John 11:17-45
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
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.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 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.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 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.”
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. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
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?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “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 four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
Listening guide
The questions are coming ….
“this sickness … is for God’s glory” (verse 4).
If Jesus is the resurrection and the life, __________ ___________ comes from ___________.
“the one who believes in me will live.” (verse 25)
Real physical life is available to each person because of who ______ ________, not who _______ _________.
take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (verse 44)
Death is the _____________ ____________. Let’s live!
Discussion questions
Sermon
Questions are coming – what's going on with this? Is God punishing us? Are we in trouble? What should we be doing and learning?
That’s good.
One thing this is not. God is not weeding some out or selecting some to get rid of.
That’s what a purely irreligious or naturalist view says. “This is nature’s way to make sure the fittest survive.” I don’t know if anyone is saying that about this event. Certainly people have said it about past events.
God wants life. Real, physical life.
Adventure/Discover
What embracing real, physical life does.
This is just the right time. Nicodemus - new life; woman at the well - stop chasing
Part 1: The resurrection to life matters
How does the resurrection to life matter? If the resurrection of the dead really will happen, then what does that mean for life?
Time is linear not cyclical
Who we are is more important than what we do, because something of who we are will go on into our new person
Eternity will be a better reality.
You will someday get that new start – forgiveness is the best thing, but there is often this residual blame or shame we feel.
The people we love will live again.
The biggest thing...
Jesus hears Lazarus is sick. When he hears, he says, “this sickness … is for God’s glory” (verse 4). He doesn‘t mean every sickness is for God’s glory. Every sickness is a chance for his glory to appear. This one is special.
God’s glory is his weight, his impact. He is going to show off. When that happens we get to see who he really is. What does he show?
(verse 21, 22) The friends and the family are “sitting shivah”. He meets Martha.
She says, in short, you’re too late.
She also says, I trust you.
Jesus confirms her trust - “I am the resurrection and the life”
A few minutes pass …
(verse 33) He meets Mary
She is crying. She says, “you’re late.”
Jesus is “troubled”, in a minute he will weep with her
Jesus relates well to us. I compare what he is doing to what is going on in our life.
We on a search for some locks. I know I brought them in from the car, I just can’t remember where I put them in the house.
The other day, a kid says to me, “Which car were you driving dad?” It took everything I had to not say be snarky.
Jesus relates really well to us. He is fully God, fully man
Not 50/50 - not part God, part man.
He naturally affirms our full trust in him for life.
He naturally displays his own vulnerability.
But there is more to it.
Jesus, fully God, fully man, is the giver of life. Your life comes to me.
If Jesus is the resurrection and the life, our life comes from him.
Just think about this. One of things people have said, heck, I’ve said it sometimes is, “why should I listen to Jesus? Who is he to run my life? Can’t I do whatever I want with my life?”
That question makes all the sense in the world if we’ve come from nothing and we’re going to nothing and we don’t depend on anything else. If it’s true, we can destroy ourselves and others. Life is meaningless.
But if Jesus is the giver of life, then my life, your life, our life comes from him. That’s the place to get life.
Part 2 Life is possible for you
That’s what Jesus wants to make a reality for you.
When Jesus walked up, he told Martha, “the one who believes in me will live.” (verse 25) And I think that for the most part, we can say Martha accepted that fact. She says to him, “I believe you are the Messiah.” (verse 27) She accepts he is the one God has chosen. But she doesn’t trust him.
Jesus goes to the tomb and he says, “take away the stone.” Martha responds, “He stinks”. She basically denies.
I love. What does Jesus do? He doesn’t tell at her. He doesn’t criticize her. He raises Lazarus anyways. I love this.
God doesn’t bless you and me because we’re so great, or even because our faith is so awesome
Only unbelievers say that God both loves and accepts everyone no matter who they trust. It’s just as unbelieving to say, “God let’s good people live.” No he doesn’t. When God works a miracle to give people new physical life, he does it for people who trust him. He doesn’t measure your life, your faith or anything else.
It’s not about you. It’s about him. And he has made the life he has available to you all.
Real physical life is available to each person because of who he is, not who you are.
Part 3
Let’s get ahold of this life.
This is hard stuff. What Jesus says in verse 44, “take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (verse 44) He is telling Lazarus, you can walk away from death. Death is defeated and you can just walk away. The right way to look at death is to say death is a defeated enemy.
It’s still an enemy! Christianity is incredibly realistic about the suffering of our lives. Sin, Satan and death are my enemies. They are bigger, stronger, and I can’t control them.
If these enemies are bigger and stronger than me, then the gospel isn’t primarily a message of personal empowerment. It’s not primarily a message to make me bigger and stronger. Those enemies will always be stronger.
What the gospel says is these enemies have already been defeated for you by the grace of Jesus Christ and you get to experience that reality every day. It’s to change your whole life and death.
We can see this, as painful as this is, as hard this.
It is painful. It is hard to live in the middle of death. The gospel says your suffering is real, but your life is real too. Rise up and live it.
AN story – raised in an abusive situation – physical, emotional, verbal. She also grew up connected to a Christian church. She enjoyed the relationships with people at the church, including the pastor. She never really believed the gospel.
Later she met a young man. He connected with her. He shared the gospel with her. He also joined her in her suffering. He was with her as she relived the painful experiences and began to process the fear, guilt, and shame that she felt.
There were a lot of painful moments along the way. He was there. So was a group of Christians that she met along the way. She heard the gospel for the first time in a safe, protected environment and it started to mean something to her.
She believed it. She wanted the new spiritual life of Jesus. She got baptized.
Then a close relative got deathly sick. She was not there when grandma died.
Initially she felt a lot of guilt. Then things started to change and she said, “I don’t feel that badly.” They talked about the situation. Part of it was probably denial – one of the stages of suffering. The other part was that she could say, my relative lives, I will live, and life lives. “I don’t feel bad and guilty.”
Death is the defeated enemy. Let’s live!