Our Greatest Hope

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Prayer: “Lord Jesus, you are the resurrection and the life. We ask you to resurrect us now, today, and give us life where sin and darkness have set in. Help us to live as you lived, trust as you trusted, and love as you loved. Amen.”
The story of Lazarus is filled with emotions on the extremes: from extreme despair and sadness because of the death of a loved one, to extreme joy and wonder following a miracle, which brought him back to life. It’s widely considered one of, if not the greatest miracle of all those that Jesus performed.
The story of Lazarus foreshadows Jesus’ death and resurrection. And Jesus’ story foreshadows our own story of life, death, and resurrection. It is a life cycle we cannot avoid, and because of Christ, we need not fear. Just as He was there to welcome Lazarus from the tomb, He is there for us as well. Waiting to greet us into a new life with Him.
Let’s look at the story.
John 11:1–20 ESV
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 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.” 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. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 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.

The Kingdom of God is Also The Community of God

Right off the bat, John emphasizes Jesus’ love for others. Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, was sick. Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus knew this family well and loved them deeply.
John 11:3 ESV
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
John 11:5 ESV
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
It’s interesting that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke tend to emphasize the kingdom of God. The gospel of John tends to emphasize the community of God. The Body of Christ and the unity and bonds of believers in the community of the kingdom. Are those two things at cross purpose....NO!!! They are, of course, the same! We cannot have the kingdom of God without the loving community of God, ........WHY??
because. 1 John 4:8 “God is love”
1 John 4:8 ESV
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Now even though Jesus gets word Lazarus is sick, he decides to stay put with his disciples for a couple of days. Jesus doesn’t go to Lazarus’ town of Bethany until two days later. By this time, Lazarus was dead.
When Jesus and his disciples finally arrived in Bethany, Jesus finds out that events have moved apace....
John 11:17 ESV
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
Now this is an important detail that John provides. Lazarus had been dead for four days. Why is this important?
First of all, his body would be decomposing and starting to stink, which means he’s truly dead. He’s not in a coma or just barely breathing. He’s dead.
Second, in Jewish thought, it was believed that the soul left the body after the third day of death.
So John points this out to show that this guy is dead physically and spiritually. He’s no longer himself. He is a rotting corpse whose soul has left the body.
When the sister Martha heard Jesus was about to enter the town, she rushed out to meet him. And we have this very interesting exchange between the two.
John 11:21–26 ESV
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?”
“‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’“ (11:21). There is despair and anguish in her voice as she says this. The implication here is that Jesus was absent when they needed him most. “If you had been here….but you weren’t.”  Can you hear that? Has God ever disappointed you because he didn’t show up at a time you really needed him to show up? I think that’s what’s going on here with Martha. Jesus didn’t fulfill her expectations — she expected Jesus to be present and heal Lazarus before he died.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, 'I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’” (11:23-24). Martha thinks Jesus is talking about an event in the future, but Jesus is talking about the present. Lazarus will rise again, today! Martha was not expecting that.

Jesus Doesn’t Meet our Expectations - He Fulfills our Greatest Hopes

An important point here is that Jesus seldom meets our expectations but he fulfills our greatest hopes. He’s already failed to live up to their first expectation: that he would’ve been there for Lazarus before he died so that Lazarus could’ve been healed. But that didn’t happen. Understandably, Martha is devastated and hurt that Jesus didn’t heal Lazarus like he had healed so many others.
God’s activity is seldom congruent with our expectations. He doesn’t show up when we expect, he doesn’t provide what we expect, and he doesn’t prevent what we expect. So this means either
(a) He doesn’t care, or
(b) He cares, but he sees reality from a completely different perspective than we do.
What should our expectations be of God? Do we expect him to protect us from hardships and suffering? Do we expect him to protect us from death and loss?
How many people have ever experienced one of these issues:
getting laid off from a job
financial issues
unexpected serious medical issues
loss of a friend or loved one
spiritual attacks
depression
and so many more we could name
What should our expectations be of the God who claims to love us?
God doesn’t always meet our expectations, but he will ultimately fulfill our greatest hopes.
“Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.'" (11:25). Resurrection and life are found in Jesus Christ. He is speaking both present tense and future tense. Today, he will resurrect Lazarus, not just in the future. Today, he is our life, our eternal life which comes into us and makes us new.
To say that “Jesus is the resurrection and the life” is to say that one day Jesus is going to heal it all. One day Jesus is going to put everything right. He’s going to wipe every tear from every eye. He’s going to heal every sickness and every disease. One day there will be no more mourning or crying or pain. The old order of things will pass away. Even death itself will be gone forever. You say Pastor how do you know that.....it said it
Revelation 21:4 ESV
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
He is the resurrection and the life. This is the great hope that we have. Death does not get the final word.
God may not meet our expectations in the short run, but he will fulfill our greatest hopes in the long run.

What Happens when God Feels Distant or Absent?

Then Mary, the other sister, ran out to meet Jesus. It’s obvious that she and her sister had been talking about Jesus’ absence when they needed him most.
John 11:32 ESV
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.”
But as we noted, Jesus wasn’t there. God seemed absent in their struggle.
Can we talk about this for a second? What happens when we are in the midst of pain, suffering, or death, and God seems distant or absent? I think this issue is part of this story because it’s a common experience. It’s just part of reality that, in this life, we will go through difficult seasons and God will feel a million miles away.
Let’s just agree this experience is a reality instead of white-washing it with nice-sounding platitudes and easy answers. There are no easy answers when we’re going through emotional or physical pain and God feels absent. Let’s just keep it real.
What happens when we are in the midst of pain, suffering, or death, and God feels distant or absent? I want to offer some clues that might provide comfort and wisdom. And these clues are based on truths, not on puffed-up ideas and rah-rah pep talks to just make us feel better.

God is With Us in our Pain

I don’t know why there is suffering in the world or why we go through seasons of suffering, but I do know that we follow a God who experienced deep suffering himself. God in Christ experienced suffering and hardships. Maybe even worse than the physical suffering, he suffered rejection and was frequently dismissed. I don’t mean his message was rejected and dismissed (which it was), but he himself was rejected and dismissed. He was avoided. He was criticized, gossiped about, and excluded. He was betrayed by his friends. In fact, when he was going through his darkest moments his friends were distant or absent. He died a humiliating and excruciating death by crucifixion, the method reserved for criminals and slaves. When we go through our dark seasons, our times of loss or fear or anxiety, we know that we’re not experiencing anything that God himself hasn’t experienced and can’t identify with. God relates to us because he’s suffered too. There is a commonality here. God gets it because he’s gone through darkness also. We don’t worship a God who knows only comfort and security and cannot relate to our pain. So that’s one clue. Again, it’s just a clue, not an easy answer.
There is something to be said about the loving community of God and how we become Christ incarnate to one another. We may go through periods where God seems distant or absent, but may it never be said that we as Christ-followers are distant or absent when someone near us is going through darkness.
Share about Bob and others when I lost my job, showing and sharing the love and light of God into my life in a time of darkness. That is also why we have such a strong focus on Outreach, because we KNOW that there are times when God feels distant (even though he’s not) and as Christinas, WE MUST share that light that was people that Christ is near

Jesus calls us by name, “Come out!”

Lazarus was entombed in a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Jesus said, “Take away the stone” (11:39). Martha chimes in, warning that there would be a bad odor coming out of the cave because Lazarus had been dead for four days. She still didn’t know what Jesus was about to do, but he was about to fulfill her greatest dream.
John 11:43–44 ESV
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
To start with I found it interesting that Jesus called Lazarus by name....and then you think about it.....its really not. can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus hadn’t specified and walked up near a cemetery and just said COME OUT!!! Probably not what was being looked for right!
But He DOES call us by our name
John 10:3 ESV
To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
He knows us each individualy, all our trials all our struggles, the things we try to hide, but He also knows our needs and desires, and He deals with each of us individuslly....He call us by OUR name.
God calls you out of your tomb also. He calls you by name, “Hey _______ come out and live! I am the resurrection and the life! Come out of your fears, come out of your shame, come out of your sin, come out of your darkness, and live!”
Jesus invites you into his loving community of God, where we love one another and trust that God will fulfill our greatest hopes.
Colossians 1:13–14 ESV
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Conclusion

As kind of an epilogue, after Lazarus was resurrected, in the very next chapter of John we see him reclining at the table with Jesus over a meal. Lazarus found in his resurrected life that a great way to spend it was hanging out with Jesus. And Jesus was very happy with that.  They were experiencing the loving community of God together, around a table. That’s called table fellowship and it is a very important thing to God!
Also noted in the very next chapter of John is the fact that the religious leaders were upset that Lazarus had been raised from the dead. Jesus was winning people into his loving community of God and that didn’t sit well with the Pharisees.
John 12:9–11 ESV
When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
What!!?!?!?!?!
Welcome back to life, Lazarus!
I bet he didn’t expect that, did he? Once again God’s purposes for us exceed mere comfort and security. Lazarus wasn’t “safe” because of his relationship with Jesus. But Lazarus was saved because of the very same relationship.
Similar to Lazarus, we are not safe because of Christ, we are Saved because of Christ! We are not free from struggles, but we are promised the provision of Gdo in those struggles. He saves us. That’s what it means in John
John 3:16–18 ESV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Let’s pray together.
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