Dead or Alive
John 11:1-44
They say that the two things we can count on in this life are death and taxes. And although it’s almost taboo to talk about death in our culture, I’m sure not touching taxes with a ten foot pole. So we’re stuck talking about death.
Think about how hard it is to talk about death; we have all sorts of phrases we use to avoid even saying the word. “passed away” “passed on” “went to be with the LORD” or (Tara’s grandfather’s old favorite) “six feet under.” We have our bodies embalmed and we say things at funerals like “oh, she looks so natural!” – and sometimes it’s true. Our culture is obsessed with looking younger and staving off old age. Just ask a woman how old she is… or maybe don’t! But here’s the deal: we’re mortal. We will all die. The only thing we can be absolutely certain of is that this life always ends with death. And I don’t think we like that much. So we do everything we can to avoid even the thought of death.
Furthermore, we do everything we can possibly do to prolong this mortal life. Think about it; if you don’t want to end up on a ventilator and feeding tube, you have to be clear with your loved ones that this not happen. The default position is to keep the body alive, even “heroic measures” to prolong life.
Jesus is well aware of this, and he does something strange; he waits two days before taking any action. Instead of rushing to Bethany, instead of healing his friend Lazarus on the spot (remember, he has already shown us that he has the ability to do this), or instead of zooming to Bethany (remember after he walked on water, when the disciples took him into the boat, immediately they made it to the other side), he instead waits two days. (Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.) Why would Jesus wait? Mary and Martha both agree that Jesus could have healed Lazarus. But now he’s dead. And there’s no healing death. It’s the end, the one thing to be feared by everyone. And Jesus waits on purpose and doesn’t heal Lazarus, and he dies.
Why on earth would Jesus do this?
For two reasons. First: because Jesus is always working in His own timing, not in ours.
Remember this: Jesus does things for a purpose and for a reason. When he tells us to wait, it’s on purpose. I’ve lived through this multiple times; when I’ve wanted God to do something for me right now, when I’ve wanted out of hard situations now, and God has told me to wait. Every time I’ve looked back and realized that God was working in my life then and there and if He hadn’t waited, I wouldn’t have been ready for what I was asking for. It’s a good reminder that God is not in a hurry.
Jesus also waited because he wanted everyone to know that Lazarus was dead.
Around Jesus’ time, they had a saying: “For three days [after death] the soul hovers over the body, intending to re-enter it, but as soon as it sees its appearance change, it departs.” I suppose, short of our modern methods of declaring someone dead, they had to wait to see if a body was really dead before they pronounced it dead.
So Jesus waited on purpose until he and everyone else knew that Lazarus was dead. This miracle wouldn’t work if people could say, “Lazarus was just in a coma.” When Tara was young, her brother had a pet chameleon. One day their mom came in to find it dead in its cage, so she threw it in the trash. When my brother-in-law came home and ate his snack, there was his chameleon, on top of the trash can! So he picked it out and stroked it, and, behold! it came back to life! This isn’t what happened with Jesus. There was no question about Lazarus. He wasn’t “mostly dead” – he was dead, and even Martha acknowledged that he was stinky dead. (11:39 "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.")
So Jesus prepares for a miracle. But before the miracle happens, we have an important conversation between Jesus and Martha. Many Christians remember Martha from the incident where she was scurrying around all busy and got offended that Mary wasn’t helping; Jesus told her that Mary had chosen what was right and it wouldn’t be taken away from her. So Martha sometimes gets a bad rap. But here, she makes a powerful statement of faith.
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
Martha believes in Jesus’ power. She knows He can heal. But she also recognizes that Jesus has a special “in” with God. And she makes it clear that she believes in the afterlife. She knows that the resurrection of the dead will happen. She is a woman of great faith.
So Jesus makes an amazing statement, again using the “I AM” word that we’ve heard from him several times. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. Remember that “I AM” is a powerful statement from Jesus, one through which he identifies himself using the same name that God spoke to Moses through the burning bush.
So once again, Jesus is identifying himself as God. This is absolutely vital. But he’s saying something more. Martha said she believed in the resurrection at the last day, but Jesus is saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Remember that he said this before he did anything for Lazarus. Real life is in him, is only found in him – nowhere else – and there is no death for those who believe in him.
To this, Martha makes an incredible statement of faith. "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
Do you have the faith of Martha? The one whose brother lay in the grave. The one who waited for Jesus, the One she trusted for healing, and he didn’t come. Yet she has the faith to affirm her trust in Him as the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world, the long-awaited Deliverer, the one sent by God to accomplish his will perfectly.
Amazing faith. Martha is agreeing with Jesus, accepting his way, not just choosing her own way. And Jesus goes on to do what nobody expected. Nobody expected an act of resurrection.
Then along came Mary and the rest of the mourners. They were weeping and wailing, as was the custom; making a whole lot of noise. They would have had flute players and professional mourners – can you imagine that being your job? It even seems like some of them made their way all the way from Jerusalem. And while they wept loudly, Jesus was profoundly moved (When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. - John 11:33) and wept. Know that he experienced no light emotion, but he did not wail loudly. In other words, this wasn’t for show. It was because he was deeply moved.
For you Bible trivia fans, here’s the shortest verse in the Bible: John 11:35: Jesus wept. For this being such a short verse, commentaries have struggled greatly with it. Probably because they just don’t expect Jesus to weep. After all, he knows that he’s going to resurrect Lazarus. That has been his purpose ever since he heard that Lazzie was sick. Yet he still cries.
Though commentaries have offered all sorts of explanations, I think the face value reading is correct: Jesus was overcome with emotion. Even though he knew that Lazarus would later die, even though he knew that he was holding Lazarus back from heaven, even though he knew that some of the people around would misunderstand the whole situation, even though all of that could be true, I believe Jesus simply wept because of Lazarus’ death.
And if Jesus wept, doesn’t that give each and every one of us the permission to grieve and mourn? Though Paul wrote to the Thessalonican church “We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep [die], or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). He goes on to tell us to encourage each other with the hope of resurrection. Yet in the meantime, it’s hard. And Jesus Himself, aware of the resurrection, wept. So we who await the resurrection of our loved ones, are allowed to as well.
And we serve a God who weeps over death. A God who is saddened by sin. If you look back through your Bible, you’ll find that from the very beginning, sin is what led to death. Sin brought death into the world, and it disconnects us from God. Sin equals death. Sin makes God weep; does sin make us weep? Does your own sin and your own proclivity toward sinful behavior upset you? How about sinful behavior of others?
And then Jesus prays. It’s important that we see him pray here, because it’s a reminder that Jesus isn’t working on his own agenda. He is working God’s agenda here. Unlike the “faith healers” who ply their trade on earth, Jesus isn’t in it for his own glory. He only wants to glorify God. 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." What an awesome attitude. He already knows it, but he still prays it as a reminder to the people who will witness the miracle.
Like all of the other vital signs we have experienced from Jesus, there is a dual purpose to this one. The first one was to bring Lazarus back to life. This is only a short-term miracle, because Lazarus has since died. So there is a deeper purpose. To establish Jesus as THE life-giver. The moment we put our trust in Jesus we begin to experience that life of the age to come which cannot be touched by death.
We don’t have to wait until the afterlife to begin to really live. We begin as soon as we accept Jesus. Martha began it on her confession of Him. In the past two weeks, our congregation has watched Steve George and Dawn Simpson start that new life through baptism. And you can begin today.
Because if you’re not living the life Jesus died to give you, quite simply put, you’re already dead. Which will it be?
They say that the two things we can count on in this life are death and taxes. And although it’s almost taboo to talk about death in our culture, I’m sure not touching taxes with a ten foot pole. So we’re stuck talking about death.
Think about how hard it is to talk about death; we have all sorts of phrases we use to avoid even saying the word. “passed away” “passed on” “went to be with the LORD” or (Tara’s grandfather’s old favorite) “six feet under.” We have our bodies embalmed and we say things at funerals like “oh, she looks so natural!” – and sometimes it’s true. Our culture is obsessed with looking younger and staving off old age. Just ask a woman how old she is… or maybe don’t! But here’s the deal: we’re mortal. We will all die. The only thing we can be absolutely certain of is that this life always ends with death. And I don’t think we like that much. So we do everything we can to avoid even the thought of death.
Furthermore, we do everything we can possibly do to prolong this mortal life. Think about it; if you don’t want to end up on a ventilator and feeding tube, you have to be clear with your loved ones that this not happen. The default position is to keep the body alive, even “heroic measures” to prolong life.
Jesus is well aware of this, and he does something strange; he waits two days before taking any action. Instead of rushing to Bethany, instead of healing his friend Lazarus on the spot (remember, he has already shown us that he has the ability to do this), or instead of zooming to Bethany (remember after he walked on water, when the disciples took him into the boat, immediately they made it to the other side), he instead waits two days. (Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.) Why would Jesus wait? Mary and Martha both agree that Jesus could have healed Lazarus. But now he’s dead. And there’s no healing death. It’s the end, the one thing to be feared by everyone. And Jesus waits on purpose and doesn’t heal Lazarus, and he dies.
Why on earth would Jesus do this?
For two reasons. First: because Jesus is always working in His own timing, not in ours.
Remember this: Jesus does things for a purpose and for a reason. When he tells us to wait, it’s on purpose. I’ve lived through this multiple times; when I’ve wanted God to do something for me right now, when I’ve wanted out of hard situations now, and God has told me to wait. Every time I’ve looked back and realized that God was working in my life then and there and if He hadn’t waited, I wouldn’t have been ready for what I was asking for. It’s a good reminder that God is not in a hurry.
Jesus also waited because he wanted everyone to know that Lazarus was dead.
Around Jesus’ time, they had a saying: “For three days [after death] the soul hovers over the body, intending to re-enter it, but as soon as it sees its appearance change, it departs.” I suppose, short of our modern methods of declaring someone dead, they had to wait to see if a body was really dead before they pronounced it dead.
So Jesus waited on purpose until he and everyone else knew that Lazarus was dead. This miracle wouldn’t work if people could say, “Lazarus was just in a coma.” When Tara was young, her brother had a pet chameleon. One day their mom came in to find it dead in its cage, so she threw it in the trash. When my brother-in-law came home and ate his snack, there was his chameleon, on top of the trash can! So he picked it out and stroked it, and, behold! it came back to life! This isn’t what happened with Jesus. There was no question about Lazarus. He wasn’t “mostly dead” – he was dead, and even Martha acknowledged that he was stinky dead. (11:39 "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.")
So Jesus prepares for a miracle. But before the miracle happens, we have an important conversation between Jesus and Martha. Many Christians remember Martha from the incident where she was scurrying around all busy and got offended that Mary wasn’t helping; Jesus told her that Mary had chosen what was right and it wouldn’t be taken away from her. So Martha sometimes gets a bad rap. But here, she makes a powerful statement of faith.
"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. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Martha believes in Jesus’ power. She knows He can heal. But she also recognizes that Jesus has a special “in” with God. And she makes it clear that she believes in the afterlife. She knows that the resurrection of the dead will happen. She is a woman of great faith.
So Jesus makes an amazing statement, again using the “I AM” word that we’ve heard from him several times. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. Remember that “I AM” is a powerful statement from Jesus, one through which he identifies himself using the same name that God spoke to Moses through the burning bush.
So once again, Jesus is identifying himself as God. This is absolutely vital. But he’s saying something more. Martha said she believed in the resurrection at the last day, but Jesus is saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Remember that he said this before he did anything for Lazarus. Real life is in him, is only found in him – nowhere else – and there is no death for those who believe in him.
To this, Martha makes an incredible statement of faith. "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
Do you have the faith of Martha? The one whose brother lay in the grave. The one who waited for Jesus, the One she trusted for healing, and he didn’t come. Yet she has the faith to affirm her trust in Him as the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world, the long-awaited Deliverer, the one sent by God to accomplish his will perfectly.
Amazing faith. Martha is agreeing with Jesus, accepting his way, not just choosing her own way. And Jesus goes on to do what nobody expected. Nobody expected an act of resurrection.
Then along came Mary and the rest of the mourners. They were weeping and wailing, as was the custom; making a whole lot of noise. They would have had flute players and professional mourners – can you imagine that being your job? It even seems like some of them made their way all the way from Jerusalem. And while they wept loudly, Jesus was profoundly moved (When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. - John 11:33) and wept. Know that he experienced no light emotion, but he did not wail loudly. In other words, this wasn’t for show. It was because he was deeply moved.
For you Bible trivia fans, here’s the shortest verse in the Bible: John 11:35: Jesus wept. For this being such a short verse, commentaries have struggled greatly with it. Probably because they just don’t expect Jesus to weep. After all, he knows that he’s going to resurrect Lazarus. That has been his purpose ever since he heard that Lazzie was sick. Yet he still cries.
Though commentaries have offered all sorts of explanations, I think the face value reading is correct: Jesus was overcome with emotion. Even though he knew that Lazarus would later die, even though he knew that he was holding Lazarus back from heaven, even though he knew that some of the people around would misunderstand the whole situation, even though all of that could be true, I believe Jesus simply wept because of Lazarus’ death.
And if Jesus wept, doesn’t that give each and every one of us the permission to grieve and mourn? Though Paul wrote to the Thessalonican church “We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep [die], or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). He goes on to tell us to encourage each other with the hope of resurrection. Yet in the meantime, it’s hard. And Jesus Himself, aware of the resurrection, wept. So we who await the resurrection of our loved ones, are allowed to as well.
Furthermore, a weeping Jesus is a Jesus who cares. This is vitally important. Jesus actually cares. We don’t serve a god who is stoic and unaffected by humanity. We serve the God who so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16).
And we serve a God who weeps over death. A God who is saddened by sin. If you look back through your Bible, you’ll find that from the very beginning, sin is what led to death. Sin brought death into the world, and it disconnects us from God. Sin equals death. Sin makes God weep; does sin make us weep? Does your own sin and your own proclivity toward sinful behavior upset you? How about sinful behavior of others?
And then Jesus prays. It’s important that we see him pray here, because it’s a reminder that Jesus isn’t working on his own agenda. He is working God’s agenda here. Unlike the “faith healers” who ply their trade on earth, Jesus isn’t in it for his own glory. He only wants to glorify God. 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." What an awesome attitude. He already knows it, but he still prays it as a reminder to the people who will witness the miracle.
And then he invites Lazarus to come out. Instead of incantations or spells, Jesus speaks clearly, a familiar action for the One who spoke the world into existence, and Lazarus is brought back to life.
Like all of the other vital signs we have experienced from Jesus, there is a dual purpose to this one. The first one was to bring Lazarus back to life. This is only a short-term miracle, because Lazarus has since died. So there is a deeper purpose. To establish Jesus as THE life-giver. The moment we put our trust in Jesus we begin to experience that life of the age to come which cannot be touched by death.
We don’t have to wait until the afterlife to begin to really live. We begin as soon as we accept Jesus. Martha began it on her confession of Him. In the past two weeks, our congregation has watched Steve George and Dawn Simpson start that new life through baptism. And you can begin today.
Because if you’re not living the life Jesus died to give you, quite simply put, you’re already dead. Which will it be?
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