INTRODUCTION: Story submitted by Asher Curfman.

A Resurrecting Relationship

Bible Passage: John 11:1–45

PRAY

At Canalside Community Church, our mission is to CONNECT to God in faith, CELEBRATE life in Christ, and COMMIT to a culture of growth.

As we think of Easter last week and remember the resurrection of Jesus, let’s consider what it means to CELEBRATE life in Christ as we look at the resurrection of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, in John 11.

Important Characters and Moments

Mary and Martha

Sisters who had known Jesus prior to this story.

Luke 10:38–42 NASB95

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Mary was a close follower of Jesus, as John explains in John 12:1-11

John 12:1–11 NASB95

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

Lazarus

A close friend of Jesus, referred to as “he whom you love” in the letter from the sisters. Lazarus and his family were well-off, and Jesus stayed with them whenever He was in the area.

John MacArthur says that the miracle in this story is the “capstone of Jesus’ public ministry.”

The MacArthur Bible Commentary 1. Seventh Sign: Raising of Lazarus (11:1–44)

Lazarus’s resurrection is more potent than all those [other examples] and even more monumental than the raising of the widow’s son in Nain (

This passage also contains the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35, “Jesus wept.”

Read the story.

Bible Passage: John 11:1–45

Resurrection is a result of relationship, not religion.

If you think being a Christian exhausting, you probably have too much religion and too little relationship with Christ. Following Jesus feels like friendship, not slavery.

A lot of people died during the years of Jesus’ earthly ministry, but Jesus chose to resurrect Lazarus and not someone else because Lazarus was His friend.

John 15:9–15 NASB95

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. “You are My friends if you do what I command you. “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

The “Tree of Life” in my office is actually dead because it no longer has a relationship with the root.

God doesn’t expect us to produce something for Him, because apart from Jesus we can do nothing.

John 15:4–5 NASB95

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Spiritual strength comes from lifting waits.

Jesus waited to come to the home of Lazarus so that no one could claim that Lazarus was actually alive. This was done to strengthen the faith of the sisters, not to tear it down.

Isaiah 40:28–31 NASB95

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Are you in the midst of suffering and trials today? Are you struggling with grief and loss? Do you feel tired and unable to get your life together? If you are trusting in Jesus this morning, remember that He will deliver you from it all eventually, after you’ve had time to flex your faith.

James 1:2–4 NASB95

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Right religion practiced in wrong relationship produces wretched results.

Jesus demonstrated a right relationship with humanity by quietly crying when He saw the grief that sin and death bring.

Martha had the right doctrine of the Resurrection, but the wrong relationship with the Resurrector.

John 11:23–27 NASB95

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.”

This was the great error of the Pharisees that Jesus addressed in passages like Matthew 23:23

Matthew 23:23 NASB95

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Brothers and sisters, we have to avoid the trap of being more concerned “rightness” than righteousness.

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 NASB95

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Where does this story fit into YOUR story?

If you are trying to make God happy with you so you can go to Heaven when you die, you are practicing religion instead of being in relationship with God. Jesus didn’t resurrect Lazarus because he was a good Jew, He did it because Lazarus was His friend.

If you have a relationship with Jesus and are wondering (or even doubting) if He loves you because you are suffering right now, remember that the same friend who raised Lazarus is the same friend who will give you life and strength to endure.

If you think about God more than you feel for your neighbor, remember that Jesus earned the trust to speak truth by engaging sinful people with compassion.

Close in Prayer