imagine the smell that’ll come out when the stone is removed. But again, Jesus reminds them of the need to believe. Even when they ’know’ what will happen there’s space for belief in the greater reality of God’s intervention in the world. Jesus prays a prayer, for the benefit of his hearers, so they’ll believe that it’s God who has sent him; that it’s God by whose power he’s about to do this incredible thing. Then it’s done. Jesus calls, and Lazarus comes forth, wrapped in the burial cloths but alive and well.
And what is the result? "Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him." How could you not? Here was a man who’d been dead for four days. According to Jewish understanding, after 3 days the spirit had left the body and the body itself had begun to decompose. Yet here was Lazarus standing before them whole and well again. Who but God could do such a thing? Any doubts they may have had about the things Jesus claimed for himself were suddenly blown away.
And so as we look back to the beginning of this account we discover that the things Jesus said were true. Lazarus’ sickness didn’t end in death, it resulted in God’s glory; it ended in God’s Son being glorified through it. The result of Lazarus dying while Jesus delayed was that the disciples, along with Martha and Mary and their friends, came to believe in Jesus, not just as a great teacher or a miracle worker, not even as the promised Messiah even, but as the Resurrection and the Life.
We too can read this story and take away from it an assurance that Jesus has the power to give us eternal life, to raise us up at the last day. We can be reassured that when God seems to be delayed in answering our prayers, it isn’t a sign of failure on his part, but it may be that he has other ends in mind to those that we’re focussing on. But in the end, he is in control of all that happens to us. And we can be encouraged to continue to walk in the light, even when darkness seems to surround us, to continue to believe, in those dark moments, what we knew to be true when we were in the light.
