Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life

Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer

Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester, MN

May 24 and 25, 2008

 

Scripture:  John 11:1-44

No. 15:     John’s Gospel

 

There are a few things more heartbreaking than death.

To be severed from a cherished relationship is appalling. 

To know that we will never see a loved one’s face or hear their voice again on earth is devastating. 

 

Yet none of us will escape this cruel experience for death is common to us all.

People say that time heals all wounds but that is not really true of the fatal stab wound of bereavement.

 

This week I was talking to a pastor who lost a dear friend a couple of years ago. With tears in his eyes he said, “John, I still miss him. I am grieving. We had made plans for to do things together in retirement and now they will never happen.”

 

Does the Christian faith make any real difference in the face of death? 

That is the question we are going to consider today as we look at Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life. 

So please turn to John chapter 11 in your Bible and the message outline.

 

Bethany was a small village two miles from Jerusalem.

In one home lived a brother and two sisters.

Their names were Lazarus, Martha and Mary.

Suddenly the happiness of this household was shattered when Lazarus became sick.  His sisters did something very wise. They sent news to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” (v 3)

When a family member or friend gets ill it is wise to tell the Lord Jesus about it.

 

These sisters had a huge advantage because Jesus was their friend. He often stayed in their home. Jesus had no home of his own so this house in Bethany was a real refuge.

The wonder is that we too are friends of Jesus. 

He says to us, “I no longer call you servants . . . I have called you friends.”

(John 15:15)

 

So what can we expect from this friend who sticks closer than a brother? We find out in this magnificent story.

 

First we see THE PERFECTION OF JESUS’ TIMING

Initially that doesn’t appear to be the case.

When Jesus gets the message about Lazarus, “He stayed where he was for two more days.” (v 6)  

 

That seems strange behavior. When Jesus receives this cry for help from the two sisters he stayed put.

He didn’t even mention it to his disciples.

He didn’t make preparations to go.

He didn’t send back a message to say, “We are on our way.”

 

What was Jesus doing during those two days?

I think he was praying. He was wrestling with the Father’s will. During that time of communion his Father tells him that Lazarus has died. Jesus seeks to understand the significance of this. Perhaps it is at this point that he asks that the body of Lazarus will not decay until he gets to Bethany.

 

As a result of this time with God Jesus sees the big picture.

He explains to his disciples, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (v 4) 

When Jesus speaks of glory he is referring to the cross.

 

So Jesus doesn’t immediately go to Bethany with the result that Lazarus dies. It doesn’t make sense to the sisters.

And later on Martha rebukes Jesus and says, “If only you had been here my brother would not have died.”

 

When was the last time you said, “If only”.

“If only” we hadn’t take that journey.

“If only” we hadn’t moved.

“If only” I had chosen a different university.

“If only” I had married a different person.

There is that desire to turn back the clock which Martha displays here.

But listen! The Lord is never late.

He may delay his response but he is never late.

His watch is set to a different time table calibrated to matters of eternal rather than temporal consequence.

 

How is our sense of divine timing during trials?

Do we see only the crisis or do we see Christ’s hand behind, before, below, above and within that crisis?

Have we checked our spiritual watch lately?

Is it synchronized with eternity keeping God’s time rather than our own?

 

The delays of God are part of the biblical story.

We wonder why the effects of the fall were not addressed more immediately or why God’s people had to wait so many centuries for the Messiah to come.

That is part of the mystery of God’s providence.

 

What we can say with confidence is that God’s delays are not final. He will come in his own time and way.

He may come later than we would have chosen.

However, from his divine perspective it is always the perfect time for God is the best of time keepers. 

He created time and he is never late for his appointments.

 

Next we witness THE DEPTH OF JESUS’ COMPASSION

This comes through in both words and deeds. John tells us, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” (v 5)  There was a special bond between them.

He would do anything for this family as he indicates when he says to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” (v 7)

 

They rightly point out that is a dangerous course of action.

Jesus had fled Jerusalem because people were trying to kill him.

If he returned to the vicinity they might well succeed.

But Jesus explains why he must go. “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.” (v 14)

 

The depth of Jesus’ compassion extends to his disciples.

He wants to use this death to increase their faith.

Thomas responds to this by saying to the other disciples,

“Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (v 16)

 

Thomas had not taken Dale Carneige’s course.

He didn’t know how to make friends and influence people.

But Thomas has a good understanding of what it means to be a true disciple. It is to follow Christ regardless of the cost and be willing to die for him.

 

So Jesus travels to Bethany and when he arrives he finds Mary weeping. This is his response, “Jesus wept.” (v 35)

We call this the shortest verse in the Bible but it is really the most eloquent.

Jesus is one with us in our need. He feels our pain.

Truly he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.

 

Why did Jesus burst into tears?

He is clearly troubled by Mary’s grief.

But there is more to it than that.

He is offended by what death has done to this family.

 

John tells us that Jesus was “Deeply moved.” (v 38)

D.A. Carson translates this, “He was outraged in spirit.”

B.B. Warfield writes, “Jesus approached the grave of Lazarus in a state not of uncontrollable grief but of inexpressible anger.”

 

In Mary’s grief Jesus sees and feels the misery of the whole human race and burns with rage against the devil.

It is death that is the object of his wrath and behind death him who has the power of death and whom he had come into the world to destroy.

John Calvin suggested Jesus comes to the tomb, “As a champion who prepares for conflict.”

 

Witnessing this depth of emotion, the friends who have come to comfort the sisters observe, “See how he loved him!” (v 36)

 

At a time of bereavement we are the recipient of Jesus’ compassion.  Our grief moves him to tears. 

It was to remove the sting of death that Jesus went to the cross.

 

Then in the presence of death we see THE COMFORT OF JESUS’ PRESENCE

Once Jesus arrives in Bethany he takes control.

The situation is transformed. He has words of hope for Martha,

“Your brother will rise again.” (v 23)

 

I have witnessed this transformation again and again when I have been with a family at the time of death. 

It is natural at such a time to gather around the body and to reflect on the life of the person who is no longer with us. 

 

In the midst of our sorrow we ask the Lord Jesus to send the comforter. And he does.

The grief is still there but so is Jesus.

There is a supernatural presence in the room imparting peace and granting strength.

 

Now Martha takes a while to grasp this comfort.

She points out to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (v 21) 

When Jesus assures her, “Your brother will rise again,” Martha answers, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  (v 24)

 

Martha is so much like us here.

She believes in the power of God in the past and in the future.

She is just not quite sure about the present.

And that is true of so many Christians.

We believe the miracles of the Bible.

We look forward with expectation to the Second Coming of Jesus.

 

In other words, like Martha we know that God worked in the past and that he will work in the future but we are not certain that he can work in the present.

Jesus wants Martha and us to understand that he is more than able to meet our need and he is about to prove it.

This leads us to the great central truth that emerges from this amazing story. It is THE POWER OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION.

Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (v 25)

 Notice that resurrection isn’t just a doctrine.

It isn’t just a future event.

Resurrection is a person and he is Jesus.

 

“I am the resurrection and the life,” is one of the great statements of the gospel.

These words are usually said as we stand around a grave about to lower the casket of a loved one into the earth.

And what hope they impart.

 

This is one of the seven “I am” statements of John’s gospel. Remember “I am” is God’s name for himself.

Because Jesus is God the life he brings is eternal life which literally means, the “Life of the age.” 

It is the life of the long awaited kingdom of God.

The life Jesus gives is nothing less than the indestructible life of the resurrection.  It is the very life of the deathless God himself.

 

It is interesting to see how this theme of resurrection has been introduced during Jesus’ ministry. He first raised Jairus’ daughter who had been dead a few hours.  He next raised the widow of Nain’s son who had been dead for a day. 

Now Jesus raises Lazarus who has been dead four days.

 

This time period is very significant and it helps us to understand why Jesus delayed coming to Bethany. 

It was a Jewish belief that for three days after death the soul of the dead person hovered around the body seeking reentry.

On the fourth day when it sees the color of the face change because of decomposition the soul goes away.

 

To the Jewish mind the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the widow of Nain’s son were within the realm of possibility.

But not a man who has been in a tomb for four days.

 

There is one more stage in demonstrating the power of Jesus’ resurrection. 

Matthew tells us that the moment that Jesus died, “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of their tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27:52-53)

These bodies had been dead for years even centuries but the one who is the resurrection gave them new life through his death.

Now Jesus demonstrates his resurrection power for all to see.

He asks “Where have you laid him?” (v 34)

“Come and see” (v 34) they replied.

We are reminded of Jesus’ response to the disciples’ inquiry about where he was living back in the first chapter.

Jesus also told them, “Come and see.”

 

It is the simplest of invitations and yet it goes to the heart of the Christian faith.

“Come and see” we say to Jesus as we lead him to the place of our deepest sorrow.

“Come and see” he says to us in reply as he leads us through the grief to the place where he now lives in resurrection glory.

 

So Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus which was a cave with a rock rolled across the entrance. A huge crowd would be present because Jews mourned for seven days and the Rabbis taught that comforting the bereaved was a God honoring act.

He commands, “Take away the stone.” (v 39)

 

Martha ever the practical one points out, “By this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” (v 39)  

Martha knows that a human body in a warm climate will begin to putrefy within a few days after death. That is why in many parts of the world they bury their dead the very first day.

 

Jesus says to her as he says to all of us who doubt when we stand at the grave of a loved one, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (v 40)

 

Death is not the end for Jesus is the resurrection and the life. That is our comfort and our hope when we stand at a grave.

I miss my mother and father and daughter dreadfully but I know the pain is only temporary.

I will see them again in that city whose builder and maker is God because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

 

And so they remove the stone.  I can imagine it is done with great reluctance and even revulsion.

As the tomb lies open before them they reach for their handkerchiefs and press them to their noses.

But look at Jesus. He is inhaling deeply.

 

A smile comes over his face. There is no smell of bodily decay. His prayer four days earlier back in the desert across the Jordan River has been answered.

With joy he declares, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.” (v 41-42)

 

Jesus calls out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (v 43) 

The Greek words for loud voice are mega phone.

What does that remind you of?

 

Why did Jesus need to shout?

It wasn’t so much for Lazarus’ benefit as for the bystanders.

Jesus wants them to believe and come to faith.

That is the whole purpose of these seven signs in John’s gospel of which this is the grand finale. 

 

In response to this command Lazarus comes staggering out of the tomb because his hands and feet are wrapped with strips of linen. He looks something like a mummy.

It is an incredible scene.

Giotto depicted it like this.

What a contrast with the emotions of four days earlier when Lazarus’ body is put in the grave. Then there was wailing and sadness. Now there is joy and amazement.

 

And so it is for us. As we stand at the grave of a loved one the tears roll down our face. But that is not the end of the story. One day their body will be raised as Lazarus’ body was raised and as Jesus’ body was raised. And then there will be joy and laughter.

 

Bonnat paints the moment differently emphasizing the authority of Jesus over death.

Utterly in command Jesus says, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (v 44)

 

How we would love to interview Lazarus. 

What was it like to be dead? What did you see?

Did you want to come back?

 

Lazarus might surprise us by saying “my situation is not so different from yours. Like me you are dead in your sins.

You are unable to help yourself. You are locked in the tomb of your destruction. But Jesus the resurrection and the life rolls away the stone and commands you, “Come out.” 

 

I suppose Lazarus could have refused. He could have laid there on his slab and said, “I would rather be dead here in the darkness.” But no sane person would say that.

When the Lord of life shouts with a loud voice and bids us come out into the light of his presence we are irresistibly drawn by divine grace.

 

Today Jesus calls your name and invites you to follow him.  

The power of his voice brings forth regeneration which releases faith. It reverses the natural course of corruption and grants eternal life.

 

It is natural when reading a story such as this to wonder, “Did it really happen.” I can tell you there is a site of Lazarus’ tomb that you can visit today near Jerusalem.

This is a place called Lazarim which in Arabic becomes El Azarieh. There is a church there today with a beautify fresco on the domed roof.

 

But the real proof that this miracle occurred in the past is that it is taking place today.

What happened to Lazarus can happen to us.

Think what happened to Lazarus when he walked out of that tomb. He was with Jesus and he was reunited with his sisters.

Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life we have the confidence that when we die we will be with Christ and we will be reunited with the family of God.

 

It is a glorious gift for us at a great cost to Christ.

For in coming to Bethany Jesus revealed his presence to his enemies and this led to his death a few days later.

It is at the price of his life that Jesus gives life.

The abundant life he offers is life through his death.