John 11:17-27
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 108 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Believe in Whom not belief in What.
Believe in Whom not belief in What.
Recap from last week.
Lazarus was sick.
Jesus told them that the sickness would not end in death.
Jesus told them that it would serve to glorify God.
He can do all of this, because Jesus is sovereign.
Sovereign over Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and His own situation.
Now, Lazarus is dead, and the disciples think that Jesus going back to Judea is a bad idea.
Jesus
They are no doubt questioning Jesus’s ability to deliver on His promises.
One of His promises seems to have already hit a road block.
But Jesus insists that they go.
Keeping in mind Jesus’s promises in verse 4.
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
Jesus has waited 2 more days where he was and by the time he arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb for 4 days.
Dead even longer.
At this point they are coming to the end of the grieving process where life will soon get back to normal.
However, those who are there to comfort Mary and Martha are still there.
o comfort Mary and Martha are still there
Look, in verse 18-19.
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.
First off, Bethany, where they live is near Jerusalem. I think John mentions this for two reasons.
Jesus is in the hotbed of hatred towards him.
The people in Jerusalem were the ones seeking to stone him a few chapters ago.
Jerusalem housed all the religious leaders. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, all who hated Jesus.
This is precisely why the disciples didn’t want to go to this area. They knew where Lazarus’s home was and the knew the animosity that existed there towards Jesus and anyone associated with Jesus.
Thomas is full expecting for Jesus to be killed and he is convinced that he will die with him and He isn’t too happy about it.
Isn’t it interesting that these men, who don’t want to die with Jesus, will one day stand strong and be killed willingly for Jesus through martyrdom.
According to tradition:
What changed in them?
Andrew- Crucified on an X shaped cross in Greece.
Bartholomew- Flayed to death by a whip in Asia Minor
James Son of Zebedee- Thrown off a wall- didn’t die so they beat him to death with clubs.
James the Lesser- Beheaded in Palestine
John- Died in exile on the isle of Patmos.
Jude- Crucified by magi in Persia
Matthew- impaled by spears in Ethiopia
Matthias- Stoned and beheaded
Peter- Crucified upside down by Nero
Philip Hung by Iron hooks upside down
Simon- Crucified in Persia
Thomas- Stabbed to death with a spear in India.
What changed in them?
I think we are about to find out.
They are going to come to understand who Jesus is and he is the one who will release them from any fear of death.
But for right now they are afraid and for good reason.
And Jesus isn’t going to help matters with this whole Lazarus thing he is about to do.
John moves this forward for us. the fact that many of the Jews from Jerusalem had come to mourn the loss of Lazarus.
This is important for many reasons.
There will be witnesses as to what will happen next.
Mary and Martha are there yes, but even more so there will be many who will testify to this miracle.
These witnesses will go into Jerusalem spreading the word about this miracle.
This is why John mentions this particular detail.
Many Jews coming would suggest that this family was well-known.
Lazarus’s death would have most certainly have been known by most people
So when Jesus does what he is going to do, this news will spread and it will spread fast.
Chapter 11 serves as a hinging point within the book of John.
Everything that happens here and and will serve to usher Jesus closer and closer to His death.
Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.
Obviously, Jesus is the one they’ve been waiting for.
What’s interesting here is that Martha surrounded by people who are seeking to console them and comfort her, at hearing Jesus was coming goes to him.
I don’t want to spiritualize this too much, but Martha knows who can truly comfort her.
Example:Me seeking to bring comfort.
Martha goes to Jesus seeking comfort and she will find it there.
But Mary stays in the house. We aren’t told why. Maybe she’s angry. Maybe she is still in mourning. By tradition, we know that people in mourning would often sit as people would come to visit them.
Maybe she doesn’t figure Jesus can do any good now. The possibilities are endless. One thing we do know about Mary is this.
She loves Jesus, and she will come and come quickly when he calls for her in verse 28. This is her denouncing her faith in the one she previously worshipped and anointed.
she does love Jesus and she will come and come quickly when he calls for her in verse 28.
But while she stays, Remember Martha is making her way towards Christ.
Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
This isn’t Martha rebuking Jesus. She isn’t fussing at Jesus.
Verse 21 should be understood in light of two realities.
Martha Is grieving.
Death is a hurtful thing.
It brings about emotions that we really aren’t sure how to deal with.
Last week, we spoke of the awkwardness of death.
Martha is feeling the weight of that.
We all have or will feel the weight of this.
Whether it be the death of a grandparent, a parent, a spouse, a brother, a sister, a child, when death happens, it hurts.
This is a lady who loves Jesus and knows she loves Him, going to him in grief.
Martha still believes.
She believes that Jesus is who He says he is.
In the middle of her grief she knows that. Specifically, she believed that if Jesus would have been here, he would have been able to heal Lazarus.
Listen to what she says:
“Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Some have taken this to highlight the supreme faith of Martha that she believes that Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead or that she is expecting Jesus to do this. I don’t think thats the case for a few reasons:
She’s grieving.
If she is confident Jesus will raise Lazarus, why has she welcomed the crowd of mourners? If she knew Jesus could raise him from the dead, why is she grieving?
She wouldn’t grieving if this what something she was expecting
She had seen people be healed by Jesus, but death was a different animal.
Just look at the language of the previous verse and the verses following.
“If” you had been here implies that Jesus is too late. That hope is gone.
Then you look at verse 24 when Jesus tells her that “Lazarus will rise” and she states her belief that he will rise on the last day. There is no expectation there of Lazarus being raise today.
Look at verse 39.
She doesn’t expect Lazarus to be raised even after Jesus issues the command to remove the stone.
There was no reason why she should have.
Every dead person she has seen up to this point in her life, has remained that way.
Verse 22 then should be understood in light of verse 21.
Martha believes in the intimacy that Jesus has a relationship with the Father and she believes, no questions asked, that had Jesus had been there in time, Lazarus would still be alive.
So how then, how will Jesus respond? Look in verse 23:
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Verse 23 would be as confusing for us as it was for Martha if it were said to us today.
Jesus responds to her grief and statement by saying that Her brother will rise.
From verse 24, it seems she takes this verse to mean no more than what we generally say to people today.
What do we say today to comfort people when they are grieving the loss of a loved one?
“You will see them again someday.”
They are in a better place.”
Well, one thing we know is they aren’t hurting anymore.”
And there is real comfort in that if you are a believer.
But Jesus isn’t merely offering future hope, He is offering present help in a way that will blow her expectations.
From verse 24, it seems she takes this verse to mean no more than what we generally say to people today.
She takes it as comforting words not words of immediate help.
Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Martha here concurs with Jesus.
She knows Lazarus was a believer.
She knows that there is coming a day for the resurrection of the dead.
Martha really has good theology at this point.
This is Theology that I hope all of us can have facing the death of someone in Christ.
She is sure of this doctrine, but what Mary is forgetting is that she has the WHO of the doctrine she believes.
She knows death will not be end, BUT she is forgetting that the Life is standing in front of her.
She knows resurrection will happen, but she is forgetting that the Resurrection is standing right in front of her.
=john 11:25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
The author and finisher of her faith is there.
She is clinging to doctrine, when he wants her to cling to him.
Knowing God is the goal of doctrine. But we don’t have faith in doctrine we have faith in a person.
This is what Jesus is getting at. I know that you believe that there is a resurrection. You need to know, I am the resurrection.
Jesus has just made the doctrine of the resurrection personal. No longer is she just left with doctrine, she now has someone in whom she can trust.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eleven: The Last Miracle—The Last Enemy (John 11)
He took it out of a book and put it into a person, Himself. “I am the resurrection and the life”! (John 11:25) While we thank God for what the Bible teaches (and all Martha had was the Old Testament), we realize that we are saved by the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and not by a doctrine written in a book. When we know Him by faith, we need not fear the shadow of death.
When you are sick, you want a doctor and not a medical book or a formula. When you are being sued, you want a lawyer and not a law book. Likewise, when you face your last enemy, death, you want the Saviour and not a doctrine written in a book. In Jesus Christ, every doctrine is made personal (1 Cor. 1:30). When you belong to Him, you have all that you ever will need in life, death, time, or eternity!
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eleven: The Last Miracle—The Last Enemy (John 11)
He transformed this doctrine in a second way: He took it out of a book and put it into a person, Himself. “I am the resurrection and the life”! (John 11:25) While we thank God for what the Bible teaches (and all Martha had was the Old Testament), we realize that we are saved by the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and not by a doctrine written in a book.
Jesus is the answer for this horrible enemy. He has authority over it and he has just made this clear to Martha. It is not merely that there is a resurrection that Lazarus will be raised, for there must be a resurrector in order for there to be a resurrection.
Jesus is that resurrector.
And He is the only hope of those who will die.
And because we will all die, he is the only hope for everyone.
And we can be sure of this hope. Jesus says with certainty.
“Everyone...”
Look in verse 26
and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
nhnh
Listen to what He doesnt say, Every one that believe that…
No, Everyone who believes in me.
Salvation and the hope of salvation through a person.
He ends this sure statement with a question that really is the all determining factor of any hope we are to have.. . and he turns this to Martha personally.
Do you believe this?
This is really the only question that matters for anyone who desires to have hope beyond this life.
It is Martha’s belief and trust in Christ that will ensure her final victory over death, and that is the most important thing to Jesus at that moment. Jesus is after belief. This passage/ chapter is about belief.
verse 15 that you may believe
verse 25 he who believes..
verse 26 everyone who lives and believes...
Do you believe....
verse 27 Yes lord I have believed....
Its no surprise that John includes this in His gospel especially since his purpose was belief.
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
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.”
Martha does believe and that is what matters to Jesus.
Do you?
and that is what matters to Jesus. That is what
If you do, then you along with Martha and the disciples and all other believers have no reason to fear death because your faith is in the one who is the resurrection and the life.
If you don’t believe?
There is no promise of abundant life. Certainly, you will live forever, but the life that you will experience in the after life will not be abundant. It will be judgment. It
