Good Morning!
Passion week is upon us! Obviously, our celebration of the events of
Passion week are going to be much different than in times past due to the pandemic.
We have been asked (and in some
instances, restricted by ordinance) to keep at a distance from each other. While
I don’t like it, I do believe we should do as asked so that the disease can be
limited. I just checked the website for
the Sunrise Service at Stone Mountain Park … and cannot tell whether or not it
is still on. Perhaps, since the events
are outside and people can distance themselves, a sunrise service is feasible. I do miss my brothers and sisters in Christ and
long to see them and to know how they are faring during this crisis.
Whether we can get together or not, we can
still celebrate the events of Passion week.
This morning, I am drawn to the story of Lazarus of Bethany, whom Jesus
raised from death. Join with me as we look at the whole chapter of John 11:
John 11 English
Standard Version (ESV)
The
Death of Lazarus
11 Now a certain man was ill,
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary
who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters
sent to him, saying, “Lord, he
whom you love is ill.” 4 But
when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory
of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus
loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was
ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after
this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews
were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks
in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because
the light is not in him.” 11 After
saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken
him.” 12 The disciples said to
him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he
meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus
told them plainly, “Lazarus
has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad
that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin,[b] said to his fellow
disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Pausing for a moment, let’s consider these two
points:
1.
Jesus knew
what was going to happen to Lazarus. I
believe He already knew that Lazarus would die … but that He would raise
Lazarus from the grave. He knew that His
raising Lazarus would complete the fulfillment of prophecy … and He also knew how
the religious hierarchy would respond.
2.
Jesus knew
what His future was. He
was aware that the Jewish leadership wanted to get rid of Him. When I consider verses 9 and 10, I see Jesus
telling His disciples that all of us have to walk in faith and not in fear. Jesus knew that His time was drawing near …
but He also knew that He must face it for our sakes.
Continuing …
I
Am the Resurrection and the Life
17 Now
when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four
days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles[c] off, 19 and many of
the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their
brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus
was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will
give you.” 23 Jesus said to
her, “Your brother
will rise again.” 24 Martha
said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet
shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never
die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I
believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into
the world.”
Notice that Martha had faith … but it was limited. Sometimes I wonder how limited my faith can
be. One of the “benefits” of trials in
this life is learning to trust God for those things we see as impossible.
Jesus
Weeps
28 When
she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in
private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she
heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now
Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where
Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who
were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out,
they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell
at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with
her also weeping, he was deeply moved[e] in
his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews
said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who
opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Mary’s faith was also limited by her understanding of the
physical. What Christ was going to do
went beyond her faith. A second thought
is the Monday morning quarterbacking of some. We still do that today.
Jesus
Raises Lazarus
38 Then
Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave,
and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,
“Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead
four days.” 40 Jesus said to
her, “Did I not tell
you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his
eyes and said, “Father,
I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on
account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent
me.” 43 When he had said these
things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound
with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to
them, “Unbind him,
and let him go.”
Jesus reminds Martha that she will see God’s glory
performed before her eyes. Lazarus was
DEAD and decomposition had begun. She knew
what the process was. I am sure she had
tended to her mother and her father after their deaths and knew how quickly the
body would decompose.
A couple of questions to ponder:
1.
Why did Jesus pray to the Father?
Being God Incarnate, couldn’t Jesus just tell Lazarus to come forth? Absolutely!
BUT the purpose of Lazarus’ death was two-fold … to bring glory to God
and to demonstrate to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Unlike Moses, who struck
the stone rather than speak to it, Jesus made sure that God was central to the
resurrection of Lazarus.
2.
What did Jesus pray to the Father? His
word clearly indicates the purpose. Amongst
the mourners were religious leaders.
This ultimate sign should have revealed Him to them.
The
Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Many
of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he
did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what
Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and
the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do?
For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him,
and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest
that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you
understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the
people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high
priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather
into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to
death.
I don’t whether to use the word “unfortunately” or “fortunately”
at this juncture. Would it not have been
better for the religious hierarchy to embrace Jesus as the Messiah … and become
the nation of priests that God had intended? Or, was their rejection of the Christ
a part of God’s plan for all of us? They
chose to reject Jesus … and sought to crucify Him.
54 Jesus
therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to
the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed
with the disciples.
While the time was close, it still was not at hand. My thinking is that this all occurred a week
or so prior to the Passover week. He
controlled the time.
55 Now the
Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to
Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were
looking for[f] Jesus
and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now
the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where
he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Footnotes:
b. John 11:16 Greek Didymus
c. John 11:18 Greek fifteen
stadia; a stadion was about 607 feet or 185 meters
d. John 11:25 Some
manuscripts omit and the life
e. John 11:33 Or was
indignant; also verse 38
f. John 11:56 Greek were
seeking for
The religious hierarchy began looking for
Jesus … hoping to arrest Him. They
thought He wouldn’t come boldly into Jerusalem.
But He did … and Passion week began.
Our thought for today is my need to trust God
even more in all situations. This is
especially true during this pandemic.
Seek the Lord with all our strength.
Trust in Him. Expect to see God’s
glory.
Agape’
Mr. Jim
Prayer: Father, reveal Your power to us this good
day. Help us to believe even more as we
endure this life trial. This I ask in
Jesus’ Name … Amen.
Scripture for today: John
11
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