The Text: John 11:20-44
For You, Jesus Is the Resurrection and the Life
What do you value most about other members of your life? What do they value
most about you? What changes have you noticed in them? While some things
always stay the same in most of us, other parts of our character change over the
years.
In today’s Gospel we see how two sisters face a family tragedy differently, namely
the death of their brother Lazarus. The home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus was a
favourite place of retreat for our Lord. This family is referred to as His friends rather
than His disciples, a friendship Jesus deeply treasured. We’re told that “Jesus loved
Martha and her sister and Lazarus”. Even now and today, Christ’s love is both for
each of you individually and also as part of your families. He cares for you when
you face life’s tough times like serious illness and death.
The account of how two sisters faced a death in their family has given us Christians
immense help when death intrudes unexpectedly into our own lives. Here we see
how deeply our Saviour is affected by what happens to us. “Jesus wept” is often
called the shortest verse in the Bible. But at the same time it has become the
longest in terms of comfort for those of us who too weep over the death of a loved
one. We don’t find it easy, do we, to talk about death. Talk of it makes us
uncomfortable. We all know it’s out there somewhere for us, but we’re reluctant to
discuss our own death or that of anyone else before we have to do so.
We often think differently about death after we’ve had to face the death of a
family member for the first time. The Christian faith we share began as a death-
conquering belief. Jesus’ own death and resurrection has made all the difference.
To a world lacking any certain hope of life beyond death, the Christian Church
proclaimed the sure and certain hope of the resurrection unto life eternal through
Jesus Christ. Because Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus, we can say to those
who are crying their eyes out with grief: “It’s okay to cry. Keep on crying. Jesus cries
with you.”
Before Lazarus had died, his sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love
is sick.” What an insightful message. It focuses on Jesus’ love for Lazarus, telling Jesus
what’s upsetting them without telling Jesus what to do. In any crisis we need the
assurance of our Lord’s love for us, despite whatever tough or puzzling
circumstances we’re facing.
Next we’re told that Jesus delayed His trip to Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany
for two days. Our Lord’s timing often puzzles us. Often it seems as if He’s delaying His
response to our prayer petitions. Our Lord responds to our cries for help, but in His
own time and on His own terms. Even if Jesus had come to Lazarus’ home
immediately, Lazarus would have been dead for two days by the time Jesus
arrived. Today’s Gospel reassures you and me that Jesus cares for us more than we
could ever imagine. He says,
“’My ways are not your ways’ says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).”
He cares for you by bringing you into a caring community where fellow Christians
can visit you when you’re unwell and pray for you. “For your sake” Jesus says, “I am
glad I was not there, so that you might believe (v15).” That is, believe that death
cannot be victorious over He who is “the Resurrection and the Life”. Jesus let
Lazarus die so that He could show Himself to us as the Lord over life and death.
Jesus challenges you and me to trust in His good plans for us and their positive
purpose which can often only be seen in hindsight.
A mother and father’s only daughter was playing on the front lawn of their corner
block home. Some young lads couldn’t’ make it around the corner in their car. The
girl was hit and killed. Her parents were inconsolable. At the time, they saw no
purpose in this terrible tragedy. But then they were asked to become foster parents
to some orphaned children. They came to see the hand of God in giving them the
joy of caring for these parentless children. As a result, the children they fostered
have grown up thanking God for their foster parents, who led them to Jesus.
Now when Martha heard that Jesus’ arrival was imminent, she went to meet Him.
We now see a changed Martha. Previously when Jesus was at their home she did
the meal preparation on her own, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to Him.
Martha now engages in a learning exercise with Jesus. Here we see how her faith
grows as she enters into a theological dialogue with Jesus. Martha is an active,
outgoing woman, who is less distracted by relational crises than is her sister Mary.
When Martha meets Jesus, she says to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask
of Him (John 11:21-22).” That Martha can still believe and give tribute to Jesus
despite His late arrival is evidence of the convincing power of Christ’s presence. She
clearly still hopes for much from Jesus. She refers to Jesus as Teacher to indicate her
willingness to be taught by Him.
Jesus delays in responding to our pleas in order to bring us a blessing. Jesus’ delay in
coming to Martha didn’t weaken her faith in Him. Her words “if only you had been
here” are an expression of how much she missed Jesus. She believes that her
brother will rise again on the Last Day. In response to this assertion, Jesus now gives
her His most comforting declaration. He says to her, “I am the Resurrection and the
Life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who
lives and believes in me will never die (11:25).”
These words from Jesus have brought us unsurpassed comfort and hope when
we’re dealing with death. Jesus wants Martha to see that new life, life lived in the
light of Easter is possible now, in the present, before we die. Jesus uses the presence
tense: “I am the Resurrection.” Christ, your contemporary, can enable you to live in
the light of Easter now. In Christ, there’s the true possibility of a richer, fuller now,
before we die.
Jesus points to His own Resurrection as the guarantee of what He says. In response,
Martha makes one of the greatest confessions of faith in the New Testament when
she says, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One
coming into the world.” God grant that we too can enthusiastically respond
similarly to Martha. What astonishes us is that she responds to Jesus with these words
even before her brother returns to life! Despite her sister Mary’s slow response to
Jesus’ arrival, she’s still told the good news, “The Teacher [Jesus] is here and is
asking for you (v28).” Wonderful words! They could be written on the back of every
Church pew: “Jesus is here and asking for you.”
Mary is thrilled to know that Jesus wants her. When He sees her crying her heart out,
Jesus is deeply moved and visibly distressed. Then we’re told, “Jesus wept.” Seeing
the tears of those we love deeply rarely leaves us unaffected. Tears pour from our
eyes in order to keep our souls from falling apart. Jesus isn’t ashamed to weep with
us. His tears hallow our own tears. In the garden of Gethsemane on the night before
His own death, Jesus’ fear of death means that He can understand firsthand our
own fear of death and therefore help us when we too are afraid of death and
dying. We read in Hebrews 5:7, “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers
and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him
from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.”
“Amazing love, how can it be / that you, my Lord, should cry with me?”
Jesus wept because He shares the emotions of those He loves. He also wept
because He had come face to face with the impending reality of His own death.
Jesus gives us life that is stronger than death, but at the cost of His own life.
“Lazarus, come out”, Jesus calls with a loud voice. One day you too may hear your
Lord call you by name to enter the resurrection and the life that can never end. The
good news of the resurrection, Christ’s resurrection and our own resurrection makes
our mortality bearable. When we walk through ‘the valley of the shadow of death”,
Christ, the Good Shepherd, is there with us to comfort us, to strengthen us and to
console us as only He can.
Some of life’s greatest moments occur when we face death with Him who is “the
Resurrection and the Life.” Before Jesus raised Lazarus from his tomb, Jesus prayed
aloud in order to draw all who heard His prayer into the intimacy and confidence of
His relationship with His Father in heaven. Let us never forget that “Precious in the
Lord’s sight is the death of His faithful ones (Psalm 116:15).” Your Lord showed how
precious you are to Him by dying for you, dying with you, and by His eager desire to
share the Resurrection with you in His good time. Until then, remember that
“whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8).”
Amen.