“The Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:1-27)

Happy New Year, everyone. It’s a new year, but the same Gospel. We’re picking back up where I left off in John back in August. I said that it was the end of Act 2.

If you remember, Chapters 1-6 are Act 1; the exposition. Who is Jesus? Come and see, then go and be!

Chapters 6-10 are Act 2; the rising action. Who does Jesus say He is? When we follow Jesus, we will face hostility. Opportunity and opposition.

Now we’re in Act 3. In John’s telling of the Gospel, the life of Jesus apexed at the Temple when He said, “The works that I do in the Father’s name bear witness about me…I and the Father are One” (John 10:25, 30) 

Now, Christ’s final work of the Father will launch us into the thrilling finale that will not only conclude John’s Gospel, but end death itself! This final work does more to approach the reality of what Jesus does than any other sign.

Giving life to Lazarus leads directly to Christ giving His life for the world. We’re coming to the end of Christ’s ministry, then it’s onward and upward to Jerusalem. 

Remember, when Jesus said, “I and the Father are One,” people did not like it. They tried to stone Him. Jesus escaped, and He “went back to the place where John had been baptizing at first” (John 10:40). 

This is brilliant storytelling! John begins the end of his story in the same place the story began. The same place where John the Baptist proclaimed: “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). This is the same place where Andrew and probably John himself asked Jesus, “Where are you staying?” and Jesus said to them, “Come and see.” (John 1:38-39)

Now the familiar mini-story of Lazarus begins like every story does: with a call to action. Jesus and His disciples are hiding out, and a messenger comes to Him saying, “He whom You love is ill.” 

This phileo love. This is a close, personal relationship. It’s the kind of love that would move anyone to immediate action.

But Jesus waits. Jesus will not be moved by anything other than obedience to the will of His Father.

We may petition God, and God may be moved, but Jesus does not move according to our timeline. Jesus moves for the glory of His Father.

That’s what He said: “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 

Remember, The Son and the Father are One. Jesus works unto the glory of God, and God chose to reveal His glory through the Son.

So when Jesus fails to act immediately, it is not callousness and certainly not apathy on Christ’s part. John reminds us that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Notice John identifies them individually. Jesus loved Martha. And Jesus loved Mary. And Jesus loved Lazarus. 

And Jesus loves you. Just because He does not move immediately does not mean that He is not moved by your sorrow, your needs, or your pain. His heart breaks when your heart breaks. 

Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus was tempted as we are, and he was also pained as we are. He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). 

I think Jesus desperately wanted to run to Lazarus, to comfort Martha and Mary. But Jesus wants to glorify the Father more. Jesus knows that though the suffering was great, God’s plan was greater.

Remember that. 

You’re hurting. You’re scared. 

Your job lays you off with no warning.

Your spouse of fifteen years, with whom you’ve built a life, files for divorce.

Your son or daughter, who used to come to church and profess faith, has turned their back on the gospel and won’t return your calls. You haven’t spoken in months.

“The man whom you love is ill.”

Your world is completely turned upside-down. It’s the part in your story where everything you thought you knew is gone, or it turns out was never real in the first place.

But you know that Jesus loves you. And so you’re crying out to Him.

And Jesus isn’t doing anything. We’re begging Him to come comfort us before it’s too late, and He tarries. He takes His time. And it feels like God doesn’t love us anymore, if He ever did in the first place.

You’re just alone.

John writes, “So, when [Jesus] heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.”

Do you hear that? Do you feel that?

Lazarus, the man whom Jesus loved, was sick, and unbeknownst to the disciples (and possibly Jesus) is already dead. 

Mary and Martha, women who Jesus also loved, are at this very moment mourning their brother’s death. It’s too late to save him. All they wanted was Jesus—who’s less than a day away—and He sits and waits. Even though many people would comfort them, they must have felt so alone.

But God’s timing is not our timing. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We may feel pain now, but it is nothing compared to the joy and the awe that we will experience when Christ displays His full glory in His Father’s perfect time.

I want to focus on verse six for a moment. Odds are, the translation you have in your Bible says, “So, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer…”

A better translation would be, “Therefore, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer…” 

I honestly don’t know why the translators made that decision. The word literally means “therefore.” It may not seem like a big deal, but the difference is significant. 

You may have heard the old hermeneutical adage: “Whenever you see a ‘therefore’ in the Bible, you have to ask yourself what the ‘therefore’ is there for.”

The “therefore” in verse six points back to verse four. It’s not “Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, so He waited around a couple of days.” It’s “God and the Son of God would be glorified, therefore Jesus waited around a couple of days when He heard that Lazarus was sick.”

Do you hear the difference?

Christ’s delay has nothing to do with indifference, and everything to do with His love for Lazarus, and Martha, and Mary, and His Father, and—believe it or not, even then—His love for you.

Jesus knew the joy that Martha and Mary would experience after their extended suffering would far outweigh the relief they might have had if Jesus simply extended Lazarus’s life a few more years. 

The life that Jesus gives will never end, even though Lazarus will eventually be buried again. 

Because, as I’m sure you already know, Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead. This final work of God will give rise to the reality that it foreshadows for all of us. 

This sign will give occasion for Christ to be lifted up on Calvary, leading to the Resurrection that gives the world eternal hope. As I said, this sign marks the beginning of the road onward and upward to Jerusalem. This marks the beginning of Life for us all!

But now, for Martha and Mary, all hope is lost. It’s too late. Their brother is dead. Jesus didn’t show up in time, and for them it seems like He’s not even coming to comfort them. He just sits there for two days. 

Now let’s turn our attention to the disciples.

“Then after this [Jesus] said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’”

The last time they were in Judea, people tried to kill Jesus. And as far as they’re concerned, Jesus said that Lazarus wasn’t going to die—that his “illness does not lead to death.” So why go back now?

Jesus answers them with a parable.

He said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Really try to put yourself into the situation.

Martha and Mary are a few miles away, grieving the death of their brother and wondering why Jesus didn’t show up in time, when they really believed He would save their brother’s life. The disciples are terrified because their Leader just told them that they’re going back into a city that wants to take their lives. 

And Jesus gives them a riddle. 

Jesus can seem very frustrating when we don’t have the whole picture.

But here’s the thing: Jesus is the answer to the frustration. The answer to this parable—this riddle— is Jesus. And Jesus has already given them the answer. In John 8, Jesus said, “I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The disciples seem to remember this well enough, because for them, the Answer was right in front of them. They have a good relationship with Him. They knew that as long as they were with Jesus, they would be safe. But their faith was still a little shaky. 

That’s why Jesus had to do things the way He did them. To glorify the Father in order that they might believe. The work that He was about to do would give them something to ground their faith in. 

Even though they trusted Jesus, they were still afraid. They didn’t want to go. That’s why when Jesus said Lazarus had “fallen asleep,” they were very quick to say, “Just let him nap, then. He’ll get better.” It removed the urgency from going to Jerusalem. 

We get oblivious when we’re scared. Sometimes when Jesus calls us to do or go through something scary, we rationalize down so that it doesn’t seem so urgent. 

Like that person you know that needs to hear the gospel, but you keep telling yourself there’s always more time to have that conversation, because he’s not dead yet. Except he is already dead, and you need to go to him with Jesus.

Jesus will call you to do scary things, but He will never ask you to do something only He can do. Listen to the difference between plural and singular that Jesus used when He spoke to His disciples: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” Did you catch that?

Only Jesus can awaken him from this sleep. Only Jesus can regenerate, but He invites us to be a part of it. 

Still, the disciples aren’t getting it, so Jesus tells them plainly, “Lazarus has died.” 

And then He says something almost painful to hear. Almost scandalous. He says, “And for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you might believe.”

Let’s recap (from the disciples’ perspective): Jesus gets word that a friend He dearly loves is very sick. Therefore, he hangs around for two days. The disciples think maybe they’re in the clear and don’t have to go back to the city that wants them dead, because Lazarus is just taking a nap. Then, Jesus says, “We’re going to Judea because Lazarus is dead…And I’m glad.”

And remember this: Jesus is feeling horrendous pain at the loss of His friend. Even if He will raise Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus has still experienced the sting of death and the oppressive consequence of sin. Jesus knows how alone Martha and Mary feel. He knows His disciples are terrified of dying. This is the state of the world, and Jesus feels all of it. In just a few days, Jesus will feel greater loneliness, abandonment, and agony than any of these people feel as He’s praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the death of Lazarus is the catalyst that gets Him there.

And yet He rejoices—He is glad. And He is glad because He knows the glory of God that they are all about to witness. He knows the joy that all friends of Christ will experience. He knows what’s coming.

So the disciples follow Him to Bethany, and Jesus finds that Lazarus has been dead for four days. This is important. It wouldn’t have mattered if Jesus had acted immediately or not; Lazarus was already dead before Jesus received the message that he was sick. But this gives all the more opportunity for God’s glory to be displayed. This is why He waited.

There was a Jewish superstition that a person’s soul hovered around the body for three days after death, hoping for the chance to return to the body. But then, on the fourth day, decomposition sets in. Irrevocable changes start to occur. According to the superstition, the soul can’t recognize its old face anymore, so it takes off. 

Basically, on the fourth day, all hope is lost.

All hope of restoration to life by what might be called natural means is banished. Restoration can only be accomplished by a new creative act of God.

Which means that if Lazarus has any hope of coming out of his tomb, it is going to take an act of creation, not merely resurrection. We’re talking about creation ex nihilo—out of nothing. For Lazarus to become alive, Jesus needs to make him a new creation. 

Do you see where I’m going?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him not any thing was made that was made.” 

That’s how John’s Gospel begins, and that’s what Christ’s final sign accomplishes: creation—regeneration—life out of that which was not living.

That’s what Christ does today.

The life that Jesus gives isn’t simply being born and breathing. The life He gives is something new. The life Jesus gives will never end.

This is not resuscitation—this is revelation! 

In Jesus we live and move and have our being, and the Life He gives will never end. This is the most fundamentally important discovery in the universe, and it can only be revealed in and by Christ. 

This is what Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle, and Sartre, and Hume, and Neizche, and the Buddha, and Lao Tzu, and Ponce de León, and Darwin, and many others died searching for. Because life cannot be found until It is revealed. Jesus has revealed Himself to be Life. This is more than philosophy; this is theology. 

But Martha and Mary don’t care about theology right now. I know firsthand that nobody cares about theology when their loved one has died and their world is falling apart. Martha and Mary are mourning the death of their brother. They are hopeless. Mary, the one who anointed Jesus’s feet with her tears, doesn’t even get up to greet Him. 

When your life is falling apart—when all hope seems lost—it’s not mere theology that helps us; it’s our relationship with Jesus that pulls us through. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, you need sound theology. But it’s theology is rooted in relationship that sustains us.

“Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5) And they loved Him. They had a relationship built on more than just theology. 

Martha hears Jesus is coming and goes out to meet Him. She said to Him, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

This may sound like a rebuke. Maybe it sounds like a conversation you’ve had before with Jesus. “If only You’d been there…If only You’d shown up…”

But this isn’t resentment. In fact, it betrays faith. Just like we heard last week with John the Baptist in prison. This is faith intersecting with real life. It’s not theoretical; this is personal. This is relationship. 

Words like these show that she believed He had the power to do something. And she clarifies, saying, “Even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Even the anxious Martha knows it’s never too late, even though she’s certain it’s too late.

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

(And I can just feel Martha’s spirit deflate.)

She had probably heard the same platitude six dozen times in the last four days. She was probably sick of hearing it. Because the Jews expected a resurrection on the last day. 

That’s like saying, “At least they’re in a better place.” It’s lame. It doesn’t help.

Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’”

She expected a lot more from Jesus, and Jesus seems to have let her down. He didn’t show up when she needed Him most—when she called for Him to come. He waited too long.

“And Jesus said to her, ‘I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”

Do you believe this?

This is more than theology.

This is trust built on a relationship.

This is not a platitude—this is a saving truth that must be received in faith and acted on.

The moment you surrender to Christ and put your trust in Him—once you have a relationship with Him—you begin to live the life that you will live for the rest of eternity, and death cannot touch you. Death is nothing more than a nap.

Do you believe this?

I wish I could leave you in suspense here. I wish I could end the story here and ask, “Will Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead?” I wish I could milk that tension, because that’s the tension we all live in. Will Jesus do what He says He will do?

I can’t do it. You already know how the story ends. But do you believe it?

And if you believe it, do you believe it for yourself?

Because if you believe this story, and your faith is rooted in relationship, you know how your own story will end. Jesus has already told you the ending. 

Do you believe this, like Martha did, drowning in the hopeless grief of her dead brother? 

Do you believe this, like Martha did, enough to say, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Because when you believe this, and that faith is rooted in a relationship with the One who is the Light, you can walk through the dark without stumbling, because the Light is within you. When you believe this, you have life when nothing but death seems to surround you.

Jesus is the Life, and He gave His life so that you might live.