Sunday November 1, 2009 John 11:32-44

Welcome to All Saints Day. Before we start I would like to announce that starting January 13, 2010 I will be teaching a class on Wednesdays from 6-7 at church entitled See Through the Scriptures. We will be using a DVD prepared by Crossways Inc. which will have 30-40 minutes of Dr. Harry Wendt teaching, plus a manual and workbook with a question and answer period to follow. We will also look at the highlighted texts in the Bible that Dr. Wendt has just taught about. All are welcome to attend and if you have friends or anyone else you know that would like to join us please invite them. This is not limited to members of Crown of Glory but open to all. The objective for the study is to see and start to understand the overarching story of the bible (the big picture). Dinner is available from the confirmation groups and child care will be provided. This is going to be a fun time of learning and studying. Most importantly we will not memorize anything; we will just explore the story. Please sign up at the welcome desk and join us for a fun, informative hour.

One of the two texts for All Saints Day is John 11:32-44 however if I just start at those verses some of the significance of the story will be missed so we will look at the beginning of the chapter too.

V1-4 Jesus has fled across the Jordan River because the authorities have tried to arrest him in Jerusalem. While he is across the river Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus is ill. They would like Jesus to come to them to heal their brother. Mary, Martha and Lazarus live in the town of Bethany which is located on the Mount of Olives. Jesus has stayed with them many times and is close to this family. Upon hearing the news of Lazarus’ illness Jesus doesn’t leave for their house but stays where he is for two more days. He could have made it back in a few hours but he waited.

V7-16 After two days he tells his disciples that they will travel to Judea again. The disciples are alarmed as the Jews have tried to stone him and the authorities have tried to arrest him, they don’t want to return to Judea. Jesus replies as long as they are with him-the light-they will be OK. It is those who walk by darkness-not with him-who will stumble. He tells the disciples that Lazarus has fallen asleep and he is going to wake him up. The disciples miss the metaphor for death that Jesus has just told them and reply that if Lazarus is just sleeping he will be ok and they need not risk their lives just to wake someone up. Jesus then explains to them that Lazarus has died and he will use this event to help them with their belief of who Jesus is. Thomas still believes that they are at risk of being killed but vows to accompany Jesus even if it means death for them.

V17-27 When Jesus arrives Lazarus has been in the tomb for 4 days. Lazarus is really dead and there is no denying it. By now the body is decomposing and smells. Mary and Martha are in the house grieving for their brother with people and friends who had come to grieve with them. When Martha hears that Jesus is coming she leaves the house to go to him. The Jews sat shiv’ah for 7 days of mourning and were not to leave the house. Martha set this custom aside and left to confront Jesus. Mary meanwhile stays in the house. In agony Martha confronts Jesus and says that if he had been there Lazarus would not have died. Jesus responds that her brother will live again and she says she knows he will rise again in the resurrection of everyone on the last Day of Judgment when the Messiah comes in the future. Jesus responds I AM the resurrection and the life, meaning the hopes of a future resurrection has come to fulfillment in my life. He is conquering death now. Resurrection is happening now and will not be some future hope anymore. Does she, Martha, believe him? Martha responds with an acclimation of faith and belief that he is the Messiah, the Son of God and because of this, the Day of Judgment, the Age to Come, has indeed come with Jesus.

V28-31 Martha returns to the house to get her sister Mary and let her know Jesus has come as is asking for her. Mary quickly rises to go and those in the house mourning with the sisters think she is going to the tomb so they follow.

V32 Mary, in agony, says the same thing to Jesus that Martha had. They have just lost their brother and question why hadn’t Jesus their close friend and teacher come to help? Why had he left them alone?

V33 When Jesus saw them weeping he began to weep, he is deeply moved by their sorrow. He understands human sorrow and can enter into it also. He is not removed from us and our emotions. However he can see past what we do and has an understanding that we don’t possess yet. He wasn’t sad that Lazarus had died because he knew he was going to raise him, he wept for his friends.

V34-38 Jesus asks where the tomb is and they take him there. Along the way some of the people notice he is weeping and wonder why as they know he can heal the blind so why didn’t he heal this man, his friend? Why cry over it now when it is too late to offer the healing help he could have and avoided this situation?

V39 Jesus orders the stone covering the entrance to the tomb be rolled away but Martha protests because the body will have begun to decay and an awful odor will be released. This is one of the reasons they wrapped and anointed a dead body with oil and fragrance; to combat the stench of decay.

V40 Jesus reminds her of their discussion upon his arrival. He is the resurrection and life has come in him. She had earlier professed to believe this in their conversation but now has had a lapse of understanding. Remember people were not raised from the dead then or now. Even if this was us standing at this grave we too would be just as confused, as Jesus is changing and rearranging her whole system of belief-he’s redefining it.

V41-42 Jesus looks upward and speaks to God, not so God will notice him, but to direct the attention of the people to God and what God is about to do. This isn’t coming from Jesus, the man, but from Jesus, the Son of God, and Gods’ representative here on earth. God is about to do an amazing thing and Jesus is attributing it all to God for the benefit of the crowd.

V43 Jesus cries for Lazarus to come out. Can you imagine the reaction of the crowd or your own reaction had you been there? This man is calling out a man that has been dead for four days. Do you think he will come out? If so, what will he look like? Yuck!

V44 Out came Lazarus still bound with the grave wrappings but walking on his own. The crowd must be astonished at this. He is a whole human being. He is alive. I wonder what Lazarus thought and what his reaction was after learning the whole story. For him it may have been like waking up from a coma, but for everyone else, they have just witnessed a miracle beyond their comprehension. A dead man lives. Unfortunately Lazarus had to die again, but he was a celebration of life and a future that had come.

In the Gospel of John this is the final act that gets Jesus killed. The rabbis taught that when the Messiah came he would stand on the Mount of Olives and raise the dead. Dan 12:1-2, Zach 14:4 and Is 26:19. Jesus has stood on the Mount of Olives, Bethany, been called the Messiah the Son of God, on the Mount, and raised Lazarus. The authorities are furious and in verse 53 they plan to kill him. Can you see the irony? They had been waiting for a Messiah and when he finally came and preformed the signs that the Messiah was suppose to, the learned people wanted to kill him because he wasn’t the kind of Messiah they wanted. If they followed him they would loose their own grip on power so they had to kill him. And He Let Them.