Day 2219 – Making it All Better – The Story of Lazarus – Daily Wisdom

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Welcome to Day 2219 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Making It All Better –The Story of Lazarus – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 03/26/2023
Making It All Better – The Story of Lazarus
Over the past nine weeks, our story narrative overview of the Bible has been to answer the question: What does God want? Today, we begin three weeks of Easter-related messages. Today will be “Making It All Better – The Story of Lazarus” from John 11.

As we approach the Easter season, we are reminded of the miraculous events that occurred in the life of Jesus leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection. One of the most remarkable events is the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

The story of Lazarus is found in the Good News, according to the Apostle John, chapter 11, and it is a powerful reminder of the power of Christ over death and the hope we have in Him. It is a story that teaches us about the deep love and compassion that Jesus had for His friends, and the incredible power He had to perform miracles.

Today, as we reflect on the raising of Lazarus, let us be reminded of the hope we have in Christ, and the promise of eternal life that He offers to all who have believing loyalty to Him. I pray this story will inspire us to deepen our faith in Jesus and trust in Him more fully as we journey toward celebrating His resurrection.

Let us now turn to the Word of God and explore this incredible story together

John 11

The Death of Lazarus

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said...

Let us now turn to the Word of God and explore this incredible story together

John 11

The Death of Lazarus

“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles] from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

After contemplating the story of Lazarus, let me share another very short story. There once was a little girl who hurt her finger, so she ran to tell her daddy. She showed him her finger, “Daddy, look-it! I got cut!” But he was busy being busy, so he took one quick look at the finger and brushed her away, saying, “It’ll be ok.” But it wasn’t ok. The little girl then ran, crying her eyes out to her mother. “Oh dear,” her mom said, “does it hurt that much?” As mom made it all better with a kiss. The little girl said, “No, mommy, it’s just that daddy didn’t even say, ‘Oh dear.’” She wanted someone to say “Oh dear” to her.

We find Jesus doing this for his dear friends, Mary and Martha. In the face of the death of their brother, Lazarus, Jesus weeps. He says, in effect, “Oh dear,” and then he makes all things better.

We don’t know how it all began, their friendship together - Jesus and Lazarus and Mary and Martha. But we know that Lazarus lived with his sisters in Bethany, a small village outside Jerusalem. We also know that Jesus and the disciples stayed overnight with them whenever they came to Jerusalem. It was their own bed & breakfast location.

That tiny village home became a base of operations for Jesus. At the beginning of the day, Jesus would walk the half-hour route to Jerusalem to teach in the Temple, and then come back to his friends and have a meal at the end of the day.

Apparently, this happened repeatedly over the three years of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus always felt welcome at their home, even as he felt less and less welcome in Jerusalem as his enemies became bolder and tried to kill him.

The Gospel of John mentions five attempts on Jesus’ life:

John 5:18: “They tried all the more to kill him.’

John 7:30: “They tried to seize him.”

John 8:59: “They picked up stones to stone him.”

John 10:31: “Again, they tried to stone him.”

John 10:39: “Again, they tried to seize him.”

After the last attempt on his life, Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem and went to the Jordan River. And that meant that Jesus did not visit Lazarus, Mary, and Martha for a long time.

But then, one day, as he was by the Jordan, Jesus received an urgent message from Mary and Martha. It was, simply, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Lazarus was close to death. Jesus was being summoned to come at once to heal him.

When Jesus received that message about Lazarus, he realized that his time to die on the Cross had come. Yes, Jesus would go to Lazarus in Bethany, but he also knew his enemies were waiting for him in nearby Jerusalem. So, by choosing to go to Lazarus, Jesus knew he would fall into their hands.

The trip from the Jordan River to Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany is 20 miles, about the same distance from here to Caldwell. As Jesus approached Bethany, he learned that Lazarus had already died four days earlier. Nevertheless, Martha met him on the path. She told Jesus bluntly, “‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” Her words seem tinged with a suggestion of blame.

But then the conversation took a sudden turn as her faith broke through. Martha said, “‘But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask.’” She was asking Jesus to bring Lazarus back to life. This is the Martha who, in another story, was more concerned with cooking supper than listening to Jesus's teaching. But here, we see Martha with a rock-solid faith in Jesus. Jesus said to her, “‘I am the resurrection and the life...Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’” Then Jesus calls for Martha’s sister, Mary, who says the exact wistful words to Jesus, “if only...” but before Mary can finish speaking, her tears come on, hot and heavy, and the conversation gives way to pure emotion. Mourners from Jerusalem are there, and they weep too. And so does Jesus. “Jesus wept,” it says simply. Jesus said, “Oh dear,” to Mary and Martha.

Some say that what we see here is the humanity of Jesus, as if to imply that his divinity lacks all feeling and compassion. On the contrary, it is more truthful to say that Jesus is displaying the true heart of God. Since God has shared in our humanity, God shares in our sorrows. God weeps with us. God feels for us in our grief and loss. Jesus wept. His weeping was genuine. Although he is the Resurrection and the Life, he was sorrowful to learn what had happened to his friend, Lazarus. Death is a terrible thing.

The story especially emphasizes the genuineness of Jesus’ sorrow. Back then, families sometimes hired professional mourners to ensure enough loud wailing at a funeral. When the story describes the crowd weeping, it uses the word, kla/io, which has the connotation of wailing. But when the story describes the weeping of Jesus, it switches to the word, dak/ruo, which carries the suggestion of quiet weeping. Jesus wasn’t a performer like the professional mourners. It was his friend lying there. And Jesus just burst into tears over the death of Lazarus.

(In effect saying “Oh Dear”)

But something else is happening here that we can’t readily see in our English Bibles. Jesus is also deeply angry. John 11:38 says that Jesus “was deeply moved.” In the NIV, but that translation hardly conveys his genuine emotion. The original is much rawer and has the sense of Jesus being absolutely incensed. The NLT puts it this way. Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. The word for anger there was sometimes used for horses snorting with rage. Our Lord was upset. He was snorting with rage. What was he so angry about? He was angry at death itself. Death was brought on by Adam and Eve’s choice to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil. The evil ones in the unseen realm propagated it. Death was not the original plan.

Have you ever felt angry at death? At the whole thing. I know I have. Of the death and lifeless body of a loved one or friend. Death and funerals and the crying and the finality of it all.

Today, it would be like Jesus walking into a funeral home amidst the piped-in soothing music, the bouquets of flowers, and a body pre-packaged into a casket, amidst people saying platitudes like, “she was such a nice person.” Jesus would be standing there, angry and utterly furious, saying, “Is this how it all ends? With music, flowers, and a casket and suited men opening doors for you? Is this the end of life?”

That’s not what Jesus is about, the One who said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” He is the One who has come to say “Oh, Dear” and make all things better.

And so, with his friend Lazarus dead, and Jesus weeping and angry, our Lord shouts Lazarus alive, saying: LAZARUS! COME OUT!

And the dead man comes out, his hands and feet bound tight with strips of linen, with a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

When Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, most people there believed in what they saw with their own eyes. They knew Lazarus. They saw him die. They had been mourning him for four days, and now they witnessed Jesus bring him back to life. So you can imagine their excitement, and how their report quickly spread: “That’s right! We saw it with our own eyes! Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead! If you doubt my word, talk to Lazarus yourself!” That report must have whipped through the village of Bethany like a windstorm. It then rushed into Jerusalem like a raging tornado.

But when Jesus’ enemies heard about it in Jerusalem, they decided to get rid of Jesus once and for all. The masses were rallying behind this new charismatic leader, this Messiah. It could spark a revolt against the Romans, and what would happen then? Something had to be done fast to save the nation. The decision was made. The die was cast. There was no other choice: Jesus must die.

So, because Christ raised a dead man, he would have to become a dead man. When Jesus raised Lazarus, he set in motion all the events of Jesus’ last week, the week we call Holy Week.

A few days after the raising of Lazarus, Jesus once more went to teach in the Temple in Jerusalem. This time, though, lining the road, were hundreds of people who had heard about Lazarus. It was the day we know as “Palm Sunday.” We will study that day next week. Jesus' ancient path on that first Palm Sunday from Bethany to Jerusalem still exists. For those who have had the privilege to walk on it, I have been told it was like stepping back in time. Some of the homes on the path were old-fashioned Arab homes, much like you might expect Mary and Martha and Lazarus’ home to have resembled.

The Bethany road runs along the top edge of a hill. As you walk on it, off in the distance, looking south, you see a series of other hills, all bare of trees in the semi-arid desert and cascading lower and lower down to the Dead Sea, far in the distance. Then, as the path nears Jerusalem, it begins descending down the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem.

Just a few days after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus went down this road on that first Palm Sunday, with the people lining the sides. They had heard about the raising of Lazarus, the wondrous miracle that Jesus had performed. So they welcomed...