I AM...
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Intro
Intro
Continue today with the (7) “I AM” statements made by Jesus from the gospel of John
We have gone through (5) so far
Before Abraham was born, I AM
I AM the bread of Life
I AM the light of the world
I AM the good shepherd
I AM the door/gate
Today… I AM the resurrection and the life.
Last time I had the opportunity to preach was Easter Sunday.
Resurrection seems to be a theme that God is assigning me
Considering timing from Easter we should note that Friday would have been 40 days after Easter, when Christ ascended to his rightful place
The time between resurrection day and his ascension Jesus spent time with his followers, preparing them for what was to come in their ministries
Lets see what preparation He is doing in our hearts as we study his word this morning.
Lets read our focal passage this morning together
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
To fully understand what Christ is saying here, we need to know the context.
When did this occur, where is this, who is there, and what are the circumstances
We will walk through this story to better understand the truth of what Jesus is saying to us. As we do, pay attention to Martha’s grasp of this truth.
This statement is made from Jesus to Martha at the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
As for timing, you may not have realized how close this event was to the crucifixion of Christ.
this all occurs a few weeks before the crucifixion and while its outside the scope of what we are going to look at this morning, this event sets into motion the Sanhedrin’s desire to see Jesus killed and silenced.
The setting is Bethany, the home town of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
Jesus spends time here just before going into Jerusalem for the triumphal entry and returns during that week with his disciples before ultimately returning to Jerusalem for his trial and crucifixion.
So back up a few weeks from there and follow along as we read John’s account of this event.
Starting in Chapter 11, V 1 we see that Lazarus is sick
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
Jump down to vs 5
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
From these last two verses we should understand there is an existing relationship here. A close relationship, a loving friendship
Of all the times in scripture that we see an illness or death reported to Jesus from a distance they are not described as “one Jesus loves”
After Jesus is told his friend Lazarus is sick he remains where he is a couple of days and then tells his disciples they are going to Judea.
Upon arrival in Bethany he is met by Martha. Follow along with me as I read
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.
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?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
We are going to stay here a minute and look at this exchange between Jesus and Martha
Notice the first thing Martha says to Jesus in Vs 21.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
There is a bit of accusation in this statement, but also acknowledgement of the power of Jesus.
She then escalates this acknowledgement of Jesus having power in the next statement
But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
this admission is a bit confusing considering what we will see from Martha in a bit.
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
To which Martha responds
Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Then we get to our focal passage today,
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?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
So where is Martha right now?
She acknowledges that Jesus had the capacity and power to prevent the death of Lazarus IF He had been there
She acknowledges that Jesus will raise Lazarus on the last day, so she believes in the resurrection of the dead
and in Vs 27 She acknowledges Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
But when she earlier stated “whatever you ask”, It appears her applied understanding might have some limitations on the power of Jesus.
She DOES NOT acknowledge the full power of Jesus in the here and now
Her vision and admission is that resurrection will happen, but not today
Lets see what happens next...
Jumping forward a bit to verse 32, Mary comes out to meet Jesus in the same place as Martha and falls at his feet saying...
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.”
Notice this is the exact same statement Martha made to Jesus.
We don’t see a long exchange or response here from Jesus
Verse 33 records that in response to the weeping he observed from Mary and the people with her He was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”
The translation for “deeply moved” is only translated as “anger”
While the English words here give us a sense he was grieved and empathetic, that is not what the Greek translation tells us. The Greek words used for weeping are different for Mary and the Jews weeping and Jesus’
It is harder to discern however whether his anger was over the the effects of sin causing death in the world, the lack of understanding of Mary and Martha, or possibly some other reason
He responds...
And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Notice in verse 37, again an acknowledgement that Jesus can do miracles by the Jews, but limiting Jesus to some level of “minor” miracles seems to be a trend
Lets look at the climax of the story, follow along with me as I read
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
Jesus comes to the tomb of Lazarus, and its covered by a large stone
He then commands in verse 39 to “take away the stone”
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Look at Martha’s reply here. This reply is revealing.
Just a bit earlier, away from the tomb, right before he told her “I am the resurrection”, Jesus told Martha “your brother will rise again”.
Her reply doesn’t provide any level of hope in this moment, previous replies show hope for the future but not for this moment.
Back on Easter we talked about believing beyond the facts, That's where Martha is right now. She believes he is who he says he is but she is not trusting him to work past the limitations of her understanding
Martha is not eager to see what Christ is doing and she's not eager to let him into this place because, “It’s been four days” too far gone in her understanding
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
Jesus isn’t just talking about the future here. He is talking about the here and now too.
Just like when he said to Martha… I am the resurrection..
If you are writing stuff down write this down; All power for renewal and resurrection is with Jesus NOW and to come.
If you haven’t trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior the Bible tell us we are “dead”
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This also reminds me of
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
All power for renewal and resurrection is with Jesus NOW and to come.
Martha and the Jewish people discounted the power of Christ, when all they had to do was move the rock. Do you find yourself in Martha’s place?
But it’s been four days...
But I don’t know enough, not equipped
But I’m not a people person
But it’s not hurting anyone else, not that big of a deal
But I don’t have time
But I don’t have enough money
But I have lot’s of money
But I’m comfortable there
But I’ve done too much, I’m too far gone.
NO one is too far gone
Roll away the stone of excuses and allow Jesus to deal with the dead.
Don’t discount his power in the here and now to bring renewal to your life or salvation if you haven’t trusted Him
How often are we like Martha and we know he will do something some da?. When all we have to do is roll away the stone and he will do something in us TODAY.
Podcast example- I was listening to a podcast this last week where they had on a former motorcycle club president. This is a well known club and this man lived a life of violence, womanizing, drugs and other underground illegal activity. He was sent to jail and it was there that he committed his life to Christ. When he got out of jail he lived a new life...mostly. He was freed from the gang, the drug dealing, the violence, and other illegal activity. But, he wouldn’t roll away the stone and allow Jesus to deal with the womanizing part of his life. He was later arrested on racketeering charges from crimes done back in his gang days and did another couple of years in jail. This time, he rolled away the stone and gave that habitual sin to Jesus and walked out of jail a truly FREE man.
While I sure don’t have a testimony like that one, the part I relate to and you may as well is the sin that I held onto, even after becoming a Christian. There were areas of my life that I just thought I needed to deal with. Problem is no matter how big or how small the sin is, we are weak and don’t have the power over sin and death like our savior Christ.
Lets finish this story...
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
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.”
Jesus was, IS, and will be the resurrection and the life
Freedom from sin, freedom from death, renewal, resurrection and life is ours today, and forever more through Jesus Christ.
Roll away the stone
