John11v1to44: THE RAISING OF LAZARUS

(A) Introduction. (Read the reference)

I am going to look at the three problems posed by John's graphic account of the great miracle at Bethany. Stated concisely they are: the delay, the distress and the dialogue. Why did Jesus delay in responding to his friend's cry for help? What was the cause of Christ's great distress prior to raising Lazarus from the dead? How do we explain the perplexing dialogue between Jesus and down to earth Martha?

I will deal with each problem in order of difficulty!

(B) The Delay

Jesus did not return to Bethany with the messengers sent by Mary and Martha. Yet when he heard Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two more days. v6. The delay was deliberate.

It wasn't caused by:

    (a) Lack of concern. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. v5.

    (b) Fear. The disciples were very apprehensive about returning to within two miles of Jerusalem. They said, "But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?" v8. But Jesus was not afraid because in the end he goes to Bethany.

    (c) A desire to enhance the spectacular nature of the miracle. It is as hard to raise to life a man who has been dead two days as four.

    (d) Uncertainty about how to proceed. Jesus knew what he would do. He tells the messengers: "This sickness will not end in death. No it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it." v4.

When we delay doing what we should - helping souls in need - it is usually because we don't care about them, fear the consequences of getting involved or feel inadequate to deal with the situation. Jesus is not like us!

Jesus delayed to prepare himself.

    (a) Jesus wanted to use the death of Lazarus for the maximum benefit of Mary, Martha and all his disciples. It is significant that he waited outside Bethany with the intention of talking to Martha and Mary individually. He was thwarted in his desire to speak privately to Mary because she was accompanied a crowd of mourners. Jesus told his disciples: "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe." v14.

    (b) The raising of Lazarus took Jesus a step nearer to the cross. After the miracle the Pharisees and Sadducees joined forces to put Jesus to death. So from that day on they plotted to take his life. v53. I think it likely that Jesus prayed before any event that brought the hour of his supreme sacrifice closer.

    (c) I believe the main reason for Christ's delay was his need to prepare for a period of severe testing. Jesus' extraordinary self-control would be sorely tried at Bethany where his enemies had gathered in anticipation of his appearance. Jesus doodled in the dust when confronted by the woman taken in adultery, taking time to collect himself in the presence of the almost unbearable hypocrisy of the Pharisees. See Self-control of Jesus.

    There is an important lesson here for those who follow Jesus and make him their model. We need to prepare ourselves carefully for difficult and challenging situations. During the last twelve years I have presided over some awkward church meetings. People have been stirred up, tense and emotional and I have needed wisdom and self-control to keep the church from being fatally damaged. I did not go into those church meetings unprepared!

    My brother, who is a policeman, speaks scathingly of colleagues who respond in haste to an emergency call to a road accident. They drive like Jehu to the crash location - siren wailing, blue light flashing and tyres squealing. Consequently when the officers arrive on the scene they are so hyped up that they make bad errors of judgment. The wise policeman takes his time, preparing himself mentally for what is likely to be a nasty ordeal, so that on arrival he is able to act coolly and sensibly.

    If Jesus spent time readying himself to face his critics and opponents so should we!

(C) The Distress.

(1) There is evidence that some of Jesus' enemies had gathered at Bethany. After the miracle John records: But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 46. The existence of a hostile element at Bethany explains why Jesus did not go directly to the home of Mary and Martha. He doubtless wished to speak to the sisters alone.

So there was a faction in Bethany on the pretext of comforting the two sisters who were really present in the hope of seeing Jesus embarrassed and discredited. They were prepared to exploit the grief and vulnerability of Mary and Martha.

(2) Jesus reaction to the false mourners is very dramatic. When Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. v33. The Greek word translated 'deeply moved' in the NIV is 'embrimasthai' It is used in Classical Greek for a horse snorting. A snorting horse is visibly agitated - it rears up, tosses its head and quivers all over. When the word is applied to human emotion it invariably refers to an outburst of anger. Jesus sees something in the tears of Mary and the people who accompany her that make him tremble with indignation. He shook with suppressed fury.

(3) What was it that upset Jesus so much? This is not after all the usual reaction to death and sorrow. There are some commentators who argue that Jesus was angry at what death does. He was angry with death in the same way that I was furious with the Parkinson's disease for devastating my father's life. However, I do not think that Jesus considered bodily death such a terrible thing. He likened death to sleep. Jesus told the people who were weeping and wailing at the death of Jairus' daughter: "Stop wailing. She is not dead but asleep." Lk8v52. He also said: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Mt10v28.

There are other commentators who suggest Jesus was angry with sin in general, the cause of death and the human misery that attends it. I think this very unlikely. Jesus was well acquainted with disease and death and on no other occasion was he angry in their presence. Instead he was moved with compassion and healed the sick and raised the dead.

What made Jesus angry were specific sins: the contempt shown by the priests for the Court of Gentiles, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who dragged before him the woman taken in adultery, the falseness and pretence of the Pharisees and the presumption of Peter when he dismissed the very idea of Christ's death.

Jesus shook with anger at the behaviour of his enemies. He contrasted the genuine grief of Mary with the false tears of those who were only there to entrap him. The Pharisees' spies were actually hoping to exploit the situation to Jesus' disadvantage and yet they were weeping along with the best. What consummate hypocrisy! It sickened Jesus almost beyond anger.

I can remember one morning going into my classroom and finding my desk covered with little bits of chewing gum to which scraps of paper had been stuck. A set of coloured slides had been taken from a draw and all neatly cut in halves. I was angry to begin with but my emotion went beyond that. I sat down visibly shaken, much distressed and near to tears to think that one of my pupils should hate me so much to act so meanly and maliciously.

(4) Jesus' tears were not shed in sorrow for the death of Lazarus. Why should Jesus weep for Lazarus when he was about to raise him to life? So many Christians think that Jesus was weeping in sympathy with Mary because they see death as man's worst enemy. It isn't - by any means. Man's worst enemy is his sinful nature. It is that which separates him from God.

Jesus wept after he asked Mary where Lazarus had been laid. The crowd responded: "Come and see, Lord." v34. The reply came too quickly and eagerly. It was tinged with malice. The spiteful enemies of Jesus revelled in his distress and they were keen to see him humiliated further at the tomb of Lazarus. "Come and see, Lord. Come and see," and Jesus wept that they should hate him so much.

(6) The tears of Jesus revealed the division in the ranks of the mourners. Some were sympathetic and said: "See how he loved him." v36. But others made snide remarks: "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying." v37. The opponents of Jesus were expressing doubt that he really healed the man born blind.

Once again Jesus was angry that although he had come to comfort his friends and raise Lazarus to life there were those trying to make capital out of human tragedy. His opponents stopped at nothing to discredit and deride him. Jesus was enraged by their wilful, unreasonable, devilish disbelief.

There are some solemn lessons for us in all this. The distress of Jesus was not caused by the death of a friend or the sorrow of two sisters. He put that right! Jesus' anger and tears were caused by specific sins - spite, malice, duplicity and hatred. There are some sins that are a lot worse than others - the sins we share with the Prince of Darkness. Spite, malice, deception and hostility toward God were all in evidence when Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. The worst of all sins and the one that cannot be forgiven is the persistent, irrational, wilful rejection of Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

Man's sin has not been easy for God to deal with. It has been a messy, painful business. It took a cross.... . And even that cross is made ineffectual by the hardness of heart of those who trample God's love under foot.

The Dialogue.

(1) A misunderstood message.
The messengers returned to Mary and Martha and repeated what 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." v4. When Mary and Martha received this news Lazarus was dead and they must have felt that Jesus was mistaken; he had failed and their faith in him was shaken.

Jesus did not actually say that Lazarus would not die but that his sickness would not end in death. He could have been clearer! He knew that by the time the messengers returned to Mary and Martha Lazarus would be dead. Jesus could have given the messengers an unambiguous statement: "Lazarus will be dead before I can arrive at Bethany but I will come to raise him to life."

Jesus was testing the faith of the two sisters whom he loved. The need for faith is minimised by too much detail. Paul tells us: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom8v28. We are not told in detail how God is going to work for our good. Some years ago, at the age of 44, I resigned my teaching post to care for my father. I believed that when my father died God would provide another job for me. It would have been nice to have specific information. What job had God got lined up for me? If I had known all the details I would not have needed faith.

It is clear from Jesus' words to Martha at the tomb that he is disappointed by her lack of faith. He said to her after she had protested about moving the stone from the entrance of the cave: "Did I not tell you, that, if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" v40 Jesus is not saying that the raising of Lazarus was conditional upon Martha's faith. She didn't have any and nor did anyone else at the tomb. Jesus raised Lazarus in the face of almost universal disbelief! Jesus is referring back to the message he sent: "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." v4. Jesus said to Martha, "Didn't I say, if only you would believe it, that you would see the glory of God?"

Faith is an absolutely crucial Christian virtue. It will keep us steady in times of trial and tribulation. We are never told what the outcome of our trial will be. God rarely gives us specific assurances of how, or when, our time of testing will end. We need faith to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

(2) Unimpaired devotion.
Mary and Martha wanted nothing to spoil their relationship with Jesus, their friend. They both really loved him. One of the things that can destroy a relationship is the failure of a friend to deliver. If we buy a car from a friend and it turns out to be a real dud - this can affect our relationship. We might employ a friend to do some work for us. If he, or she, botches the job this might destroy our relationship. One of the problems is that the person who has let us down feels embarrassed and uncomfortable and so wishes to avoid us. The plastic surgeon who has made a mess of a nose job wants to be reminded of it as infrequently as possible.

So when Martha said to Jesus: "Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask;" (v21and22) she is not reproaching the Master but reassuring him. Martha is making excuses on behalf of Jesus. She doesn't want him to feel bad about his mistake. She is quick to dispel any suggestion that she has lost faith in him!!

Mary is so worried how Jesus will feel about letting them down that she stops at home. She is a thoughtful and sensitive woman and does not want to make Jesus feel uncomfortable. When Jesus sent for her such is Mary's relief that she rushed to him and fell weeping at his feet. Mary's tears are not just for the loss of her brother but tears of relief that Jesus wanted to see her.

Both Martha and Mary were utterly devoted to Jesus and they did not want the death of Lazarus to in any way impair their relationship with him.

(3) Martha's efforts to make Jesus feel better.
When Martha said to Jesus: "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask;" (v21) she didn't really believe it. Consider how Martha reacted when Jesus said: "Take away the stone." v39. "But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days." v39.

Martha told Jesus she knew God would give him whatever he asked to assure him that despite his failure to preserve the life of her brother she still believes in him. She made her declaration because of all Jesus meant to her - but she didn't quite believe what she said!

The Master told Martha bluntly: "Your brother will rise again." v23.

Martha replies to this wonderful promise rather perfunctorily: "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." v24. She shared the contemporary belief of many devout Jews in the resurrection of the dead at the end of time.

In response to Martha's rather mechanical assertion Jesus makes one of his greatest claims: "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?" v25.

It is easy to be so overwhelmed by the grandeur of this statement to overlook its significance. It was not enough for Martha to believe in the resurrection of the dead in the last day. That might be sound doctrine but it is not sufficient to save Martha. She stood in the very presence of the resurrection and the life - the only one by whose authority the dead would be called back to life. It is much more important to believe in Jesus than to have orthodox views about the end times.

Martha did not answer Jesus' question! I think she considered Christ's wonderful words as a cry for reassurance! So Martha, for the love she bears him, gives Jesus the answer she feels he wants: "I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." v27.

Martha's faith was defective. She did not fully realise how great Jesus was. She didn't believe that he would raise her brother from the tomb. But she loved Jesus and this was her saving grace.

Lessons:

(1) We shouldn't underestimate Jesus. We so easily can - in trying circumstances when our faith is weak and faint. Our confidence in Jesus is easily shaken. Churches 'on road to doom if trends continue' was the headline in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, September 3rd 2005. The article continued: Britain's churches will be well on the way to extinction by 2040 with just two per cent of the population attending Sunday services, according to a new report. I can see it happening. I expect my own fellowship to be closed long before 2040. My confidence is at a low ebb and I find myself wondering whether Jesus can really turn things round. I lose sight of how great Jesus is.

There was an almighty surprise for Martha at the cave where the putrefying body of Lazarus lay. I hope and pray that Jesus has a plan to revive a dying church and I am alive to see it.

(2) We should let the promises of Jesus shape our lives. He is the resurrection and the life. The Master called Lazarus back to life and the dead man came out. v43. A glorious day is coming when he will call all his own back to life.

(3) Devotion to Jesus, heart love for him, is a saving grace. Jesus was aware of the lack of faith of Martha and Mary but he knew how much they loved him. In the final analysis love is more important than faith. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. v13.

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