An Incredible Moment with Lazarus (John 11:1-44)

This is another one of my favorite passages in Scripture. Maybe because of the certain hope it shows me. Truly it shows me a life regiven. In fact, this will be a difficult post because I have so much to share. To condense it down, well, I'll give it my best shot. May my recall be poor! ;D

Lazarus and Jesus' relationship must have been very, very close. Lazarus must have been a very special man, and not just to his sisters. He was dearly loved. The message sent by his sisters sums it up clearly, "Lord, the one you love is sick" (John 11:3, emphasis mine). I'm sure everyone, Lazarus' sisters and the disciples, thought that Jesus would get there in time to heal him. After all, Christ said to the disciples, "this sickness will not end in death" (John 11:4). However, God had something far more significant in store.

I'm sure if we had our own way we would just rather life functioned like a dot-to-dot drawing. Where all we needed to do was to go to each dot in the order they are meant. We have a sense of what the picture will be but the details don't fully emerge until all the dots are connected. But, that isn't the way God works, is it? God's will doesn't always proceed in a straight line. I don't always see a clear connection between point A and point B. Isn't it neat how God wraps up my good with your good and the good of both of us with the good of others? The plot lines of our individual stories weave together to form Him master plan. I guess what I'm trying to say is each of our stories matter to Jesus, just as the individual stories of Mary, Martha and Lazarus mattered to Him.

Why would Jesus allow such sorrow to come to a family who loved Him so much? Why would He withhold His power to heal when He had healed so often before? We are not guaranteed any explanations however, we are given a promise: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

For me, I tend to want rational reasons for everything. But, I have found out that God's love sometimes tarries for our good and His glory. Think of the blind man and the rabbis questioning of Jesus who had sinned, this man or his parents? Because of a fallen world, a man was born blind. But because of that man, Jesus Christ was glorified. We are cherished and highly loved.

Another lesson from Lazarus that I pull out is God's ways are not our ways, but His character is still dependable. If anyone is struggling to hang on in the midst of a difficult circumstance, let me gently remind you to go back to what you know about God. Open the Bible and find scriptures to cling to. Scriptures which reveal the heart and faithfulness of God. Remind yourself that God is your strength. He is your source of comfort. If someone is struggling to trust God, then it may be because you don't really know God. Questions will always arise out of our lives. The answers are always found in Him and His Word.

The whole emphasis in chapter 11 of John is on faith; I find some form of the word believe at least eight times in this account. Another theme is "the glory of God" (John 11:4, 40). In what Jesus said and did, He sought to strengthen the faith of three groups of people...the disciples, the sisters and the Jews.

The time line is interesting in this account. One day a messenger arrived with the sad news that Lazarus was sick. The messenger would have made the trip in one day if he had traveled fast. Jesus sends the man back with the encouraging message in John 11:4. Then Jesus waited two more days before He left for Bethany; and by the time He and His disciples arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. This means that Lazarus had died the very day the messenger left to contact Jesus!

Think what the message would convey to the sisters who are now grieving. Jesus was urging them to believe His Word no matter how discouraging the circumstances might appear. God's love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love. After all, the Father loves His Son and yet the Father permitted His beloved Son to drink the cup of sorrow and experience the shame and pain of the Cross. When we find ourselves confronted by disease, disappointment, delay, and even death, our only encouragement is the Word of God. We must live by faith and not by sight.

What about our Lord's delay? Jesus wasn't waiting for Lazarus to die for he was already dead. Jesus lived on a divine timetable (v 9) and He was waiting for the Father to tell Him when to go to Bethany. The fact that Lazarus had been dead four days gave greater authenticity to the miracle and greater opportunity for people to believe, including His own disciples (v 15).

For the disciples, He did not say He was glad that His friend died, but that He was glad He had not been there. Now, you see, He could reveal to His disciples His mighty power. The result would be glory to God and the strengthening of their faith.

Now, it wasn't just the disciples He was concerned with but also Mary and Martha. I see each experience of suffering and trial ought to be increasing our faith, but this kind of spiritual growth isn't automatic. I believe we must respond positively to the ministry of the Word and the Holy Spirit. You see, Jesus had sent a promise to the two sisters (v.4), and now He would discover how they had received it.

I love how quick Martha was to affirm her faith in Christ (v 22), and Jesus responded by promising her that her brother would rise again. Don't you love it? He was thinking of the immediate situation, but she interpreted His words to mean the future resurrection in the last day. Here is another instance of people lacking spiritual perception and being unable to understand the words of Jesus.

Our Lord's reply is the fifth of the I AM statements. Now, understand that Jesus did not deny what Martha said about the future resurrection but in His I AM statement, the Lord completely transformed the doctrine of the resurrection and, in so doing, brought great comfort to Martha's heart. How He transformed the doctrine of the resurrection is a whole other post. [Aren't you glad? ;) ]

Martha was looking to the future, knowing that Lazarus would rise again and she would see him. Her friends were looking to the past and saying, "He could have prevented Lazarus from dying!" But do you see Jesus? He tried to center their attention on the present: wherever He is, God's resurrection power is available now (Romans 6:4; Gal 2:20; Phil 3:10). Martha did not hesitate to affirm her faith. She used three different titles for Jesus: Lord, Christ (Messiah), and Son of God. The words "I believe" are in the perfect tense, indicating a fixed and settled faith. "I have believed and I will continue to believe!"

But what about Mary? Mary is found three times in the Gospel record, and each time she is at the feet of Jesus. May I learn to be more like Mary in my every day! She sat at His feet and listened to His word; she fell at His feet and poured out her sorrow; and she came to His feet to give Him her praise and worship. Mary's only recorded words in the Gospels are given in John 11:32 and they echo what Martha had already said.

The Lord's response to Mary's weeping was to groan within and be moved with indignation. Why? I wonder, could it be at the ravages of sin in the world that He had created? Death is an enemy, and Satan uses the fear of death as a terrible weapon (Hebrews 2:14-18). No wonder Jesus was indignant!

I find the mystery of the Lord's incarnation so very interesting as is seen by His question in John 11:34. Jesus knew that Lazarus had died (v 11), but He had to ask where he was buried. Our Lord never used His divine powers when normal human means would suffice. Also, His was a silent weeping, not the loud lamenting done by the other mourners. (The Greek word is used nowhere else in the New Testament.) Do you wonder why He wept at all? Especially since He knew He was going to raise him from the dead? For me, it reveals the humanity of my Savior. In fact, I believe with Him being the perfect God-Man, Jesus probably experienced these things in a deeper way than we do.

Perhaps Jesus was weeping for Lazarus, as well as with the sisters, because He knew He was calling His friend from heaven and back into a wicked world where he would one day have to die again. Jesus had come down from heaven; He knew what Lazarus was leaving behind. The spectators thought His tears showed how He loved Lazarus. Nobody present really expected a miracle!!! Certainly nobody could accuse Jesus of "plotting" this event. The one person who declared her faith was Martha and she failed at the last minute. "Open the tomb??!" Jesus gently reminded her of the message He had sent at least three days before and He urged her to believe it. True faith relies on God's promises and thereby releases God's power. Martha relented, and the stone was rolled away.

Finally, the emphasis is shifted to the spectators who had come to comfort the sisters. Jesus paused to pray and thanked the Father that the prayer had already been heard. When had He prayed? Don't you just love it? He probably prayed when He received the message that His friend was sick. The Father then told Him what the plan was, and Jesus obeyed the Father's will. His prayer now was for the sake of the unbelieving spectators, that they might know that God had sent Him.

I read by some author somewhere that if Jesus had not named Lazarus when He shouted, He would have emptied the whole cemetery! Jesus called "Lazarus" and raised him from the dead. Now think about that. Since Lazarus was bound, he could not walk to the door of the tomb; so God's power must have carried him along.

Isn't this experience of Lazarus a good illustration of what happens to a sinner when he trusts the Saviour? Lazarus was dead, and all sinners are dead. He was decayed, because death and decay go together. All lost people are spiritually dead, but some are more "decayed" than others. No one can be "more dead" than another.

He was raised from the dead by the power of God, and all who trust Christ have been given new life and lifted out of the graveyard of sin (John 5:24). Lazarus was set free from the grave clothes (Col 3:1ff) and given new liberty. We find him seated with Christ at the table (John 12:2), and all believers are "seated with Christ" in heavenly places (Eph 2:6), enjoying spiritual food and fellowship.

Wow! Because of the great change in Lazarus, many people desired to see him; and his "living witness" was used by God to bring people to salvation (John 12:9-11). There are no recorded words of Lazarus in the Gospels, but his daily walk is enough to convince people that Jesus is the Son of God. Some did believe but, of course, there were some who reported what had happened in Bethany. These "informers" were so near the kingdom, yet there is no evidence that they believed. If the heart will not yield to truth, then the grace of God cannot bring salvation.

Chapter 11 reveals the deity of Jesus Christ and the utter depravity of the human heart. Miracles certainly reveal the power of God, but of themselves they cannot communicate the grace of God. Now we can look back in history during which man would do his worst and yet, God, would give His best!!!