Wednesday in the Word...John 11:1-16...fashionably late?

Our Wednesday in the Word takes us into a new chapter of John's gospel, chapter 11.  I put in the title "fashionably late" but by the picture I would say it is more accurate to convey that Jesus was "delayed on purpose."  We venture in today to one of Jesus' most spectacular miracles which would rival in my mind the feeding of the 5,000.  Along the way, Jesus will give us some salvation truths larger in eternal value than the physical raising of Lazarus from the dead.

v.1-3 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."

We are introduced to the family of two sisters and one brother, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.  They are of the town of Bethany just about two miles out from the holy city of Jerusalem.  We pick up from the text that Jesus knows them well and He has had other encounters with them.  

Lazarus is sick, deathly sick and Mary and Martha call upon their good friend Jesus to come.  Jesus is known as a healer so who better to get word to.  Jesus also had a close relationship with Lazarus, someone who believed in Him, unlike his step brothers at the time.  Surely Jesus would come straight away, allotting probably a day for the message to actually get Him.  So maybe Jesus was only a day away from the hospitable home He had eaten meals at.

v.4-6 - But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.

 Let us suppose that Jesus was a day away.  A day to get the message to Jesus, two days staying put, and then a day to get to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus' home puts Jesus 4 days out.  If you have read ahead, you know when Jesus gets there, Lazarus has been in the tomb for 4 days.  Burials happen the same day as the death.  Lazarus could have died before the message ever got to Jesus.  

Why stay two more days?  Maybe it is found in Jesus' response about why Lazarus was going through this trial.  This event was going to bring glory to God so that He, Jesus, might be glorified.  All His other resurrections were of those who had just immediately died but this one would have been beyond what could be rationalized away in some way as trickier or the slight of hand.  There would have been plenty of witnesses to verify that Lazarus was dead, wrapped up, and in the grave for four days.

We are told again that Jesus loved this family.  Hold unto that thought as we look further into what Jesus will say to these two sisters in the upcoming verses.  How much did He love them and what kind of love did He have for them?

v.7-10 - Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"  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.  But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

The disciples bring up what was recorded in the last chapter.  Jews had stones in their hands to take Jesus out for saying He and the Father are one.  Jesus would be walking back into a very hostile and volatile environment.  The disciples are stating the obvious.

Jesus states the obvious.  You work during the day while you can see and you rest at night.  If you try to work in the dark, you will stumble and probably hurt yourself because you have no light to see by.  The saying of Jesus can be taken deeper.  Because Jesus was here, it was light and the Father would not let anything happen to Him until it was time for it to be dark.  It would be dark soon when Jesus hangs on the cross and many would stumble, even His own disciples.  The stones would not stop the plan that God had in place so this trip to see Lazarus prior to the cross would happen because it was still light for a little longer.  Jesus would tell the Pharisees and us later that the vocal cords of the stones were even under the control of God.  

v.11-13 - This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep."  The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."  Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought He was speaking of literal sleep.

Jesus is going to make sure that we have the correct interpretation of what He means.  Fallen asleep means that he was not just taking an afternoon nap but that Lazarus was truly dead.  It is a kind way of saying someone had died, they had fallen asleep.  

Jesus is going to awaken Lazarus out of death.  What a beautiful picture of what happens to someone who is born again.  We are dead in our trespasses and sins.  We are not breathing.  We are wrapped up and put in a tomb.  Jesus comes for the purpose to awaken us to His voice.  It is Jesus who is going and it is Jesus who is awakening the one who is dead.

v.14-16 - So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him."  Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him."

Remember the word "plainly" in the last chapter.  The Jews wanted Jesus to speak "plainly" about who He was.  Jesus did and it caused them to pick up stones.  Now Jesus speaks plainly to His disciples about Lazarus' physical condition.  He also tells them in a round about way that this was for them to believe that He and the Father are one.  This magnificent miracle that they were going to be eyewitnesses of would help cement their future commitment to not renounce Him as Lord, even in the face of terrific persecution.  

This time Thomas raises his hand.  It is usually Peter but a couple times Thomas takes the stage.  "Doubting Thomas," as we know him best, urges the other disciples to follow Jesus into this apparent stoning event.  He proclaims what he thinks is going to happen even though Jesus has spoken of their protection because it was still day.  He couldn't see past the stones.  His statement sounds very loyal but it is also very limiting to what could happen.

Am I just seeing the stones?  Am I projecting what I think is going to happen rather than following Jesus and His words of what is going to happen?  Am I fatalistic in my loyalty?  

"I will be loyal but it is not going to be good."  

I think we can do this in our Christian walk and in the life of the church.  We can be loyal and show up at church or our daily devotion time but we can be pessimistic if anything is really going to change and most likely just get worse.  I wonder if Thomas would have liked to take this statement back when Lazarus comes out of that grave?  No stones, no death, no danger, but a God shaking event that spread throughout the countryside and down the streets of Jerusalem.  Putting words into Thomas' mouth, "This is so different than what I thought would happen but it was exactly what Jesus said would happen."  Can we get beyond what we think is going to happen and rest on what Jesus says is going to happen?  Too bad Thomas didn't say, "Let us also go, so that we may see someone rise from the dead by the power of Jesus because our Jesus has said it will be so."

Our default is to project what we think but we are to live, as followers of Jesus Christ, what God has said.  Our Jesus can raise the physically dead to live another day and "Praise the Lord" He can raise the spiritually dead to live forever.  We need to walk our lives in the light of His ability and not our own.  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, what an event we get to read of in this chapter.  Thank You for loving Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.  Thank You for loving Your disciples.  Thank You for loving me to be spiritually alive to live for You.  May I defeat my thoughts of the worse, the stones flying, and see Your words of victory and live walking toward it.  Amen."

Pastor Adam