Jesus Has the Final Word

Mary and Martha’s Plan (1-16)

Study Information: The problem of pain is something that everyone has to deal with. The problem of pain is: if God is loving and good, why does he not stop evil? He must either not be loving or not have the power to stop it if he allows evil to exist. We all wrestle with pain, suffering and evil. For some it is theory and for others it is really personal. Many people trace their unbelief back to the problem of pain. They cannot imagine a personal and loving God who allowed bad things to happen in their lives. In our text of scripture we learn that Jesus heard his friend was ill and delayed going to him BECAUSE he loved him. That makes no sense to us. You think that Jesus would want to heal the people he cared about, but instead he took his time. However, Jesus told his disciples that this illness would lead to God’s glory, the belief of many and would point people forward to what he would do in his own resurrection. Jesus will offer comfort to Martha and Mary in two unique ways. This week we will explore how he offers assurance to Martha about his power and next week we will see how Jesus comforted Mary with his love.

Lazarus’ Death Was Preventable

John 11:1-16 Out of all the people Jesus knew he seemed to have a special relationship with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. They’re described as people he loved and Jesus spent time in their home on a number of occasions. You think if Jesus was going to rescue anyone from sickness and death, it would be one of them. This is why it is shocking to read that they sent word that Lazarus was ill and Jesus response was to delay (John 11:4-6). Jesus stayed two days longer when he was really only about a days walk away. Likewise, Jesus had healed people from far off before, so he could have saved Lazarus here.

Without any explanation, the narrator describes how Jesus, even after hearing about Lazarus’s plight, stayed where he was “two days” (δύο ἡμέρας). It is significant that the motive for the delay is not stated. It is common for interpreters to reconstruct the reasons motivating the delay. Yet there is little warrant for basing an interpretation upon possible but entirely unknown (and unstated) variables.

For this reason v. 5—which reminds the reader of the love of Christ for those involved in this crisis—is so significant, especially coming between v. 4 and v. 6 as it does. Quite simply, if God is intentional with the event of sickness and death, he can also be intentional with his response to such events. The mode in which God works, even if different than expected, must not be attributed to incompetence or insensitivity but as befitting his greater purposes, even if unseen. In a moment of crisis, the “however” of God (v. 6) is not to be believed more than the “love” of God (v. 5). Notice though how Jesus viewed the situation. First, this illness would lead to God being glorified (John 11:4). God would be magnified through what happened in Lazarus’ suffering. Second, Jesus saw this death as temporary, so much so that he says Lazarus has fallen asleep (John 11:11). This does not mean Jesus is heartless to this family’s suffering (more on that next week); but he knows that God’s character and attributes are demonstrated in the midst of the tragedy of life and for his followers, death is not the end. Jesus did not feel powerless in this situation and promises to use it. What we learn is that he delayed to have two conversations with Martha and Mary; and to demonstrate God’s glory.

For some of us, this idea that Lazarus death was preventable, may just add to the anxiety. Any suffering we experience is preventable, right? God is always in the right place at the right time so why does he not act? There are multiple pieces to the puzzle to the problem of pain that we will learn in these study guides, but one part of the answer is that pain is not wasted and it is not in ultimate control. God can use it for good and his glory, even if we cannot clearly see that yet. Martha will struggle with seeing the good that Jesus was doing in the death of her brother; which is why Jesus moves to comfort her with assurance of his power.

Exalting Jesus in John (Mary’s and Martha’s Plan (John 11:1–16))

Nothing happens by chance. Nothing is without purpose. Whether sorrow, sickness, or death, nothing happens to you that God does not permit for a reason. You will encounter no situation in life in which God cannot be glorified. It doesn’t matter if it’s an impossible boss, a loveless marriage, a crushing tuition bill, or a dysfunctional family; God can be glorified in every situation. You need to learn to ask, no matter the situation, “How can I glorify God in this?” Our normal response is to ask, “What’s the fastest way out of this situation?” Christian maturity is learning to look at a situation and knowing that, whatever you face, you face it so God can be glorified through you.

Mary and Martha’s Pain (17-37)

Pain Reminds Us That We Are Powerless (17-22)

Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days by the time Jesus arrived. The family was midway through a week long grieving process that was typical for Jews in the ancient world. When Martha went out to meet Jesus she went out swinging, “Jesus, if you had been here my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). There seems to be some disbelief and anger to her words. Even though Mary used the same phrase in the next scene, note how Mary stayed back grieving and has to be pulled to meet Jesus (John 11:20, 28). Martha was looking for answers in a way that Mary wasn’t yet. But Martha’s aggression was not the end, she was also looking for assurance when she said “but even now I know that anything you ask from God, God will give you.” (John 11:22). She was powerless and looked to Jesus for help. Every time we are on the receiving end of the problem of pain it reminds us to look to Jesus for help.

Grief Can Point Us Towards Hope (23-27)

Jesus questioned Martha, in a way that he was different than his interaction with Mary. Whatever was happening in Martha’s heart, Jesus knew that she needed to be pressed and to find assurance around what she really believed. Jesus promised her that her brother would rise again, and Martha said she knew this; but she knew this as a future thing. Jews believed that at the end of time the righteous would be raised to resurrected life. Martha believed that would happen for Lazarus, but for now he’d stay in the tomb. What could Jesus do for her now that her brother had been dead so long? Even after this interchange, she protested them opening up the tomb since Lazarus had been dead and she was still not able to hope that Jesus could change that. Martha said she believed he was the Christ, but still did not yet believe that Jesus could do anything about her brother’s death (John 11:39). What Jesus leads her to a place where she can affirm that he is the Resurrection and the Life. To say that he was “the life” was an affirmation that he was God because only God had life in himself. In doing so, Jesus was trying to pull Martha’s hope from some future day to the now; he wanted her to go from “someday” to “today.” Martha confessed “I know he will rise again on the last day” and Jesus’ response was essentially “why not today? Am I the Christ or not?” Jesus pressed her and presses us who may doubt his power with “do you believe this (John 11:25-26)?” Deep in Martha’s heart, she seemed to believe that God could work theoretically but not for her and not now. Jesus, the resurrection and the life, had power over life and death. He could undo the effect of death with a word and he delayed because he loved them and wanted to move them from just a hope in the future to a concrete belief in the present. Many of struggle to believe that God has any concern over the suffering and evil we face. We know theoretically that he opposes it and acts in the world, but not for us. Martha needed assurance of God’s power. In the next study guide, we will learn about God’s anger over sin, evil and death; and explore how Jesus himself went to the cross and the tomb to undo the effect of sin. God the Son personally knows what it is like to experience the problem of pain, and in his suffering and death he does away with its power. But for now this first section of John 11 challenge us to consider if God’s power is just a theory for us or do we believe that God can act in the here and now? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ and that he is the resurrection and the life, the one who unites us to him in faith so that we will live and not experience the finality of death and separation from God? Do not let pain and powerlessness keep you from hope, let pain carry you to Jesus.

Study Information: During times of personal suffering and sorrow it can be tempting to question if God loves us.  In the last study guide we introduced the problem of pain which says that if God is all powerful and loving then evil should not exist. Since evil exists God must not be powerful or loving. In the last study guide we explored how Jesus responded to his friend Lazarus’ death and particularly to Lazarus’ grieving sister Martha whom he assured of his power. He pressed Martha around her belief about God and the coming resurrection and pulled her towards a hope that God can and would act through Jesus in their time. Jesus revealed himself as the Resurrection and the Life, the one whom we can place our hope in. In this study guide we get to see how Jesus responded to Lazarus’ other sister Mary to comfort her with an expression of God’s love.  In the text, Jesus responds to Lazarus’ death in four ways: he weeps, bellows, prays and calls. 

Jesus Weeps (28-37)

Mary was still at home grieving when Jesus had arrived and needed to be called by Martha to go to meet Jesus outside the city. The crowd surrounding them thought that she was going to the tomb to weep and so they followed her according to Jewish grieving practices at the time.  Usually when someone was in grief in ancient Israel, friends and family would gather for a full week to support them. Jesus arrived four days after Lazarus died, so this was about midway through their grieving process. However, instead of going to the tomb, Mary went to Jesus and fell at his feet. Mary’s words to Jesus are the exact same words Martha used earlier, “Lord if you had been here our brother would not have died.” Martha and Mary likely consoled each other with those words over the last few days, and we know that they hard urgently sent a message to Jesus before Lazarus had passed because they knew of his miraculous power.  In Jesus’ response we learn that a there is not a cookie cutter, one size fits all answer to suffering. Mary was from the same family and used the same words as Martha and Jesus responded in a completely different way to her grief. Jesus did not press her to know his power or help her to articulate what she believed, like he did with Martha. Instead Jesus was deeply moved by the sight of the crowds grief and weeping, so he wept.  It is tempting to believe that since God did not stop something bad from happening that he must be uncaring or heartless towards the things that cause our sorrow however we get the opposite picture here. Jesus wept with those who wept, and in this action Jesus identified with the sorrow of his friends and joined to comfort them with his love. 

Jesus’s Power Over Death (38-44)

Jesus Bellows (11:38)

How does God feel about evil and suffering in the world? John 11:35 and 38 uses a phrase that Jesus was “deeply moved” and at first glance that can seem like he got sad, but it actually pointed to a different emotional response. The word “deeply moved” in the Greek is a synonym for a “snorting in anger”, particularly used of a horse that is riled up and angry. It is a great word picture, right? Jesus was at Lazarus’s tomb and rather than being dispassionate or simply sad, he was moved to anger. This anger was not directed at the crowds or their disbelief, but it was directed towards sin, evil and death.  To be fully human includes sorrow, and anger at the right things. It is ok to grieve and it is ok to be angry at things that cause so much harm and destruction like sin and death. Jesus, in his love, was angry at the right things. 

Jesus Prays (29-42)

Jesus asked the crowd to remove the stone that covered the face of the tomb and Martha protested that there’d be a smell since the body was dead for four days. The four day mark was important, scholars point out that in the ancient world there was a thought that the soul of the deceased lingered near the body for 3 days. So, with it being day four, Lazarus was “dead, dead.” We also get a window into Martha’s struggle to believe that Jesus would act in their current situation. There was a general wonder and disbelief in what Jesus could or would do. So, Jesus prayed. He opened up his inner life with God the Father for the crowd to hear. We can assume he had already been in prayer for Lazarus and intervened in that way, but Jesus specifically prayed with God the Father out loud for the benefit of the crowd and for us; so that we’d believe and get a better understanding of his constant communication between God the Son and God the Father (John 11:15, 42).

Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and we know that Jesus intercedes; we can take courage that we are not alone in grief and suffering. 

English Standard Version (Chapter 8)

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Jesus Calls (43-44)

Finally, Jesus calls and gives life. The Resurrection and the Life brings life from he grave. At the word of Jesus Lazarus was awakened and there was a living man wrapped in the burial clothing coming forth from the tomb. At this point in the gospel of John we are around 10 days away from Jesus’ own resurrection. The raising of Lazarus from the dead, more than any other miracle, points forward to what will happen with Jesus.  Jesus took on suffering and death to defeat it once and for all. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but by the mercy of God we have been made alive with Jesus.

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

In just a few days Jesus will be the target of evil on the cross and be laid in a tomb and wrapped up in burial cloth and like Lazarus he will raised from the dead. However, Jesus’ resurrection was different, in that his death defeated death and his life is shared with those who are united to him in faith. He was also raised to an imperishable, glorious body, foreshadowing what those in Christ can look forward to in hope.