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Psalm 130:1-8 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
John 11:1-6 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 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. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 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.” 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
John 11:11-15 “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
John 11:17-45 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 28 And 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.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 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. 32 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.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “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.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.” 45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
Have you ever prayed and waited for God to show up but nothing seems to happen? Does your life seem to lack something? As we continue in our series on the “I Am” saying of Jesus we come to today’s story involving Martha and Mary. They thought the end had come but instead they learn more of who Jesus is.
Martha and Mary send word to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus is sick. They know Jesus loves Lazarus and they expect Jesus to come. He could have left when He first heard. Instead, He deliberately waited until after Lazarus was dead for four days before He went to Martha and Mary. Imagine how Lazarus, Martha and Mary must have felt as they waited for Jesus to come. They knew He could cure Lazarus. They waited and waited but He didn’t come and Lazarus died. Martha and Mary wrapped their brother in strips of linen and placed him in the tomb and a stone was rolled in front to seal it off. They mourned their brother, they wept and many came to comfort them in their grief.
Into the midst of their grief comes Jesus. Both Martha and Mary greet Jesus by saying, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” They have total faith in His ability to heal. But Lazarus is beyond healing; he is dead and in the grave for four days now. Martha went on to say, “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of Him.” Martha appears to know that something can still be done. Jesus tells her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha says, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Her response is the correct answer according to their faith. We could say it is the correct Sunday School answer but it lacks any real connection to her life. She sees it as something that will happen a long time in the future. It’s the religious response, but it doesn’t appear to be relevant. Martha understands this in her head, but it hasn’t filtered down into her heart.
At this point Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” In other words, resurrection comes from Jesus. He didn’t merely say that there is a resurrection. He states that HE is the resurrection.
Jesus is moving Martha from an abstract belief about something in the distant future to a personalized trust in Jesus, who alone can raise the dead. Jesus is in the present tense: “I Am,” not “I will be,” or, “I was.” He is, right now, the resurrection and the life.
Martha says, “Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One coming into the world.” Her faith has grown and she is gaining new understanding of who Jesus is.
Martha went back and got Mary. Mary came to Jesus and knelt at His feet. What happens next gives us great insight into the character of Jesus, it gives us assurances that Jesus is with us in our pain. When Jesus saw Mary crying “He was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” Jesus is filled with compassion for Mary. Her pain becomes His pain, her grief, His grief and He weeps with her. Jesus weeps. He weeps with us today wherever people are sick or injured. He weeps with families of those who have lost loved ones. He weeps over the condition of our world.
Together Martha, Mary and Jesus go to the tomb and Jesus tells them to remove the stone. Martha protests that it will stink. Jesus says to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” Martha’s faith had grown but she still hesitates, unsure of what was going to happen. The stone is rolled away. Jesus prays to God the Father out loud so the crowd can hear Him.
Then Jesus stands before the tomb and cries out, “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus responds to the call of Jesus and walks out of the tomb still bound with the strips of cloth he was buried in. Jesus tells them to unbind him. Can you imagine the shock on the faces of those watching? They knew Lazarus was dead, they had laid him in to tomb and now here he is, walking out of the tomb, very much alive. Not just resurrection on the last day but resurrection now. Jesus doesn’t just have the ability to heal; He has power over death because He is the source of life, the source of resurrection. The power of the Father was made visible in the action of the Son as He turned the tragedy of death into the joy of life. The miracle happened so that the glory of God might be manifested in our world. (pause)
What did that mean in His culture and what does it say to us today? Throughout the bible there have been people resurrected from the dead. In the Old Testament Elijah and Elisha both raised someone from the dead. In addition to Lazarus Jesus raised both the son of the widow of Nain and the daughter of Jarius from the dead. What is unique about Lazarus is how Jesus uses the resurrection of Lazarus to describe who Jesus is. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus doesn’t just have the ability to heal; He has power over death because He is the source of life, the source of resurrection. The raising of Lazarus was a demonstration of Jesus’ power; a demonstration of the glory of God. It was done deliberately in front of many so all of them would come to believe in Jesus.
What about us? I think it is both easier and harder for us to believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life than it was for the original witnesses. It is harder because we rely on witnesses from two thousand years ago. Many question the truth of the gospels. It is easier for someone who is Christian today because they have a relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit inside them affirms the truth, they know Jesus in a way those living so long ago didn’t.
How does this affect our beliefs, behaviors and lives?
Many people fear death because they believe death is the end. Bertrand Russell was a 20th century philosopher and an atheist. As he approached his death in 1970, he wrote: “The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach and where none can tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death.”
Compare that to the words of Jesus Christ, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” There is hope is these words. Russell thinks death in omnipotent. Wrong! Jesus Christ is omnipotent, not death! Jesus Christ has conquered death. We know, we are certain that when we believe in Jesus we will have eternal life. How that changes our lives!
If we believe that Jesus has conquered death then we will not be afraid of death. We may fear how we die; many deaths are painful, there can be suffering. That is an understandable fear. But death itself is not to be feared. Jesus is victorious! Part of the message I always preach at funerals is that the person is now in a better place, they are with Jesus; there is no longer any pain or suffering. Death is not to be feared by Christians because we know it is not the end. We know we will see our loved ones again. Death is a parting but not an ending. We also know that when we ourselves die it is not our end but merely a step from this world to the next where we will be with our Savior for all eternity. If we believe that Jesus has the power to raise people from the dead we know that we will rise again someday.
Jesus calls Himself the resurrection and says, “those who believe in me, even though they die, will live. In the future, Jesus will bring physical life again. If we believe that Jesus is the resurrection we will live with a peace and an assurance that comes only from Jesus.
Jesus calls Himself the life and says, “everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Through Jesus we have abundant life in the present. The truth of Jesus is not just for the future. It is for the present as well. If we believe that Jesus is the source of true life then we will trust and rely on Him to be with us and guide us day by day.
Yes, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Think of it this way. The first Sunday of every month we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. During this we joyfully celebrate the dying and rising of our Savior, Jesus Christ as we await the day of His coming. We proclaim the great mystery of our faith; Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Jesus is the one who gives us eternal life for the future and abundant life right now.