John 11:17-44 (The Raising of Lazarus)

Introduction
Well today we get to tell the story of the raising of Lazarus. This is a fun story to tell. There’s no outline today. There’s no real sermonizing to speak of. The goal is to just let the story out. To just let the characters come to life, to feel the drama, to fill in the context so that there’s no longer pages of text. You are there. You are one of the characters living in the narrative itself.

And if we do that well, then you will believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and through that belief you will have life in his name. That’s the goal.

Two weeks ago we read verses 1-16 to set the stage for today and so let’s just recall that. John chapter 10 closes with a showdown between Jesus and the relgious leaders of his day. They say, tell us plainly who you are. Jesus says you want plain? Here’s plain. I and the Father are one. And they picked up stones to stone him and so he flees to the area of Perea.

Now you will remember that while he was in Perea he gets word that Lazarus is sick. And he tells the disciples and the messenger, don’t worry guys this is not a sickness that leads to death; rather it a sickness that leads to the glory of God. And I’m sure everyone claps their hands. Great! Presumably at this point the messenger returns back home to deliver this good news to Mary and Martha. And everyone goes back to what they were doing.

And then the text says this most mysterious thing. Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Therefore he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

How do you like that for a demonstration of love? “Lazarus has got a 106 degree fever and he’s wasting away. He hasn’t eaten for a week. He’s on the brink of death. So, let me demonstrate my love for him in his most critical hour of need by just hanging out here a few more days” That’s what the text says! We’ll soon understand why.

Now at this point the disciples do not understand Jesus’ intentions. The disciples simply think, “this is not a sickness that does not lead to death.” So, Lazarus must have been healed. Jesus has healed from afar many times.

They learn this is not true just a few verses later. Jesus announces his intent to return to Judea. That announcement halts everyone in their tracks because why? Judea is dangerous! *The disciples object, “Jesus, just a few weeks ago you almost got stoned to death.** Why would you go there Jesus?”

Jesus responds, “I need to wake Lazarus.” And of course, they think he’s referring to normal sleep, normal rest. Jesus, he’s been sick. He will wake up on his own when he’s kicked the bug. But Jesus says plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I’m glad so that you might believe.”

And even though it’s dangerous, they trundle off to Jerusalem. Now let’s pick up the story in verse 17.

Now the chronological backbone of this narrative is preserved with exquisite detail because this is necessary to understand the nature of the miracle. So let’s note it carefully. We are told that when they got to the tomb, Lazarus had been dead four days.

Let’s try to recreate those four days. Let’s back up to right before Lazarus dies.

We could imagine, Mary and Martha are incredibly worried about their sick brother. No matter what we try, it is just getting worse. And finally they say, "I’ve never seen him this sick.

He’s in and out of consciousness.
He’s in total delirium.
What should we do?

So they send a runner to find Jesus. The only thing we can do is cry out to Jesus." That’s what we do in our suffering, right? We cry out to Jesus.

So off goes the messenger and what happens next for them is the torture of waiting. Now this is easy to forget, in our world of smart-phones, and texting. Communication literally happened at the speed of a mule. You can imagine the agony of just waiting.

Their hope leaves on foot. No updates. No idea if the runner even found Jesus. Just waiting…waiting.

Every time Lazarus coughs it’s more congested and shallower.
And he’s burning up with fever and they can’t do anything about it.
He’s whiter and thinner by the hour.

And as they wallow in that suffering, they cry out in their hearts, “Jesus where are you? Don’t you care!”

How many suffering people in the world have asked that question? Jesus, if you cared you would change my situation. If you cared you would undo these circumstances. If you cared you would remove this sickness.

So they send the runner. Now somewhere along the way Lazarus dies. It could have been, and I think this is most likely, that he dies before the runner even gets there. So if that’s the case, that’s one day.

Jesus stays in the place where he was, two more days, there’s day two and three.

Then they travel to Jerusalem. There’s your four days.
Envision Mary
So now let’s look at Jesus’ reception as he enters Bethany.

Now notice the text says that MANY had come to visit Mary and Martha. Lazarus had come from a wealthy family. So wealthy families would often pay for professional mourners to express grief. The fourth day was the high day of morning. If you could only come and sympathize with the family for a day, you’d choose the fourth day. In our culture, if someone dies and you are very close to the family, you are probably there on the death bed, or maybe you immediately go over to the house and comfort them, maybe you go with them down to the funeral home. That’s the kind of thing you do if you are close. But if you are not as closely connected or you are out of town and have lots of work responsibilities and you can only get away for a day, you wait until the funeral service. Well for them, in their culture that was the fourth day.

So Jesus finally shows up. Late the game. It too late. He’s not there on the first day or second day or third day. He just comes when everybody else does. It’s probably with a pretty high degree of pain and even a sense of betrayal that they welcome him. I can’t help but read between the lines. Why did Mary stay seated in the house? Perhaps she wanted to send a message. You betrayed us. Lest you think that is too strong of an assumption, let me remind you something about the four days.

Let’s go back to the runner carrying the message to and from Jesus. Pretend you are that runner. You’ve just spoken to Jesus and heard his response. What message do you have in your mouth ready to give to Mary and Martha? This is not a sickness that leads to death. I imagine this guy to be bouncing back to Jerusalem with a spring in his step. Have you ever been in that position of being the bearer of glorious news. Maybe you get word that the friend passed the BAR exam, or he got into med school, or he got first place in the sporting event or he won the contest, or they found the missing child. You can’t wait to share it. It’s so fun to watch the expressions on people’s faces. I imagine this messenger so excited to share what Jesus told him.

So the messenger comes racing into town. But he sees the crowds of mourners and all of the sudden his countenance changes. What is this?

And Mary comes out and says, “Lazarus is dead. What did Jesus say?” And he’s speechless? Mary looks him straight in the eye. “What did Jesus say?” Jesus said, “This is not a sickness that leads to death.” But he’s dead. How can it be?

This is what we call a faith crisis. A faith crisis is where you have this conversation with yourself. I have been told my whole life that this this is true. And I believed it. I’ve gone all in with this truth. This is the lynch pin upon which my entire faith structure is constructed. But now it’s all being called into question. What do I trust? Do I trust Jesus’ words that tell me this is not a sickness that leads to death or do I trust my eyes that tell me, Lazarus is most certainly dead.

Now, do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples, “I’m glad for your sake that he died.” Why? So that you might believe. Believe what? Believe my words over your eyes. Believe that this is in fact a sickness that does not lead to death. Believe that the only person who could raise a person that sick, that dead, is God himself.

Do you see that a relocated BELIEF is Jesus’ main aim? Jesus wants you to TRUST him MORE than you do your own eyes. The reason I am letting Lazarus die is so that you might believe. That you might ALWAYS believe that Jesus has power over the impossible, I am letting Lazarus die. I love you too much to allow you to put your hope i anything else.

This is how I demonstrate my love for you. I’m going to allow a situation that makes you question it. And then I’m going to prove it.

Now even though it’s his love that MOTIVATES everything in this passage, three times his love is questioned.

I think what happens here is Martha says what she feels, realizes she oversteps and tries to dig herself out of a hole. And we can understand Martha’s cry, can’t we.

Is this not the legitimate cry of a thousand hurting voices echoing through the corridors of the human experience. If you had been here, this bad thing wouldn’t have happened? Where were you Lord? Where are you Lord?

Lord, if you had been here, if you really loved me, you would have been here and changed the outcome. But you weren’t here? Why? What doest that mean? It seems like if you cared you would have been here? Do you love me?Lord if you had been here, Lord…

That is perfectly inconclusive, veiled and ambiguous. So Martha, taking the safe route says,

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. 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.

What’s Martha doing? Martha is repeating something she learned in church. She’s repeating a phrase here mother and father taught her between bites of baby food. When Martha says, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day,” what is she doing? she’s effectively quoting a catechism.

Where is Martha’s hope. It’s in a catechism.

And Jesus effectively says, I am the catechism. Jesus says to her, “Mary your brother will rise again.” And then what does Mary do, “She says, Oh Jesus, well I know that’s true because in Psalms 118 it says…." And Jesus interrupts her. Mary, I am the Psalms. Stop quoting the Bible. I am the Bible. It was all pointing to me. So when I tell you,”your brother will rise again" the train of thought stops there. I am the resurrection.

Jesus is trying to relocate her belief from words on a paper to a person.

Look at what comes next.

Here’s the second time Jesus’ love is questioned. Lord if you had been, here, if you loved us, my brother would not have died.

Let’s just admit that we can’t possibly imagine the dynamic here. We can’t possibly appreciate the emotion and pain because we know how this story ends. But they don’t know. All Mary knows is that she sent a runner, Jesus never showed up and she had to watch her brother die.

She has had to wrestle with the words of Jesus, this is not a sickness that leads to death, and he died. And for the last 4 days she’s been living in that reality.

And they didn’t then call the mortitian and go home and take a bath and wait for the memorial service. They had to pick up his cold body and wash it. They had to wrap the body that was seizing up with rigamortis in grave clothes. Then they had to carry him to the tomb. She had been waiting for Jesus to come, waiting, waiting and Jesus was a no show. And Lazarus died. And this was supposed to be a sickness that did not lead to death?

Everything gets called into question. Her faith is rattled. And then, after it’s all closed up and tidied up, finally Jesus shows up. You would have done the EXACT same thing.

And Jesus did this, because he loved her? Yes, because I want your hope for Impossible resurrection change to be in me. I love you too much to allow your hope and belief to be anywhere other than that.

And there’s the third time his love is questioned. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man keep this man from dying?

Now I want you to imagine this scene. And to do so, we need to spend just a little time on the 1st century burial process. It’s quite different than our own. In the first century it was common to bury the dead in what are called rolling stone tombs. Here’s an example of one. Of course Jesus was buried in one of these.

This grave is probably a family tomb and it’s probably on the property. And here’s how they are used. Inside the tomb it looks something like this:

The idea is you put the body on this shelf. And that body lays there for about a year until the process of decay has been completed and then you go back into the tomb and you gather up the bones in a bone box called an ossuary. And you can see them lined up here on the shelf of other people that have died and their bones have been gathered up. Here’s a close up view of one of those ossuaries.

Now just as an interesting side note, this bone box has an inscription on it James, the son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.

It’s such a remarkable find that initially it was claimed to be a fake and it went to trial and the man who acquired the box was acquitted. So many believe it to be the real thing. Others are not sure. And I’m sure there will be more evidence to come.

At any rate, that’s the process. So when Lazarus dies, he is set on the shelf in a tomb much like this. The guest and loved ones come over the course of the first few days and help prepare and wrap the body. And of course there’s no attempt to stop the process of decomposition. There’s no embalming.

So if that’s the case, you can only do that for about three days and so on the 4th day you seal the tomb. The main reason for this is the smell. And so by the time Jesus gets there the tomb has been sealed.

There is a word here in verses 33 and 38 that has been a quandary for translators for years now. It says, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit” Then down in verse 38, it says, “Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.”

That translation is difficult because the obvious translation doesn’t make much sense. This word translated “deeply moved” means to snort or bellow with anger, and it usually is used for animals. It’s talking about a kind of primordial rage, and the translators don’t know what to do with it. It was very common word so there is no confusion in ancient Greek.

The only other place in the New Testament it’s used is in Mark 14:5, when the Mary takes enormously expensive perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet with it and everybody comes at her, and it says, “And they rebuked her harshly.” In that context it’s an outrage at the impropriety.

So why don’t they translate it this way? Because it makes almost no sense. “How could this be? Why would this Jesus, filled with grief, at the same time be quaking with rage?” By the way, some translations do translate it this way. Eugene Peterson’s book, The Message. Jesus saw them weeping, he became deeply angry. In verse 38, The Message says, “Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb.”

And Jesus’ tears are equally confusing. Why did Jesus weep?

He can’t just be weeping about Lazarus. He can’t. He’s going to raise him from the dead in five minutes. In five minutes time there’s going to be the greatest party you’ve ever seen. How could you cry over that?

And I think the best interpretation is the one that corresponds to the complicated way in which humans experience emotions. Emotions are a pool of complicated feelings. You can have joy, sorrow and anger all mixed together. Jesus’ spirit is a swirling pool of deep emotion.

I think there probably is a joy in the mix.

Anticipated Joy. He knows this going to go from a funeral to a party in about three minutes. All the sorrow will be turned to joy. If you care at all, just to see other people cry makes you feel those emotions and you can’t wait for them to see the glory of God. That emotion is being restrained. It’s like players who are about to win a championship game. And they know in 15 seconds they are going to celebrate like crazy, but they have to wait. Jesus is experiencing this restraint.
Anger. But there’s anger also. He’s mad at death, and he approaches death in a rage because he’s about to do a battle. He knows that this miracle he’s about to do is part of a narrative that ends with him on the cross. Immediately after this miracle, the text is very explicit about this, the religious leaders plot to put Jesus to death.

Jesus knows if he raises Lazarus, if he does this indisputable miracle, he’s forcing the hands of his enemies.

It’s like he’s talking to Lazarus.

To break the seal of your grave is to seal the stone on my grave.
I can only raise you if I bury myself.
If I bring you out, I’m putting myself in

That’s exactly what happened. Jesus’ raising of Lazarus was the beginning of the end. Jesus says, “Come on.” He’s bellowing with rage that there is this awful cup that he is about to drink. And he’s furious. And he’s ready to do battle.

Sorrow. There’s a sorrow over the unbelief he sees.

He had to hear it from Martha, Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And then you hear it from Mary. Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. He hears it from the guests. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind keep this man from dying. It’s painful to have done nothing but prove yourself faithful over and over again and have your love be questioned.

And so I think Jesus’ tears and rage are this complicated combination of all these emotions.

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?

So they took away the stone. Imagine this. This would be the equivalent of saying, “Go dig up the body.” I mean Jesus, it’s done. It’s over. I imagine there’s all sorts of hesitation and pausing and murmuring. Are you sure?

And I imagine that when that stone rolled back the smell must have arrested them. The smell of a decomposing deer or wild animal. It’s so distinct. So sharp. So inescapable. You can imagine the handkerchief over the noses. And I imagine Jesus let the horror of that smell reach their nostrils and let them think about what that smell meant.

Jesus said, father, would you transform all this suffering, all this hurt, all this pain and doubt into BELIEF in me. BELIEVE in me.

He says in the hearing of all. This miracle that I am about to do is for a PURPOSE: I want your belief to be in me.

Now, what do you think happens when Lazarus hops out of the tomb?

What happens to all of that doubt?
What happens to all of that sadness?
What happens to all of that heartbreak when Lazarus comes out of the tomb?

Does it not vanish the moment Lazarus pops out?

All the sorrow,
all the loss,
all the heart-brokenness,
all the doubt,
all the fear,
all the accusations against Christ and whether or not he actually cares
and whether or not he actually loves and
whether or not he actually is who he says he is

It all vanishes when Lazarus, still wrapped in grave clothes, hops out of the tomb alive, resurrected from the dead. And Jesus issues the command, unwrap him or we are going to have to do this whole resurrection thing all over again.

Now it all makes sense, all their questions are answered, all their doubts assuaged, all their concerns and hesitations gone in a flash. That, my friends is resurrection power at work. When at last we see God’s answers, God’s solutions, God’s reasons, it’s all made right.

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him

“What basis do you have for believing a dead corpse will raise itself up from the dead?” Answer: none.

Remember what both Mary and Martha say to Jesus? Lord where were you? Do you see how Martha is doing the exact same thing we often do with God. She’s writing the end of the story before God does. She’s trying to tell God how the story ends. She’s concluded that God has BROKEN his promise. She’s locked on to the pattern. I’ve seen this before. Once people get to this state there is nothing that can be done. It’s over. Martha isn’t wondering how this thing will end. She isn’t looking to the unseen future. In her mind it’s ended. She knows how it ended. She’s even telling Jesus how it ends. It ended with death.

Listen my friends. You might look at your spouse or your son or daughter and think, there is no hope. Never GIVE UP HOPE in a person because if JESUS CHRIST can RAISE THE DEAD, he can change the heart of that person you love. THAT is what you hope in. THAT is love, to believe that God can do that and HOPE in him.

Just like Lazarus, you do not know the reason for God’s delay. Because Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus, he stayed where he was. Why? What purpose could he possibly have? What’s the answer according to the text? I am letting you suffer so that you can see the glory of God. That’s what verse four says. The suffering is so that they might what? See the glory of God!

In other words, it was more loving to put Lazarus through death and his sisters through grief, if that suffering would reveal more of God’s glory to them. So, Jesus waits and let’s Lazarus die. That was the most loving thing he could have done.

Why does God delay? Learn from this text. He delays that you might believe. He delays so we can see the glory of God. The delay is horrible because you have this mixed message, this conflicting experience. I have the assurance of your love on the one hand but then the absolute abandonment of you on the other. Where are you?

There is coming for every suffering follower of Jesus a resurrection moment where the power and presence of God will be made known and it will all make sense. You didn’t abandon me. You were there all along. Now it makes sense. I can imagine them saying, “Jesus, I believe in you. How could I ever have doubted!”

Never see a pattern and write a person off. Never see the slowness of God in changing a person as the abandonment of God. Heaven forbid you hope in the person. You believe and hope in God who can call a dead man forward.

Lazarus, live. And a dead body responds to the word of Jesus for the Glory of Jesus.One commentator said, if Jesus didn’t use the name Lazarus, every tomb in Jerusalem would have spit out their dead.

Lazarus. Live. That’s how you were saved. Your dead body responded to the word of the Lord. And that is what we hope in.

So what is that hard thing in your life right now. What does Jesus say is true about it. BELIEVE. Believe despite everything that would have you disbelieve. BELIEVE because of the character of the God we worship!