John 11:28-46
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Illustration:
Illustration:
When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
Martha’s confession ends their conversation.
The conversation has no need to go further.
The end has been met. This was the stated purpose from the beginning of this whole ordeal.
Jesus has done all this to illicit belief in those who are His.
So, Martha goes and calls Mary secretly. Remember Mary stayed in the house.
We aren’t told why she goes to her secretly, but we are told the message:
The Teacher is here and is calling for you.
Jesus is there for them. He has left for them. He has put himself in danger for them. And isn’t that what Jesus’s whole life was about?
He has a people he loves
He left heaven for them.
Born of a virgin for them.
Lives perfectly for them.
Dies for them.
Raises for them.
This is the mission of Christ, that he comes to his people to provide help.
This situation is no different.
Again, he loves these people.
And they love him.
Look at verse 29.
And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.
We mentioned this past week that Mary does not stay in the house because she has rejected the Savior she once worshipped and anointed.
Whenever she is summoned, she comes and she comes quickly.
Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.
Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
Mary is summoned privately, but she does not come alone.
When she gets up, all the mourners who in the house helping her weep will follow her to help her weep.
The mourners come after her and follow her, because they want to be with Mary to help her weep at the tomb.
The tomb is a place of weeping, and they think she is going there.
The tomb even today is a place of weeping.
I’ve been to funerals throughout my life, and no matter how much the pastor will say that it is not a day of sadness, there will certainly be weeping.
But Mary is not going to the tomb. She is going to Jesus.
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Mary has been here before. Mary, the last time she is at Jesus’s feet is anointing Him, proclaiming hiM AS mESSAIH. Worshipping Him.
But we should take not here, Just because we worship and adore Jesus, doesnt mean our lives wont be full of pain and suffering.
Befoer she was worshipping, now she is asking why.
What we read here, is the same thing Martha has told Jesus.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 11
Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
A couple of assumptions here:
That Jesus has to be there.
That He would have healed him had he been there.
Both women are saying the same thing, and with their statement, hear what they are truly are saying.
Jesus, you didn’t do what I would have done.
Jesus you didn’t do what I wanted you to do.
Essentially,
Jesus, you didn’t do my will.
And here is where it is important to understand.
Jesus doesn’t do your will. He doesn’t come to perform your will.
He does His will. We know this. This is why we pray. We pray to God that His will be done. That is the biblical way to pray. God you have your way.
And he will...
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
This is a hard thing to grasp, because often our will and God’s will are not the same.
Certainly, this is what’s going on here with Martha and Mary.
Her will and plan was for Jesus to show up and heal Lazarus, but that’s not what happened, and haven’t we all been here?
We have prayed to God, and he doesn’t do what we want.
Let me make a few things clear here.
God’s goodness is not based upon us getting what we want.
God’s goodness is not based upon us getting it now.
God’s goodness is based firmly in who He is, not what we want.
Please hear me out: If God is doing our will and not His, then he’s not God, we are.
I’ve often heard people after having came through something where God has brought healing, say God is good and He is, and we should celebrate, but what happens when it doesn’t turn out perfect?
Here is the real test of faith: What if it doesn’t happen the way we want it? Is he still good?
If we a basing his goodness on our current circumstances, then we may have the tendency to answer this wrongly.
Example: My Dad growing up, giving what I needed and not what I wanted.
He is good, because He is good.
And its in the middle of terrible circumstances, that our belief is tested. Its easy to trust and believe God when things are well, but when things go completely against what we desire and want, that is when we, as His people, have to trust His will and His ways are better than ours.
This doesn’t mean we have to understand it. Oftentimes, I don’t know why.
We should also understand that He is good because He has the power to make all things good in the end, and this is precisely what He is about to give these people a glimpse of.
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
here is where we will start to answer the question: How does Jesus deal with death.
Seeing the weeping. Of Mary, and the Jews. This incited some emotion in Jesus.
The translation here reads deeply moved in Spirit and then it says he was troubled.
I’m not sure why the translators felt the need to soften this, but Jesus is angry here. He is agitated. The word troubled here carries with it that type of meaning. He sees the weeping and he is angry.
First, sin and death illicit anger from Jesus.
First, sin and death illicit anger from Jesus.
The question here we have to ask is : Why is he angry?
I think Jesus is may be angry for two specific reasons.
The destruction of sin. He may be mad for them.
When we look at the testimony of Scripture, we see that there are a few things that makes God angry. Sin and the consequences of sin is one of them.
I believe the best way to approach this response to understand Jesus’s absolute anger with sin and what it has done to those whom He loves.
The weeping of the people. He may be mad at them.
The weeping of the people. He may be mad at them.
Maybe they are weeping like unbelievers, as if there is no hope.
We are commanded in Scripture not to grieve as those with no hope.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
When we look at the testimony of Scripture, we see that there are a few things that makes God angry. Sin and the consequences of sin is one of them.
I believe the best way to approach this response to understand Jesus’s absolute anger with sin and what it has done to those whom He loves.
Both of these are possibilities and they both can be true at the same time. In both of these, we should learn something.
God expects us to grieve well. He expects us to grieve knowing the end of all things for believers, will not be death and ruin.
We should realize that we do not fight alone against sin, sickness, and death. These three are our greatest enemies, so Christ made them His greatest enemies and He beat them all for us.
God created this world perfect and sin, our sin, has caused all this calamity.
Sin and death illicit grief from God.
Sin and death illicit grief from God.
and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
There’s an exchange and the story moves forward.
Lord, come and see him suggests that this is probably Martha or Mary telling him where their brother has bee laid.
And In verse 35, We find the shortest verse in the Bible, but this verse tells us a great deal about Jesus.
It speaks to his humanity.
Jesus is not only fully God. He is fully man and with that come the experience of the sorrows, the pains, and the temptations of life.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
It fulfills what was written in
He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah
Jesus wept. I think he weeps for many reasons.
I think the Jews and their thoughts give us a clue to one reason why he is weeping is verse 36
So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
Jesus loved Lazarus.
Lazarus is dead. Sin curse has hit one whom he loves.
He sees the toil and strife of Mary and Martha as they grapple with this.
Jesus feels the pain and the hurt of death and he literally weeps with those who weep.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
But, we should understand something. Though the Jews are correct that Jesus loves Lazarus, they are wrong in thinking that Jesus is weeping in the same type of hopeless crying they are lifting up.
They assume Jesus’s hopelessness with them now. Look at verse 37.
But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”
But Jesus is not hopeless.
He will be going to the tomb but he will not be going there to weep and leave.
He will be going there to show convincingly that he is the resurrection and the life.
For everyone else, a cemetery/tomb is an arena of defeat. For Jesus, he shines in victory.
and He is about to show why.
Jesus is weeping because He loves Lazarus and in his tears, we hear “It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus is in command here. I love his confidence here. “Remove the Stone.” Imagine hearing this...
So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Martha responds like anyone of us would…
Uh, He is going to stink.
The Jews didn’t embalm like the Egyptians.
He has been dead four days. Decomposition has set in.
She doesn’t want that type of memory of her brother.
But Jesus reminds her of something. Something he promised them all in verse 4.
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
He has told them.
This will not end in death.
That Jesus will be glorified.
Jesus is not speaking with regard to a future hope when all will see his glory.
Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and this whole crowd is about to experience the glory of Christ first hand.
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Jesus prays aloud, for the belief of the people.
His desire in this situation is for their belief, and that is what he is after.
Everything he has said, is for their belief.
Everything he does and will do, is for their belief.
Having done all of that, then we come to verse 43.
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John 4. The Resurrection of Lazarus (11:38–44)
Though it is not John’s point, it has often been remarked that the authority of Jesus is so great that, had he not specified Lazarus, all the tombs would have given up their dead to resurrection life.
He specify Lazarus. and Lazarus comes forth still bound. but alive.
The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jesus
Sing above the battle’s strife, Jesus saves, Jesus saves; By His death and endless life, Jesus saves, Jesus saves; Sing it softly thru the gloom, When the heart for mercy craves, Sing in triumph o’er the tomb, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Priscilla Jane Owens