I Am the Resurrection - John 11

Introduction

Where are we in this gospel?

Early ministry - water into wine, Nicodemus (“you must be born again”), Samaritan Woman

Rising opposition - conflicts with the Jews over healing on the Sabbath, disappointments that after amazing miracles Jesus was not intent on leading a revolt against Rome.

“I’ll take Mary’s of the Bible for 100, Alex” - who were all the Mary’s of the Bible?

Mary, the mother of Jesus

Mary Magdalene, formerly demon-possessed, faithful follower of Jesus, main character in “The Chosen”

Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus

Contemplative nature

Showed devotion by anointing Jesus with perfume

Mary, the mother of James and Joseph (Joses), the wife of Clopas.

Was at the crucifixion

Was with the first group to visit the tomb

Mary, the mother of John Mark (her home was a location where the believers met and prayed for Peter)

Mary of Rome (greeted by Paul at the end of Romans)

The Setting

John 11:1–16 CSB

1 Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 7 Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” 8 “Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?” 9 “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.” 11 He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.” 12 Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14 So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.” 16 Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”

v.2 - Mary hadn’t done this act of devotion yet. The fame of the event was so great that John, as he wrote this gospel, could refer to Mary as “the one who anointed the Lord with perfume...”

v.3 - Their message to Jesus was a plea for help, as they had faith in Jesus’ ability to heal

v.4 - Jesus’ response: this sickness is for the Glory of God. So the disciples must have assumed that healing was the plan.

v.5 - “Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus” - we don’t know all of the reasons why. Certainly they were followers; in fact

Matt 12:46-50 “46 While he was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.””

v.8 - the disciples questioned Jesus (“just now the Jews tried to stone you”) - John 10:31, but Jesus “escaped their grasp”.

v.9 - “twelve hours in a day” - the daylight hours were divided into 12; longer days in summer and shorter in winter. When daylight ended, so did work! As long as the daylight of Jesus’ ministry remained, he could not stumble.

v.15 - “so that you may believe” - think of the miracles that the disciples had already seen, and yet their faith was still weak and needed to be strengthened. When Jesus was crucified, they would all flee.

v.16 - Thomas, the “realist” - this is a dangerous path that we are undertaking

John 11:17–31 CSB

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.” 28 Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

v.20 “Martha went to meet him” - she was the sister of action

v.22 - an expression of Martha’s faith

v.23 “Your brother will rise again” - true, but a bit ambiguous

v.24 - shows Martha’s belief in a future resurrection

v.25 “I am the resurrection and the life”

the two phrases seem to be parallel

The Gospel according to John 2. Jesus’ Meeting with Martha (11:17–27)

He means rather that believers will not die in the sense in which death has eternal significance. They will not die in the age to come. They have eternal life, the life of the age to come. Jesus rounds this off with a challenge: “Do you believe this?” His words about faith and life are not a philosophical dictum to be critically argued. They are a saving truth to be received in faith and acted on

v.27 - “the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world” - a rich faith claim!

The Gospel according to John 2. Jesus the Resurrection and the Life (11:17–27)

the one who is ‘the resurrection and the life’ must be such by virtue of the fact that he is God’s promised Messiah

v.28 - “the teacher is here and is calling for you” - Martha may not have had full understanding, but she knew who had the answers and pointed her sister to that person.

1. Wept - John 11:32-37

John 11:32–37 CSB

32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” 33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”

v.32 - “if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” - grief expressed in different ways

“fell at his feet” - shows helpless grief, loving submission

v.33 - “her crying” - It was the habit of the day to express grief in a noisy, unrestrained fashion (Morris)

“deeply moved”, “troubled” - Is 53:3 “3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.”

v.35 “Jesus wept” - a natural expression of a caring heart

v.37 “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” - a thought that we may express today. Why did this or that circumstance have to happen? Could not God have prevented it?

2. Believe - John 11:38-40

John 11:38–40 CSB

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

v.38 - again, Jesus is deeply moved, but not merely with grief. The message: “Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him”. What is Jesus angry over? Death! He’s getting ready to turn mourning into joy at this funeral, but so many others will have only mourning. Jesus also knows that with this event he is forcing the hand of his enemies (Keller).

“a cave with a stone lying against it” - a common means of burial in Israel, especially for the those who were well-off.

v.39 “already a stench” - an understatement! The Jews did not embalm. The burial spices helped a little to cover the odor.

v.40 “the glory of God”

The Gospel according to John 4. Lazarus is Raised (11:33–44)

His words are a challenge to faith (“if you believed”; cf. 2:11) and a reminder of what for Jesus was central—“the glory of God.” What was about to happen would be a spectacular miracle, a display of the power of Jesus, an inestimable gift to the sisters. But typically Jesus speaks of none of these. For him “the glory of God” was the one important thing. This means that the real meaning of what he would do would be accessible only to faith. All who were there, believers or not, would see the miracle. But Jesus is promising Martha a sight of the glory. The crowd would see the miracle, but only believers would perceive its real significance, the glory (cf. Guthrie, “many saw Lazarus come from the grave but never saw the glory of God”).

3. Returned - John 11:41-46

John 11:41–46 CSB

41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.” 45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

v.41 “they removed the stone” - Well ok…at Jesus’ command and with Martha’s assent...

“I thank you that you have heard me” - the prayer had already been heard and answered!

v.42 “so that they may believe you sent me” - Jesus, in other words, would always have people know that He did nothing of Himself (Morris). If they believed that the Father did this, then they would have to believe in the Son.

v.44 “Unwrap him and let him go” - always a concern for the practical. Recall the healing of the daughter of Jairus (“give her something to eat”)

Two responses:

v.45 “many…believed in him” - the reaction of faith

v.46 “some…went to the Pharisees” (who were much more in touch with the people) - the reaction of unbelief

Subsequent verses tell us that the chief priests, Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin had determined to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus

What should our response be today?

Care for those who are hurting. They need to hear or be reminded of the truth of God’s love

Trust God in all circumstances. We will all face times of grief, fear, and loss