Is there anyone here who doesn’t expect to die? Then we all have an interest in this passage! Is there anyone here who hasn’t been bereaved – or never expects to be bereaved – of someone near and dear to them? Then we need to hear again the Lord’s words – and receive them to our comfort! Is there anyone here who does not yet know and trust Jesus as their Lord and Saviour? Then I plead with you to weigh the significance of what John relates here, for he says he writes “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in his name”. (John 20:31)

When he wrote this gospel, John selected seven extraordinary things which Jesus did. He calls them signs – because each of them points us to Jesus himself. In them, Jesus reveals what God is like. Through them, we are to see who Jesus really is. And by them we are challenged to put our own trust in Jesus, and commit our lives to him.

This chapter tells us of the seventh, the last and most wonderful of his signs. It is told in significant, circumstantial detail, that marks it as the account of an eye-witness. It is the climactic event which John says (John 11:47-53) sets in train the decision of the authorities to crucify Jesus. So it is a curtain-raiser for the drama of our Lord’s own death and resurrection, which it foreshadows, and gives meaning to.

The Love of Jesus

A prelude to this miraculous sign occupies the first 16 verses. Jesus and his disciples are on the eastern side of the Jordan, where he went following murderous threats from Jews in Jerusalem. Yet he was not so very far away – since many came to hear and be taught by him. (John 10:31,39-42)

While there, Jesus receives a message from two sisters, living in Bethany, which was only about 3km from Jerusalem. It was brief and to the point, Master, the one you love is sick, referring to their brother, Lazarus. It’s clear, isn’t it, that Jesus had a warm, easy and close relationship to these three? Throughout the whole episode, we encounter a Jesus who truly loves them. Yet he stays on, where he is, another two whole days. We’re mystified, aren’t we? But the reason lies in a greater love and a greater relationship – that of Jesus with his Father. For Jesus had said, I do nothing on my own.. The One who sent me is with me.. I always do what pleases him. (John 8:29)

So Jesus was able to say, not wishfully, but with utter confidence, This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son may be glorified by it. And that, I think, was also the message he sent back to the sisters. Yet, two days later Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus had died!

We don’t know how far away Jesus was from Bethany. It’s possible that Lazarus had died before the messenger reached Jesus, or soon after that time. If Jesus knew that – why did he delay his departure? We can’t be sure – except it was his Father’s will. When Jesus did reach Bethany, Lazarus was already dead four days.

And that is significant. It was the moment of the most intense mourning. In Jewish thought the spirit of the deceased stayed with the mourners three days, and then departed when the body was clearly decomposing, and all hope of any restoration to life had gone. So the raising of Lazarus from death was a tremendous miracle, unforeseen by all except Jesus, who had told his friends, I am going back, to wake Lazarus up – from the sleep of death. He even said, I’m glad I wasn’t there – so that you may believe. That was the important reason for the delay.

What has all this to say to us? Don’t we experience intense disappointment when we pray for something – and we don’t receive it – or only after a long delay? How do we cope with that? Let’s learn from this story that it doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t love us – quite the contrary! But God’s agenda differs from ours. We find it hard, faith-testing, to wait – still more, to be denied.

But God loves us (like Mary and Martha) more than we can ever know. God is concerned not to make us happy – but to make us holy – to change our whole perspective on life, so that we see it more through his eyes. So that we perceive his goals for our life, for those around us, for his world – so that we’re moved by the same compassion he has. So that we seek to be and to do what he has created us for. Only thus can we know true fulfillment and glorify him in our lives. He doesn’t intend to leave us half-saved, only half-sanctified!

Because we are finite creatures, we cannot know all the issues involved – so there are likely to be delays and disappointments in our lives. But our Lord calls us to go on trusting him, to go on following him – to our life’s end. That is, our life in this world. He has something far greater beyond – if only we will be committed to him here. Meanwhile, as we shall see, he shares our sorrows and deepest feelings.

The Authority of Jesus

When Jesus arrives at Bethany – he still doesn’t go straight to Mary and Martha’s home. He stays at a little distance, so that he can talk to them by themselves. Someone saw him and told Martha – who, characteristically, goes out to meet him. She says the words she and her sister had, no doubt, been saying over and over again to each other, If you had been here, my brother would not have died. I don’t think it’s a reproach, just a statement of their faith in Jesus, for she goes on to say, Even now, I know God will give you whatever you ask. They realise how intimate is the relationship there. But she does not, I think, expect more than Jesus’ love and comforting words.

So Jesus draws her out, Your brother will rise again. And Martha responds with the best Jewish hope – that God will not leave his own to pass into oblivion – I know he will rise again in the Resurrection at the last day. Many of us would, I hope, be able to say as much – and have probably done so, to those who are bereaved. But such words could not have eased much, the pain and distress the sisters felt. For shortly we witness Mary’s more demonstrative greeting – falling at Jesus’ feet – saying the same words as Martha – and sobbing her heart out.

So the words Jesus now utters – to Martha and to us all – are quite extraordinary. I am the Resurrection and the Life. Wouldn’t this statement have been utterly incredible – if Jesus hadn’t demonstrated its truth – and if it hadn’t applied to himself?! For, with these words Jesus claims to be what only God is – the Lord and giver of all Life, who can reverse death, and all that death can do.

And Jesus makes it plain that he’s not just talking about physical death and our present physical life (although that is what he restores Lazarus to – for a time). He’s talking about our experiencing the very life of God himself, the unquenchable life of eternity, through an intimate union with himself. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? First spoken to Martha, this question is for us, too. Jesus is pointing her to something far more than a distant hope. He is pointing to himself, as the source of a present reality, a present life, to be received and embraced by a present trust and a daily commitment to live out this life in all our relationships. Such is the reality of Jesus’ oneness with his Father – and such his awareness that our restoration to life lies through his death and resurrection – that he knows he has the authority to speak these words.

The Victory of Jesus

When Jesus sees Mary sobbing at his feet – and her friends wailing too – John tells us Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. But this English translation is too weak – the Greek implies a deep anger welling up within him (The Message). Jesus’ emotional turmoil must have been apparent, however much it was held back and confined to his spirit.

What could be the reason for this indignation, this restrained rage? I believe, with many others, that there is only one explanation that really fits. As Jesus sees and feels the human distress that death occasions – and as he himself sheds tears – Jesus is furious with death itself. And with the enemy of God and of mankind, who stands behind death, as its cause, and through it, manifests his hatred. At that moment, the death of Lazarus represents to Jesus the deaths of all men and women – and the mourners’ tears – the sorrows of all mankind. The Son of God came to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8) – and here Jesus advances to the tomb as our Champion, ready to do combat with our enemy, indignant that death – in all its obscenity – should hold us in its violent grip.

He demands that the tomb be opened. Martha cannot conceive what Jesus is about to do. For a moment her thoughts are earth-bound, unable to rise above practicalities – who can blame her? But Jesus reminds her – if she really trusts him – she would see God’s glory – see what God is really like – and who Jesus really is!

Now – when everyone there must have fallen silent – Jesus pauses, looks up, and speaks aloud to his Father. Not a request – but a thanksgiving! Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe you sent me.

Then Jesus calls out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! And the dead man stumbles out, still bound in his grave-clothes. Now we know, in this awesome moment, Jesus’ authority and victory over death. Not just for Lazarus – but for us all, who have put our trust in Jesus – eternal life awaits us beyond death. He is the I AM, who has life in himself, and who gives life to what is dead. He speaks and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive! (C. Wesley)

The Offer of Jesus

Those by-standers are like ourselves. We too stand at that tomb – and we too have a choice. Perhaps two choices. Many disbelieve this miracle ever took place. Their disbelief comes down to one of two possibilities. Either this whole event is fiction – or it was fixed, an elaborate hoax. Given the power of this gospel to transform lives – either alternative would involve a moral miracle.

John gives no indication that the witnesses – who had also seen the sisters’ distress – had any doubts that Lazarus really was raised from death. Many put their faith in Jesus, as a result. But some, innocently or otherwise, told the Jewish authorities, whose reaction was to see Jesus as a threat to their way of life – a threat that had to be eliminated.

Our own reaction will follow one or other of these same paths. We can resent the threat to our self-centred, autonomous way of life, that Jesus represents, and never be more than by-standers – or we can now surrender our independence, turn and put our trust in Jesus – the Lord of Life, who wills our restoration to fellowship with him. Jesus lay down his own life to achieve this.

You will recall that Thomas said, Let’s go, that we may die with him. He spoke more truth than he realised – for when Jesus calls a man or woman to follow him, he bids that person come and die – die to our independence, to our self-chosen way of life, so we may truly live.

Jim Elliott, martyr missionary to the Aucas, said, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. For, be sure of this – there is no hope beyond this life outside of Jesus Christ, God’s Son – for he alone is the Resurrection and the Life.

And if we trust him now, he will raise us now from spiritual death, and give us new life, his Risen Life, that we might be with him for ever.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Lord of Life, and I worship you – create or renew in me a real trust in you as my Lord and Saviour, so that I may share in your Risen Life. Thank you for dying for me. I ask you to forgive everything in my life that grieves you. I hand over all my fears to you. I commit myself to serve you, to trust and hope in you, even when I’m disappointed. Help me to see the world, and its need, from your perspective. Help me to die to the self-life, and to live in the joy and power of your Spirit all my days. Amen.