Christ Consoles in Death (John 11:17–37)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 11:17–37

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: December 17, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

One of the best teachings that the Puritans left us was their emphasis on dying well. It was important for folks who didn’t always live as long as we do to think often and deeply about their lives before God. They believed it to be a Christian virtue to prepare for death, meaning to live with righteousness in view before God and neighbor. They believed in repentance and faith in Christ. They encouraged people to see more value in heavenly reward than earthly treasures. They urged believers to know their testimony before God so they could share it with loved ones on their death beds. Finally, they taught the importance of accepting God’s sovereign will over all events, including those of life and death.

This is vital because we don’t always know how long we have, nor do we know how long we have with our loved ones. It’s important to prepare now, when not facing death. We do so knowing that the Lord even promises a “peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). It is only by His power that we can have hope and comfort in times of loss.

As we see with His interactions with Martha and Mary, we continue to consider how our Lord meets His people in times of death. We see today that He consoles us in times of heartache. We’ll note first the comfort our Lord brings the grieving. Then, we’ll note the compassion our Lord has for the grieving.

First, Note the Comfort Our Lord Brings the Grieving (vv. 17–27)

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now 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. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of 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; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”

Jesus came, of course, unafraid of any danger of being near to Jerusalem. Bethany was, as this translation of v. 18 states, about two miles. That means that the Jews who come to help comfort the sisters are likely all from that area. So, there may be a few Jews who might object to Jesus’s presence. However, such a thought doesn’t deter our Lord from coming to also console these dear sisters.

As Jesus gets near to Bethany, He learns (perhaps from other travelers to Bethany) that Lazurus has been dead almost four days. Now, this was unlikely to be a surprise to our Lord. Even though the messengers had only reported that Lazurus was sick, Jesus says plainly to the disciples that Lazurus was dead in v. 14. If He knew that, then it’s likely He knew the when, too, but the disciples may have needed this verification.

In today’s culture, we wouldn’t necessarily have buried someone so quickly after death. That’s because our modern methods can preserve the body, what some call a “restorative art,” where chemicals and cosmetics make the person presentable for an open casket. However, though those in the Jewish culture anointed the body with perfumes and spices, they didn’t practice any kind of embalming. Because of that and the warm environment, they had to bury the body quickly before any decay began.

They typically buried in tombs, although larger caves like this one were the sign of a wealthier family. They would either purchase one or hewn one from the mountainside, one including stone shelves where all the family could eventually lie together. They would wrap the hands, feet, and head of the body, place them in the tomb, and then roll a stone over the opening to keep out thieves and animals.

Some commentaries note that there may be a special significance to the fact that Lazarus is four-days dead. Primarily, it confirms the fatal diagnosis; Jesus isn’t about to heal someone who is extraordinarily sick but still alive. Yet, there was also a cultural superstition that Jesus can address — the belief that the souls of the dead “hover” around their bodies for three days, seeking reentry into their bodies until the facial features finally become disfigured. That is an unbiblical belief, but this time frame would assure everyone that Jesus isn’t simply reviving Lazurus.

There would be many witnesses to this, as well. Verse nineteen says that “many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.” This must have been a popular and prominent family. The poor would be required to hire a professional mourner for a period of at least six days, but Martha and Mary have here “many” consolers. Such mourners would follow and cry aloud, as we’ll talk about in a few minutes.

Somehow, word got to Martha that Jesus was on His way. Perhaps the travelers who had come to comfort them saw or talked to Him on the road. In any event, Martha doesn’t respond by cleaning up her house for Him. Rather, she went out to meet Him.

We read that Mary stays in the house. It was customary for “the bereaved to remain seated in the house and for the guests to come and sit in silence and periodically support the grieving parties with sympathetic tears and moans.” Still, this is a reversal from Jesus’s previous recorded visit, where Martha remained in the house while Mary was at the Lord’s feet (Luke 10:39–42). Yet, this aligns with their personalities. We might imagine that the driven Martha was able to go out, while the contemplative Mary was too burdened and heartbroken to leave her spot. Both are natural movements in grief, but we must beware excesses in either direction. We must not allow grief to rule our hearts nor may we become too busy to avoid grief.

It also may simply be that Martha went straight out to meet Jesus, not telling her sister yet that the Teacher was there (cf. v. 28). In any event, Martha comes and says to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). That might sound like a complaint, but she would have known well that her brother passed before Jesus would have made it there; even if Jesus had left immediately, Lazurus would have been dead for at least two days. So, this isn’t a grumble about our Lord’s delay, but a statement of faith that Jesus could have stopped the illness from progressing to death had Jesus happened to of been there. She regrets that circumstances weren’t different.

In fact, her statement of faith continues into the next verse. She says, “Even now I know.” She is saying that, despite the painful loss of her brother, even now she knows that whatever Jesus asks of God, God will give it to Him. This is a testament to her belief in His righteous standing before the Father.

Some have read in v. 22 a subtle request that Jesus raise Lazurus from the dead. It is theoretically possible that she might have expected it, if Jesus had gotten there sooner. He raised the widow’s son in Nain (Luke 7:11–16) and Jairus’s daughter (8:40–56), but those instances were soon after death, whereas Lazurus was buried four days ago. In fact, when Jesus tells them to remove the stone here in v. 39, she seems to push back against the idea. Moreover, the following verses make it clear that she only saw hope in Lazurus’s future resurrection, not his present one by the Lord’s hand. So, it’s doubtful that she is saying anything more than simply affirming the Lord’s power.

Her faith is what leads to the solid comfort that the Lord provides, and we would do well to notice it. Jesus says in v. 23, “Your brother will rise again.” Now, we understand what He means, because we’ve read the account before and know that Lazurus rises again. However, she doesn’t know that yet, so she applies the promise to the end times. She believes in the truth of God’s Word (more than even the Sadducees of her day!), so she replies, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (v. 24). She knew God predicts this in Daniel 12:2 — “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” So, she is right to expect this, as should we all.

However, Jesus wants her to understand how this connects to His person. He gives one of His I AM statements in v. 25 — “I am the resurrection and the life.” Resurrection is new life; not a resuscitation, where a person will break down and die again, but a renewal of the body to incorruptible life. To add to that, Jesus says that He is the life, meaning that there is an eternal spiritual life that He grants, connected to the predicted resurrection. Moreover, it’s not that He “will be” the resurrection but “is” the resurrection, present tense. He is the present reality life as well as the resurrection.

Remember what He said previously. He said in John 5:25–26, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” He means this literally, for in vv. 27–29, He says, “and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” He is the resurrection and the life.

How does a person obtain this gift? Jesus says we only need to know this about Him and trust Him. He says that the one “who believes in Me will live even if he dies.” This is a comfort to the saints who have watched their loved ones fall asleep in the Lord! And our Lord continues in the next verse that “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” He is not going to raise everyone to new life, only those who believe. The believer is the one who lives; the one who lives by believing.

Do you believe this? This is the question left ringing in our ears, as it does in Martha’s. I hope your answer is as confident as hers.

She says, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” She uses the emphatic personal pronoun (“I, I believe”), a note of conviction, and then she uses the perfect state of the verb, indicating that she has a “settled and firm faith.” In line with Peter’s confession (Matt 16:16), she declares Jesus to be the Messiah and divine, the Prophet that Moses predicted would come into the world. This is an incredible assurance, one that hasn’t been shaken by the painful events of the week.

In fact, we see her faith move her in the next verses. Of course, the story isn’t so much about the sisters, but the comfort that the Lord provides in death. He not only consoles Martha with this solid affirmation about His nature, He also shows great compassion, as we see next.

Second, Note the Compassion Our Lord Has for the Grieving (vv. 28–37)

When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”

Again, Martha’s faith had motivated her to action, so she goes back to Mary. We read that she speaks secretly with her, which is probably out of a sense of privacy. It doesn’t appear that she wanted the others to know. She tells her, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” Other rabbis didn’t teach women, but He did, and Martha wants Mary to know about the opportunity to see Him.

She adds that He was asking for her. We don’t read that, but it’s possible that He had said this. It’s also possible that Martha adds this to motivate her sister, as that would fit her personality. Either way, the next verse says that Mary “got up quickly” — the same word for what Jesus is about to do to Lazurus. This news “raised” her up, and quickly!

As she is going, the mourners from Jerusalem take notice. Not knowing what was said, they thought she was about to go to the tomb. However, she went out to meet the Lord where her sister did, meaning that she’s also bringing an entourage shortly behind her.

When Mary gets there, we see her resume her past position before the Lord, falling at His feet. This may have been both because of her respect for Him and also because of mourning, for she was weeping. However, we can see in her the same statement of faith that her sister had: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” She, like her sister, regrets that Jesus couldn’t have been present to heal her brother and keep him from dying.

Yet, isn’t there a hint of hopelessness in that expression, too? She lays at His feet weeping, and the verb suggests loudly. Behind her comes a crowd of Jews, and they come also with cries of lament. There is a time to mourn (Eccl. 3:4), Scripture affirms, but God also doesn’t want us to “grieve as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Are they forgetting the promises of God?

Understand that Jesus takes notice of all our pain, even our despair. As one commentary notes, “In great contrast with the Greek gods’ apathy or lack of emotion, Jesus’ emotional life attests the reality of His union with people.” He is moved by it, and the word can mean “greatly moved in the spirit.” The New King James says that He “groaned in the spirit.” It may also mean that He was incensed or angry in spirit.

If the verb does mean anger, it’s not that He is angry that people are sad. Jesus also weeps in v. 35. It’s possible that He was angry at the idea of professional mourners who would wail along with the bereaved, but this is probably deeper than that. It’s likely partly due to the fact not that they grieve, but that they do so like there is no future hope. As C. S. Lewis said, “Christians never say goodbye!” Yet, the main reason would be witnessing first hand what sin and Satan have done to the world, creating an existence with death and pain and groaning.

We know that there’s more to His emotion because of what the text also says. We read He “was troubled” or that He “troubled Himself.” He was disturbed or agitated of heart. This isn’t the only time this happened to Him — we read it happens again when He speaks about His coming death (John 12:27), and again when talking about Judas’s betrayal (John 13:21). He thinks about the implications of all of this, and He pains Himself. Sometimes we can get lost in empathy, but this is a personal loss He experiences, and He struggles to keep His own emotions in check.

Thankfully, our Lord plans to do something about it. We see that in v. 34, when He asks the sisters, “Where have you laid him?” He knew, but He wanted them there with Him when He planned to perform His most impressive miracle. And just as Philip had said to Nathanael in 1:46, they responded, “Come and see.”

This response, or perhaps the journey to the tomb, triggers the shortest verse in our English Bibles, “Jesus wept.” Our Lord is a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3), acquainted with grief and weeping at appropriate times such as at the death of a friend or, later, at the apostasy of Jerusalem. However, this isn’t the same term used of the crying of the mourners; this is simply the quiet shedding of tears. His plan was one of compassion, but He felt the pain of loss that we all feel at the departure of a loved one.

So genuine was His emotion that it attracted the attention of the other Jews. They were saying, “See how He loved him!” There was no mistake that the Lord loved Lazurus as well as this family. He loves all His people, and He is full of compassion for their losses.

Yet, there were, of course, His enemies in the crowd. In v. 37, they ask, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” They expect a positive response — He could not. As one study notes, “Some people misinterpreted Jesus’ tears as powerlessness. They complained that He had healed others, but now was impotent.” They had accepted that He had opened the eyes of the blind in chapter 9, but they now think Him unable to do anything. It’s sad how doubters shift the goalposts!

Jesus experienced the full range of human emotion. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” He understands your pain, is angry at sin and death, and promises a future resurrection in Him.

Conclusion

We have a Lord who provides comfort and compassion to us in death. Whether we face death or a loved one does, we can know that the promises of the Lord are “yes” and “amen.” We can know that He cares about our emotions, and that He gives us a solid word of hope about the future. We are not left comfortless.

It’s best to get this theology right before facing heartache, though. It’s much more difficult to think through who the Lord is and what He’s doing when you are also awash in emotion. You may find that you cannot make the confident assertation of Martha in times of bereavement if you don’t have it settled ahead of time.

Of course, that means you must answer Christ’s question now: “Do you believe this?” He calls you to trust in Him, the resurrection and the life. If you don’t, than you will truly have no hope. But, if you do, you can be assured that, even if you die, you will live again. Be prepared today to die well, to the glory of God.