The Heart Of Jesus

THE HEART OF JESUS

JOHN 11:1-44

#john11

INTRODUCTION

We will be in John 11 this morning.

There are some questions in this life we live for which we have absolutely no good answers. For example:

Why does an all-powerful God allow disasters on the innocent?

Why do babies die?

Why is there so much brokenness in the world?

Why do wicked people seem to prosper more than good people?

Let’s be a little more real far too quick this morning and make these questions more personal for us who are here in this room… There are some questions in this life we live that have absolutely no good answers and we are the ones asking the questions because these questions are coming up in our lives! For example:

Why did the all-powerful God allow that disaster in my family?

Why did my baby die?

Why is there so much brokenness in me?

Why do the wicked people around me prosper more than me?

There are not always good answers to the questions we ask. By a “good answer,” I mean an answer that dots every ‘i’ and crosses every ‘t’ to make God unquestioningly good or us unapproachably blessed or an answer that logically makes sense in all cases. The issue that is the intersection of [God] and [goodness] and [evil] and [life in general] has a fancy-churchy-theological name to it: The Theodicy Problem.

The Theodicy (just-God) Problem is the philosophical and theological attempt to justify the co-existence of evil and suffering in a world created by an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God. The theodicy often centers on the question: If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, why does evil exist? Theodicy seeks to reconcile the existence of a good God with the reality of suffering and injustice in the world.

This is a pretty heavy subject… if not the heaviest subject possible when thinking about God and our lives. This pretty heavy subject comes up:

* when we ourselves personally suffer, we are not sure why, and see no good ending

* when we see others we love mistreated and God doesn’t seem to take care of it

* when life seems abnormally unfair on a regular basis and God allows it

* when we are hurt repeatedly, we pray with no results, or there is no appearance of justice

* when we feel God hasn’t acted like He should and blessed us in the way we expect

* when life feels out-of-control and we trust in God Who is supposed to be in control

TRANSITION

I have been pondering some of these questions of late because I am your pastor and some of you are suffering, praying, and pondering some of these questions. I do not have a definitive all-inclusive answer this morning about these questions, but I do have Jesus to share with you. May the Lord in His Spirit lead our hearts in Truth as we look to His Word, about His Word, and understand His Word.

We will be in John 11 this morning.

NARRATIVE PART 1

JOHN 11:1-4 (ESV)

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, he whom You love is ill.” 4 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. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

There are many facts we know about Jesus’ life and many facts we do not know. Specifically, in this passage, we do not know how Jesus met Lazarus, Mary, and Martha who were siblings from a town called Bethany. We don’t know how they met or their shared history, but they seemed to have spent significant time with Jesus outside of what is recorded for us in the Gospels. I would go so far as to say, and this is my well-informed opinion based on verse 3 and verse 5, that if Jesus of Nazareth had a best friend, Lazarus of Bethany was probably it.

Lazarus is sick.

Martha and Mary get word to Jesus that Lazarus was very ill.

Let’s continue to read, but we aren’t going to get very far.

NARRATIVE PART 2

JOHN 11:6 (ESV)

“So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.”

Just so we are clear, there was no miscommunication or lost message. Jesus knows that Lazarus is ill. Looking over the next 10 verses in the chapter, we see (especially in verses 11, 14) that Jesus knew Lazarus would be dead by the time He would arrive in Bethany. The disciples were concerned about heading back south because there was physical danger for Jesus there, which is the main point of verses 7-16, but they would follow Jesus and were ready to see what would happen.