More than Just Lazarus
Notes
Transcript
Coexistence
Coexistence
Andy Stanley
Scripture: John 10:24–25; 11:1, 3–17, 20–27, 33–45, 48; John 3:19; 20:31
Introduction
Introduction
[At some point, we’ve all wondered:]
Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?
Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?
[For some of you, this question spelled the end of faith. Most focus on bad things out there.]
Have you ever done anything bad?
[I have, but I’ve never met anyone who doubts the existence of God based on their own badness. I’ve never heard…]
Now, here's something we've all wondered about. I've wondered about it. So I'm not pointing my finger at you. This is universal. This isn't a Christian thing, or a religious thing.
This is just a human thing. We've wondered and you may have asked the question, differently than this, but we've all asked some version of this question. "Why would a good God allow bad things to happen? Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?"
“How could a good God allow me to happen?”
“How could a good God allow me to happen?”
“If God was good, he would have done something about me by now.”
This is a universal question and for some of you this question, or when you begin to wrestle with this question, it marked the end or the beginning of the end of faith, for you. This question, or some version of it may have undermined faith completely.
In fact, your faith may be right now, gradually dying a slow death around something that's happened in the world or something that's happened to somebody you love, or just something that's happened in general, and you just can't reconcile good God and bad things and so consequently, you're watching your faith slowly die, or maybe the faith of someone that you love or maybe it died a long time ago because of some version of this question.
But the interesting thing about this question is, when we ask it, and we've all asked it. I've asked it. When we asked this question, let's just be honest, when we think about the bad things in the world, isn't it true that we're focused on the bad out there, and not the bad in here.
So, let me ask kind of a follow-up question.
Have you have you ever done anything bad?
Have you have you ever done anything bad?
And, really don't raise your hand on this one. Have you ever wanted to do something really, really, really bad, but you knew you'd get caught and the only reason you didn't express your badness and your evil is because you did not wanna go to prison, but if you thought you could get by with it, you might have done it anyway.
Don't, again, don't raise your hand. And I'm guilty of that as well, but it's so interesting that when people begin to wrestle with the existence of a good God as it relates to evil, it's always the evil out there, it's never the evil in here. In other words, I've never heard anybody make this case, maybe you have.
How could a good God allow me to happen?
How could a good God allow me to happen?
Here's another version of it.
If God was good, He would have done something about me by now.
If God was good, He would have done something about me by now.
Somehow when we started internalizing back... And then we go at this... But wait, No, no, I'm not talking about my version of bad or the evil I might do. I'm talking about the big bad things. But once you begin to look at the big bad things as opposed to the little bad things in your heart or the things that you've done, you have changed the subject and you've changed the question and suddenly you're in the world of how much wood, would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
And this way of thinking, and I don't wanna... We can't cover all the bases today, but I just wanna just drop this in 'cause it points to where we're going today. This way of thinking ultimately leads to what's called an unfalsifiable premise, which actually makes the argument meaningless, because if you chase it down to its logical extreme, and I understand it's so emotional, we never get to the logical extreme, because it's just an emotional question, but when you get to the end of the question, here's what you end up with. I don't believe God exists because I exist.
[This way of thinking leads to an unfalsifiable premise which makes it meaningless.]
“I don’t believe God exists, because I exist.
“I don’t believe God exists, because I exist.
[The only way for a good God to prove to me he exists is to eliminate all evil and potential evil, including me. If he did that, then I wouldn’t be around.]
That's why it's unfalsifiable. The only way you could convince me there is a good God, is for me to no longer exist, but then I wouldn't be around for God to convince me. Did you follow that? Yeah, but again, it's so emotional, I don't think me saying that makes it go away.
But I think if John were here, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, who wrote the fourth gospel, John who followed Jesus around. John who saw everything Jesus did and heard everything Jesus taught. I think if John were to show up and would have heard what I just said or would hear the conversations you have about how do we reconcile a good God and evil in the world? I think John would say, "Wait, wait, wait, hang on, hang on, hang on. Because I, John," he would say, "I saw something that might help you with that dilemma
John
John
[Who knew Jesus would say…]
“Hang on!”
“Hang on!”
[I saw something that may help. I saw God in a body co-exist with evil men. He didn’t prove he was God by eliminating evil. He did something else. Instead of eliminating me, he loved me. Instead of eliminating me, he went to work eliminating the evil in me.]
"I saw God in a body, co-exist with evil men. Evil men and when I say evil, I mean, evil, like you can barely even imagine evil. And the God that I saw in a body did not prove that He was God by eliminating all evil. He did something else. The God in a body that I saw did not eliminate evil, and He didn't even eliminate the evil in me, He loved me, and then He went to work eliminating the evil in me." John who spent time with Jesus would say, "I know it's a big emotional thing. I know it's a big emotional question. I'm not sure I can sort it out for you. All I can tell you is this. I saw God, and I saw evil. I saw a good God and I saw evil. And they can co-exist. But it's nothing like you might imagine."
[We’re in part seven of…]
Graphic: Title slide for Bystander: John & the Rabbi from Nazareth
[John organizes his account around seven signs. Today, we come to the sixth sign. We left off last time with Jesus in the vicinity of Jerusalem.]d
The sub-title is, "The Signs of the Rabbi from Nazareth." And John and his gospel doesn't simply tell us what happens. John says, "Here's what happened, but I have an agenda. I want you to arrive at the same conclusion, about Jesus that I did. I want you to arrive at the same conclusion, about Jesus that I did in the only way to help you arrive at that conclusion, is to tell you what I saw, but I can't tell you everything I saw. There's too much to write down. I can't tell you everything Jesus said there would be too much to write down."
So John organizes his account of the life of Jesus around what he called Signs. We would call them miracles. John says, "No, they're not just miracles. A miracle is a stand-alone event. A sign is an unusual event that points to something," and John is so clear throughout his gospels .
He says, "I'm not trying to point your direction, I don't want you to fasten your affection and direction on the miracle. I wanna make sure that you look toward what the miracle of the sign pointed to and that was Jesus, because Jesus' miracles were not random acts of kindness. They were specific events in order to substantiate what He said about Himself."
So today, we come to, in our order, the seventh, in the story of Jesus. Now, real quick catching you up if you haven't been in part of this series. Throughout Jesus' ministry, and this is what makes reading the Gospels a little bit confusing, throughout Jesus' ministry, He's constantly making the trip from Jerusalem north to the region of Galilee. Jerusalem is in Judea. North of Judea is Galilee. He's from Galilee and He's constantly going back from Jerusalem and Judea to Galilee, back and forth, back and forth.
[One afternoon in the temple courts, temple leaders asked him:],
His friendly people, His family, the folks who embraced him earliest were in Galilee, but whenever He came to Jerusalem and to the temple, in particular, that it was always conflict. And where we left off last time, Jesus is in the vicinity of Jerusalem, He goes to the temple, which always made His disciples or his apostles, so nervous and while He's there, once again, He gets into an argument or a conversation with the temple leaders and they ask Him the question they've been dying to ask Him and they say to Jesus, "Jesus, how long will you keep us in suspense? Are you or are you not the Messiah? Are you claiming to be the Messiah or are you not? Just tell us plainly."
John 10:24–25
Then the Jews surrounded Him and asked, “How long are You going to keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in My Father’s name testify about Me.
24 “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me.”
And Jesus responds like this. He said, "I did tell you but you don't believe me. And I haven't just told you I haven't just preached it. I've done more than that. The works I do, the things I do, the miracles I perform, the things that are unexplainable that I do in my Father's name testify about me. In other words, I didn't just tell you I've shown you. I didn't just tell you, I showed you.
I didn’t just tell you. I showed you!
I didn’t just tell you. I showed you!
[I’ve given you evidence. You just won’t embrace it. Then, Jesus went all in. He gave the entire community a sign that was so indisputable that it forced the hand of the willfully blind.]
And they wouldn't embrace it, because as we said last week, they, maybe like some of us, were willfully blind. They would not look at what could be seen.
They would not try to discover what could be discovered. And Jesus preached, and He taught openly and He performed His signs and His miracles, openly, and they just couldn't bring themselves to arrive at the conclusion He wanted them to arrive at. So, Jesus decides at this point in the series in the life of his ministry and in his life at this point, at this point, Jesus decides to go all in. He decides to go all out. Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes just a little bit of distance away to where people would know where He is and they would know what He was up to, and Jesus performs a sign, in fact, as we're gonna discover, and this is what makes this story so disturbing, Jesus actually manufactures a sign, in that community, so that no one would have any doubt He is who He claimed to be. And the sign was so indisputable, that it forced the hand of those that were willfully blind, and just could not embrace or accept the fact that Jesus was who Jesus claimed to be. Here's what happened.
John 11:1, 3–17
Now a man was sick, Lazarus, from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
So the sisters sent a message to Him: “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
So they send a messenger and Jesus is about one day's walk away. He's about a day away, they send a messenger, the messenger shows up, he finds Jesus and the disciples, and the messenger says, "Mary and Martha sent me. They told me to give you this message. The one that you love is sick." Imagine being so close to Jesus that someone doesn't even have to tell Him your name. They would just would say to Jesus, "The one you love is sick," and they would know that Jesus would know immediately who you were talking about. That's amazing. So the messenger says, "The one that you love is sick."
When Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. [Lazarus was already dead. He died while the messenger was on his way.] 4 No, it is for God’s glory…
When Jesus heard this, and if you grew up in church, you've heard this story, it's so unusual, when Jesus heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness that Lazarus has will not end in death." But the fact of the matter was, by the time the messenger got to Jesus and the disciples, Lazarus was already dead. He died while the Messenger was on the way. Jesus continues, "No," he says to the men around Him. "No, it is for God's glory."
[Wait, so according to Jesus bad things don’t disprove God? Yes, but there’s more.]
To which, if you didn't know this story and you were hearing it or reading it for the first time, you would say, "Wait, wait, what? Sickness for God's glory?" So Jesus believed that bad things could happen to good people, and not only does it not disprove God, but somehow it underscores the existence of God. Sickness for the glory of God, to which John would say, "Yes, but we're just getting started."
4 so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
[This sickness, this evil, was left unattended on purpose because it had a purpose. Jesus creates a new category of sickness for God’s glory.]
Jesus finishes the statement this way. "So that," because there's a purpose. "So that God's son, Jesus may be glorified through it. In other words, this is amazing, this sickness, this evil in this particular sickness and evil and I think that's why Jesus manufactured this particular sign. It was a sickness or a disease or an evil or a bad thing found in nature. It wasn't simply the bad behavior of another person. Now He's delved in the issue of Nature. And why do all the things in nature work against this and why are there so many natural disasters and how could we possibly believe in a good God when nature seems to be our enemy at times. This sickness, this evil, as it relates to Lazarus, was actually left unattended on purpose because Jesus had a purpose in it. And in this story, Jesus for His disciples and for many of us, for many of you, creates a brand new category. Sickness, for the glory of God.
Now, that is so uncomfortable, that is so not intuitive that John knows his readers, and the people who are following along this story are gonna immediately think, "What?" And so he jumps into the story and he makes an editorial comment so that we won't just close the book and go, "That's ridiculous." "Now Jesus," John tells us,
Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
[Why does John tell us that? It sure didn’t look like it. Sometimes it doesn’t look like it for us either.]
So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,
And why does he tell us this? Because it doesn't look like He does. He said, "Don't check out too soon. Jesus actually loves these people." But wait a minute, Lazarus is sick and somehow it's for the glory of God, and this isn't making sense. And John's like, "I know, I know it was confusing to us too, believe me. Just hang with me. Jesus actually loved these people and John tells us that because it didn't look like it. And sometimes in your life, it doesn't look like it either does it?
This is why I believe Jesus manufactured this sign. It wasn't simply as we're gonna see, for the benefit of the people sitting around that circle. It was for you, and it was for you, and it was for you, and it was for you, and it was for me.
So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
"So," John says, "When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days," which is astounding to the people around Him, because Jesus has healed total strangers.
[He was up to something. He was staging a sign with a purpose in mind.]
Then after that, He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”
7 …and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
Why would he not get up and rush off to heal His friend Lazarus? And the answer was He was up to something. He was staging a sign with a purpose in mind. And then He says, So two days go by, the messenger goes back to Bethany, Jesus and the guys who're just hanging out, doing whatever they're doing and suddenly unexpectedly, He stands up and he says, "Okay," to His disciples, "Let us go back now to Judea and let's go specifically back toward Bethany." Now immediately his guys are confused because the last time they were in that area, it didn't go so well. In fact, as He's about to say, the last time they were in that area, when they were at the temple, during that conversation I mentioned earlier, they picked up stones to stone Jesus. And the problem with being around someone who's being stoned is people aren't always accurate.
So you do not wanna be around someone who's being stoned. You step back and so they realize if His life is in danger their life is in danger, and they kind of tip their hat to this, in this next statement. John's there, and he's part of them.
“Rabbi,” the disciples told Him, “just now the Jews tried to stone You, and You’re going there again?”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
They said, "But Rabbi," they said, "In the case you have from... We know you're Jesus and all, but in case you've lost some memory, but rabbi," they said, "A short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you and yet you are going back." The real issue is, "And you want us to go with you?"
"Could you possibly either not go or could you go without us?" So there's all this tension. And then Jesus does His Jesus thing where He seemingly changes the subject.
This is why I believe these are actual narratives. These are actual conversations. These are the part that nobody would write into the script because they're so off script. These were the moments that the disciples were so confused and oftentimes we're as confused as well, but this is the brilliance, this is the beauty, this is Jesus bringing heaven to earth in a moment of crisis.
[They were raising the real issue by questioning, “You want us to go back? Can you go without us?” Then, Jesus did his Jesus thing:]
And Jesus turns to them as they're trying to talk Him out of going and He says
“Aren’t there 12 hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
9 Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.
If anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”
10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
[They may have thought,“Thank you for that.” What’s his point?]
Thank you for that. That's not any new information. What does it have to do with anything?" And as this narrative unfolds, and as this manufactured sign unfolds in history, the point of what Jesus says here becomes clear.
The 12 hours He was talking about were 12 hours of opportunity.
Twelve Hours = Opportunity
Twelve Hours = Opportunity
Here's what He's saying to his guys. "Gentlemen, you you need to follow the light of the world. You need to follow the light of the world, while the light of the world, is in the world." He said a similar thing last week and we talked about healing of the blind and this is His message. "You guys, you have a unique opportunity. You are in the physical presence of the light of the world, and if you are in the physical presence of the light of the world you follow the light of the world, while the light of the world, is in the world, because the light of the world, is leaving the world and when the light of the world, leaves the world it will become oh so dark. Gentleman," he was saying, "You will never see more clearly than you see right now. And if you stay here, out of fear, you'll miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
If you stay here, out of fear, you'll miss an opportunity to see the light of the world, bringing light to a situation that will change the way people think about life and death forever."
And He would say to them, and He would say to all of us, "If you refuse to follow the light of the world, you'll stumble around in darkness.
You'll stumble around in a world that has no meaning and has no purpose and has no result that you look forward to. But you'll stumble around in darkness trying to make sense out of the world that really doesn't make sense. You'll stumble around in darkness trying to make sense out of good and evil. You'll stumble around in the darkness trying to figure out, how do I even know what evil is? I'm comparing it to a God that I don't even believe in, that apart from the author of life."
Apart from the author of life, you’ll eventually find yourself backed into a corner of despair. As Richard Dawkins says:]
“… there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”
—Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden
And Jesus was saying to His apostles and Jesus says to us, "Follow me. Follow me. I am the light of the world who came into the world to bring light to your world, and apart from the author of life, it will all seem meaningless, and you will stumble around in the darkness trying to piece together things that you'll never piece together." After He had said, "Hey, you wanna go?" After He said this to them, He went on to tell them plainly,
He said this, and then He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on My way to wake him up.”
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
"Okay guys, I know. Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I'm going to Judea and I'm going through Bethany to wake him up. So, who's in, guys? Who wants to go with me?"
They don't wanna go, so they start giving Jesus medical advice. Have ever given God medical advice when you're praying? You let God know about what the doctors could do in the surgeons and God's going, "I got this." So they began to get there just like us.
Then the disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”
“Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
They begin to give Jesus medical advice. "Lord," they said, 'cause they don't wanna go, "Lord, if he's asleep, you just said he's asleep, and you're going to wake him up, you shouldn't wake him up. Okay, see Jesus. When people are sick and they fall asleep, they're getting better, the fevers broken, so shh. Let's not wake him up. Lord, if he sleeps he'll get better. In other words, we don't wanna go."
[“Thank you, Andrew. If that’s the case, let’s just stay here and make s’mores.”]
Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought He was speaking about natural sleep.
13 Jesus had been speaking of [Lazarus’] death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly,
So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died.
14 “Lazarus is dead,
Wait a minute, you just told us two days ago, this sickness will not end in death, and now you're telling us he's dead." But if you haven't been listening, listen to this.
[What comes next is terrible if you’re Martha, Mary, or Lazarus. What comes next is wonderful if you’re you.]
So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there,
[It was for your sake and mine. It was for the sake of every parent who’s buried a child. It was for the sake of every husband who’s ever buried his wife. It was for the sake of every child who has buried a parent way too early. It was for the sake of a friend who has ever buried a friend, or a child of their friend. For all of us, Jesus manufactures a sign. They had no category for this because it was a new one.]
so that on the other side of this, so that on the other side of this moment where Jesus is actually... This is why it's so disturbing, where Jesus is actually creating a brand new category.
I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
15 so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
And then one of the more humorous parts of the New Testament, basically... 'Cause they don't wanna go, right? So Thomas speaks up and he says this, to the rest of the disciples,
Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go so that we may die with Him.”
16 Then Thomas…said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
[He’s essentially saying, “It’s over guys. Lazarus is dead. If Jesus goes, he’ll be dead. Let’s just all go die together.” Meanwhile back in Bethany, they are wondering where Jesus is.]
but finally, that third day is coming to an end, and they've gotta put him in a tomb, and Jesus misses the embalming and Jesus misses the entombment and Jesus misses basically, the funeral. John says, "I was there, it was so embarrassing that by this point, we really didn't wanna go. We weren't sure what the fear most, the embarrassment of seeing Mary and Martha or the fear of losing our lives."
He says
When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
John 11:20–27
As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained seated in the house.
Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him… 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
[“God, you could have, but you didn’t.” There’s nothing wrong with your faith when something doesn’t go your way. Bad things happen to good, godly, friend-of-Jesus people.]
She said, "Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. This is partially your fault. God, you could have but you didn't. Isn't it good to know there's nothing wrong with your faith when something doesn't go your way? Bad Things Happen to Good friend of Jesus people all the time. In this case, Jesus actually manufactured a sign for your sake and for mine.
But she's like us in this way, as well. She's trying to cling to whatever faith she has. It's like Jesus, "You should have been here, I shouldn't be angry with you, you're Jesus, I believe you've been sent from God, but you could have stopped this from happening. I'm so conflicted I'm so upset. But I have shreds of faith in you, but I know that even now, even though you are so late, I know that even now
Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”
22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Well, now she assumes that he's going into preacher mode, where somebody walks up and gives you a verse in a time of crisis and you're like, "You know what, later. That's not what I need right now." Somebody said, "Hey you need to listen to this sermon." "Okay. I don't want a sermon." Somebody says, "Well you know the Bible teaches... " "Hey hey hey, I'm in crisis mode, I've lost somebody I love, I don't want a Bible, I don't want a sermon. I don't want theology.
What comes next is so breathtaking that we miss it because we’re not there and haven’t felt the frustration they did. Jesus was saying to her, “Look at me, Martha. I’m not here to give you a theology lesson. I’m not asking you to trust in what you’ve been taught.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.
25 “I am the resurrection and the life.
[I am the resurrection and life personified. Who would say that?]
This isn't a category Jesus says. You are looking at the resurrection and life personified. I am the living embodiment of everything you've hoped for. What you think about me is the most important thoughts you'll ever have. I am the resurrection and the life. The light has come into the world. Pay attention, because when I leave, it will be dark. But don't you know that I will leave a testimony and a record of the fact that the light of the world touched down and the light of the world brings hope in hopeless situations. I am the resurrection and the life.
I'm telling you, nobody would put those words in Jesus' mouth and John is there taking it all in and Peter is there taking it all in. Who would say that? Then he says to her,25 The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and
Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”
26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
[Just as he said Lazarus would not die, but yet he did. In the same way you’ll die, but you won’t. Death is simply a door.]
Because Jesus could not have been any more clear in this moment that death is simply a door, that death is simply a transition.
26 Do you believe this?”
"Do you believe this? Do you believe this?" And this was so hard for her to believe. It's so hard for me to believe sometimes. Come on, It's so hard for you to believe sometimes. Mary felt the same way, and so, she musters up as much faith as she can find in the moment. She says, .
[That’s a lot to believe, isn’t it? Martha felt the same way.]
“Yes, Lord,” she told Him, “I believe You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied,
[I don’t understand it, but I don’t have to understand everything to believe something.] Her default
27 “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
[Martha tells Mary that Jesus is on the edge of town. She goes to him and has a similar conversation as well.]
John 11:33–37
When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved.
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
“Where have you put him?” He asked. “Lord,” they told Him, “come and see.”
34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
[When he arrives outside the tomb, he pauses. He enters into the emotion of the moment with divine empathy.]
In this extraordinary moment Jesus arrives outside the tomb knowing what he's going to do, and he pauses and enters in to the emotion of the moment. Divine empathy. And Peter was there. And I think maybe it's why Peter wrote what he did later, many years later, Peter would write two letters to the church and in one of those letters, [Peter was there too. He would later write to Christians: “Cast all your cares on Him knowing he cares for you.” He would tell us, “I know this because I saw it.” That’s why what John records next isn’t a trivial detail.]
"You can cast your cares, you can cast your unanswered prayers, you can cast all your disappointments, all your unresolved hopes and fears on him because you can know with confidence he cares for you," to which we would say, "Peter, how do we know he cares for us?" To which Peter might say, "That day, standing outside the tomb, not knowing what was gonna happen, but then seeing what he ultimately did. I'm telling you, in that moment, Jesus entered into the pain and the tears and the fear and all of the human emotion there was in that moment. I'm telling you, You may not see it and you may not feel it, but I saw it. He cares for you, because I saw him care for Mary and Martha. I saw him care for a community. I saw him not rushed to the resolution, but he entered in with mankind. You can cast your cares upon Him."
I saw it," Peter would say, "You can know with confidence he cares for you." And that's why what John records next is not a trivial details. I'm so grateful that whoever chopped the New Testament up in chapters and verses, so it's convenient for us to find our way through When they got to this next statement they gave these two words. It's on their own verse number, because John says what happened next is that Jesus paused knowing what was about to happen and Jesus wept.
Jesus wept.
35 Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
But some of them said, “Couldn’t He who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”
There it is again. There we are again in the story. Why didn't he do something about this if he could have, If he could have, he would have, but since he didn't, he can't. But as it turns out, he could have, he just didn't. And I'm convinced he didn't for your sake, and for mine.
[There’s our question. Why didn’t he do something about this?]
If he could have, he would have, but since he didn’t, he can’t!
If he could have, he would have, but since he didn’t, he can’t!
[As it turned out, he could have, but he didn’t. He chose instead to condense eternity.]
Eternity condensed to the span of a single afternoon
Eternity condensed to the span of a single afternoon
[He condensed the pain, disappointment, fear, anger, unanswered prayer, faith, tears of God, and then finally the resolution of the entire life experience for all mankind into a few hours one afternoon so future generations could live with hope.]
John 11:38–45, 48
Then Jesus, angry in Himself again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb… 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
[The mourners fell silent. Mary and Martha gasped.]
“Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told Him, “Lord, he’s already decaying. It’s been four days.”
39 “But, Lord,” said Martha… “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Can I pause here and say something to all of us on behalf of Jesus, did he not tell us in this moment that if you believe that you will see the glory of God? You say, "I wanna see it now," that's the point of this story.
All of eternity, your entire life, my entire life condensed to the span of an afternoon. I need to see it now, and Jesus says to you, he says to me, "Did I not tell you? Did I not demonstrate for you that if you believe, if you trust in me, you will see the glory of God.
So Mary and Martha give the men there permission to move the stone. And everybody, I guarantee you, this is in the text. Everybody took a step back, they removed the stone. And then Jesus looked up and he prays. This is my favorite prayer of Jesus in the New Testament. Let me tell you what he says before I read it to you. Basically in this prayer, Jesus says
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me.”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said…
41 “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
The most important question for any of us to wrestle to the ground is who is Jesus? Because if Jesus is who Jesus claimed he was then all of those things get reconciled and explained in Jesus.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
After He said this, He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him and let him go.”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
44 Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He did believed in Him.
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
Many who saw believed. Many who saw believed. Before they saw it, they just couldn't believe it.
And this is John's message, he says. "Look, I don't want you to simply believe in Jesus because of belief, I'm not asking you to have faith in faith, I'm not asking you to follow Jesus because of faith. I just want you to know what I saw because if you saw what I saw, if you hear the story of what I saw, and if you trust me as somebody who's giving a testimony that's true, then perhaps you'll arrive at the same conclusion I did.
Not simply about what Jesus did but about who Jesus was. Skeptics, skeptics, most skeptics agree.
[Most skeptics agree that Christianity could not have grown to the numbers documented three centuries later apart from explosive growth in the early days. Why did so many Judeans follow Jesus? Was it because of their faith? No. It was because of what they saw. Seeing was believing which led to trusting.]
Which leads us to John's little formula that if you don't take anything else away from the Gospel of John, it's simply this. That seeing led to believing, which led to trusting, that it was seeing that led to believing, that led to trusting. It was seeing that led to believing. That is who he claims to be that led them to ultimately place their trust in him.
And John's agenda isn't simply that you would know the story. John's agenda isn't simply that you would know what he said he saw, and it's not simply that you would believe that had happened, it would be that ultimately that you would place your personal faith in Jesus and who He claimed to be because of what he did on planet Earth.
The light had come into the world for the benefit of the world.
[It was such indisputable evidence that Jesus’ opponents called a meeting and decided Jesus and Lazarus had to die. Why?]
Here's what they said in their meeting someone later leaked this to John, they said, "If we let Him go on." What an arrogant thing to say, "If we let Him go on like this," I'm sure John chuckled as he dictated or wrote this down as if they let him do anything. Jesus said nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down, I take it up, nobody lets me, nobody allows me. All authority is in me, all of the sacrifice I made, I made on purpose with a purpose, with you in mind.
If we let Him continue in this way, everyone will believe in Him! Then the Romans will come and remove both our place and our nation.”
48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
But in their meeting as they tried to grapple with the undeniable reality of what had happened just two miles from Jerusalem, "If we let Him go on like this, everybody will believe in him." They had no idea did they, 2000 years later over a third of the world's population believes in Him. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, then the Romans will come and take away our temple and our nation. There's so much for us to lose." They had no idea all that there was to gain.
[John must have chuckled as he dictated that line. No one let Jesus do or kept him from doing anything. God had come to dwell alongside evil men and women. The light was so bright.]
And for some, they were attracted and for others they were repulsed. Later John would say it this way
John 3:19
“This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
[God didn’t eliminate the evil. He placed it on his Son, so that you would not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved this evil world. For God so love the evil people in this world that he sent his perfect Son, the light of the world, so that by placing your faith in him we would not be lost to God, but could have the very life Jesus came to promise and to give.
So John would say I'm nobody special. I'm just a bystander and why God allowed me to live in the days when the light of the world was in the world to brighten up the world, I do not know But I know you have to hear my story, because if you see what I saw, you believe what I believe, if you'd heard what I heard, you would believe what I believe, if you had seen what I was seeing you would draw hopefully the same conclusion I drew that Jesus was in fact God in a body, the light of the world, in the world, for God's purposes for all mankind and eventually he would get his story out.
John was just a bystander, but he saw and believed. Eventually, he got his story out with an agenda:]
John 20:31
But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
If you'd seen what I had seen, you would believe what I believe. And once you decided to believe what I believe you would place your faith in Him and have life in his name, that's the invitation of the gospel, and I think John would say It's so good. It's so powerful. For us, it was so real, after reading my account, I hope that you would want it to be true even before you're convinced that is true.
And I hope that you won't miss the final episode of Eyewitness next week. Because next week we're gonna conclude with the final part of the story in the Gospel of John what all the signs have ultimately been looking forward to.
43:21 S1: For those of you who are on the verge of losing faith because of difficulty in your life, I just wanna say to you, don't give up, don't give up, don't give up, you're not the first, you won't be the last. And the light of the world came into the world and manufactured a sign just for you.
Pray
Pray
[Don’t miss the conclusion of Eyewitness next week...]