Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life

Transcript

We find ourselves back in the Gospel of John as we continue our study of this glorious book which shows us the life of Jesus, tells us of the ministry of Jesus, and gives us the words of Jesus. And we find ourselves in John 11. I want to invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 11. We’re going to be reading the whole chapter, so I’ll be gracious and won’t ask you to stand for the reading of Scripture. It’s a hefty one today, but we’re going to read through the whole chapter. So it’s at the forefront of our minds, and as we’re walking through the text, as we’re going through the sermon, for us to be able to connect the dots to what we’ve just read. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there should be a Bible in the seat in front of

you. And if you don’t have a Bible at home, we want to give that Bible to you as a gift. We want to offer it to you and encourage you to read it, to hear from God on your own as well, not just when you gather at a worship service. John chapter 11, beginning from verse 1.

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill

— John 11

(ESV)

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So the sisters sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill. 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. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus

— John 11

(ESV)

.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to his disciples, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you and you’re going there again. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he’ll recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I’m glad that I was

not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you’d been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he’ll rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this

— John 11

(ESV)

? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister, Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him,

Lord, if you’d been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he’s been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of

God? So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew you always hear me. But I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may also believe that you sent me. So when he’d said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen straps and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him, let him go. Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do? For this man performs many signs.

If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death. Jesus, therefore, no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, what do you think, that he will not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him. This is the word of the Lord, saints. Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Our Father, would you open our eyes to see Jesus more clearly? Would you open our ears to hear his words and be transformed by them? Would you incline our hearts to believe in the one who is the resurrection and the life? It’s in his name we pray, amen. Beloved, when everything seems to be crashing down around you, what do you grab onto?

When Everything Crumbles

When nothing in your circumstances makes sense, where do your thoughts go? How do you make sense of pain, of loss, of sorrow? Do you have a category in your mind for seeing the loving leading of God wherever that leading may bring? Or does your processing the difficulties in life begin and end with why and what if? In our text this morning, I’m hoping we can all, myself included, learn to lean more on him who holds life and death, joy and pain, gain and loss all in his hand, and the one who never abandons those that he loves, even if his timing doesn’t align with theirs. As we’ve walked through the last few chapters of John’s gospel, we’ve watched Jesus heal a man born blind. We’ve heard him explain that he is the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. And then we saw him go on to talk about his oneness with God the Father, all the while

drawing a crowd to himself who were fascinated by his teaching, who were fascinated by his miracles. And at the same time, he was infuriating the religious leaders who saw him as a continued threat to who they are and what it is that they want to do. This has been the pattern in the life and ministry of our Lord. He does something, people flock to him, they want to be around him. They love his miracles, they love his ministry, they love his teaching, until they hear something that’s offensive, until they hear something that’s difficult to wrap their minds around, at which point they walk away. Another pattern we see is Jewish religious leaders coming to see who this teacher is, whether or not he’ll align himself with them and what they’re doing and what they’re building, and then being angered by his unwillingness to play their religious game their way.

And that’s what brings us to chapter 11. Our Lord going away from both the fame and the hostility to continue to faithfully minister to those who need to hear the gospel, who need to encounter the Messiah. While he’s away, word comes to him that his friend Lazarus is ill. J.C. Ryle, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, had this to say about chapter 11. I love this thought. The chapter we have now begun is one of the most remarkable in the New Testament. For grandeur and simplicity, for sadness and solemnity, nothing was ever written like it. It describes a miracle which is not recorded in the other Gospels, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Nowhere shall we find such convincing proofs of our Lord’s divine power. As God, he makes the grace itself yield up its tenets. The grave itself yield up its tenets.

Nowhere shall we find such striking illustrations of our Lord’s ability to sympathize with his people. As a man, he can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Such a miracle was fitting for the end of such a ministry. [Technical interruption - continuing with the message] Such a miracle was fitting for the end of such a ministry. It was fit and right that the victory of Bethany should come before the crucifixion of Calvary. Let’s take a closer look at this beautiful story of Jesus’ compassion. His perfect timing, his power over death, all while he continues his road to Calvary. Now, for those of us who’ve been Christians for some time or have read through the Gospels, this story is one that you’re likely familiar with. This story is one that you’ve likely read or heard preached on.

We remember Jesus bringing his friend Lazarus back from the dead. We remember this compassion that he shows to the people who are suffering this loss. And we also likely remember the shortest verse in the entirety of the Bible, Jesus wept. But I’d like to encourage you to try to hear these truths with fresh ears. Try to hear it as if for the first time. I believe that God has something in store for each of us as we dig into his word, as we encounter Jesus, the resurrection and the life. As I was studying this text this week, I was struck by how commonplace a lot of these things become in my life. Oh, I know this story. Oh, I remember what happens here. And as I kind of tried to pull back from that natural reaction and just spent some time praying through the text, rereading it, hearing Jesus’ words, how blown away I was by my Savior.

How beautiful his compassion is, his kindness, but also his power. This reality of being the resurrection and the life. And so I want to encourage you, saints, try to hear this with fresh ears. Now obviously, you’ve seen that this is a very large chunk of Scripture, so we’ll dig into it by walking through three separate sections of the chapter, and we’ll do it from a 30-ish thousand foot view. First, in verses 1 through 27, we’ll look at death and life to the glory of God. In verses 28 to 44, we’ll look at life and the defeat of death by the power of God. And in verses 45 through 57, we’ll look at unbelief in and animosity towards the Son of God. Let’s look at death and life to the glory of God. Our chapter begins in a very interesting way. We’re told that a certain man named Lazarus is sick, and Jesus isn’t close enough to do

Death and Life

anything about it. Now we know that Jesus could just speak from a distance, as he’s already done, and heal the man. But he’s not nearby. He can’t address the illness, he can’t address this tragedy that is befalling this family, his friends. And there are a couple of key details in these opening verses that are really, really important for us to see. First is, we see Jesus’ connection and closeness to this family, but we also see their devotion to him. Next, we see Jesus’ love for Lazarus and his sisters, his care for this family. He really, really loves these people. It explicitly says that he loved Martha, he loved Mary, he loved Lazarus. And then we see this fascinating thing that Jesus says in verse four, 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.

We spoke about this about two weeks ago when we were looking at the beginning of John 10, but I’ll repeat it here. It’s one thing to know Jesus. It’s one thing to say you know Jesus, to speak of him in a familiar sense. It’s another thing entirely for him to know you, to be known by him. And here what we see is that Jesus knew Lazarus and he loved Lazarus. One thing to love him, another thing entirely to be loved by him. And this is an incredible motivation for Christian living. I am loved by Jesus. I am known by Jesus. We think about the Christian life as this thing that has happened and maybe this thing that we do or don’t do, but the reality of it is, at the core of that, the reason that God draws us in is to be glorified in the salvation of the people that he loves.

He sent his Son to rescue people because he loved them. There’s a beauty to it. There’s an intimacy to it. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, they care for him. They trust him. They believe in him. They worship him. They want to show honor to him and he cares for and he loves them because, as we’ve seen, they are his sheep and he is the good shepherd. And so when word gets to him, Jesus says of Lazarus’ illness that it wasn’t meant to end his life, but it was meant to glorify God, which should make us ask, why would God be glorified in illness? Why that? Why would someone need to go through difficulty for God to get glory? Is that what Jesus is saying? That things have to get rough before God gets glory? Could it be that what we see in our present circumstance, in our present illness, in our

present loss, in our present confusion about this or that, is the pain or the challenge itself? But what God sees is what that pain or that challenge will produce in your life. Could it be that in the moment that we feel like we have nothing to hold on to, we’re most likely to grab onto him if we love him and see that he is actually the only constant in our lives? It’s not that he’s indifferent. It’s not that he’s cold. When we struggle, when we hurt, we see that’s definitely not the case in our text. He cares, he cries, but what he’s looking for in our lives, what he’s working towards in our lives is to grow us and to mold us more and more into his likeness, deepening our faith, deepening our trust, teaching us to rely on him so that we can better point

others to him. Now, this isn’t easy. I recognize how this sounds. This is like, oh, it’s like a nice thing that preachers say. It’s a nice and easy thing to say from a pulpit. Like, oh yeah, when things get tough, just believe in Jesus and point others to him. I know. I know. I’ve felt the pain. I’ve felt the confusion. I’ve had sleepless nights. I get it. Saints. I get it. But have you ever noticed how your faith grows pretty exclusively under pressure? Have you ever noticed that it’s during the challenging times that you tend to see God more clearly? And when things are good, it’s easier to stop thinking about him, to stop focusing on him. It’s almost like it’s a muscle. When pushed to the limit, it becomes stronger through the pain, through the discomfort. Charles Spurgeon says this beautiful thing that I’ve just come to love and repeat to

myself over and over and over. I’ve learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the rock of ages. And it’s this reality of like we’re being tossed around and it feels like I can’t gain my footing. I can’t figure out what’s happening. And God is saying that’s perfect because you’re not trying to gain your footing by yourself. You need to grab onto me. And that’s precisely what Jesus is communicating to his disciples. It’s good for you to see this. It’s good for you to experience this. It’s good for you to walk through the uncertainty, to not know what’s going to happen next because it forces you to hold on to me. Another thing we should ask of the text is why would Jesus stay where he was for two more days when he learned that Lazarus was sick? Why not just go right away?

Why not just react right away? He could have just picked up his stuff and headed out. Why wouldn’t he immediately go to his friend? And note also when Jesus decided to stay those two more days, that’s when Lazarus died. It was precisely in that period of waiting that Lazarus died. When the messenger was sent, Lazarus was still alive. But in the time it took the messenger to get to Jesus, for Jesus to respond, for Jesus to get back, and those additional two days is when Lazarus died. You see, Jesus knew what he was going to do. Jesus knew what the plan was all along, is that he’d raise his friend from the dead. And just to seal the deal, just to show who he really was, what he was really doing, it’s important for us to see that this wasn’t just kind of a coincidence, these four days.

You see, there was this rabbinic tradition, we can call it a superstition at that time, that everyone was very, very familiar with. And the belief was that if a person died, their spirit lingered kind of around their body for three days. And it makes it possible at that point, during those three days, to resuscitate the person, and for the spirit to return to the body, and like, oh, just kidding, we’re going to keep going. Anything past that, once you get past the third day, it’s done. You can no longer resuscitate. You can no longer bring him back. And he wanted to make sure that enough time would pass, that it would be certain that what he did was he raised Lazarus from the dead. He didn’t merely resuscitate him. Once again, repeatedly, Jesus is showing them who he is and why he came. Who he is and why he does what he does.

Jesus’ timing doesn’t function in line with what people feel should or shouldn’t be done, when something should or shouldn’t happen. His timing is in line with the will of the Father. His will is the Father’s will. And this isn’t always exactly in sync with what many of us might want. What Jesus says here in the text, to Martha, to Mary, to his disciples, what Jesus says to each of us is that he has a purpose for our difficulties, and he works out that purpose in his own way, in his own time. And that may not always be very clear to us. Mark this in your mind and store it away for that time when you feel like what you’re going through just doesn’t make sense. This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. And you can replace illness with whatever it is you’re going through, Saint.

This loss doesn’t lead to death, but it’s for the glory of God. This financial problem doesn’t lead to death. It is for the glory of God. This relational difficulty, this pain, keep going down that list. It is for the glory of God. God is accomplishing something with this. The suffering, the trial. It’s not because God doesn’t love you. It’s not because God doesn’t care. Don’t forget, John notes that it was the Mary who anointed Jesus with oil, showing her love and devotion to him, and it’s not because she didn’t love him enough. God isn’t punishing you. These were his friends. He cared for them. He loved them. But he’s doing something here. He’s teaching them something. And there may be something in your life that God is pointing you to in the midst of your suffering, in the midst of your uncertainty, in the midst of your pain, because he knows

that it’s going to bring good in your life and it’s going to glorify him through it. And then we see this shocking statement. And for your sake, I’m glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. Their friend has just died. They know this could have been prevented, but Jesus makes it clear that he wanted their faith to grow, for their trust in him to grow. And while they’re thinking about processing Lazarus’ death, while they’re thinking through what this means, Jesus is looking to what this event will accomplish in their hearts. Because again, it’s not about the thing itself, but what God is doing through it in your life. And then when Jesus is ready to hit the road again, the disciples are scared to go back to Judea. Why are they scared? For fear of the religious leaders who want to kill him, and probably them as well for

being with him. And then we see something fascinating in this text. Thomas, he’s not scared at all. Usually referred to as doubting Thomas, here he’s quite brave. Let us also go, that we might die with him. This is one of those verses that’s really easy to gloss over in a chapter that’s so full of so many other things, that’s so full of just this profound compassion and beauty that Jesus shows to his friends, to the disciples. But it really is beautiful, Thomas’ devotion to Jesus, his love for him. If I have to die, so be it. I’m ready to die with my Lord. It’s bold. It shows his desire to be faithful to Jesus. It shows his desire to follow wherever Jesus goes, even if that leads to death. And I think as we see this, we need to ask ourselves, what if following Jesus leads me

to where I don’t want to go? What if following Jesus leads me to have to sacrifice certain things, to have to give certain things up, to have to go through certain pains and challenges and maybe even lose my life? Is he worth it? For Thomas, he certainly was. But the fact is, Jesus understood, even when Thomas made this bold, beautiful proclamation, Jesus understood his time had not yet come. And so he knows that these religious leaders can’t do anything to him quite yet. His work isn’t finished. He still has things to do. He still has Lazarus to raise from the dead. And when Martha finally sees Jesus, when she has a chance to finally speak with him, it seems as if she’s showing her faith by saying, if only you were here, but I know that whatever you ask from God, if only you were here, it’s this desperate cry.

Is this faith twinged with doubt? Is this faith that’s slightly confused? Is this just hope? And then Jesus, beautiful response, I am the resurrection. I am the life. See when I was reading through different commentaries on this text, some people read what Martha and Mary say to Jesus is almost accusatory, like, why weren’t you here? Why didn’t you do things the way that we thought would be best? But even if that’s the case, I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. I don’t, I don’t think it’s accusatory. But even if that’s the case, Jesus’ response communicates a lot. See Jesus is showing that he can handle our frustration. Jesus can handle our doubts, our questions, our pain, our grief, our confusion. He’s not thrown for a loop when we’re struggling. And he’s ever present in the lives of his people. The gracious Lord says to her, you don’t have to wait for the last day, Martha.

I am the one who holds life and death in his hand. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die, Martha. Do you believe this? Death in this life for the believer is merely a transfer into eternal life. We don’t die, saints. That’s what Jesus is saying. Death is no longer a threat to us. If we belong to him, we no longer die. Our enemy, our impending doom, it’s been defeated. Our biggest problem has been fixed. Our biggest issue is that our sin leads to death, is taken care of in Jesus. Do you realize what he’s saying? The Christian no longer dies. We merely go home when our time here is finished. I think that’s an amen moment. This is one of those things that, again, we come to be familiar with. We come to just be okay with, like, oh, yeah, eternal life.

We don’t die. When I close my eyes in death on this side of heaven, I open them in heaven. Do you get just the insanity of that, the beauty, the magnitude of that reality that we no longer die? Jesus is saying to Martha, Martha, death is no longer an issue for us. I am the resurrection and the life. When we work to sort out whatever is happening around us, whatever is happening to us, what Jesus is saying is, look to me, not to the thing that’s happening. I am the resurrection and the life. I’ve solved your greatest problem. I’m there with you in everything. I make sense of all of your pain. I use all things for your good and my glory. And again, I’m not saying this lightly. I know that certain things really sting, really hurt, are really difficult to process. I get that.

Life Defeats Death

Emotionally, I struggle with certain things, too. But Jesus is saying the main thing has been taken care of for you. You don’t die. You’re good with God. You’re restored with your creator. You get to live a life free of sin and death and worship God forever. His very presence, because of who he is and because of what he’s done, is what makes sense of everything. And so, saint, do you believe that? Or are your trials still bigger than his victory over death? This brings us to our second point, where in verses 28 through 44, we see life and the defeat of death by the power of God. With Jesus, we get the death of death. With Jesus, we get the power of God, but also, as we see in our text, the presence of God in our lives and in our trials. As this story develops, things become more interesting.

After Martha’s interaction with Jesus, her sister Mary comes to him saying the same thing, Lord, if only you’d been here. If only you were here. She’s essentially saying, you’re late. He’s gone. You missed it. And the thing is, when we pray, we want God to do what we want him to do now. Not later, not in his own time, but right now. Because we know how things should go. And when it doesn’t, we’re like Martha and like Mary, oh, why didn’t you show up? I asked. I pled with you. I prayed. But the thing is, he did show up. And he showed up at the right time. Why would Jesus be troubled in his spirit? And why would he be weeping if he knew all along that he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead? Why would this stir him up emotionally if he knew that he was literally minutes away

from seeing his friend again? It seems that the primary thing that’s upsetting Jesus is death itself. Not just the fact that Lazarus has died, but the reality of what death produces. This whole picture of pain and loss and hopelessness and tragedy and weeping. He’s seeing what brokenness and fallenness produce. He’s seeing what ugliness lies in rebellion and it just breaks his heart. He feels the pain of those around him and he’s present and he’s compassionate. He sees their suffering and it pains him. But also he sees the horror of a fallen world and what comes of it and it hurts him deeply. Because he knows this isn’t the way that things are supposed to be. He’s here to defeat death. He’s here to conquer our greatest enemy and what he’s doing here with Lazarus, dear friend, is a picture of what he came to do with every single person who will trust in him and put

their hope in him for their salvation. He stares death in the face and he crushes it. Death will soon be no more and Jesus moves closer to the ultimate defeat of it and he gives a glimpse to the people around him that day of what this looks like when he raises Lazarus from the dead. So why was Jesus upset? The horror of death, the ugliness of death, and the despair it causes. And so he enters into that despair with his friends. He feels with them. He weeps with them. His being deeply moved in the spirit and greatly troubled. Why? Because he was in it with them. He felt it too. He was human. It broke his heart. He knows that things aren’t supposed to be this way. The very thing that both Mary and Martha were asking for, the very thing that they knew would fix all of this, he actually did provide, just not in the way that they expected.

I want to read you a quote from a pastor named Christopher Powers. He’s often known by his, he’s an artist online who publishes visual exegesis under the name full of eyes, creating beautiful biblical illustrations with written commentary. And it’s a lengthy quote, so just hang with me, but I think it’s really helpful for what we’re seeing here. He writes the following, if you had. With these words, Martha’s imagination conjures a state of affairs that she believes would have been better than what was. In fact, that she believes would have been better than what has in fact happened. If Jesus had been there, Lazarus would not have died. She and her sister would have been spared the pain of loss.

They would even now be free of the crushing weight of grief that they bear. If Jesus had been here, everything would have been better. So goes the argument in Martha’s heart. And how easily and how often do we join her in this? How natural is the heart response of if you had, when loss and tragedy strike. If you had healed, if you had stopped me, if you had let me know, if you had given us more time, if you had been here, then things would be all right. Then all would be well. So often is the cry of a sorrowing heart. And how does Jesus respond to this cry, to this, if we are honest, rebuke? Not by explaining the inscrutable rationale of love. Not by unfurling the storied tapestry of divine sovereignty. Not by detailing the role of this moment in the overarching harmony of the cosmos.

Not by doing any of these things. Rather, he responds to Martha’s bitter and tear-filled if you had with his own unchanging, I am. And this is the answer. The only answer to every if you had screamed into the night of our loss. To every if you had wept over the wounds of the fall. To every if you had spoken in bitter resignation of spirit. The answer to his people’s every if you had is only, ever, and always God’s definitive I am, spoken in, by, and as the crucified one who is risen. I am the resurrection of this very loss. I am the comfort of this very sorrow. I am the quieting of this very lament. I am the life in this very death. I am, I am, I am, Christian. May all our if you had’s be blessedly drowned in the ocean of Christ’s I am.

He was there. He cared deeply. He stepped into their pain with them. And what he was ultimately doing here was so much more than what they could have expected. You see, they wanted for their brother to not die. It’s a good thing. But he wanted for them to see the resurrection and the life so that none of them would ever die. When Jesus acted, he acted definitively. He called for Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and we see that he cried with a loud voice. And we read this as like slightly louder, like, Lazarus, come out. This was a shout. This was booming, Lazarus, come out. It’s been said somewhere that Jesus is so powerful and his word accomplishes so much that if he didn’t qualify this with Lazarus, all of the dead people everywhere would rise. I like that. The same voice that spoke all things into existence, the same one who spoke peace to

a hurricane, that voice shouted into a grave and spoke life into death. And just like that, Lazarus was alive. Can you imagine this scene? As I was reading through this and as I was trying to picture it, I’m trying to imagine like everyone is weeping, everyone’s confused, everyone’s just kind of startled by this shout. And a man wrapped in burial cloths walks out from the tomb. A dead man walks out from the tomb. The reactions must have been chaotic. I’m imagining shouting, excitement, terror, more crying probably. A man who has been dead and in a tomb for four days was just raised back to life. This is the power of the word of God. More important than the reactions of the people there that day, do you realize what that means? Jesus has power over death. Just like he spoke life into Lazarus’ dead body, so he speaks life into our dead stony

hearts. And so he guarantees that we will be with him forever. Yes, the story is beautiful. Jesus’ compassion, Jesus’ power over death. But the thing that we need to see is that if any of us have any hope at all, any hope, it’s only because of him who is the resurrection and the life. One more thing to note here, in verse 45, we see that as a result of what Jesus did, there was an effect. Many believed. Many believed. See, it’s easy to see our trials and what God does through them as impacting us, impacting the people that we love, changing my life, moving things around for me, making things uncomfortable. But what God is doing in trials is that while growing us and while teaching us, he’s also putting himself on display in and through us. Why? So that the surrounding world might see him through his people, so that they might believe.

Religious Opposition

You see, the beginning and end of your trial isn’t just you, dear saint. You are a vessel of the Spirit of God to put him on display, to speak of his salvation, to speak of his hope, to speak of his life. And people believe when they see it. Many believed, but not all. This brings us to our last point where we see, in verses 45 through 57, unbelief and animosity towards the Son of God. The Jewish religious leaders are upset about what Jesus is doing. Surprise, surprise. They don’t like it. They don’t like it at all. Surely, they say, we can’t allow for him to just continue doing these various miracles. Surely, we can’t allow him to keep drawing people to himself, to keep developing this reputation as a great man. If this continues, everyone’s going to go to him, and we lose our power, and we lose

our status. In the minds of these religious men, people believing in Jesus was a serious problem. But so too was the prospect of Rome taking away their power. Their concern was not, is what he’s saying true? Is this of God? But how will this impact us? Will this cause us to lose influence and power? Caiaphas, the high priest at that time here, spoke well beyond his own understanding. He says Jesus’ death was really necessary in order for his people to be saved. It’s very true. Jesus would get those who belong to him, and not one of them will be lost. He will accomplish this by giving himself for his sheep. He will willingly lay down his life to save his people, and this would happen at the very hands of these men. Caiaphas asks, what’s the expedient thing to do here? When what he should have been asking is, what’s the right thing to do here?

And friends, is this how we function sometimes? Do we make pragmatic decisions instead of deciding the right, often difficult, thing to do? Are our convictions built off of things that seem to make the most sense for my life and what I’m building? There’s this interesting dynamic that develops where the people most opposed to Jesus over the course of his life and ministry are the religious people. Our text says this has to do with their fear of losing their power, but also losing their position in the culture. And when we see how these people treat Jesus, when we see how they interact with him, we often react, at least I do, I often react with shock, with anger at these hard-hearted religious men, these religious leaders who seem to just hate kindness and love and compassion from Jesus, wondering how they could be so hard-hearted, so hard-headed, how they could

hate this man who only ever did good. But is it possible, if we reflect honestly on our lives, that the position of comfort that we presently hold in the culture, the lack of opposition, the lack of persecution, keeps us comfortably complacent? And I want to challenge all of you, I think that we look at some group of religious people like the Pharisees and we say, well that’s like way off the wall fundamentalist religion, so clearly I’m never going to do that. But do we build a religious life that just gets to be kind of comfortable? Do we push into something that just makes sense for me? Like if I just come and hang out with my people here and worship with these people here, and we keep to ourselves, we don’t interact with the outside world too much, we don’t stir too much up, we’ll be alright.

We don’t need to lose our position as like the nice Christians. We’re the ones that don’t, you know, say the hurtful, the mean things. I don’t want to be insensitive, I don’t want for you to hear what I’m saying, it’s like we need to be out there seeking out persecution, seeking out pushback. I praise the Lord for the fact that we don’t have persecution in our country. That’s a gift, that’s an immense gift. Our brothers and sisters in parts of the world that are dying for their faith would gladly take this. But what I’m saying is, if we’re living our lives in such a way as to build a religion that is comfortable for us, to build the path of least resistance, just to kind of coast along the way until Jesus finally takes me home, maybe we need to reconsider what Jesus meant when He said that we are to take up our cross and follow Him.

What does that mean for us? What does that mean in Portland? What does that mean for us in Vancouver? What does that mean for you in your workplace? Maybe we need to reconsider and think a little bit more about what Jesus said, that it is blessed to be reviled and persecuted, and for all kinds of evil to be uttered against us falsely on His account. Why is that blessedness? The Christian life is a life of honest reflection, and it’s a desire to grow and look more like Jesus. And so, Saint, do you regularly, honestly assess your life, your walk, your standing in the culture, or do we look with scorn at these religious leaders, yet move through life in a way that’s comfortable for us? Because our text tells us all they wanted was just not to lose their place in the culture. Is that such a bad thing?

Jesus says in Mark 8, 36-37, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What can a man give in return for his soul? Let’s be careful students of Scripture, beloved. And when we read passages like these, when we encounter these figures that seem so far off from who I am and how I live my life, let’s honestly look inward and see what parts of me look like that. Let’s be a people of repentance and drawing to Jesus with every aspect of our lives, laying it all at His feet, and with Thomas saying, if I have to die, I’ll die for you. With what Caiaphas says here, the religious leaders are now set on murdering Jesus. As far as they’re concerned, He can’t just keep doing all these things that undermine their authority, that threaten their power. He’s got to go.

And so as Jesus’ final Passover draws near, it now won’t be very long. Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead is a stunning picture of what He’s done for each of us who belong to Him. Ephesians 2, 1 and 2 tell us that you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. But God, Jesus, the resurrection and the life, called us out of our spiritual tombs and made us alive together with Him. This is why we stand in awe of such a beautiful Savior and look forward to hearing more of Him and seeing Him more clearly, because He’s the one who loved us and gave Himself for us. I want you to look again to the middle of our chapter at this wonderful back and forth that Jesus has with Martha. Martha’s confession in verse 27 is arguably one of the most beautiful confessions of faith

in the whole of Scripture. In the midst of her distress, in the midst of her loss, her pain, she puts the whole of her faith and trust into Him with these words, Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God. I imagine she’s saying this through tears. Her brother’s dead. She doesn’t know what He’ll do. Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God. In the midst of our uncertainty, in the midst of our confusion about what’s happening in our world, what’s happening to us directly, while all around us is seeming to crumble, are we able to see clearly enough the One who is Himself, the resurrection and the life? So dear Christian, if everything is taken away from you, if nothing makes sense, I want to remind you that He still holds you safely in His hands.

He will never let His people perish. Do you believe this? Would you pray with me? Father, how good it is to know that we are safe with You. That Jesus, the resurrection and the life, our Good Shepherd, our Lord, our Messiah, has defeated our greatest enemy. And in Him we have eternal life and it in abundance. Help us to live like a people who have nothing that they fear, because You have defeated our greatest enemy. Help us to live fully for You, leaning heavily upon You and pointing others to the One who gives eternal life. Our world needs to see Jesus. Strengthen us and embolden us to show Him to them. We ask in His wonderful name, Amen.