A Rabbit Resurrection
John Chapter 11
As Palm Sunday approaches Jesus is moving from safety to danger
The Holy Land was split in four sections ruled by four brothers
As long as Jesus did not cross the line He would be safe from Herod
As long as you and I don’t cross the line we’ll be O.K. too (keep your beliefs to yourself don’t talk about God or your faith in Him)
Jesus knew that Lazarus would die but He did not go to him immediately.
Jesus had to cross the line but why?
Jesus waited and Mary and Martha waited as Lazarus waited, sometimes everyone waits on God
They all waited in order that the Glory of God the Father could be displayed in Jesus
John 11:4
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."
So Lazarus death was necessary so that God the Father’s glory could be shown through Jesus
We know that when Jesus arrives; when He shows up in people’s lives things change for the better
Jesus arrives at the home of His dead friend Lazarus four days late and the accusation is put to Him
“IF” only you’d been here! – The healer, the miracle man
Many of us have lost loved ones even though we have cried out to God
But God does not set His clock by our watch
Our Heavenly Father has marked out time by His watch for each and every one of us
We have all wondered
Why our loved ones had to die,
When they had to die
And how they had to die
The timing of death seems unfair, abrupt, and even cruel as we try to make sense of it all
And some of us like Mary and Martha have put the same accusation before Jesus
“IF” you’d only been here!
God this is your fault!
You could have stopped this!
We make God the author of death but in reality we are as we fail to ask; what caused the death of our loved ones?
Sin is “the what” behind every death. That was established in the Garden of Eden when we sinned.
But Jesus is the Lamb of God – the sacrifice for our sins. Through Him we escape death.
God has provided the lamb. God has made a way for us to escape death.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
What causes death; sin does. But praise God – there is held out to us one who is without sin.
Jesus Christ.
And what does Jesus say when He is confronted by these angry broken hearted accusations?
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?"
John 11:25-26
Jesus will back up His claim by bringing back the dead
Jesus wanted to see where Lazarus had been buried.
Jesus wants us to know that all hope is not gone as long as we believe in Him.
When Jesus arrives in a person’s life not even death can keep them separated from Him.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Some of our churches are on their death beds. Not physically but spiritually. There are those who feel all hope is gone. Society is not listening to us. People are not changing when we speak to them about the things of God. We have cried to God to change our world.
Well maybe God wants to change the church first.
1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Maybe God wants to bring you and me back to a spiritual life that is alive and kicking?
Maybe it’s time for a revival and a kind of spiritual resurrection in the church of God?
For resurrection to occur the first things Jesus says is to take away the stone.
Friend what cold dark place do you find your hope buried in at this time?
What stones have you put between you and God that have separated you from Jesus?
Is it a stone of indifference? Have we the Saints become worn out entirely?
Have we lost our first love for the things of God?
Jesus then prayed and gave God the Father the Glory for what was about to happen.
Jesus offered thanks to the Father for allowing His power to be displayed through the Son so that the crowd would know that Jesus was sent by the Father. That Jesus was the promised one – the Messiah
The evidence of who Jesus was would be made known by the miracle of life that only comes from the Father.
Jesus is that life.
Jesus said:
40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40
Some of us here are living as if we were in a dark cold tomb where no light could enter. We are wrapped in the clothing of our religion which is a ceremonial outer covering that makes us appear prim and proper. We appear to have faith but it is covered by the stones of a long hard life. We have piled them on one after another and we think no one can pull me out of this dark tomb.
Then Jesus shows up. Jesus prays for you and He prays for me and He asks that the Glory of the Father be made alive in bringing us back to life.
Jesus voice penetrates through the stone, it travels past the disappointments of the past and the empty faith we claim to hold to. We find our limbs moving toward His voice as we are resurrected to a new and living hope in Christ.
Jesus voice falls on our ears and our eyes open, our hearts beat and our mind is awaken to the realization that we are being called out of the tomb and toward our Master.
Jesus has done it, Jesus has given us a new life, a new spirit is within us.
Oh that you might hear His voice today. Oh that our churches might hear His voice today.
I pray it’s not too late for you, for me or for the church.
It reminds me of a story I heard about two neighbours. The one neighbor let’s call them the Smith’s had two children who kept a pet rabbit named Fluffy. The rabbit was always kept outside in the backyard in a cage. Sadly Fluffy died and Mom and Dad quickly took the rabbit and buried it in the back yard without the children knowing it. Then they packed the kids in the car and went away for the weekend thinking it would buy them some time. They would keep Fluffy’s death a secret until they returned. Then they would break the news to the children.
While they were gone the neighbour’s dog went into the Smith’s backyard and dug up Fluffy the rabbit. The neighbor - Mrs. Jones who owned the dog watched in horror as the dog tossed the rabbit back and forth in its teeth. She had thought that her dog had killed Fluffy. She quickly got the rabbit away from the dog and began to clean Fluffy up. She washed it clean then got out her blow dryer and combed out the fur.
She quickly ran across the backyard and put the rabbit back in its cage hoping that the Smith’s would think it died of natural causes. When the Smith’s returned home the children ran to the backyard to see their pet only to discover that it was dead. Then they called for their Mom and Dad who saw the rabbit propped up in its cage looking as if it had been there all along.
This caused Mr. & Mrs. Smith to run around waving their hands in disbelief and horror thinking that Fluffy had returned from the dead. Mrs. Jones heard the commotion and asked them why they were so upset and she was told that Fluffy had died four days ago and that they had buried him in the backyard but now he was back in his cage.
Mrs. Jones now realized that her dog must have dug him up but she was unwilling to admit it to the neighbours. It must be a miracle she said as she returned home chuckling to herself.
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-hare-dryer/
Friends some of us are like Fluffy the rabbit. We live a Christian life that appears to be alive and we can be found living it here in the cage we call our heart. We have faith but it is buried inside us. The neighbours in our life smile at us because they never see us truly alive in Christ. They just see us in our cage and move on thinking how empty our faith is.
But what if we came alive in Christ? What if we let our faith live and breathe outside of our cage? What if Jesus raised us up to have a resurrection kind of faith? What if we lived believing that Jesus can bring us back to life?
We might see our neighbours run around in shock and wonder as they encounter a living breathing Christian called back to life by Jesus.
Jesus called with a loud voice and Lazarus came out alive still wrapped in his burial clothes.
My friends a day is coming when Jesus will once again call all those who rest in Him.
The stones will be rolled away and Jesus will be recognized as the Messiah.
That will be a great and glorious day – but friend you need not wait till then to feel alive in Christ.
Hear Jesus call you today. Hear His voice through the stone that separates you from a resurrection kind of faith.
Come today, step out of the tomb, He will take you and give you new life an everlasting life. The life in you will be a miracle of God and it will cause those around you to believe. – Amen.
