Why did the Disciples Panic?

John 11:1-45

This is a passage which, for me, contains a great puzzle; not a riddle to be solved or a brain-teaser such as will be in today’s Sunday supplements; but just one of those part of the bible that baffles me.  What baffles me most by this passage is to think – why did the disciples panic at that first Easter??

Our reading from John’s gospel has us in the Easter story no more than a few weeks before the Passover.  Jesus provides his disciples with perhaps the most power demonstration of God’s power by bringing Lazarus back to life.  Not only a demonstration of power but of intent: here was a miracle which should have so clearly shown them that God was intending to act directly in the world.  Jesus was showing them that the God they worship was the God who raises the dead.

And it’s not as if this was their first miraculous raising.  The other Gospels tell the story of the raising of the little girl.  Take Mark 5:21-43  Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue comes to Jesus and begs him to come and heal his daughter.  Jesus is delayed on the way (healing the women with bleeding), and news reaches them that little girl has died.  We are again given the scene of the grieving relatives.  Jesus takes with him just Peter, James, John and the parents, and quietly, brings the girl back to life.  It wasn’t time for Jesus to be revealed so this story end with him instructing silence, but what would have the disciples have been saying to one another privately.  Wouldn’t they have remembered this miracle as Jesus talk to them as they travelled to Bethany… So why did they panic?

As I thought through why this might be, I wondered whether the raising of Lazarus just didn’t have a profound impact on them?  We think that raising the dead is truly out of the ordinary, but perhaps the disciples were so use to seeing Jesus heal that they thought this was just another healing.  The crowd of mourner expressed such a sentiment John 11:37 “he healed the blind”.  John tells the story in such a way as to leave us with very little doubt that this should have been an event seared in to their memories.  It is not just Jesus telling them plainly, Lazarus is dead John 11:14, but the drama… Can you get into the story and sense just how potent the event would have been???  John 11:39 the smell - [Note: Chukotka Walrus] When Jesus asks for the tomb to be opened, Martha and the other are appalled – their first instinct was to object because of the smell.  The NIV is quite civilized in the translation with its ‘there will be a bad odour’, almost as if it could be removed with an air-freshener.  If we go back to the KJV, we get away from some of our modern sensibilities – “Lord, by this time he stinketh”.  This is all to tell us that Lazarus was very dead… This was not a healing, this was a raising from the dead; this was a very profound event.  But does this tell us something about our struggle to believe John 11:15, John11:42 – how would we react in the presence of God who raises the dead?  How are we living in that presence?

There is emotion in abundance in this story but is again underplayed by the translation.  We are told twice John 11:33, John11:38 that Jesus was “deeply moved” (NIV).  At the loss of friend, you would expect him to be “deeply moved”, perhaps, saddened, even distressed, distraught at the loss of some he loved.  The Gk word translated as “deeply moved” conveys anger, not sadness: there are elements of almost contempt and irritation.  It is apparently from a root meaning to “snort with anger”; one commentary suggested it for the snorting of a horse, when the horse wants to let you know, you are annoying it.  Let’s try and enter further into the emotion of the scene.

I was at home a couple of weeks ago and Thomas, my eldest, was playing in the garden with his friend Amy.  We were watching through the patio doors and we could tell that they had started arguing.  We couldn’t hear what the argument was about (double-glazing) but we could tell it was happening.  Thomas was merrily stamping his foot and by way of repost Amy had plant her hand firmly on hips with elbows out wide.  Can you imagine the seen two 4 year olds nose to nose?  It was obvious the emotion involved.

And here with our story, this emotion of Jesus was plain for everyone to see.  It caused some to exclaim John 11:36 “see how he loved him”.  This is the passion with which Jesus loved, and continues to love. He loves us as much as he loved Lazarus.  Have we grasped the passion that Jesus has for us?

But this word has got all the commentaries ablaze with discussion; Why such a strong verb? Was it just a reaction to the sister’s grief?  It seems much too strong. Moral indignation? At sin and the results of sin – death, but wouldn’t be feeling that all the time…

Anger at the hypocrisy of the display of mourning… Was he starting to feel the weight of human suffering as his own time approached…

Perhaps, it was because he knew just how deep the unbelief was in some people; even in the presence of such a miracle.

The passage contains one the most profound truths of the Christian faith.  John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life”.  Believe in Jesus and never die!  This theme of resurrection life is through out the rest of the NT.  Especially, in Paul’s letter to the Romans – we are to be dead to sin and alive in Christ.

I’ve often thought that death is such a poor illustration for the living.  It is suppose to represent a finality, a point at which there can be a transition, an end from which there can be a beginning.  But for the living, death often isn’t an end.  Let me explain…

Fortunately, I haven’t had to experience many bereavements.  The last one was Yvonne’s (my wife) Grandma who was called to glory a few years back.  It was expected and peaceful when the time came.  But for the family, it wasn’t an end – there were still plenty to remind us of her life. The arrangements to be made, and the funeral to be planned with her favourite hymns.  Then the flat to be cleared – I would say heirlooms to be distributed but we are not that sort of family.  We do though have several ornaments in the living room which aren’t to my taste but are kept because they are important in keeping memories alive.

So sometimes I think we as Christians come to faith with the knowledge that there has been an end of one life and the starting of a new life in Jesus, but our experience is very different: the old life didn’t just end – we feel the same feelings, we struggle with the same behaviours, we sometimes even strive to hold-on to some of those thing which we enjoyed or relied on before we committed ourselves to Jesus.  And so it is not surprising, that we like Martha, think that resurrection life is something for the future, something for the end of  days – that’s when we’ll live and never die…

But Jesus intends this resurrection life to be lived now… this minute… right away in all its fullness.  Because this resurrection life is to be lived in not in the power of God who will raise the dead, but the God who does raise the dead…

What is the most common command in the bible?  Do not murder?  Do not steal?  Love the Lord your God?  The commands of God often have an image problem – thou shalt not..

Thou shalt not do any thing that is enjoyable… Thou shalt not do the things that you want…  By a quick count, (I have a computer), the bible commands us not to murder - 8 times, to love God - 5 times: the most common at 59 times – ‘Do not be afraid’.

The irony is... that it is perhaps the hardest to obey. 

We enter life with worries - one of the first things a baby learns is to recognise their parent’s faces, this is almost immediately followed by the “clingy phase” where thy will cry every time one of them leaves the room.  We do seem to go through life moving from one fear to the next… health, wealth, love, loneliness; and the Christian life brings with it some of its own - the future of the church, telling friend and neighbours about our faith.  Do not be afraid… 

Is there something that God is telling you not to be afraid about?  Which is more difficult: to believe that the dead can rise or to not be afraid?

We sometime forget the honesty of the bible and its expectations on us.  There is the expectation that we will need help along the way.  Martha had Jesus there with her and yet from her profound moment of faith John 11:27 “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,g the Son of God, the one coming into the world”; she needed to be re-assured, reminded John 11:40 ”Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”.  Can we at least imagine that if we knew God well enough, believed in Jesus faithfully that we could be enabled to obey this command: do not be afraid.

And when God releases us from fear… what would be able to do for him?

We could consider another raising.  Acts 9:36.  Dorcas, a Christian woman had died, we are given the same scene but this time… it is Peter who is asked to come, Peter who is greeted by the mourners outside, Peter who dismisses them and quietly goes inside.  And as he would have seen Jesus do, he prays and brings Dorcas back to life.

As I continue through Lent to prepare for the celebration of Easter and to think on the sacrifice that Jesus made for me, so that I could live and never die.  Then Peter’s journey from panic to calm gives me hope that this resurrection life will ‘kick-in’, gather momentum and become unstoppable.

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The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville