The story is told about a preacher who was asked to preach the funeral for a stranger in the country. He agreed to do so but got lost on the way. As he was driving along a country road, he saw what appeared to be the workmen shoveling the final clods of dirt onto the man’s grave. Not knowing what else to do, the preacher stopped his car and walked toward the men. He apologized to the workmen for being late, but kept his promise to preach the funeral, nonetheless. He read the Bible, preached his sermon, and finally prayed. Then, after shaking hands with the workmen, he got into his car and drove away. The workmen watched as the preacher’s car disappeared over the top of the hill. Then one said to the other. “I’ve been to a lot of funerals in my day. But that’s the first funeral service I’ve ever heard preached for the burial of a septic tank.”
While we can smile about that preacher’s mistake, funerals are usually very difficult for the family. The loss of a loved one is often accompanied by lots of tears because of the good memories of the person who has died. We often say that the only good part of a funeral is being able to see friends and relatives whom we haven’t seen for a long time. In our passage today, we will see that a close friend of Jesus got sick and eventually died. By the time Jesus and His disciples arrived, the man had been buried for four days. But the family was still grieving the loss. What would Jesus do to comfort the family?
- What does it say? (John 11:1-46)
A certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary, and Martha her sister. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, his sisters sent to Him saying, “Lord, behold, the one whom You love is sick.” Having heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness is not to death but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified by it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He remained in the place where He was for two days. After that, he said to the disciples, “‘Let us go into Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were seeking to stone You, and You are going there again?” Jesus replied, “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.” He said these things and after this, He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I might awaken him.” In response, His disciples said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get better.” However, Jesus had spoken about his death, but they thought He spoke about the rest of sleep. So, Jesus said to them openly, “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sake that I was not there so that you might believe. But let us go to him.” In response, Thomas who is called Didymus said to the fellow-disciples, “We should also go so that we may die with Him.”
Having arrived, Jesus found him to have already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about fifteen furlongs away. Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary so that they might console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she met Him. However, Mary had been sitting in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother might not have died. Nevertheless, I know even now that whatever You might ask God, God will give it to you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise up in the resurrection in the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he should die, he will live. And all who are living and believing in me shall not die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the One coming into the world.”
After saying these things, she went away secretly and called Mary, her sister, saying, “The Teacher has arrived and calls for you.” When she heard that, she rose up quickly and came to Him. But Jesus had not yet come into the village and was still in the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jews, who were with her in the house consoling her, had seen Mary quickly get up and go out, they accompanied her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Mary, when she had come to where Jesus was and had seen Him, fell down at His feet and said, “Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died.” Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he was deeply moved in the spirit and troubled himself. Then He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Because of that, the Jews said, “Notice how he loved him.” Some of them said, “Was this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, not able to keep this man from dying?”
Jesus, therefore, being deeply moved again in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to Him, “Lord, he already stinks for it has been four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you will see for yourself the glory of God?” So, they took away the stone. Jesus raised His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard me. And I have known that you always hear me. But because of the crowd standing around, I spoke that they might believe that you sent Me.” Having said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had been dead came out, having the feet and hands bound with bands and his face bound with a napkin. Jesus told them, “Release him and allow him to go.” Because of this, many of the Jews who had come to Mary, when they had seen what He did, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. - What does it mean?
The events recorded in this chapter are probably familiar to you. John tells us about a friend of Jesus who was sick and eventually died. As you may recall, what had been a sad event turned into a happy one when Jesus arrived. However, the events recorded in this chapter are not meant to just tell us what happened. They are designed to show how God accomplished His purposes through everything that happened.
The death of Lazarus was designed to bring glory to God (John 11:4).
When Lazarus became very sick, his sisters sent a message to Jesus. It is apparent that Jesus had a close relationship with this family. He loved them all and especially Lazarus. But the way that Jesus responded to his sickness is unusual. You would expect a friend to rush over quickly after hearing that his close friend was in the hospital. However, Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, He told His companions that his friend’s sickness would not result in death but would bring glory to God and to Jesus Himself. After making that statement, Jesus lingered for two more days before deciding to go back. And during that time, Lazarus died.
What seemed like a heartless response to a sick friend was actually a faithful response to what God the Father was wanting to accomplish. Jesus had told His disciples that this sickness would not result in death and yet Lazarus had died. In the end, Lazarus was brought back to life. And this miracle brought glory to God the Father and also to Jesus. The idea of bringing glory to someone may not be familiar today. When you glorify someone, you are praising him for who he is or what he has done. Think of a war hero who is glorified for saving many lives or a doctor whose brilliant mind discovered a cure for a terrible disease. In this instance, when Jesus caused Lazarus to come back to life, it caused people to glorify God for what had happened. It also caused people to notice that Jesus actually was the Son of God. Who else could command a dead man to come back to life after being buried for four days? God used both the death and resurrection of Lazarus to cause people to recognize His greatness and the greatness of His Son, Jesus.
The death of Lazarus was designed to show Jesus’ compassion (John 11:32-36).
The events in this chapter reveal the humanity of Jesus. While to most He was known from a distance as a public speaker, we discover here that He had close friends who lived in Bethany. One of them was described as “he whom You love.” This shows that Jesus had a close friendship with Lazarus. And it makes me wonder how the death of Lazarus affected Jesus. Did He cry when he found out that Lazarus was sick and died? It doesn’t appear that He did when He heard the bad news. However, things changed when He talked with Mary.
When Martha told her sister that Jesus had arrived, Mary quickly went to see Him. Her friends thought that she was going to the tomb to mourn her brother’s death. But she was actually going to see Jesus. Her grief was so great that she fell at Jesus’ feet and wept. She was convinced that Jesus could have healed her brother, if only He had been there earlier. As Mary and her companions wept, Jesus began to be affected emotionally. Mary was crying. Her friends were crying. And eventually Jesus wept. That response caused the people to see that Jesus cared about them.
The death of Lazarus was designed to produce faith in Jesus (John 11:15, 26, 37, 45).
Throughout the chapter, it is clear that the primary purpose was to create faith in those who were there. The first people to be affected were His disciples. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus made a surprising statement. He was glad that He and the disciples were not there when Lazarus died because not having been there would help them to believe Him. If Jesus had healed Lazarus, they would not have seen His ability to raise the dead—something that only God can do.
The second person to be affected was Martha. During their conversation, it is apparent that Martha had a high opinion of Jesus. She believed that He could have kept her brother from dying. She believed that her brother would be raised to life on the future resurrection day. But Jesus used the opportunity to ask her what she believed about Him. He told her that He was the resurrection and the life and that those who believed in Him would live and have eternal life. Did she believe this? Her answer was yes. She told Jesus that she believed He was the Christ, the Son of God, and the One who had been promised by God.
The third group of people to be affected were the Jewish friends who had come to comfort the sisters. As they watched the interaction between Jesus and the sisters, they noted the loving relationship. They also wondered if Jesus could have healed Lazarus before he died. But what they saw happen that day transformed their curiosity into faith. They must have been confused when Jesus told them to remove the stone from the tomb. But then Jesus spoke with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” What a shock it must have been to see the wrapped body walk out of the tomb. Jesus had raised the dead man to life! As a result of what happened, many of the Jews believed in Jesus. - How does it apply?
God has a plan for what happens in your life.
The events that happened at the beginning of the chapter would not be described as enjoyable. Lazarus got sick and eventually died. Jesus was not there when it happened. Mary and Martha grieved about the death of their brother. All of those things were not enjoyable. But God chose to use those events for three very specific purposes: (1) to bring glory to God, (2) to show Jesus’ compassion, and (3) to produce faith in people. It was a tough situation to endure but, in the end, they saw what God had produced through it all.
Sometimes we look at the difficulties or even tragedies in our lives and wonder what God is doing. We think that the Christian life should always be filled with perfect happiness. Then when we face those troubles, we question God’s goodness. But should we? In Romans 8:28, we are told that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” God weaves all of our experiences together to make a tapestry showing the good He has planned all along.
God cares about you.
Sometimes, we get the idea that God has no emotions. He merely speaks the facts and isn’t emotionally involved. But what happened in this chapter shows otherwise. When Jesus saw Mary and her friends crying, He groaned, was troubled, and eventually wept. Mary’s friends noticed this and took it as evidence that Jesus loved Lazarus. I think it also shows that He loved Mary and Martha. Jesus cared about all of them.
But does Jesus care about you? The answer is yes. He is the One “who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20). And if you go to passages like Romans 8:35-39 and Ephesians 3:18-19, you will see that nothing can separate us from the incredible love of Christ. And if you are still not convinced, think of Jesus’ promise to return and take all believers to heaven for eternity (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). If you are a Christian, you can be confident that Jesus loves you and wants the best for you.
God wants you to believe in Him.
What was the main reason for raising Lazarus back to life? Jesus told His disciples that Lazarus’ death and resurrection were designed so that they would believe. The disciples and crowds had seen Jesus do many miracles. The feeding of the 5000 and the healing of the blind man had made an impression on many people. But those events were nothing in comparison to Jesus causing Lazarus to come back to life. Jesus spoke and Lazarus walked out of the tomb alive. If there had been any doubt, this finally proved that Jesus was the Son of God. As a result, many of the Jews believed in Him.
Have the events recorded in the Bible convinced you that Jesus is the Son of God? The miracles recorded in this book were recorded to show you that Jesus is God. Only God could do what Jesus did. But the miracles were not an end in themselves. They were designed to lead you to faith in Jesus for another purpose. He wants you to believe in Who He is but also in what He has said. Jesus has promised to give eternal life to all those who believe. Do you believe that?
Conclusion
God had a purpose for the death of Lazarus. He wanted to glorify Jesus by raising Lazarus back to life. He wanted to show compassion through His interaction with the grieving family. He also wanted to lead people to faith in Jesus. Thankfully, all three purposes were accomplished at the same time. As we conclude our study of John 11, let us remember that God is still seeking to accomplish those three purposes today for those who put their faith in Him.
Bibliography
Blum, Edwin A., “John” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament, USA: SP Publications, 1983.
Ironside, H. A., John, Neptune: Loizeaux Brothers, 1976, orig. 1942.
Kent Jr., Homer A., Light in the Darkness, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974. Reprint 1986.
Footnotes