I AM the Resurrection and the Life

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?