You Came too Late...

“The pressure of being savior”

John 11:1–46 (ASV)

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judaea again. 8 The disciples say unto him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. 11 These things spake he: and after this he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12 The disciples therefore said unto him, Lord, if he is fallen asleep, he will recover. 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that he spake of taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. 16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. 17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary still sat in the house. 21 Martha therefore said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22 And even now I know that, whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give thee. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, even he that cometh into the world. 28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Teacher is here, and calleth thee. 29 And she, when she heard it, arose quickly, and went unto him. 30 (Now Jesus was not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.) 31 The Jews then who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going unto the tomb to weep there. 32 Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept. 36 The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved him! 37 But some of them said, Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die? 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time the body decayeth; for he hath been dead four days. 40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the multitude that standeth around I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me. 43 And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 45 Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary and beheld that which he did, believed on him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Quote: “Pastor/author Max Lucado in one of His daily devotions argues this point:

“Clouds of doubt are created when the warm, moist air of our expectations meets the cold air of God’s silence. The problem is not as much in God’s silence as it is in your ability to hear.”

Max Lucado

Illustration:

A: Nothing weighs on a person, more than expectations. (Different types of expectations)

Parents are expected to provide for their Children even when money is tight

Children are expected to have standout grades even when they’re balancing school and different extra-curriculars

Pastors are expected to work 100+ hours weekly, neglect their families, all in the name of gospel spreading the gospel

Teachers are expected to teach students in an age where government officials ban every book that they fear will radicalize their kids

B.) “The truth is that as great as the expectations are that we place on ourselves, they will never equal the pressure we place on others!

We expect others to know how to treat us even when we don’t communicate it effectively

We expect others to act in ways we never will

We expect others to live lives in which we never strive to mimic

We expect others to make decisions that if we were presented with, we wouldn’t know the first clue how to handle

We expect the ministry leaders to never make a mistake because we put them on a improbable pedestal

We expect the pastor to neglect their families, like/wants, so that they can satisfy all the needs we have

We expect the young woman pregnant out of wedlock, to make better choices even though she doesn’t have good influences

We as a society, expect the black woman, no matter how young or old, to be strong in the face of opposition, in the face of mistreatment, in the face of disrespect, all in the name of being a strong black woman.

We as a society expect black men to work hard, be met with disrespect, be called trash by everybody including his own people, not cry, not complain, and not show weakness

Main point of this illustration:

1.) And the problem is that these expectations, both quiet and loud, put an unrealistic pressure on an individual, to perform, and to act how we believe they should act, according to this idea we’ve made up in our mind.

2.) And when these individuals don’t satisfy this alternate reality we’ve made up, we treat them as if they are a failure and not a human being.

Quote:

Jesus moved not in response to human pressure but as a result of the Father’s direction and the determined hour for his life.

Gerald L. Borchert

Commentary of quote:

MP: If I could give some advice to somebody this morning, it would be this: Let go of the expectation you’ve made in your mind about God. Let go of the this idea that society has given you about God, let go of this box that your religion has placed God in, let go of this idea that you have a perfect, never changing theology about God that can’t be challenged nor refuted! The reason why Paul says in Eph 3:15-20 Is because the reason God is able to do beyond what you can ask OR think is because He can’t be put in a box, he can not be patterned, He can not be controlled, and He is not weighed down by the lofty standards YOU set on Him!

B.) The truth is the only person who gets disappointed by God not doing what YOU WANTED Him to do isn’t God.(It’s you) And then what happens is that you’ll begin to have this idea in your mind, that God is not able to do what He said He can do, but one thing I’ve learned about God in my few years of Life, is that the only way that I can fully appreciate the experience and mystique of Jehovah is when I learn to let go of these crazy expectations of Him that I’ve built up overtime.

C.) By no means am I saying to not wait on the Lord, or hold Him to his Promise, all I’m saying is that it’s hard to be appreciative of how good God is, when your expectations won’t allow you to appreciate all the little things He’s done for you!

Ephesians 3:20 LEB

20 Now to the one who is able to do beyond all measure more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that is at work in us,

Introduction:

A.) Draw the church into the text by opening up the text to them

1.) Mention how as you read the gospels, one thing that stands out is the situation, and pressure Jesus was placed in

2.) Mention that one scholar found 450 Old Testament verses about the coming messiah or a reference to it. One scholar found 574 verses in the Old testament, and with enough study you’ll find that Christ fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry

3.) Mention that For about 400 years there is a gap in prophetic utterance(s) in the bible from the OT to the NT. In that time greeks were shedding polytheism, the beliefs of the Jewish people at the time was challenged in in need of reformation.

4.) Mention that The Jewish people were only free for about 80 years until Jerusalem was claimed as a roman colony

5.) Mention that during this time it was a severe challenge of defeat and oppression and great opposition to their faith. And their only hope was waiting on God to intervene, send a Messiah and usher an age of peace and prosperity

6.) Mention that: Yet the Messiah they recieved is not the one that they recieved (Say it again). Mention that they weren’t expecting their Messiah to bring a message that was more focused on internal change and transformation, and repentance. They wanted a messiah to deliver them back into peace, by vengefully overtaking the government, yet the Jesus they recieved, didn’t look like they wanted Him to. Didn’t talk like they wanted Him to. Didn’t act like they wanted Him to. And Even when you open your bible to the beginning of John, you realize that Nathannael almost missed out on being a disciple, all because of His lofty expectations of what a messiah Should be and where He should be from, and let me just say this to somebody this day, DON’T GET SO CAUGHT UP IN LOFTY EXPECTATIONS THAT YOU MISS OUT ON THE GOOD IN FRONT OF YOU

7.) Mention that Jesus dealt with Pressure. All throughout His life and earthly ministry there was a pressure for Him to perform, a pressure for Him to do what people asked of Him, a pressure for Him to perform signs, a pressure for Him to say explicitly that He was God, all throughout His time on Earth He was faced with Pressure, yet Gerald L Borchert says

Jesus moved not in response to human pressure but as a result of the Father’s direction and the determined hour for his life.

Gerald L. Borchert

8.) Mention that even as this very moment, In this very healing, in this very miracle, we see the pressure of being a Savior.

BODY

A.) Open up the text

1.) Explain how I got inspired to preach this Sermon. How on my way back home I felt a nudge tell me “Jesus wept”. Go into depth about how I opened my text for the two days, read it in several translations, tried my best to not visit any commentary, and instead tried to wrestle and ask questions of the text without any outside help.

2.) Move on to explaining how as I was reading the text, somethings began to jump at me, that I then had to consult other commentaries for the assistance that I did not have at the moment. Explain that as I went back into the text, I was troubled by Jesus’ response to the illness of Lazarus. I was also startled by the fact that it seemed as if Jesus was saying that the Father let something like this happen, just so that God can be glorified in it (Explain how at times we believe that to be the case as well)

3.) Go on to explain that Typically when “Now” Is used to begin a sentence, it serves the function of an adverb time, or in other words “In this present moment”. And I know whenever I see that, it means that something happened prior to that moment, and then I began to dig into the text beforehand, and I realized that Chapter nine and ten did a good job at building up the text that is presented to us. Chapter 9, Jesus heals a man who had been blind since birth, and yet when His disciples ask Him was it him or his parents who sinned, Jesus said it was neither of them, it was just so that the works of God could be shown through this man. Then you come back into Chapter 11, and you read where it seems that Jesus is being a little dismissive, a little tone deaf to the need of Lazarus, then you see that Jesus says a similar remark to the messenger who got to Jesus with word about his illness, where He says this sickness isn’t meant for death but for the glory of God, so that the son of God, may be glorified by it. (Explain here what God’s glory is, explain how others saw illness and what it means if somebody was ill. Go back to chapter 10, and mention why it was important for Christ to be glorified.

4.) Go on to speak about how in chapter 10, Jesus is caught arguing with a group of Jewish people at the Feast of dedication (Or what we now consider as Hanukkah) they once again are pressuring Jesus to tell them plainly if He is the Christ, they don’t want to be kept in suspense, they hate the drama, they just want Jesus to say if He is who they’ve been waiting on or not. Then Jesus tells them, i already told you, you just didn’t believe me, and the reason you don’t believe me is because you are NOT my sheep! Then Jesus drops this bombshell statement on them and says “I AND THE FATHER ARE ONE”. Now if there’s anything Jesus should have not said to a crowd already trying to kill Him, is that the God of your fathers, He and I are of the same Ousia(OH-SIA) in the greek, which we translate as Divine substance or essence. Jesus is telling a group of theologically sound individuals, the reason you don’t believe in Me, is because you don’t belong to me, and if you don’t belong to me, you don’t belong to the God you serve, because He and I are ONE!

5.) Mention that after ALL OF THAT happens, they get very diabolic and cynical, and evil toward Jesus, that now there is this bounty placed on his head. So what Christ does because He realizes that now is not the hour, He then decides to run to Perea where John first began baptizing folks, then after staying there sometime, He gets news that His friend, His homeboy is now SICK. Think of the worst time in your life, isn’t it amazing how when things get bad, it always seems to get worse? Jesus is literally on the run, a few chapters months away from cruxifiction, and now it seems like when it rains it’s just pouring. Now it seems like the worst keeps happening to our boy Jesus, it seems like everything keeps going bad and bad, and now we reach a point where Jesus’ friend who he cares deeply for, is sick, and the place that He needs to go to visit His friend IS THE SAME PLACE HE JUST RAN FROM. Pressure, pressure, pressure. Expectation expectation expectation, and the sad part is we don’t even feel bad for Jesus, the sad part is we don’t even hurt for Jesus, we just think because he was Divine, that somehow these feelings did not affect him, all His life on earth, it was NON-STOP PRESSURE! JESUS DO THIS AND DO THAT, JESUS FIX THIS AND FIX THAT, JESUS SAY THIS AND SAY THAT, NOTHING BUT PRESSURE.

6.) Begin explaining and going through the text: So Jesus tells them, “Nah, this sickness ain’t unto death, but for God’s glory, so the son of God to be glorified.” Now when you read this text it’s difficult to not see Jesus in a bad light, because then it says that Jesus stayed where He was, for two more days, then by the time He gets to Lazarus, He’s already dead. So you see I did a bit of research for this timeline: The only probable timeframe that we have, since it’s been 4 days, is that 1.) The messanger goes to meet Jesus, and by the time he arrives to Jesus, Lazarus is dead. 2.) Jesus then stays where he was for two days. 3.) Jesus then takes the journey from Perea, to Bethany, and finally arrives at Lazarus’s tomb, resulting in 4 total days since Lazarus was dead. If that was the case, Jesus did not intentionally let Lazarus die, but because there was nothing He could do about saving Him at that moment, He stayed where He was before heading over to Bethany to console Mary and Martha.

Body: Jesus arriving late

A.) Yet when Jesus arrives to the scene, the bible says that Martha went out to meet Jesus and said to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (Stay here for a moment, and begin to open up here a bit more) Speak about how hard it is to trust God, when we can’t see his moving, how hard it is to trust God, when it feels like He’s late. Mention how: Mary feeling discouraged, and said, tells Jesus that if only He’d been there earlier, these tears could have been mourning.

B.) By Jesus staying two more days where He was, it was doing nothing but causing others to lose hope, and begin to get desperate. Mention that the traditional belief at that time to both jew, gentile and even Pagan was for 3 days, the spirit of the departed, was thought to hover around in hopes of resuscitation, in hopes of being rescued, but after that, the body would be disconnected from the spirit, and the person would be dead. Had Jesus come earlier, it would’ve done nothing for Lazarus’s condition, He still would’ve been dead, but because Jesus waited 4 days they would see a miracle and God would be glorified, but the peril of this, was that the closer that third or fourth day came, the more horrible the situation came. So on day 1… etc etc Then the bible says that Jesus finally shows up, but by the time He shows up, it’s already the fourth day, hope seems to be over, all seems to be lost, and here comes Martha saying to Jesus that Lord if you came just a little bit sooner! And how many of us have been in a place, in a bind, in a moment of desperation where we just needed Jesus to show up just a lil bit earlier! But now by the time Jesus gets to them, Martha is just looking at him like Lord, you came too late! Lord you appeared to late! Lord you should’ve been here before!

C.) But one thing I like about Martha, is that she out of all of the siblings seems to be the more practical one, she tells Jesus, even now I know whatever you ask of God, God will give you. You see faith is a very dangerous, and beautiful thing. Because what faith will do, is that even in the face of opposition, even in the face of uncertainty, even in the face of doubt, even in the face of pain, Faith will look toward Jesus and say whatever you ask the Father, I know He will grant it to you! Sometimes faith, has the gall to look at the worst situations and say whatever I ask of the Father, I’m sure He will give to me according to His will! Jesus then tells her very plainly, your brother, will rise from the dead. But yet Martha is still believing more in tradition than in what God can do now, says I know that on the last day! Then Jesus gives one of the most theologically profound statements in all of scripture, I AM the resurrection and The LIFE, the one who believes in me, will live, even if he dies! And Everyone who believes in me will live and never die!

D.) And while this sounds beautiful, while this amazing, while this sounds invitational, there is one problem, Lazarus is still dead! And for many of us, while we are grateful for that EARLY morning promise, we’re still struggling with the fact that the ones we love at this present moment are suffering, the ones we love at this present time are dying, in fact it just seems as if all there is around us now is death and uncertainty, and what some of us want is some peace on this earth while we are in transit to Heaven. And while I wish I had a great word for your pain, all i can tell you is what the bible guarantees, and it’s that there will come a day, where the tears stop, where the pain ends, where the enemy of death will be fully defeated, where joy will be attained daily, and the pain of all of our suffering will be the war stories we share with our biblical idols. I wish i had a great word for your pain but all I got are promises, and the promise of Christ is that if You believe in Him! Though you may lose your life on this Earth, you surely will experience eternity with Him! I know there is no easy remedy for grief, easy remedy for sorrow, but what I know is that on the other side, there’s something better, on the other side, there is something brighter, just hold on to the Lord! And trust in HIM!

E.) As Mary begins to break down to Jesus, the bible says he gets troubled in His spirit, then he weeps. The greek word given to us, give us an idea of a grunt or upset-ness as opposed to sadness. Jesus is upset, Jesus is angered, not just by the reality of death and the pain it brings, but notice that even as Jesus is en-route to glorify the Father in this miracle, there is still pressure on Jesus, there is still this expectancy of Jesus, that one of the consolers makes the remark, “He can heal a blind man! But couldn’t keep Him, from dying.” Oh how it hurts to be a savior. Oh how it hurts to be the one who saves people. Oh how it hurts to be a savior to people who are ungrateful to you, oh how it hurts, to give life, yet have others attempt to take your life by the miracle they’ve seen, oh the PAIN! Of being a savior.

Ending: Tell band to come up

1.) Jesus tells Lazarus to come fourth. Some believe, in fact many do, but some scatter to go tell the teachers of the law what their eyes have seen. And attempt to use it as a means of indicting Him.

2.) My goal was to communicate that Jesus faced pressure like many of us do, and I hope I served you well in that tonight. But I also desired to show that sometimes what seems like delay is just God working his Godly ability as He does.

3.) But With every sermon, the I desire to always bring it back to the cross. Here in our Tamarind Community we’ve been ridden with loss almost weekly. We’ve lost members, family, and loved ones. I wish I had the correct words to comfort your heart, but I’m grateful that I don’t, because it means that God us to learn to practice presence more than practicing our theological discourse in times of grief. But I just want to say this. A while back i made a statement as I preached and said, sickness can’t survive in the presence of God, cancer etc.. And I realized that comes off as tone deaf as well. The truth is you can be a Christ believer and still lose the battle to an illness, you can believe in God, and still lose the fight to a terminal disease. While I don’t have any idea on why God allows that to be the case, I’m sure of this one thing: That whatever we face here on earth, will be nothing in comparison to the joy awaiting us. The pain we suffer as we grieve, shall be filled with an eternity of living in the presence of the God who loves us. So even as it hurts now, look toward the cross, look toward Christ, and surely, you can trust, that you will LIVE.