I AM the Resurrection and the Life
I AM the Resurrection and the Life
- Greg Waybright
- John 11:24-27:0
- I Am - The True Identity of Jesus
- 35 mins 19 secs
- Views: 1026
Study Notes
The True Identity of Jesus: I Am the Resurrection and the Life
John 11:1-37
Jesus loves me -- this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong;
They are weak but he is strong.
We come this weekend to the astonishing story of a man named Lazarus being raised from the dead after he had been in a tomb for four days. We will hear Jesus’ dynamic claim, “I am the resurrection and the life.”. So, you may be surprised at me starting the sermon with “Jesus loves me.” You might think, “Surely this is a message not about the love of Jesus but about the power of Jesus.” But, look again at the story:
11:3 -- The sisters sent word to Jesus about their sick brother saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
11:5 -- Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus…
11:33 -- When Jesus saw Mary weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit…
11:36 -- The observers saw Jesus weeping and said, “See, how he loved him.”
So, I know John 11 is usually used to talk about Jesus’ power – power even over death. I used this passage for our Easter service in 2015 because of that. But, in the extremely personal conversations found in the story, there is another issue running through almost every encounter. It is an issue that people of faith in Jesus have always had to wrestle with and continue to grapple with today, i.e., How can God be both powerful and loving and allow suffering and death? Did you notice the repeated phrase by this believing family? “Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died (Martha in v.21; Mary in v.32). And the world that watched asked the question in v. 37, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
This is what we will think about today. This passage poses a question that surely has haunted everyone who has ever considered the Christian faith – a question that continues even after we place our trust in Jesus. When things happen that are hard and pain-filled, “Why does Jesus, who has power over life and death and is so loving, allow the ones he loves to suffer and even to die?”
I want us to see how the two truths about the power and love of Jesus actually play out in this imperfect world. We’ll see that the love of Jesus is quite different from the way the world generally thinks about love – and that it is in every way better, once we see more fully than we usually do.
Lesson 1: The Wisdom of Jesus’ Love -- Sometimes, Jesus waits.
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when Lazarus was ill, Jesus stayed two days longer in the place where he was (11:5-6a).
Isn’t the opening to this story strange? Lazarus is sick. His sisters send word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." But in v. 5, when Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, he intentionally stayed where He was two more days. Now, that really is peculiar, isn't it? I can imagine some of us being so busy with things going on that we have no time to visit a sick friend. But surely not Jesus!
And, notice this: The way our NIV translates this is spot on: “Jesus loved Lazarus so he waited…” This isn’t the way we think about things, is it? The Bible says that love motivated Jesus to wait and to let Lazarus die and the sisters suffer. There can only be one reason: Jesus had a love-filled purpose in mind in this matter that went far beyond simply seeing Lazarus recover from whatever sickness killed him. Jesus delays because he loved Lazarus too much to step in too soon.
I’ve been thinking about how some people say that people of faith should view experiencing hard times. Since I spoke last week about my own health struggles, I’ve been hearing a lot of different perspectives about sickness in the notes and messages I’m getting. So, let’s think about Lazarus: Here is a man who loves Jesus. But, he’s is sick. He is dying. What's wrong? Is it all his fault? Is he sick because of sin? Or, is it his lack of faith? Has he failed to bring the matter to the Lord in prayer? Or, has he simply gone to the wrong doctors?
In my view, there may be a measure of truth in all those things. There are sins in our lives that contribute to our problems. Sometimes we get sick and discover that our eating, sleeping and exercising patterns are out of sync and need to be changed. And, I’m sure we all need to learn how to pray for healing in ways in keeping with passages like James 5. But, it’s clear that this section of God’s Word is teaching us something that needs to be a part of our worldviews when we walk through times of difficulty. This episode in John 11 lets us know unmistakably that people who genuinely love Jesus and are loved by him go through indescribably great trials and that in those situations, Jesus does not always step in immediately to heal. No, sometimes it seems as if he deliberately waits as we cry to him in our hour of our need.
The key to understanding begins in v. 4: 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.” I think a better translation of what Jesus said is this: “The purpose of this sickness is not death but for the sake of God's glory.” What Jesus is saying is that the purpose of his waiting would be to reveal something greater in God’s plan than preventing Lazarus’ death would have accomplished. Jesus did not rush to Bethany because he loved them. Looking at what happened from our perspective, what was loving about Jesus’ decision to wait?
I think a quite personal part of why Jesus waited is that he was going to help Martha, Mary, Lazarus and everyone else whoever hears of this event know that death is not the end of things. Jesus in this episode demonstrated that there is nothing in this world beyond his control. We must know this if we will walk with Jesus by faith. Lazarus would someday die – a second time. So would Martha and Mary. So will all of us.
I’ve been to countless funerals in my lifetime. For any thinking person, unsure about whether there is life beyond death, a funeral is a time of confusion or despair. Death is the greatest enemy in this world but, because of Jesus, even death is never a final ending. By letting Lazarus die and then by bringing him back to life, Jesus was assuring those he loved that even death is not an enemy to be feared.
But, I think the main point of the Bible saying, “Jesus loved them so he waited” is this: Jesus wants us know that God has loving purposes in all that he does that go beyond our limited human understanding.
Providing the proof that death is not the end of things for Christians is a loving thing to do. But. I see this story teaching us more about the love of Jesus than that. When we go through hard times, e.g., my cancer diagnosis – job loss – a broken relationship – the loss of a loved one, etc. -- we often think that, if God really loved us, he would take that problem away and would do it right now. Then we go to church and the pastor says something that feels like a cliché, like “God has a loving purpose when he allows trouble to come into your life.” But, today, I tell you without reservation or doubt that this “cliché” is true. In fact, the message that God is doing something purposeful that you cannot now see in the midst of the pain or loss is the only sufficient answer to the suffering we experience in this world.
The Bible declares that God is involved in history and that his purposes are loving. From our limited human perspective, we will never be able to see all that God has in mind. What I’m saying is that the purposes that God has in allowing suffering like this death of Lazarus are often very complex. What happens to us does not just have one or two purposes but countless ones that God weaves together. All of them are interwoven in such a way that they demonstrate God’s “glory”, i.e., his power, his love, his wisdom…
Most of us know the most famous verse about this, Romans 8:28: We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him… That’s a mind-boggling assertion when you think about it. All things being worked together in the entire universe! That takes quite a project manager. But, that’s what God does in his wisdom. He works all things together out of his love – for the good…
So, in v. 4, we see that this incident is to reveal something about the greatness – the glory -- of God. What is it that is to be revealed? I say it will eventually reveal many, many things about God that could not have been known if Jesus had rushed to solve the problem. Sometimes, we get to see a little bit of why Jesus waits before intervening in our own lives – but I’m quite sure we never see all that God is doing.
Of the many things that God was working together for good in this incident with Lazarus, one piece begins to unfold as we read the rest of the Gospel of John. Read on and you will see that this is the very miracle that motivated Jesus’ enemies to put him to death. The religious leaders would think, “When Rome hears of this resurrection of a man dead for four days, they will come and destroy our whole nation (11:48)!” And, the high priest Caiaphas would say in 11:50, “It is better that this one man die than that the whole nation perish.”
Do you see it? This raising of Lazarus from the dead in front of so many people is the miracle that gave the religious leaders the courage to move against Jesus and to seek his death. And, as we now know, it is that death of Jesus that was necessary for us all to be saved.
Think of it: Jesus’ purpose was not only to raise Lazarus from being physically dead – because Lazarus would soon die again. Jesus waits in John 11 because he knows his waiting will lead to his own death -- to the death that will bring eternal life to these siblings and eventually to us. I contend that this is always the case when we suffer. The difficulty we go through has a divine purpose, a wonderful divine purpose, that we with our limited perspective often cannot see. What God asks us to do is to trust his love and his wisdom.
It’s like a parent who tells a child, “Trust me. I’ve lived a long time and I know that the decision I’ve made doesn’t make life easy for you – but I still am making this decision because I believe it is wise – and loving.” Then, if you understand that: Take that reality to an infinite level and that’s what we believe about the loving purposes of God.
So, unimaginable trouble happens in the world. “Where is God?” we ask. In those times, we are forced to ask if we will trust God. In John 11, people were asked if they would trust that God is at work even when a death like this one to Lazarus happens that we know Jesus could have prevented? Or, would they insist that their own wisdom was better than his? When things happen that we think make no sense, we must ask, “Is my wisdom in saying, ‘Suffering is pointless’ true or is God’s wisdom that declares that no suffering is pointless true? When trouble comes, we see whether we truly have faith in God. Suffering comes into our lives and will never leave us where we were before. We will be more trusting of God or less.
I’ve called this first lesson “the wisdom of Jesus’ love.” What do I mean by that? Jesus was wise and loving enough:
- To wait so that the path to the cross would be made open,
- To refrain from alleviating temporary suffering to provide for abundant life, and
- To allow for a physical death in order to make eternal life available for the world.
Let’s face it: You and I would have found it hard to see all that if we had been in Martha and Mary’s shoes. But, when we believe that Jesus loves us, is wise enough to know what is best, and that he is has the power to do anything – anything -- then we can pray diligently, trust confidently, wait expectantly, and obey fully – until in God’s time, we see his glory.
Lesson 2: The Empathy of Jesus’ love — Often, Jesus weeps. Jesus wept (11:35).
I’ve been told my whole life that John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible. Maybe it is. It is short – and it is profound. “Jesus wept.” Why did he weep? V.35 flows from v.33 -- when Jesus saw Mary weeping. Her tears deeply “moved Jesus in his spirit and he was troubled.” That phrase is one that usually referred to a horse that bucks and snorts when something crosses its path that shouldn’t be there. The lesson is that Jesus felt that this death and the sorrow that people he loved were undergoing was not the way life is ultimately supposed to be.
Think of the tension of this: Jesus waited because he loved these three people. He knew that the most loving thing for him to do was to wait. But, his waiting is the very thing that was causing them so much pain. He doesn’t say, “Ha! They’re going to see something fantastic in just a few moments so they should just grin and bear it!” No, he weeps in the midst of their pain. He weeps that there is death in this world for those he loves. It’s clear that Jesus’ heart is so fully bound up with their hearts that he feels their pain.
So, Jesus is weeping here instead of gloating and thinking, “Wait ‘til they see my next miracle!” No, he feels the grief and pain even while he knows that an enormous victory will happen in a very short time. He still weeps when he sees his people in pain. That’s how bound up the heart of Jesus is with you and me too. We are specks in history – he is the Maker of all; the Lord of history. But, when we hurt, Jesus weeps.
No other religion believes this. Other religions have God being so remote or so distant and so powerful that he feels no pain. Here we see the weeping Jesus. The weeping savior. Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus too much to step in too soon. The most loving thing for Jesus to do was to allow the shorter-term suffering so that eternal suffering could be destroyed. But still, he wept when he saw those he loved suffering. And, he still does.
And don’t miss this. When we see Jesus weeping with us in our pain, we must know that weeping with us is not all he does. Jesus does not merely weep about our pain and then leave helplessly. He stays involved in our lives. In his time, he will take away the pain and the tears. In his time, he told Lazarus to come out of the grave -- and Lazarus came! This is our hope too. This is the promise we hold to. We will someday see the fullness of the love and power and wisdom of Jesus.
I urge you today to learn to trust Jesus’ loving wisdom enough to wait for him in the midst of hard times. As you wait, remember that Jesus weeps with you. And, in the midst of your own tears, hold on to the certain hope that Jesus will not leave you where you are. The pain will end and, at the end of the pain, there will be life.
I think about Lazarus sometimes – especially at funerals. In V. 44, Lazarus had to put his grave clothes back on. You see, Jesus left his grave clothes in the tomb when he was resurrected because he was not so much coming back from the dead as He was passing through death to a new quality of life. But Lazarus was drawn back out through the same entrance he went in. Lazarus was raised from the dead but only one day to die again like anybody else. In his return, Martha and Mary were no doubt thrilled to have him back. But I wonder whether Lazarus was as thrilled. I wonder whether he was so glad about re‑entering “the land of the living” or whether now he knew that this would better be called the land of the dying.
When our powerful and loving Savior waits in the midst of our sorrow, he is doing it so that we will live – not just a few days or years -- but forever. He declared: I do what I do so that “whoever lives and believes in me will never die! I am the resurrection and the life!” Do you believe this?
Chinese Study Notes
耶穌的真實身份:我就是生命,我就是復活
約翰福音 11:1-37
“耶穌愛我萬不錯,
因為聖經這樣說;
我們都是屬於他,
我們軟弱他強壯。”
這周我們要看到一個神奇的故事,一個叫拉撒路的人在墳墓中死了四天后復活了。我們將聽見耶穌石破天驚的宣告:“我就是生命,我就是復活!”你也許奇怪為什麼我以“耶穌愛我”的兒歌開始,因為你覺得這個故事的重點不是關於耶穌的愛,而是強調他的能力。還是讓我們再看看這個故事吧。
11:3 -- 姐妹倆派人到耶穌那裡說:“主啊,你看,你所愛的人患了病。”
11:5 -- 耶穌一向愛馬大和她的妹妹,以及拉撒路。。。
11:33 --耶穌看見瑪麗亞在哭。。。靈裡深深難過。。。
11:36 -- 猶太人就說:“你看,他多麼愛拉撒路!”
我知道本章常常用來談論耶穌的能力---勝過死亡的能力,我在2015年復活節也有這樣講道。但透過這個故事中許多個人對話,我們注意到還有一個線索貫穿始終, 就是愛。信耶穌的人常常有掙扎,包括我們自己也會問:滿有能力和慈愛的神為什麼允許死亡和痛苦?你注意到伯大尼這個信徒之家了嗎?她們說:“主啊,如果你早在這裡,我弟弟就不會死了”(姊妹倆都問了), 連旁觀的世人也這樣問,在37節:“這個人既然開了瞎子的眼睛,難道就不能使拉撒路不死嗎?”
這就是我們今天要思想的。這段經文所涉及的問題切中慕道友的關心,這些問題甚至在信主後也會困擾我們。當我們遇到艱難、痛苦的事情時,就會問:“為什麼有能力掌管生死又愛我們的耶穌會容許他所愛的人經歷痛苦和死亡?”
我們將看見,耶穌的愛與能力是如何在這個不完美的世界發揮功用的,以及耶穌的愛如何與世人想像中的有很大不同。一旦超越我們平常的眼見,我們就會看見他的超越的愛。
功課一: 耶穌愛中的智慧 有時,耶穌要等候
耶穌一向愛馬大和她的妹妹,以及拉撒路。然而當他聽說拉撒路患了病,還繼續在原來的地方住了兩天 (11:5-6a).
故事以這樣開始是不是很奇怪?拉撒路病了,他的姐姐叫人送信告訴耶穌:“主啊,你所愛的人病了。”但在第5節,當耶穌聽到後,不但沒有回應,還多住了兩天,這是不是很反常?我知道今天有人會因為實在太忙而無法分身去看病人,但耶穌斷不是這樣!
有意思的是,NIV譯本甚至這樣翻:“耶穌愛拉撒路,所以他等。。。”這可不是我們的邏輯吧:難道會因為愛的緣故等待,致使拉撒路死去和姊妹們痛苦嗎?所以只有一個原因,就是耶穌在這件事上有一個充滿愛的計畫,不是簡單地讓拉撒路從病中康復---耶穌有意耽延,因為他愛拉撒路,不能草率行事。
我常想為什麼人會說信仰要在困難時閃光?上周我講到自己的健康問題後,收到許多愛心的建議和偏方 J 讓我們想想拉撒路:這樣一個愛耶穌的人病了,就要死了,是他自己的問題嗎?是因為他犯罪而帶來的疾病麼?是他小信麼?是他沒有在主面前祈求嗎?還是不幸遇見庸醫?
在我看來,這些事上可能需要一個真理的尺度判斷。的確,我們生命中的罪會帶來問題,有時我們得病是因為飲食、睡眠或鍛煉方式不對;而且我們都需要像雅各書5章所寫的,好好學習為醫病而祈求。不過這一段很明顯是神要給我們一個功課,就是在困難的時候,我們應有怎樣的世界觀。本章讓我們清楚看見,即使真心愛耶穌的人經歷大患難並陷在危機中時,耶穌也不總是立即出手。有時,當我們在需要中呼求他時,他看起來有意地等待什麼。。。
有一個金鑰可以幫助我們瞭解耶穌為什麼在第4節說“這病不至於死,而是為了神的榮耀,好使神的兒子由此得榮耀”。我覺得可以這樣翻譯:“疾病的結局不是死亡而是為了神的榮耀。”耶穌的意思是,他等待的目的為要彰顯神更大的計畫,比簡單治癒拉撒路更重要。耶穌沒有匆忙趕往伯大尼是因為他愛這家人。看看後來發生了什麼,看看耶穌等待的決定是怎樣一種愛?
我很個人性地認為,耶穌等待的目的是要説明馬大、瑪利亞、拉撒路和聽到此事的人認識:死亡並不是事情的結局。耶穌在這裡所彰顯的是:世上沒有什麼在他掌控之外。如果我們要以信心與主同行,我們就必須認識這點。事實上,拉撒路有一天還會死,馬大和瑪利亞也一樣,我們也會。
我一生中去過無數的葬禮。越是有思想的人來說,常常越是不確定死後是否有生命,所以葬禮就是困惑和絕望的時刻。死亡是這個世界上最大的敵人,但因著耶穌,死也不再是一個終結。透過拉撒路的死,以及使他死裡復活,耶穌向他所愛的人確認,死不再能恐嚇我們!
我想到聖經的重點:“耶穌愛他們所以等待”,就是說,耶穌要我們知道他在一切所做的事上都有愛的計畫,超過我們人類有限的理解。
對基督徒而言,證明死亡不是終結乃是一個愛的行動。但我看到這故事告訴我們更多有關耶穌的愛。當我們經歷試煉時,比如診斷出癌症,失業,關係破裂,失去所愛時,我們常常想,如果神真愛我們,神就會拿去這些問題並會立即回應。不過我們去到教會,牧師卻會老調重彈地這樣說:“當神允許你生命中經歷困境時,他有愛的計畫”。今天我要說,老調重彈是千真萬確的。雖然你在痛苦和損失中看不到神做事的目的,但神確實有目的,也就是你在世上經歷痛苦的答案。
聖經宣告神介入歷史,他的目的是愛。以人類的有限,我們無法度量神的意念。我所說的是,神容許痛苦存在,比如允許拉薩路之死,有時的確很難解釋。我們身上所發生的不是孤立事件,而是神所編織的無數計畫的體現。所有這些編在一起彰顯了神的能力、愛與智慧。
我們大多數人都知道羅馬書8:28節著名的經文:“神讓萬事互相效力,叫愛神的人得益處。。。”想想就拍案叫絕:整個宇宙萬物都一起相輔相成!這需要多大的安排啊,卻在神的智慧中成就了。他以愛使萬事互相效力,為了我們的好處。。。
在第4節,我們看到這個事件正是要彰顯神的至高榮耀---那是什麼呢?如果耶穌匆忙去處理問題,我們就不會看見後面許許多多要彰顯的事情了。有時,我們會看到耶穌在介入我們生活前的等待,但我們絕不會看到神所做的一切。
在這個事件中,神讓許多事相輔相成,其中一個就是當我們讀約翰福音餘下的部分時,我們看到這件神跡促使了耶穌的敵人置他於死地。宗教領袖想:“如果任憑他這樣下去,大家都會信他,羅馬人就會來,奪取我們的聖地和國家!”(11:48) 。其中有一個人叫該亞法,是當年的大祭司,對他們說:“也不想一想,一個人替民眾死,免得全民族滅亡”(11:50)。
看到了嗎?在眾人面前使拉撒路從死裡復活的神跡竟然讓宗教領袖下定決心除掉耶穌,置他於死地。但事實上,我們今天知道,他的死對我們得救是至關重要的。
想想看,耶穌讓拉撒路從死裡復活不是唯一的目的,因為拉撒路不久還會死。耶穌在本章的等待是因為他知道,他的等待最終會導致他的死----好使這些弟兄姊妹包括我們最終得永生!我認為當我們在痛苦中,這是最好的例證。我們所經歷的困難都有神聖的目的,一個美好而神聖的目的,是我們的有限所看不到的。神要我們相信他的愛和智慧。
這就像父母告訴孩子:“相信我,我有人生經驗,我知道我的決定不一定讓你的生活更容易,但我做的決定是智慧的決定,充滿了愛!”若你能明白這個,並能從永恆的角度看見這真理,我想這就是神的愛的目的了。
當無法想像的災難來臨時,我們問“神在哪裡?”同時,我們也被迫自問是否相信神。在本章,人們被問及:在耶穌可以阻止拉撒路之死而有意耽延時,是否還相信神在工作?或者是否要堅持自己的智慧勝過耶穌?當我們對所發生的事無解時,我們必須問:究竟是我所認為的“苦難沒有意義”對呢還是神智慧所宣告的“任何苦難都有意義”對呢?當困境來臨時,我們要審視我們是否真信神。我們生命中的患難不會將我們拋棄在過去的光景,而會讓我們對神更增加一點信心。
我稱第一個功課為“耶穌智慧中的愛”,意思是耶穌有足夠的智慧和愛:
- 等候使十字架之路打開
- 對暫時的困難不採取立即的行動是為了更豐盛的生命
- 允許肉體的死亡好讓世人得永生。
我們要面對一個事實,就是若我們是瑪大和瑪利亞,我們也很難看到全部。但我們相信耶穌愛我們,且有足夠的智慧知道什麼是最好的,並且他有能力去做任何事。我們要常常禱告,持守信念,在盼望中等待神的時間,直到看到神的榮耀。
功課二: 耶穌愛中的同情 — 耶穌常常哭。耶穌哭了 (11:35).
我從小就知道約翰福音11:35節是聖經中最短的經文,也許,它雖短但不失豐富的含義,“耶穌哭了”,為什麼?在上下文中看見,因為耶穌看見瑪利亞哭了,她的眼淚深深打動耶穌的心靈,使他“內心煩擾”(33節)。這樣的詞句原來是形容一匹馬遇到路障時,會打響鼻煩躁不安。耶穌此時感同身受他所愛的人的去世和因此帶來的悲哀,他知道這不應該是生命的終局。
想想這裡的衝突:耶穌的等待是因為他愛這三個人。他知道能做的最愛他們的事就是等,但他的等待又直接導致了她們的痛苦。他沒有說:“哈,她們很快就要看到精彩的一幕,所以她們只需毫無怨言地忍受吧”。不,他在她們的痛苦中哭了。他哭是因為這世界上有一個他所愛的人死去。很明顯,耶穌的心與她們緊緊相連,可以深切感受她們的痛苦。
於是耶穌哭了,沒有沾沾自喜地想:“等會兒讓她們看看我的神跡!”不,他感受到痛苦和悲傷,儘管他知道很快人們就會看見巨大的勝利。他看見他的朋友哭也哭了,這就是耶穌如何與你我心連心。我們不過是歷史的一個斑點---而他是一切的創造者,歷史的主宰。但是當我們受傷時,耶穌哭了。
其它宗教無法相信這件事,因為它們的神明太遙不可及,以致感受不了痛苦。但我們在這裡看見了哭泣的耶穌,哭泣的救主。耶穌深愛馬大、瑪利亞和拉撒路,他沒有匆忙行事,他所做的最愛他們的事就是允許短暫的痛苦,而毀滅了永遠的痛苦。但他還是哭了,他看見他所愛的人痛苦,他還是哭了。
不要忽略這點。當我們看見耶穌在我們痛苦中同哭時,我們一定要知道,與我們同哭不是他要做的全部,他不會為我們哭泣然後無助地離去,他留下了,要介入我們的生命。在他的時間,他要拿去痛苦和眼淚;在他的時間,他告訴拉撒路走出墳墓---拉薩路真這樣做了!這就是我們的盼望,是我們持守的應許。我們有一天將會看見耶穌完全的愛,能力和智慧。
我奉勸你們今天就學習相信耶穌的愛中有足夠的智慧,學會在困境中等候他。當你等候時,記住耶穌與你同哭;在你自己的眼淚中,要持守盼望,堅信耶穌沒有離棄你。痛苦必將終結,那時就有新生。
我有時想到拉撒路,特別當我在葬禮上。在44節,拉撒路還穿著墳墓裡的衣物。而耶穌復活時,他把墳墓的衣物留在了墳墓,因為他不是從死裡回來,而是經過死亡進入新的生命。但拉撒路是被從同一個死門收回的,他從死裡復活也只有一天就和其他人一樣又死了。他回來時,马大和瑪利亞無疑極其激動。但我想知道拉撒路是否一樣激動,是否特別興奮重新進入“生命之地”?也許他現在認識到這世界更應該被稱為“死亡之地”。
當我們大能和慈愛的救主在我們的痛苦中等待時,他在工作!他不是讓我們只活幾天或幾年,而是要活到永遠。他宣告:我所做的是為了使“所有活著並信我的人絕不會死。我就是生命,我就是復活!”你信這話麼?
Small Group Questions
Read John 11:1-7, 17-37
- The context of this passage is that Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, has already died by the time of Jesus’ visit. Read verse 21 and then verse 24. What do you think of Martha’s responses?
- Read through the passage again and make note of the times you see Jesus’ love and compassion. Then read 11:6 again. Why did Jesus wait?
- Read verse 25. How do you feel about Jesus saying he is “the resurrection and the life”?
- Why do you think Martha replied the way she did in verse 27?
- Martha appears to be full of faith in verse 27. Do you think it was hard for her to believe in Jesus in the way she did?
- Jesus knew that Lazarus’ death would be overturned. Still, he wept (11:35). Why?
- As followers of Jesus how do you think we ought to live our lives given that light of Jesus is the “Resurrection and the Life”?