Read
John 11.26-27...
The
questions that Jesus asks, always serve to measure our faith. And
just as was the case with Martha, here, our thoughts are no match for
His thoughts, no matter how hard we try to make sense of them! In
fact, we have to learn to think like our Lord; while He's thinking
here, of here-and-now power, Martha's thinking of there-and-then
power. Here-and-now problems are of no consequence to Jesus. But
Mary's faith, and our faith is limited to what we see and hear. She
couldn't and we can't, see or think beyond the four walls, or out to
that cemetary. She couldn't stretch her understanding to include the
fact that Jesus was the Inventor of life as she knew it, as well as
life as she could never imagine it! And He's the very same Jesus we
know today, about to teach a lesson about love and grief and power
beyond her wildest imagination!
Well,
as we had seen back in vs. 20, Martha, in her rush to meet the Lord,
had for awhile, forgotten all about her sister Mary. But when Jesus
began to teach her eternal truths, she realized that Mary should be
there, to fellowship with, and to learn from the Lord, as well. So,
as we read in vss. 28-29...(read). Now the fact that she called Mary
secretly, is significant, because according to vs. 19, there were
many Jews in the house, some of whom probably were not in sympathy
with Jesus, so it was probably best if they weren't alerted. On the
other hand of course, both Mary and Martha had a special relationship
with Christ, and would have wanted to spend some time with Him alone,
grieving the loss of their brother. You know the hymn, "Fairest
of Ten Thousand to My Soul"? Well that's about Jesus, literally,
and that's how those sisters seem to have felt about Him.
Read
vs. 30...
Jesus
had not moved, from the time that Martha had left Him. You see, Jesus
knows what is beyond our ability to understand. He had a purpose in
coming to earth, and death is of no consequence to Him. And He
wasn't interested in undue drama, either. The fact was, and still is,
that Jesus is concerned about real, live people. We'll see that, for
certain, very shortly, in this series. But we also see, from vs. 31,
that the Jews who were gathered at the home of the bereaved, followed
Mary out, supposing that she was going to the gravesite. You know,
this whole scene was orchestrated by God in heaven, to be played-out
in His own good time. This last of Jesus' miracles before His
resurrection, was to be very public, performed before many witnesses.
And now, their time had come.
We
can see from vs. 32, just how filled with grief, Mary was. And you
know, "at Jesus' feet", is not a bad place to be, and Mary
was often to be found there, washing and anointing Him. Mary knew
how to worship! But you know, on this occasion she could only think
of what might have been..."If only"; the language of the
people. If only we had faith the size of a mountain, we might move a
mustard seed! "Give us more faith, Lord". Well let me tell
you a little secret...faith takes faith! We simply don't have the
will to practice it. "Lord, why didn't you heal my brother, like
I asked you to?" Well, let me say it again...death is of no
consequence to Jesus. Without a doubt, the reason He permitted
Lazarus' death was already revealed to us back in vs. 4 (read). This
may not be always apparent to us, with our dim spiritual vision, but
you can be certain that God's purposes are greater than our purposes,
every time!
Read
vss. 33-35...
This
is an outstanding statement...one of the few that we read about the
Saviour's humanity..."that He groaned in the Spirit...was
troubled", and that..."Jesus wept". We read elsewhere
in the scriptures that all of creation groans and travails over the
consequences of sin. But here we read of the Creator Himself, so
affected by the awefulness of death!
Did
you know that vs. 35 is the shortest verse in scripture? Well let me
tell you, it may be short, but it speaks volumes about Who and why
Jesus is...and what, and how, we are. He is love, joy, peace,
patience, gentleness, faithfulness, meekness, goodness and
temperance; we are flesh, and of the flesh, and "the works of
the flesh are manifest in us". When we weep, it is for the dead;
when Jesus weeps, it is for the living.
There
are three times in the New Testament when we read of Jesus
weeping...here in this passage, then, over Jerusalem, as we see in
Luke 19.41, and in Gethsemane, as revealed in Hebrews 5.7. Jesus'
grief was for those who grieved, who could only see through the glass
darkly. He is "the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief",
as we read in Isaiah. And the Jews, in vs. 36 exclaimed...(read).
Jesus had a perfect human heart; He wept with those who wept. And He
is the same "yesterday, today and forever".
Read
vs. 37..."(but) some of them said...".
Some
simply cannot, or will not accept, or will not expect, any thing, or
any good, from any one. Pick, pick, pick! Everything Jesus did had a
down side to the fault-finding, harping, carping critics. Foolish,
fickle, faithless people. Jesus doesn't give account of Himself; just
the opposite, in fact (13.7)! That should be sufficient, for faith to
act upon!
Read
vss. 38-44... And so, "Jesus, groaning in Himself, came to the
grave". And then..."Take away the stone". You know, He
could very easily have commanded that stone to roll itself away, or
He might have commanded Lazarus to come forth, through the stone, but
Jesus was, very simply, obedient to the purposes of God.
In
vs. 39, we have one last protest from Martha, and that one sentence
characterizes every one of us..."But Lord..."; how sad
unbelief is! In the case of Martha, the dead man's own sister,
placing one more obstacle between Him and a resurrection miracle. But
Jesus replied..."Get thee behind Me, Martha. I have My Father to
glorify!" Jesus wouldn't have hurt Martha for anything, but He
was obedient to His calling. You know, we are so easily distracted
from our calling. I guess we really are no different from Martha, or
from Mary either, for that matter; we're just flesh and blood. But
Jesus was not just flesh and blood; it was His will to do the
Father's will, and so, as recorded for us there in vs. 41, "He
lifted up His eyes...".
Jesus
is perfect, and He is perfectly faithful to Father God. And He left
us a perfect example of prayerfulness. This miracle, as well as any
other miracle, cannot be attained without the power of Almighty God.
Our Lord called on Father God, having perfect faith, in perfect
obedience to His will. And as we read in vs. 42...with perfect
confidence. I guess we don't have much faith in our faith, do we? We
really don't need a mountain-sized faith; all we need is the
faith we have.
When
we get to John 17, we'll see Jesus' great prayer for all believers,
and we should be thankful today, that He still intercedes in faith, for
us; and that God hears, as He says in vs. 42..."hears Him
always". Note there, that Jesus qualifies His words to God;
learn from this. We don't need to make a lot of noise about our
praying, and Jesus knew that, but He chose to pray aloud on this
occasion..."that they might believe".
And
finally, the dramatic call in vs. 43...of course, the loud voice was
for the people's sake, not for God or for Lazarus. And notice that
He called Lazarus by name; if he had not, all of Hades might have
appeared before Him! "And he that was dead, came forth"! The
prince of death was forced to give over his captive; the grave, for
Lazarus, in that instant, had no more power over him! You just have
to ask the question..."How could any sheep of His ever perish,
in such a hand as that?!"
What
we have demonstrated in this chapter, is the fullness of Satan's
power, defeated by just a sampling of God's power. "The wages of
sin" represents all that Satan can muster, and that's the way it
has been, since the Garden. He was a murderer from the beginning,
we're told; he's the destroyer; he's the accuser; he's more than a
deceiver, he's a liar, and "the father of all lies", and
"the prince of darkness", while Jesus is everything Satan
is not, and even more that that!
You
know, what we have in John 11 is a perfect picture of the perfect
work of Christ. We are sick, as well, just as Lazarus was, only our
sickness is the sickness of sin; and our sickness is unto death, just
as Lazarus' was. And our death places us into a hole in the ground,
just as Lazarus' did, until we are resurrected in that day. The
difference is, our resurrection will be permanent, and will translate
us into the very presence of our Lord!
(1
Thessalonians 4.16-17).
Read
vs. 44...
Note
that Lazarus came forth, still bound in his graveclothes, unlike
Jesus at the time of His resurrection, and us at our future
resurrection. That's a statement on the state of the resurrected
Lazarus..not a new state, but simply a return to his former
condition, with the napkin and the graveclothes still on
him...because he would need them again!
And
Jesus said..."Loose him, and let him go." What an awesome
truth it is, that Jesus alone, can speak the word to free those who
are dead in sin. There is no higher privilege known to man than to
roll away the gravestones preventing our progress, so that Jesus can
do His work. Notice that, all throughout this passage, Jesus used at
least three of the senses of the Jews that were gathered there, to
prove this last of His miracles...the smell of the stink of the
grave, the sight of the once-dead man, resurrected, and the feel of
his resurrected flesh and his soiled graveclothes. There was no way
that any argument could be made, that a miracle had not taken place!
So
when Jesus comes again for His church, He will command the
strongholds of Satan to..."Let them go", and go we will,
into the very arms of our Lord!
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