Over the next couple of weeks we are going to look at a resurrection account in John’s gospel. No, it’s not the big one that you might all immediately think of when you hear the word resurrection in a church setting. Instead, it is the death and resurrection of a man named Lazarus. You see, Lazarus, along with his sisters Mary and Martha, all lived together in the village of Bethany, just a few miles outside of the city of Jerusalem. They all loved the man known as Jesus and he in turn loved and cared deeply for each of them. Mary, as we are reminded in our text, is even the one who anoints Jesus’ feet with oil and dries them with her hair, as we will see in a few Sundays. This was a family who believed Jesus to be the Christ, the promised Messiah. However, as we find at the end of this text, even they do not fully understand exactly what that means.
Mary and Martha get word to Jesus telling him that their brother has fallen ill. We see that they do indeed acknowledge him as Lord. They also refer to Lazarus not by name or as their brother, but as “he whom you love.” Both of these things just add to the intimacy that existed between Jesus and these three siblings. Jesus responds to their concern by saying, “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.” Jesus says these words in order to calm his disciples down who undoubtedly are worried about this man who is a close friend of Jesus. I’m sure that they were worried about Lazarus as soon as they heard the news, but imagine how much more their anxiety grew over the coming days. After all, we’re told in verse 6 that Jesus stayed where he currently was for two days after hearing the news of his friend Lazarus before telling his disciples that they needed to go to Judea.
Now, it seems as if the disciples concern for Lazarus takes a backseat to their fear, fear for themselves and fear for Jesus. In essence they tell Jesus, “Um, don’t you remember the last time you went to Jerusalem? After all, it wasn’t too long ago. Well, in case you don’t remember, let me remind you. The Pharisees tried to stone you and have you killed. You had to escape the city before they arrested you and followed through on that punishment. And now you’re telling us that you want to go back there again?” Jesus then answers his disciples in a way that quite honestly seems confusing at first glance. He talks about day and night and that when we walk in the night that we don’t stumble but walking in the dark will cause us to stumble. It really seems kind of out of place given what is going on at this time. However, if we think back to the very beginning of this gospel in John 1:9 where Jesus is referred to as the true light that was coming into the world, then these verses take on a whole new meaning. You see, keeping in mind that Jesus is God taking the form of man and saying that he is the true light, we see that Christ is telling those around him that there is no fear to be had when we believe. There is nothing that we cannot do when we have the power of God working in and through and to us. In essence, it is the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:13, “That I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Immediately after saying these words, Jesus goes on to say to the disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” In essence, Jesus has said, “Yes, I know that some want to kill me, but as long as God is in control (and He always will be), then we have nothing to fear and no reason not to do good works in His name. So, let’s go to Lazarus and heal him.” The disciples once again don’t understand Jesus when he uses the word “awaken” instead of something like “cure” or “heal.” Jesus has to them in the plainest language that Lazarus is not asleep, but that he has died. I can only imagine the shock that must have gripped the disciples at this point. Here they are, having waited two days since receiving news of this man’s illness, and now they find out that they are too late and that he has already passed away. Oh the questions that must have been going through their minds at this time. However, Jesus tells them something that most likely took their minds off of the loss and turned their focus towards Jesus. He said to them, “For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.” Seeing that there is no stopping Jesus from returning to the region of Jerusalem, Thomas, being ever the optimist, tells the other disciples that they might as well go with Jesus since there doesn’t seem to be any way to convince him not to go. He’s even so positive about returning to Jerusalem that he thinks that they will all soon end up in the same state as Lazarus, dead. Thomas is sure that once the Pharisees see Jesus and his disciples that they will surely all be killed.
So, they arrive in Bethany and they find that Lazarus is indeed dead and has already been buried in the tomb for four days. Now, the fact that it was been four days is significant because it helps us understand the reason for Jesus’ waiting a couple of days before going to Bethany. You see, the rabbinic teachings during Jesus’ day taught that when a person died, their spirit hovered above the body for three days before “moving on.” If the person was somehow resuscitated, then the person’s spirit would return to their body. After three days had passed, then the body was thought to be beyond resuscitation and all hope of that person rising up again was lost. So, according to this line of thinking, Lazarus was beyond all hope over ever being revived. Jesus is well aware of this teaching and knows that when Lazarus is resurrected, a text that we will look at next Sunday, that the Jewish authorities would not be able to say that his spirit was still hovering over his body. This may all sound trivial to us, but it was crucial to Jesus’ ministry. The raising of Lazarus from the dead was to be completely against nature as the Jews perceived it, and could be seen as nothing other than a miracle from God himself.
After finding Lazarus in the tomb, Jesus does not immediately perform this great miracle, but instead goes to Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, to console them. Martha, hearing that Jesus was near, went out to meet him and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Well, first of all, Jesus didn’t have to be near Lazarus for him to be healed of the illness. Jesus could have healed him simply by commanding that it be done. With that being understood, the second thing that I think is important to understand here is the tone in which we interpret Martha’s words. She did not fault Jesus for his not being there in time as if to say, “Some friend you are. If you would have hurried up and gotten here then my brother would still be living.” No, if she had meant that, then she most likely would have stopped after saying that here brother had died. You see, Martha adds in that part about God doing what Jesus asks. It is as if she is saying, “Lord, even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will do it. Even though Lazarus died, my confidence in you remains, and I know that you’re in such harmony with God that this has to be of God.”
Jesus then tells this grieving sister that her brother will rise again. Martha believes the words of Jesus, just not how he means them. She thinks that he is speaking of the resurrection that is to come on the last day, a belief that was present in the teaching of the Pharisees at this time. However, it should be noted that not everyone believed in such a resurrection. The Sadducees did not teach of such a resurrection. Jesus hears her acknowledgement and her misunderstanding and answers her with one of the seven “I am” statements found in John’s gospel. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” In other words, I hold the keys of life and death in my hands. I am the power of life itself. I have the power to raise the dead from their graves. I don’t just teach about resurrection, I am resurrection; the same as he did not just teach about God, but he is God. He goes on to add, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” In other words, even if your brother is to remain dead, he has entered into a new life. His time on this earth may have come to an end, but he still lives. He lives in heaven with God the Father Almighty.
Jesus then asks Martha if she believes. What Martha gives him is quite possibly the greatest profession of faith in all of Scripture, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” It can’t be easy for Martha to say these words. She has just seen her brother die and yet continues to praise God. She has just seen the one hope that she had to heal him not make it in time to revive him and yet she continues to praise God. Now, when she is point blank asked if she still believes, she says yes. Notice that in this affirmation there are no “if, ands, or buts.” There is no “yes, but if you would have said him…” There is only a complete and total affirmation of Jesus being the Son of God, the Promised Messiah.
It’s easy for us to praise God during the good times. It’s easy for our faith to be strong when life is moving ahead as planned. It’s easy for us to say that we believe when the waters of life are calm and there is nothing but smooth sailing ahead of us. It’s an entirely different thing to praise God when the waves are crashing and the rocks are jagged and the flashes of lightening and rolls of thunder are growing more numerous by the second. Those times are what separate those who profess with their mouths from those who profess with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. This passage sets the stage for a resurrection that is to come, one that we will see next Sunday. This passage sets the stage for THE resurrection that we will celebrate at the end of this month. However, neither of these two resurrections, Lazarus’ or that of Christ, really mean anything to us without believing in Jesus Christ. For it is only by faith that we are recipients of Christ atoning work and redeeming sacrifice. For it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that we are justified, that we are cleansed of our sins and declared righteous in the sight of the God. Friends, let the faith of this woman, Martha, be a shining example for all of us to continue to praise God no matter what we are going through. There may be times of sorrow, this of pain, and times of loss in our lives, but we are to continue to follow and believe. Just as we sang a few moments ago, there is no other place to look for strength. On Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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