This week, we are looking at an event from the
history of Jesus life that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in
the Bible called the gospel of John. Yesterday, we looked on as John gave us a
glimpse into a very confusion conversation that Jesus was having with His
disciples. After leaving Jerusalem and traveling across the Jordan River, Jesus
and the disciples received word that a dear and close friend named Lazarus was
sick.
Upon hearing of the sickness of his friend, Jesus
explained to His disciples that this sickness would not end in death, but for
the glory of God. In essence, Jesus was stating that God was going to receive
glory as a result of Lazarus illness. John also tells us that Jesus loved
Lazarus and his sisters.
In the confusing conversation that followed, Jesus
delayed for two days after receiving word that His dear and close friend
Lazarus was sick, and then suddenly wanted to go back to a place where they had
just tried to kill you. And then Jesus stated that Lazarus was only taking a
nap. Today we will see Jesus, after the disciples missed the point, Jesus speak
with unmistakable clarity in John 11:14:
So Jesus then said to them plainly,
"Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so
that you may believe; but let us go to him."
Now do you think the disciples heard anything past
the first seven words here? Would you have heard anything past the first seven
words that Jesus spoke? What? Wait a minute. So Jesus you are saying that
Lazarus is dead and that you are glad. You are glad that he is dead. Really?
Jesus that is just sick and wrong. Jesus, I thought that you were the Messiah
who was coming to alleviate and remove the pain and suffering from our lives. And
now you say that you are glad that someone you love is dead?
Isn’t that the tension that we can find ourselves
wrestling with when it comes to God? Can’t we find ourselves at a place in life
where we find it unexplainable how a good and loving God could allow bad things
to happen in the lives of those He loves?
How can Jesus seem to be so absent in the lives of His followers when
they encounter difficult circumstances? And in their confusion, we see how the
disciples responded in verse 16:
Therefore Thomas, who is called
Didymus, said to his fellow
disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him."
Thomas, who we know as the disciple who doubted
Jesus, here shows a strong commitment to follow Jesus. Thomas basically says
“let’s go along with Jesus and if we die, we die”. You see, the disciples had
missed the boat. The disciples had missed Jesus statement that He was going to
use Lazarus illness as a means to strengthen and grow the disciples trust in
Him.
The disciples were focused on what had happened to
them the last time they were in Jerusalem and on Jesus seemingly strange and
confusing statement that He was glad that Lazarus was dead. John then reveals
for us what happened next in verse 17:
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four
days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews
had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was
coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to
Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
Wow. That must have made Jesus feel good. “Jesus where were you when Lazarus needed you
most? If you would have been here, my brother would still be alive”. Look at
what Martha says next:
"Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give
You."
Even in the midst of her grief, hurt and pain,
Martha believed and trusted that Jesus could enter into and leverage this
situation to help Lazarus. “Look Jesus, I know that you can help Lazarus. All
you need to do is ask”. No pressure there. We see how Jesus responded to
Martha’s pressure in verse 23:
Jesus said to her, "Your
brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will
rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
Notice Martha’s response here: "I
know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." In
other words, Martha is basically saying “Jesus I know the correct theological
answer in my head. I know that my brother was right with God and loved and
trusted You. I know that I will see my brother again in Heaven at the end of
God’s story here on earth”.
You see, theologically, Martha
knew the correct churchy answer. But emotionally, Martha was a mess.
Emotionally, Martha had a hard time believing that the person that she believed
to be the Messiah, the person that she believed to be God in a bod, had let her
down.
Have you been there? Have you
ever been in the place where you feel like God has let you down? Have you ever
been in the place where you theology does not seem to be helping you
emotionally? And it is in this context that we see Jesus make a timeless
statement and ask a timeless question, which John records for us in John 11:25:
Jesus said to her, "I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and
everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe
this?"
Now Jesus statement, if communicated in the language
we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Martha, I
am the resurrection and I am life. Martha the resurrection is not about a time
in history. The resurrection is about Me entering into history. As a result of
Me entering into history, whoever trusts in Me while they are living, will
never be separated from Me spiritually. And whoever dies physically after
placing their trust in Me, will always live spiritually in the relationship
with Me that they were created for.”
You see, the question is not whether or not we live
forever. We were created as eternal beings. When the Bible uses the word death,
this word refers to the separation that every human being experiences. When we
physically die, our soul is separated from our bodies. When we selfishly rebel
against God by doing things that hurt God and others, we are spiritually
separated from God. And if we experience physical death, where our soul is
separated from our bodies, while we are spiritually dead, which is to be
separated from God as a result of our selfishness and rebellion, we experience
eternal death, which is eternal separation from God.
Jesus is saying to Martha “I am the One who brings
life from death when one places their trust in Me. I am the One who brings
reconciliation with God from separation from God when one places their trust in
Me.” Jesus then asks Martha a timeless and powerful question: ‘”Do you believe
this?” In other words Jesus asks Martha: “Are you willing to trust Me”?
And today, Jesus asks us that very same question. Today
Jesus asks “Are you willing to trust Me”? “Are you willing to trust that I am
the One who brings life from death? Are
you willing to trust that I am the One who brings reconciliation with God from
separation from God?”
You see the question is not whether or not we live
forever. The question is where are we going to live as we live forever? Are we
going to live for all eternity in the relationship with God that we were
created for as a result of responding to what God has done for us through Jesus
life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus? Or
are we going to live separated from God for all eternity because we refused to
believe, trust and follow Jesus? John then reveals for us how Martha answered
that question in verse 27:
She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I
have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."
Martha basically says to Jesus
“Jesus, You are large and in charge of my life. Jesus, I have placed my
confident trust in You as the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a rescuer
and a deliverer to bring me back to God. I am trusting that God has sent You to
earth to bring us back to God.” But Martha here is not simply making a
profession.
Tomorrow, we will see John
reveal for us how Martha demonstrated that she possessed a relationship that
trusted in Jesus...
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