John 11, A Resurrection (Overview)

Jesus has been at the winter Feast of Dedication, where he proclaimed himself equal to God.

  

John 11: 1-10, Lazarus gets sick

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 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. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

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."

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"

Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."

John reveals that Jesus has deliberately waited a bit, in order to allow some plan to come to fruition. This entire story (maybe the entire gospel) has something to say about the existence of evil.

I don't understand Jesus's response to his disciples.

John 11: 11-17, A fool's errand

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better."

Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

The disciples' concern and commitment to Jesus is touching. I understand the response of Thomas; it is one of loyalty, submission and -- possibly -- desperation. Thomas says, "What else is there?"

John 11: 18-24, In Bethany

Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Martha's response demonstrates a common Jewish belief -- "Yes, in the Last Day the dead will be resurrected." It is a statement of faith, but also a statement of grief and acceptance of her brother's death.

John 11: 25-27, The resurrections and the life

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the  world."

Although "the resurrection and the life" has become a Christian phrase, one should ask here what it really means.  Both seem to be singular -- the resurrection is a future event.  To the Jews it would have been viewed as a very physical event, the revival and renewal the physical body.  As to "the life" -- are we talking about "the eternal life" or "the only life worth living?"  Jesus elaborates on this a little and Martha gives a clear affirmation of her commitment to this.

In the next passage, Jesus demonstrates his power over the resurrection.

Lazarus has just died and Jesus has just been speaking to his sister, Martha, about the resurrection.

John 11: 28-36, Jesus wept
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."

When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 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.

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." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

"Where have you laid him?" he asked. "

Come and see, Lord," they replied.

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

Why does Jesus weep?  Why is he moved?  Evil and death are painful.  Even if they have a purpose, there is pain and suffering to be endured and Jesus appears to endure it with Martha.

John 11: 37-42, Before the tomb
But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "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."

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. 

Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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."

Jesus is outside the tomb of Lazarus.  There he insists on praying about the unthinkable.

John 11: 43-45, Resurrection

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"  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."

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.

This is a remarkable story. Of course the observers put faith in Jesus.

John 11: 46-53, But still some are not happy

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

The Pharisees always come across as sour religious legalists, opposed to any pleasure. Even today, this is the stereotype of the religious fundamentalist.  (There is good reason for this stereotype.)

Caiaphas, in suggesting that they kill Jesus to protect the nation, prophesies.

John 11: 54-57, Passover approaches
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.  They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

Tension builds.  Surely the Messiah will come to the Passover.  Then events will get very interesting!