Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.10
But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”
12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”13
Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”17
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”23
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
What kind of faith can see past the horrors of death? What kind of faith and what kind of man knows Jesus so deeply that in the deepest sorrows can exclaim: Blessed
be the Name of the Lord? The resurrection of Lazarus is a demonstration of the plan of God to defeat death and hell through the work of God the Son.
So that there is no misunderstanding: The point here is that even death has to listen to Jesus…death does not have the final word…Jesus does! “Where oh death is
your victory? Where O death is your sting?” That is why one of the church’s heroes pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by Adolf Hilter for leading a conspiracy against the dictator wrote some time before his execution:
No one has yet believed in God and the king of God and no one has heard about the realm of the resurrected and not been homesick…How do we know that death is so
dreadful? Who knows that in our human fear and anguish we are only shivering and shuddering at the most glorious most heavenly blessed event in the world…death is hell and night and cold if it is not transformed by our faith and that is just what is so marvelous…Xp
has transformed death!
That is what Jesus is doing here in Bethany. He is making it clear that HE is the transformation of life and the transformation of death. Martha is a very good picture
of most of us today and possibly for many of us here this morning. We believe to be sure, but we are easily shaken from the truth. We do not distrust the Lord or question the truth of what He says, but we often miss something and it is obvious by the way we
live. What is it that we might be missing?
Jesus tells Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha is quick to speak her theology: “Yes, I know he will rise again at the resurrection at the last day.” Martha
has correct theology about the end of times, but her mistake is that she sets the promise, the truth, far off, off in the distance but the Lord wants her to know, NOT in the distance, not only later, but NOW.
Jesus does not say, “I will be the resurrection and the life”, but I AM the resurrection and the life. Jesus is taking the truth of the end, the truth
of eternity and His victory for us and telling Martha, that these are not things that He, Jesus, has to go out and seek or create, but that these are things that HE IS. He IS the resurrection…He IS the life…Just as He IS the bread come down from heaven, He
IS the temple, He IS the water from the rock.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is life not just at the end when you are resurrected, but right now. Paul said to live IS Xp and to die is gain. And if you want to know
how to get Paul’s perspective on death, to die is gain, then you must first have his perspective on life, to live is Xp!!!
Does death frightening to you, does it undo you, do you hate it when people bring it up? Would you just as soon NOT talk about it? Well perhaps this is because Christ
is not your life…because if He is, the you have nothing to fear in death!
Life is not adding Jesus to your already existing way of thinking and living…He is not an add on, or part of who you are, an aspect of your identity, Xp IS who you
are. Remember in Matthew a very well-known verse: Seek first the kingdom of God…what are we told to seek second? First, the kingdom, first Jesus and second…what? There is no second!
Jesus asks Martha a powerful and penetrating question, He says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever
lives and believes in me will never die…DO YOU BELIEVE THIS? It is one thing to believe this as a doctrine, which of course we, as Martha, are quick to affirm. But do you believe that He is the resurrection now today?
Herein is the great problem for so many church goers today…too much of what we read in our bibles remains only doctrine…they stay far away, in the intellectual realm.
But Jesus is saying no, I am intruding right into your life…and life is not all these things AND Jesus…Life IS Jesus.
Christian experience is our measure of apprehension of that which is already true for us in Jesus. (Andrew Jukes) In other words, our Christian life is not
left up to our feelings, even our feelings about Jesus. We need not go looking for warm fuzzies, or secret encounters with the Lord. The Xn life is our experience of the truth about what Jesus has already won for us.
I can’t tell you how important this is: What has Jesus won for you? What has his life, death and resurrection accomplished? Not what do you FEEL about his work, but
what has His work made certain? Make a list and then ask yourself: Do I experience those things…NOW? If not, it could be that you are chasing a vapor for an elusive fix. Jesus has done it all…you don’t have to create joy, or peace, or contentment, or
happiness. He has won those things for you, so now you experience them by entering into His life by faith.
Mary and Martha have suffered greatly, they have lost their brother and so we are taken into the work of Jesus for us, at life’s deepest moments and deepest pains.
People are always trying to figure out the issue of pain and suffering and what it means in light of the Christian message of a loving, caring, merciful God. But are we seeing correctly?
“Why do bad things happen to good people”? The question has been asked for years! Sometimes the answers not only are false they bring no comfort whatsoever! Some will
say, “Hey, God is doing the best He can, it isn’t easy being God.” Others say that Satan is in control…wow…not only is that not biblical, but is that helpful, comforting, Satan is in control???
Jesus is directing the faith of those he loves deeply above all circumstances, to see Him in the circumstances with them. Think about when Jesus calmed the storm.
The disciples think their life is in jeopardy, Jesus is sleeping and do you remember what they say to Him? They accuse Jesus of not caring. Have you ever done that? Accused Jesus of not caring? Do you realize that He has to listen to accusations like that
from sinful men, all the time…even from us?
And when Jesus silenced the winds and the waves they responded: Who is this man?
That is what they must know, that is what Mary and Martha must know, that is what WE must know: Who is this man, who is this Savior…He is the great I AM.
In all that you suffer, and I know that many of you have suffered greatly…the loss of loved ones, the sickness of children and spouses, accidents that take people
from us and other sufferings that are in no way to be trivialized. And yet in all of this we know, surely we know that Jesus is directing us to Him…so that we will find that Jesus not only will
be our reward, but that He IS our reward, right now!
A couple of things to take note of: Jesus when hearing of the illness of his friend, of one that he loves deeply, did not leave and go to him right away, He waited.
There is little doubt when Mary and Martha sent to tell Jesus they expected the Lord to come and probably expected him to come as soon as he heard the news. But he did not. Jesus is informed of the trouble…he is aware of it and yet He does not come as quickly
as they thought he would.
And then in verse 14 we read that after the death of Lazarus, Jesus actually says that he is glad he was not there. How could He be glad, there is deep sorrow and
yet Jesus is glad??? You see, God is not just doing the best he can…rather there is purpose, divine purpose in the events of this world and in God’s teaching us to desire Him…to desire home.
Mary, Martha and Lazarus were loved by Jesus, they had a special relationship with Him and yet the Lord would send them such a difficulty. Many have commented that
the Lord’s special favorites often receive special afflictions, special trials, deeper waters to pass through. The Lord may choose to spare some men and women from certain trials and troubles but upon others, and we might say, upon those closest to Him, he
seems to bring heavy burdens to bear.
Spurgeon once said: “You who are God’s favorites must not marvel
at trials but rather keep your door wide open for them and when they come, say, ‘Hail messenger of the King! The sound of your master’s feet is behind you, you are welcome here, for my master has sent you.”
To be continued…
Prayer: Father, help me to trust you in the darkness, in those days and circumstances that I can’t see and that I don’t understand. Help me to see even the darkness
as a messenger to chase me to my Savior. If I am to suffer, may I do so with faith that Jesus would be glorified in my mind, heart and body. In Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?
