Lazarus of Bethany

By Jerad Allen

Good morning. I hope everyone's week went well. We have another one coming up and it just feels like we're always going through another week.

I was born in 2004. The pop culture I have been raised in has had a lot to do with Marvel movies. You might have heard of them. These are comic book inspired movies that are sometimes taken right from the comics they're based off of. Because comics are a medium that is never supposed to end, they're supposed to keep going through the years. I think the first Superman comic was back in the 30s and they're still publishing them today.

As a result, whenever they write a character off or kill them off, eventually down the line some writer is going to want to use that character again so they resurrect them. Sometimes to explain these resurrections they put years of explanations into these stories.

Resurrection, the raising of the dead, seems impossible to us. Today's story that we will be going over is in John chapter 11 verses 1 through 44. This is the death and resurrection of Lazarus where Jesus took a man who had fallen to illness and raised him in front of his sisters.

Starting at verse 1; “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair.) The sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.”[NIV]

Here we're just given some context. We are told who Mary is. We are told who Martha is. We are told that Mary was the one who poured perfume on Jesus and cleaned his feet. We are also told about glory and how this death will result in glory to God.

What does that mean? What does God's glory mean? In 1 Corinthians 10:31 it says, “so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

We are told that every action we take should be to glorify the Lord, to put Him up, to put up His power, show His glory. Here we are told it is a way to honor God, a way to show respect, a way to glorify Him and give Him credit.

In Romans 3:23 it says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

This tells us that the glory is something we don't necessarily have. This isn't something we have attained. This isn't something that we possess. This is something we fall short of and can only try to recognize and try to see.

To try and answer what glory means I think would probably take a whole sermon to itself. These are just some quick intercessions on these first couple verses.

Moving on, verses 5 through 8 says, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. But Rabbi, they said, a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you and yet you are going back?”

Jesus was well aware of the danger that awaited him there. He was very aware that there was a threat on his life and that it might be ended if he returns.

In 2 Timothy 3:12 it says, “Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Jesus' actions here tell us that this persecution should not get in the way of our job, of what we are here to do. I think it's interesting who Jesus is afraid of as well. These aren't the Gentiles. These aren't the sinners. It's the religious leaders of the day. It is the people who are leading the church, who are leading the temple. These are the scholars that are after Jesus.

This tells me is that not only should we be worried about persecution from those who have gone against God and outwardly rebelled. It is those who say they are with him. It is those who say they are Christians. It is those who say they are religious. It is those who pretend to have faith to further their goals, to justify their actions.

Slave owners in the 1800s and 1700s were famous for reciting scripture as they whipped their prisoners. As we go on, we will undoubtedly see and face Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other people who claim to follow God. They will come at you.

They will come to persecute you for telling the truth, for calling them on their lies. They very well may be more dangerous than the Gentiles or sinners that have outwardly rejected the truth.

Moving on, verses 9 through 10 say, “Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” It's hard to see in the dark, right? Imagine the sun was out. Imagine there are no lights in this room. You really wouldn't be able to see me, would you? Especially with this black shirt on, it doesn't help.

You'd probably trip over something. You can't easily get where you want to go without being able to see the path. This is what it is like to walk through the world in a spiritual sense without Christ.

In John, verses 8-12, it says, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have light of life.”

Even though the sun is shining, if the lights are on, and physically we can see, without Jesus we might as well be walking in the dark, because we will just continue to stumble and fall and trip because spiritually we are lost. Spiritually we have no idea where we are. We can't make out our surroundings. We will continue to trip and fall.

Verses 11-16 say, “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. His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he went to natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” But let us go to him. Then Thomas, (also known as Didymus), said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”” The Lord is showing his own power here. He knows Lazarus has passed.

He knows he is not here anymore. He knows he is gone without being there. He tells the disciples, Be glad that this is the case, so you may see my power, so you may see my strength. I find this a little crazy at this point. They have seen Him walk on water. They have seen Him calm storms. They have seen Him do this and that. He still thinks they need more to see. I think that tells me that even if Jesus was right in front of us, even if he was staring at us in the face and did things, you could not imagine proving who He is. Many, most, still would not recognize Him as God, as the Son of the Father, as holy. This also shows the disciples' own thoughts on what was about to happen.

Thomas said that we may die with Him. They had no intention on coming back from this. They thought fully that the Jews were going to capture and kill them all. They were ready to die, which I think shows their courage and their strength and their faith in the Lord.

While He still wanted to show them more, they obviously still had some pretty strong faith to be able to trust in Him so much that even though they believed they were going to die, they knew they were going to die with the Lord.

In verses 17 through 22 it says, “On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him. But Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Martha's words here are quite reasonable. She knows who Jesus is. She recognizes His power, His holiness, and His grace. She's well aware of the fact that if he was there, her brother would have been fine.

There are two ways you can take her words here. You can take it as an accusation on why didn't You save my brother? Why did he die? Or just regret that He wasn't there at the right time—He arrived late. He just wasn't there when Lazarus fell sick. I think it's probably more on that explanation. Martha is just sad that things played out the way they did.

I also think that those last words in verse 22, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask is exactly that, an ask.” An ask to bring her brother back because again, she's aware. She has faith in the Lord.

Moving on to verses 23 and 24. “Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha answered I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Martha has heard Jesus talk about rising in the Lord, about being saved and having eternal life through Him. Earlier in John 3:16, John talks about this being the case. Martha is aware of this, and her reaction to Jesus saying your brother will rise again is with this context. He will rise in a spiritual sense with the Lord in heaven and live eternally.

It seems like she's a little disappointed in that because she won't get to see her brother again in this life. She understands her brother will live eternally in heaven, but is saddened that he is not here anymore. Obviously, later on in the next few verses we realize he means in a physical sense, and not so much in the spiritual.

Moving on to verses 25 through 28. “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live. Even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord”, she replied. “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who is to come into the world”. After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The teacher is here, she said and is asking for you.””

Jesus is asking if she has faith. Does she have faith in Him? In His power? Does she have faith that He is who He says He is? She replies, yes.

Jesus also talks about himself in the “I am” sense. I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus does this a lot. He talks about Himself in these “I am” statements. We have another example in John 8:12, and in John 10:11 “He says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” In Revelations He says, “I am the alpha, the omega. The beginning and end. Who is and who is to come, the almighty”.

Jesus uses these “I am” statements not to say I am like a sheep, but to say I am the power. I am glory. I am God. He is all. He is in all of us. He is here with all of us. As God sees all, knows all, and is all. He is talking about His power. He is referring to his strength. He is referring to Himself in these ways. Because of who He is.

It's a little hard to comprehend. Honestly I still don't think I fully understand it. That might be something else I want to look into a bit more for a sermon.

Jesus is talking about Himself in these “I am” statements because these are the things He can do. He was at the beginning.

Moving on to verses 29-31. I says, “When Mary heard this she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village. But was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went, they followed her supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.”

Notice how the verse specifies her haste. It specifies how quickly she got up and went to Him. Originally she stayed back wishing to mourn, wishing to continue to think about her brother and the loss. As soon as she heard that Jesus had called on her specifically, she wasted no time. She was ready to go. She was up and at it. She was going to Him. She was not going to waste another second mourning in her house while the Lord had asked for her. This is the sort of haste we should all have when called by the Lord—when the Lord calls upon us. When we are called to do something even if it's as simple as walking two miles to where He is.

Moving on to verses 32-35 it says, “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 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 laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord. They replied. Jesus wept.”

Mary immediately after seeing Jesus had a similar response as her sister, Martha. She had regret that Jesus was not there, that he just sadly was not there when her brother was sick because she knows, as her sister does, that he could have saved him. I don't think that she is blaming Him here. It is simply just mournful regret.

She is saddened that things transpired the way they did, knowing that under different circumstances it could have been different. Something bad happens and you think, man, if only this happened or this happened or this person was here and this person didn't do this and this and this and this.

We see how Jesus is moved by her and the others that are grieved. We see that He is saddened. Why is this the case? He knows exactly what he's about to do. He knows he's about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knows those tears are going to vanish and be replaced with joy. Why is He sad? It's because He's empathetic. He understands us.

He's human just as much as He is God. When you see people sad, when you see people mourning, it should move you. It should make you sad. Others' tears, tears are in a way contagious. Their sadness moved Him despite Him knowing that He was going to raise him. That Lazarus was going to be raised from the dead. They were sad.

In Hebrews 4:15 it says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin.”

When picking leaders and picking people to represent us in Congress, the presidency, or this or that, we want them to be able to relate to us. We want them to be able to understand our position, to understand where we're coming from, to understand our thought process and view on things. It is the same way with Jesus. Jesus came to earth, and we can be reassured that we do not have a God who does not understand us, that does not understand our plight and our struggle with sin.

He is very much aware of it. He lived it. He was tempted in the same way we are tempted, in every way that we are tempted. Yet, unlike us, he did not fall short. Unlike us, he did not give in to the temptation. He kept his glory. He stayed strong, and he never sinned. He never fell like we have, like all of us have, like Adam and Eve did, like David did. Unlike every other human, he alone did not sin. Yet, he understands us because he was tempted.

We do not have a God who does not understand us. We have a God who has lived with us, who has lived for us, and we can be reassured that he understands us better than we understand ourselves.

In verses 36 through 37, it says, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”  Some of the Jews understood what was going on, but others showed their arrogance and ego. They questioned the Lord and cast doubts on Him.

When I read this, I think about the lawyer who was questioning Jesus in Luke 10:25 through 37. When he talks about the Good Samaritan, Jews were prideful and spiteful toward Jesus. It is no shock that when given the chance, some of them fully blamed Jesus for this man's death, instead of just being sad that things transpired as they did.

In verses 38 through 40, it says, ““Take away the stone”, he said. “But Lord”, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days””.

Jesus asks them to have faith and to trust in what he is doing. Oftentimes, He asks people if they believe Him, and He tells them all they need is faith.

Let's look at Matthew 14:30 through 31. It says, “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said. Why did you doubt me?”

This was when Peter was walking out to the water, walking out to Jesus on the water, but fell when he became distracted by the storm around him. Jesus chastised his lack of faith and asked him why he doubts Him.

This parallels our life. Our lives are that storm on that sea. The storm is all around us. There is war, conflict, and destruction everywhere. There are so many things that can distract us from the Lord. If we keep our eyes on Him, we can continue to walk on the water and walk towards Him and continue to walk straight if we have faith. If we look at the storm around us, if we get caught up in its destruction, we will lose focus. We might let our faith waver. Jesus tells us to walk to him, to walk on that water. We must have faith and not let the storm distract us.

When Martha asked why they would open it, even though it would smell really bad, He asked them to have faith, to trust Him, to not let the odor distract them from Him.

In verses 41 through 42, it says, “So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know 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.””

When going over these verses, one thing I saw, one from, I can't think of the name commentator, but they were saying that all the miracles Jesus performed asked for the message that he was sending or the idea that he was trying to convey at the time to show the power of the Lord and that Jesus is the son of God. He was not always granted what he has asked.

In Matthew 26:39, it says, “Going a little forward, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.”

When Jesus performs a miracle, when Jesus does anything, it is to further the Lord's will. It is to further God's will as we should do. He knows that even if it will not benefit him, even if it will cause him pain and suffering it still needs to be done. When he calls upon God here, He is making sure that the people understand that he has approval, that God is with Him, that God is behind him and that He is the Lord, that He is the son of God.

“When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “take off the grave clothes and let him go””. Here this man is risen from the dead.

Many times Jesus had performed miracles. Many times he continued to perform miracles. Until His own resurrection, until he was raised from the dead, none were as great as this. He raised a man from the dead, shown all those there that not even death, something so infinite, something so definitive to where in a comic book, a fictional thing we make up, sometimes people put years of work into explaining resurrecting a character that doesn't exist. Even this cannot hold Him back. He has dominion even over death.

To follow him, we can expect that the Lord, that death will never truly hold us. While we may not be jumping out of our graves, we will be born anew and find life in God.

In John 14:6, it says, “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

In Him we can find everlasting life, not in this physical world, not with this grass, not with these houses, not with this wood, not with this, but with the Lord, with Him, with God, in heaven for eternity.

With that in mind, I ask if you have not been baptized for the remission of your sins, if you have not repented and turned back to God and followed him and been faithful, why wait? Death is waiting around the corner at any time. Jesus may be a four days travel away and He may not resurrect you. Death can come at any point. Do not wait for it.

Thank you.