Lazarus, Come Out

John 11:28-44

John 3

Jesus weeps

Mary goes to meet Jesus and the Jews follow her

Martha whispers to her that Jesus has come, so she gets up to go to Him

The Jews think that she is going to go mourn at the tomb so they go with her

D.A. Carson points out-

According he Mishnah (book of Jewish rabbinic teaching) Jewish custom for every mourning family to hire at least two flute players and one professional weeping woman for the mourning process

Jesus sees Mary weeping along with the Jews

As Jesus looks up and sees them all weeping He is “deeply moved in His spirit”

This is a misleading softening of the meaning of ἐμβριμάομαι (the word that is translated “deeply moved”)

It never is translated that anywher else in the NT or outside of the Bible

It really refers to being moved to an intense internal anger or outrage

So what is Jesus weeping for?

The love and wrath of Jesus

Jesus sees both Mary and the Jews weeping

He is weeping out of love for Mary and Martha as He sees the pain that sin’s effects have causes in their lives

In this way, we see the deep love of Jesus for His sheep

He is weeping out of outrage at the ingeuine weeping of the Jews and their unbelief that He is the Savior of the World who gives life

Luke 19:41-44- And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

For their belief

Jesus asks for the stone to be removed

Martha says that there will be stench from decay since it’s been 4 days

He has waited two extra days to come

He knows that there will be a smell from decay

That’s the point of waiting

It was sometimes thought to be possible for people to be raised from the dead within 3 days

People who were not truly dead revived and others thought that it was the work of a healer

Jesus didn’t even want to allow the possibility for anyone to think that he is just another “healer” because it is not possible to bring someone from the dead after this long

Jesus prays to the Father

He prays out loud in front of the group

He thanks the Father for hearing Him

He says that it is for the sake of those who are listening

Jesus is speaking and acting for a purpose

He wants them to believe and have life

There is a great deal of irony in the scene

Many of those who are alive outside the cave are actually spiritually dead and they desperately need life

Lazarus, come out

Jesus calls for Lazarus

Lazarus is laying in the grave stone cold dead

He hasn’t had a pulse in 4 days

He has been wrapped in burial cloth from head to toe

He has been inside of a sealed grave

He has begun to stink

Nonetheless, Jesus looking into the dark cave and commands that Lazarus come out

The man obeys and appears

Lazarus does exactly what Jesus commands

We are left groping for words to express the glory of it all

Takes the disciples’ question in Mark 4 to a new level

Mark 4:39-41- And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

The most beautiful picture

You were born a 4 day dead Lazarus

You were dead in your sins

Ephesians 2:1-3- And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

You were rotting and bound

You were unable to respond as you lay dead in the darkness of your sin

Jesus spoke a word of command to your dead heart

He cried out “Gabe, come out” and I came out

He creates what He commands

Ephesians 2:4-8- But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

And it is with all who are saved

Praise God!

He has given you life by His grace

Pursue to dead of heart

Pray for the gift of new birth

If you do not believe

Cast yourself on Him in faith

He will receive all who come to Him

For both

Softly and tenderly

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling Calling for you and for me See on the portals He's waiting and watching Watching for you and for me Come home, come home Ye who are weary come home Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling Calling, "O sinner come home"

There is a reason that the writer to the Hebrews calls our salvation “so great a salvation”

It is because it was impossible from beginning to end, and yet Christ accomplished it