Trinity Baptist Church Easter, March 23, 2008
Resurrection Reality
John 11:1-46
(Opening Illustration and material from Ray Pritchard)
When Barry Grunow left for work that Friday morning, he had no idea he’d never return home. It was the last day of school at Lake Worth Community Middle School, near West Palm Beach. 15 minutes before the final dismissal of the school year, Mr. Grunow was teaching seventh grade English at
3:30 p.m. when a 13-year-old student shot him. The student had been sent home earlier for throwing
water balloons in class. He was a member of the National Honor Society and had no record of
previous trouble.
Barry Grunow was a popular teacher who often stayed after school to play basketball with kids. He
was 35, had a wife, a 5 year old son, and infant daughter. One classroom mother said, "He was a
great man. I always enjoyed it when my kids were going to be in his classes. Every way you look at
it, it’s a tragedy [and] scary."
Life is momentary and uncertain. In the NT James wrote, What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (4:14). Moses said to God in a Psalm, You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning -- though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. The saying used to be,nothing is certain but death and taxes. That’s not always the case. If you have a good attorney and a good CPA, you might escape some or even all your taxes -- but nobody avoids death. George Bernard Shaw said, the statistics on death haven’t changed. 1 out of 1 die." In a year’s time about 54 million people die
on planet Earth. 150,000 a day -- about 102 people every minute. The facts alone ought to jar me with the truth that -- one day, I will die -- as will the people I love. But, most of us respond with, not what I want to think about!!We live in a death-denying culture. We don’t want to hear about it, talk about it, think about it, or plan for it.
We apply euphemisms to death’s harsh reality. Some of us diet, exercise, work out, jog, bike, "move to the oldies" with Richard Simmons, gobble down vitamins, quit smoking, avoid fatty foods, track our cholesterol, keep a weight chart, cut back to only one Big Mac a day! We may even be tempted to stop drinking coffee or Coke or energy drinks. We use potions and creams
to look younger. We take fish oil and fiber in hopes of a few extra heartbeats.
Obviously, those things can be good. We should take care of ourselves. But the fascination with health and appearance goes beyond health. It soothes our uncertainty. We so want to stay alive because we don’t want to die. I’d suggest to you, we don’t want to die because we aren’t real sure of what’s next, and so there’s this real, deep-seated fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 describes that fear: it says, Jesus died so that by his death He might destroy him
who holds the power of death -- that is, the devil -- and free those who all their lives were held
in slavery by their fear of death. That fear often keeps us from facing our own mortality. At the
same time, Hebrews reminds us, we each have an appointment with death. And it’s one appointment we
not avoid nor for which we’ll be late.
This 11th chapter of John from which Brian read offers some good news. The good news is wrapped up in the Person of Christ. We learn two Truths from Him here. First, He clearly understands and experiences the anguish that death brings to us. But vastly more important, Jesus secondly supplies God’s remedy for man’s old enemy.
It’s striking, as we read this account that before anything else transpired, Jesus wept at the death of His friend. He stood there at Lazarus’ tomb and wept freely. People read this passage and ask: why would Jesus grieve, knowing what He would do. The best answer is -- He wept because He loved Lazarus and his sisters, and He felt deeply what the NT calls the sting of death. Jesus went through grief with Martha and Mary as a human being -- weeping at the pain death brings.
You should understand death is a trespasser in our world. It’s a usurping influence in human
experience -- death was not part of God’s original design. It only became our legacy because of
sin. We are infected by sin -- and because of which death will come. That’s the bad news. The good
news is, the NT’s term for death is the last enemy because God will bring the day when death
itself will be destroyed.
We’ll think through this as we consider this greatest of Jesus’ miracles. The account takes place
in Bethany. Bethany is a couple of miles from Jerusalem. Jesus had three good friends there: two
sisters and a brother -- Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He stopped there often on His way to and from
Jerusalem. It was a place of quiet, probably -- a good place to get apart from the masses and
spend time with His close followers -- it was like a retreat center where the team could rest and
get time for interaction.
John reports in verse 3 that word is sent from Martha and Mary to Jesus: their brother is ill. Lord, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard it, He said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Notice what John then says: Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Whatever you think about this situation -- or when you have an urgent need -- Jesus isn’t toying with His good friends, just to do His greatest miracle. What Jesus does, He does out of love. This situation in their lives will provides a
platform -- not just for one of Christ’s claims about Himself but also for His most astounding miracle.
You have the claim on your worship folder: 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.
Before we get to it, three observations -- one about each of these three siblings.
First, in verse 26, Jesus challenges Martha’s faith. (11:26)
Unlike most claims Jesus made about Himself, this one is spoken to one person, to Martha. Notice in verse 3 -- Martha and Mary did not ask Jesus to specifically come. They just sent word -- our brother is sick. Obviously, if they went to the trouble of sending a messenger and involving Jesus, this was serious. They also obviously assumed He’d drop whatever He was doing and come to alter the situation. He’d healed so many others. Of course He’d do it for a close friend.
To their disappointment, He didn’t. Jesus tells His men, something greater is going on -- there won’t be an immediate miracle of healing. The situation is different, verse 4 tell us: God’s glory
is involved -- and the events will bring glory to the Father and glory to the Son.
Jesus delays. Are you like me? Someone we love gets really sick or goes through an awful thing -- and my first urge and pleading prayer is -- God! Do something! Then on the back side of an event -- after tragedy has struck -- or someone dies prematurely by our calculation -- and we sometimes ask, "where was God?" It’s the question people ask after a 9/11 or a school shooting or similar tragedy.
The evidence indicates that Mary and Martha had asked that question as Lazarus grew worse and Jesus didn’t come. They must have been thinking and asking, "Where is He?" as their brother suffered and finally took his last breath. Then it turned to: "this shouldn’t have happened! Where was He? We sent word! He loves Lazarus, and us!"
Out it comes when Jesus arrives: verse 21 -- Martha said to Jesus, "Lord if You had been here, my
brother would not have died!" Mary repeats identical words in verse 32. The words are a potent combination of both disappointment and faith. They both knew that Jesus was more than capable of altering the situation. But He didn’t.
And now it’s too late -- He wasn’t there when they needed Him. Martha uses the words in the dialog containing Jesus’ claim. Jesus responds with, your brother shall rise again! Martha assumes He
means the far distant future resurrection. Yes, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection
on the last day. She expresses faith -- but it’s out there, somewhere, it’s something like, "I know that, but". It’s a theoretical faith which Jesus challenges in her, like in us.
Martha has her facts straight. There will be that great resurrection when God closes the curtain of history. But her eyes are a future time and solution. Her theology is perfectly correct, but what she does not grasp is that God’s Son stands right in front of her, here and now.
It’s not a future resurrection on which Jesus wants her faith to rest -- He wants her faith to be solidly in Him. And so He presses her -- trust in Who I am! That’s why He doesn’t say, "I will
bring about resurrection" He says, I am the resurrection. I’m not just a powerful friend, I am the
One in Whom life exists. Your faith and trust must be in Me. He challenges her to a living faith
in Him.
Then,
Jesus shares Mary’s grief. (11:32-36)
Martha tells Mary that Jesus has come. Verse 32: When Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
Same regret -- in grief and in her lack of faith, Mary also chides Jesus and lay at His feet the cause for her brother’s death. "Where were you Lord?" People will sometimes tell you that when tragedies happen, it’s because God either cannot be everywhere at once, or He’s simply not powerful enough to control circumstances. It’s like God blinks and things get past Him. The same people will insist, "God is good -- it’s just that He’s not really all-powerful" -- that description of God doesn’t reflect the biblical Truth that God is both Sovereign and fully good. Jesus declares and demonstrates both.
Verse 33, Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who were with her weeping. He was deeply moved in Spirit -- the Greek word tells us that Jesus’ didn’t simply express grief, it was anger that rose in Him. His spirit was stirred with anger -- maybe over lack of faith -- but as I said, more likely God’s Son is angry as He witnesses ugly death still ruling humanity.
In the Bible’s shortest verse we witness Jesus experience of what we do at times like these. Jesus
wept. It’s a different Greek word than the one describing Mary’s or the mourners’ weeping. This
one communicates: God’s Son broke into tears. In spite of knowing what He’ll do, He freely grieves
at His friend’s death and the sisters’ loss, and over the death experience which was never meant
to be man’s destiny.
He first challenges Martha’s faith, He shares Mary’s grief.
Then,Jesus restores Lazarus’ life. (11:38-44)
He commands the tomb to be opened. Martha argues because of death’s stench. It’s been four days,
Lord, by now there will be a stench. But Jesus reminds her of His promise: if you believe, you
will see God’s glory. He prays -- with full volume -- for the benefit of people listening. There will be no doubt that this is God’s powerful work -- and that the One Who speaks is God’s Son, Whom the Father sent.
He cries loudly Lazarus, come forth! St. Augustine said -- Jesus specifically addressed Lazarus, otherwise He would have emptied every grave in the area!
Chuck Swindoll describes what happened: "a grayish, awkward figure stirred, then rose off the limestone shelf inside the entrance. Dragging itself upright, the figure turned and shuffled toward the sunlight. Arm in arm, the sisters stared in disbelief. They sucked in their breaths, then gasped together, "it’s Lazarus; he’s back! He’s alive! Lazarus had died. Make no mistake, the man was actually, completely, thoroughly dead. Four days he had been in that grave. But when Jesus said, ’come out!’ Lazarus came out. The jaws of death were broken by the One Who has the power
over life’s long-term enemy."
God exerted His power -- death was reversed -- and life returned. Now, Lazarus returning to life wasn’t like what would happen when Jesus resurrected that first Easter. Lazarus did not resurrect. He still had the same physical body which would grow old and decay. He’d still step through death’s door again -- but like we who have trusted in Jesus Christ, it would be stepping earthly life to eternity. This wasn’t a resurrection like Christ’s, but it was a hint of what was going
to happen when Jesus too would walk out of a tomb.
Think with me for just a few minutes about Jesus’ claim (11:25, 26)
1. It assures our immortality.
Like today people in Jesus’ day debated life after death. It was the sticking point in the arguments between the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Judaism. The Greek philosophers debated it too. One 1st century motto was found in Athens that said “Once a man dies and the earth drinks up his blood, there is no resurrection. Every generation has asked, is this life really all there is.
Jesus promises -- earthly life and earthly death are not final. He is the One Who came from the Father, came out of eternity and He is the One Whom promises eternal life to people Who believe in Him. And notice, He does not only hold out the promise of eternal life, He identifies Himself as the source of life.
He clarifies I am the resurrection and the life when He says, everyone who believes in Him shall never die. The only Person Who ever died, not for a few seconds or minutes -- but for days -- and then returned -- is the only One who can tell us what’s out there on the other side has made us a promise. He holds the keys to life -- that’s why eternal life awaits believers.
2. It connects hope with faith in Him.
In the NT, hope is the concrete assurance that people have after they put their faith in Christ. The Bible tells us, we possess a hope that’s very different that what we had before we believed.
And a Christian’s hope stands opposite that fear of death we talked about at the beginning. Did you notice how Jesus’ claim addresses some of our fears about death? He talked about two kinds of believers. One is, He who believes in Me, though He die. He’s talking about believers who have already died. His promise is, their future is tied to their trust in Him.
There’s a second group: Whoever lives and believes in Me. That’s us. We have trusted in Christ, but we haven’t yet experienced death: what about our future and hope? A promise from God’s Son: whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Yes, we’ll leave the earth, through what the world calls death -- we’ll loose relationships and be lost to the physical world.
Here’s the issue: death’s former character and power will never be our experience. For Christians there will never be darkness, nor aloneness, nor separation, nor limitation of power. The NT says we will pass from death into real life. The apostle Paul described Christ’s resurrection, then he said, "because He rose we who believe will also rise!" To believers he said, death has lost its sting -- it’s pain and power and fear gone!
The bad news is, outside of Christ, those things are not true. But the good news, Jesus promises life, not death for people who believe. Hope for eternity is powerfully tied to personal faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Third,
3. It confronts human experience with God’s Truth.
Like I described when we started, death is the "great leveler" -- it brings every human being to the same place when life ends. Physical death is the single experience which overshadows everyone.
Death brings with it fear, despair, and hopelessness. That’s the usual human experience. But when Jesus says, I am the resurrection; I am the life, He invested human eyepiece with new Truth. When He said, if anyone dies, he will live He moved beyond our experience to describe for us what’s just past death’s door.
See, our resistance against death is largely the pain and fear of the unknown. We can only know death as an enemy as it catches people in its claws and snatches them from us, and then later when it comes for us. Jesus’ words are founded on His own resurrection, which was coming just a short time later. He promised it would happen, then He died and He conquered death and put it in its place. He not only overruled death, He provided life.
So, [His claim]
4. It asserts Jesus’ authority over death and life.
Jesus claim is to be the resurrection and the life. Then He declares without hesitation that when you and I will believe in Him, we receive the promise of resurrection and we gain life. It’s like when Jesus healed a paralyzed man one day. Before He spoke the word of healing, He said "your sins are forgiven". The Jewish leaders protested: they said, "only God can forgive sins." Indeed. Jesus did what only God can do: not only did He grant God’s forgiveness, He proved He had the authority by healing the man. Jesus not only promise Martha a future resurrection, He demonstrated it by restoring her brother to life.
Listen: no one holds the keys to life but God alone. A court might allow someone to die. People may kill. But Jesus alone does what no one has or will ever done. He reverses the process. He turns death on its head. He walks into a cemetery and restores life to a decaying corpse. That, to prove beyond doubt that He alone holds the keys to life.
Jesus did not say, if you believe in Me, you’ll someday have life. John 5:24 tells us whoever believes has passed from death into life. That’s happened to you, if you know Him by faith. By God’s great power, you have been transformed. Death’s grip and fear has been shattered.
There is such great difference between you and people who don’t know Christ. And the difference isn’t that now you’re religious and someday you’ll get to heaven. It is that you are alive, right now. You have been freed from death’s bondage. Death’s purpose has also
changed under Christ’s new rule. When Satan held death’s keys, he used it to destroy. Now that
Jesus holds the keys, death simply becomes the door into real life.
Steps I will take
On this Easter, let me just tell you -- if you’ve never put your faith alone in Jesus Christ that’s the step you need to take. He invites you, with His astounding claim and this miracle, believe in Him. What’s that mean? Just this: Jesus Christ is God’s only Son. He came into the world to die for sin, to pay the penalty that each of us should have paid -- death -- and then Jesus rose from the dead. He blew the doors off
of death. He proved, by His Words and His acts that He is the only On in Whom you can put your trust.
And this morning, if you’ve trusted in Christ consider this: if Jesus died for you and came back to life, the only adequate response is -- life now is all about Him. Paul put it like this in 2 Corinthians 5: "the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this: that one died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, so that they who lie might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."
Life after Christ, life after the first Easter is so radically different. Let me challenge you, wherever you are with Him today: stop letting simple earthly life drive you and begin experiencing the life Christ came to give you.
