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Scripture: John 11:1-45
Today’s message is about the time Jesus raised a man named Lazarus back to life, four days after he had died of an illness. It is recorded in the gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 1 – 45. That’s a long text, but it’s a great story and it’s a true story. It really happened the way John wrote about it. He was an eye-witness on the scene! I believe this story provides some valuable insights that will help us get through these difficult days.
I think because of the fact that Jesus didn’t immediately go to see and heal Lazarus, this can be a hard story for us to wrap our minds around. We like the stories about the loving Jesus, our Spiritual super Man who is always there to rescue and make all things right. He feeds masses of people with a single blessing! He heals with a single Word! He extinguishes the enemy with a single withering rebuke. No mortal man, or demon, for that matter, is a match for His amazing wit, wisdom, power and compassion! He is always the victor! He knows just what to do in any and all situations to set things right and humble the proud of heart. Who wouldn’t want Him on their side? Why He is the ultimate hero, Holy and amazing!
So, what happens here? Something doesn’t seem right. Jesus is all wrong in this event. Oh sure, once we read to the end of the story, we know that there is a nice recovery at the end, but why, in the meantime, all this seemingly unnecessary suffering, especially for Mary and Martha. Why the questionable behavior in front of His disciples?
When he finally does arrive in Bethany, Martha pines, “If only You had been here before my brother died.” She had been expecting and hoping that Super Jesus would step in and save the day. After all, Jesus loved Lazarus! Everybody knew that.
But Jesus hadn’t come right away, and surely Martha wondered what was taking him so long. Maybe she was ready to make excuses for Him. Maybe, she may have reasoned, the message didn’t get to Him in time. Maybe some Pharisees detained Him in some new senseless argument that they were becoming known for, just to create a disturbance.
But what if she knew the truth? How would Martha feel if she knew that the message did get to Jesus in time, but that He had decided to take His time in responding? How would you feel? What if she had heard Jesus when He told His disciples, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” How would we handle overhearing Jesus saying something similar in our situation about our loved one, our marriage, our unemployment?
Does Superman wait, or does He come when summoned? How do we deal with God when He doesn’t behave according to our expectations?
This Covid virus has been difficult to deal with. At least the plagues in Egypt, so long ago, only afflicted the oppressive Egyptians who were holding the Hebrews as slaves and didn’t affect the Hebrews at all. But today’s pandemic has a world-wide presence that has touched thousands of innocent lives with tragedy. Why? We know that God honors His own commitment to never leave or forsake, but why doesn’t He rescue? Why take one of His own and leave so much suffering behind?
We wouldn’t have done that! We may feel that God shouldn’t have done that, but He did. Can we still say, “God is good all the time,” anyway? We know we should, but it’s harder to speak now. It becomes a sacrifice of our emotions, and our sense of justice, to say it now. It’s not said like a cheer now as if we’ve just won a basketball game. It’s said more with resignation, a sigh and perhaps a tear now because God didn’t come through in the expected way. Instead, He remained God, and we, like Martha face the reality that we are not God. We don’t understand, yet we are required to trust Him, anyway.
I believe this may be how Martha sounded when she said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Maybe she didn’t feel the joy in that gospel truth at that moment. But Martha demonstrated trust in Him and believed without seeing. “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 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.”
Mary too, in some kind of trust, responded by running to Jesus with the same confused uncertainty. “Falling at His feet she cries out, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” However, was that really a certainty? Is it really true that if Jesus had been there Lazarus would not have died? Or is it perhaps more true that if Jesus had been there he still would have let Lazarus die to serve God’s greater purpose. But then, it would have been a lot harder for Mary and Martha to say what they said when Jesus showed up, and they might have been too angry with him to let him go to the tomb and raise Lazarus after all.
So, instead of being with them. He let them wait. Maybe that was best. I think I’m probably safe in saying that all of us listening have experienced being in God’s waiting room. You know, that room in the hospital where there are a lot more questions than answers; too much time and not enough information. It’s the room where you experience a sense of helplessness You can read the magazines if you want too, but they don’t contain the information that you really want at that moment.
There are several other Bible stories that share the theme of waiting. Sarah and Abraham waited for God’s promised child. Jacob waited for twenty years before learning that his son Joseph was alive and safe. For his part, Joseph, in the pit, as a slave, and as a prisoner waited almost the same 20 years to learn the answer his question, “Why?” Hannah waited. The disciples waited for forty days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. But today we are talking about the story of Mary and Martha, waiting for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus. But seemingly he came too late, “Oh, if only He had been there.”
When things go the way we want them to we often say something like, “O the Lord was in it!” or “The Lord really blessed our plan!” But how do we handle the idea that the Lord may still be blessing us, even if things don’t go our way, or according to our plan? We never really grow out of the attitude of children who love our fathers and mothers and are full of displays of gratitude when we get what we want. And, also, like children, disappointed, or maybe even angry when we don’t get what we want. We do that to our Heavenly Father too sometimes. Think of the child in the Dr.’s office. Mom or dad hold her while the Dr. sticks her with a needle, and she cries and tries to get away. It hurts! But the adults in the room know it’s for the best. Same when it comes to what God is doing. We continually try to make sense of it all, but in truth, some things just don’t make sense. We have a hard time accepting that reality.
What we, somehow, need to grasp, is the truth that we live in a broken world, and we trust in an all knowing, sovereign God who loves us and knows what is best for us, even when it makes no sense to us. We so quickly rush to the, “why,” question, thinking that, if we could just figure out God’s reasoning, if we could just make sense of whatever we’re enduring, then, the pain would be easier to bear. It’s a little mind game that we play on ourselves to try to cope, but in the end, it’s really just a game. We still have our loss and our hurt. We still would prefer that things had gone differently. We of the finite mind will never understand the infinite, no matter how hard we try, until we are in glory and see the completed picture that He has been working on all along.
This is all put so beautifully in the words of a new song by Jason Gray, called “Remind Me You’re Here.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8BEYcnIWBA I want to quote part of it. “If it's random or providence neither are a comfort to me. Are You cruel if You planned it, or weak if You allowed it to be? Half of me is still believing. The other half is angry and confused. Oh, but all of me is desperate and longing to be held by You, God. So, I won't ask You for reasons, because a reason can't wipe away tears. No, I don't need all the answers. Just be here beside me Father. Remind me You're here.”
Mary and Martha faced bleak circumstances. They had cried out to Jesus and He had not come. But towards the end of the story, he finally showed up. Now, He stands at the grave side, weeping with the rest. Why, should Jesus weep, when he could have prevented it, and he was about to undo it?
What we so often forget is that Jesus’ grief was bigger than Mary and Martha’s grief. It was about more than the loss of Lazarus. Jesus was grieving over the brokenness of all creation, so different from the beauty that He had intended. He was grieving over the suffering that those He loved had to endure as part of the cost of living in the brokenness. He was suffering too, and would soon take that suffering personally onto Himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the on the cross.
There, suffering the full effects of the evil in our world, He would fight it, and gain the victory over it by the power of His love, so that it would be defeated once and for all. Then, with joy, rebuilding would begin. Someday, suffering would be left behind, but the fullness of that hope is still in the future for both us and Christ. We must remember, this is not the life that God originally designed. But for those who trust in him and believe for salvation, that glorious life will be ours forever one day.
In the meantime, just as Jesus stood at the graveside weeping with Mary and Martha, He stands with us. Just as His grief was deeper than Mary and Martha could know, as He stands with us, His grief is deeper than what we can understand as well. Just as Mary and Martha could only understand that their brother had died and that was all they knew, we too may only see our own pain, but Jesus sees what we don’t see and that we must accept on faith.
In the case of Lazarus, Jesus saw an opportunity to prove that He has power over life and death and that He truly is the resurrection. This event, when Lazarus came back to life, helped many others believe that Jesus really is our Savior, our Messiah and the one who truly conquers death and sin on our behalf. Mary and Martha didn’t know that when he stood next to them, weeping, until after Lazarus walked out of his tomb. Think of the difference between the gratitude and joy they would have expressed if Lazarus had been healed, compared to the wonder and amazement they experienced when they saw that Jesus really did have power over death!
So, with us, Jesus sees a good that can be accomplished in us as suffering does its work in us. We will know why, after the work in us is finished. Paul says in Romans 8:18-21, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
We experience suffering and ask “Why? Why doesn’t God just fix it right now? What is he waiting for?” He sees the glorious end result and calls us to trust. We experience despair and want relief, but He has hope and calls us to “take courage.” We get some relief just by believing in Him. We also learn and trust what is written in Romans 5:3-4, “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
God knows how it will all end. He knows what He is creating. Now, we only see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see Him face to face and He will spin us around and point to what He has made and say, “It is good!” We will be amazed. Your biggest problem would not be dying of the virus. Your biggest problem would be dying without Jesus.
Do you still feel, if only He we here, things would have been different? He is here! He is with you always even to the end of the age if you turn to Him and trust Him. And then, what He is creating in you is something more beautiful than you could have ever imagined. Through Faith in Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, we can endure our suffering today, and live forever too! We will also be raised! Praise be to God.
Let us pray. Father we love You and we thank you for being with us through it all. We praise You for Your constant care and attention. You never sleep or slumber, but watch over us and even sing over us with Your amazing love. And yet we must confess that in this time we can very easily feel scared and alone. Forgive us Father for the ways we fail to trust You and rest in Your care.
Thank You Lord for the wisdom of our medical professionals who are learning about his virus and telling us how to avoid infection or avoid passing it on to others by staying home. Thank You Lord for all the work that is going into finding a cure and for all those who have already recovered.
We pray for all those still suffering, that they will be healed. We grieve with those who have lost loved ones and pray for You to comfort them. Use us for that too Lord.
We pray with thanksgiving for all the ways that our community is pulling together to care for those who are out of work or just need a little extra food to get by.
We pray for all the essential employees who must keep going out to work: Thanks you for truck drivers and Dr.s and nurses, and police officers and emts, Bless them all with protection from illness!
We pray for any who don’t know how much you love them to discover that and turn to you for forgiveness and for eternal life and for enduring hope that gets us through the storms of life. May they truly believe in what Jesus has done for them for forgiveness of sin.
We praise You Sovereign Lord for You are good all the time! You are doing something in the world that in the long run will turn out for the good of those who trust in you. We can wait it out because our hope is in You Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scripture: John 11:1-45
Today’s message is about the time Jesus raised a man named Lazarus back to life, four days after he had died of an illness. It is recorded in the gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 1 – 45. That’s a long text, but it’s a great story and it’s a true story. It really happened the way John wrote about it. He was an eye-witness on the scene! I believe this story provides some valuable insights that will help us get through these difficult days.
I think because of the fact that Jesus didn’t immediately go to see and heal Lazarus, this can be a hard story for us to wrap our minds around. We like the stories about the loving Jesus, our Spiritual super Man who is always there to rescue and make all things right. He feeds masses of people with a single blessing! He heals with a single Word! He extinguishes the enemy with a single withering rebuke. No mortal man, or demon, for that matter, is a match for His amazing wit, wisdom, power and compassion! He is always the victor! He knows just what to do in any and all situations to set things right and humble the proud of heart. Who wouldn’t want Him on their side? Why He is the ultimate hero, Holy and amazing!
So, what happens here? Something doesn’t seem right. Jesus is all wrong in this event. Oh sure, once we read to the end of the story, we know that there is a nice recovery at the end, but why, in the meantime, all this seemingly unnecessary suffering, especially for Mary and Martha. Why the questionable behavior in front of His disciples?
When he finally does arrive in Bethany, Martha pines, “If only You had been here before my brother died.” She had been expecting and hoping that Super Jesus would step in and save the day. After all, Jesus loved Lazarus! Everybody knew that.
But Jesus hadn’t come right away, and surely Martha wondered what was taking him so long. Maybe she was ready to make excuses for Him. Maybe, she may have reasoned, the message didn’t get to Him in time. Maybe some Pharisees detained Him in some new senseless argument that they were becoming known for, just to create a disturbance.
But what if she knew the truth? How would Martha feel if she knew that the message did get to Jesus in time, but that He had decided to take His time in responding? How would you feel? What if she had heard Jesus when He told His disciples, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” How would we handle overhearing Jesus saying something similar in our situation about our loved one, our marriage, our unemployment?
Does Superman wait, or does He come when summoned? How do we deal with God when He doesn’t behave according to our expectations?
This Covid virus has been difficult to deal with. At least the plagues in Egypt, so long ago, only afflicted the oppressive Egyptians who were holding the Hebrews as slaves and didn’t affect the Hebrews at all. But today’s pandemic has a world-wide presence that has touched thousands of innocent lives with tragedy. Why? We know that God honors His own commitment to never leave or forsake, but why doesn’t He rescue? Why take one of His own and leave so much suffering behind?
We wouldn’t have done that! We may feel that God shouldn’t have done that, but He did. Can we still say, “God is good all the time,” anyway? We know we should, but it’s harder to speak now. It becomes a sacrifice of our emotions, and our sense of justice, to say it now. It’s not said like a cheer now as if we’ve just won a basketball game. It’s said more with resignation, a sigh and perhaps a tear now because God didn’t come through in the expected way. Instead, He remained God, and we, like Martha face the reality that we are not God. We don’t understand, yet we are required to trust Him, anyway.
I believe this may be how Martha sounded when she said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Maybe she didn’t feel the joy in that gospel truth at that moment. But Martha demonstrated trust in Him and believed without seeing. “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 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.”
Mary too, in some kind of trust, responded by running to Jesus with the same confused uncertainty. “Falling at His feet she cries out, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” However, was that really a certainty? Is it really true that if Jesus had been there Lazarus would not have died? Or is it perhaps more true that if Jesus had been there he still would have let Lazarus die to serve God’s greater purpose. But then, it would have been a lot harder for Mary and Martha to say what they said when Jesus showed up, and they might have been too angry with him to let him go to the tomb and raise Lazarus after all.
So, instead of being with them. He let them wait. Maybe that was best. I think I’m probably safe in saying that all of us listening have experienced being in God’s waiting room. You know, that room in the hospital where there are a lot more questions than answers; too much time and not enough information. It’s the room where you experience a sense of helplessness You can read the magazines if you want too, but they don’t contain the information that you really want at that moment.
There are several other Bible stories that share the theme of waiting. Sarah and Abraham waited for God’s promised child. Jacob waited for twenty years before learning that his son Joseph was alive and safe. For his part, Joseph, in the pit, as a slave, and as a prisoner waited almost the same 20 years to learn the answer his question, “Why?” Hannah waited. The disciples waited for forty days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. But today we are talking about the story of Mary and Martha, waiting for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus. But seemingly he came too late, “Oh, if only He had been there.”
When things go the way we want them to we often say something like, “O the Lord was in it!” or “The Lord really blessed our plan!” But how do we handle the idea that the Lord may still be blessing us, even if things don’t go our way, or according to our plan? We never really grow out of the attitude of children who love our fathers and mothers and are full of displays of gratitude when we get what we want. And, also, like children, disappointed, or maybe even angry when we don’t get what we want. We do that to our Heavenly Father too sometimes. Think of the child in the Dr.’s office. Mom or dad hold her while the Dr. sticks her with a needle, and she cries and tries to get away. It hurts! But the adults in the room know it’s for the best. Same when it comes to what God is doing. We continually try to make sense of it all, but in truth, some things just don’t make sense. We have a hard time accepting that reality.
What we, somehow, need to grasp, is the truth that we live in a broken world, and we trust in an all knowing, sovereign God who loves us and knows what is best for us, even when it makes no sense to us. We so quickly rush to the, “why,” question, thinking that, if we could just figure out God’s reasoning, if we could just make sense of whatever we’re enduring, then, the pain would be easier to bear. It’s a little mind game that we play on ourselves to try to cope, but in the end, it’s really just a game. We still have our loss and our hurt. We still would prefer that things had gone differently. We of the finite mind will never understand the infinite, no matter how hard we try, until we are in glory and see the completed picture that He has been working on all along.
This is all put so beautifully in the words of a new song by Jason Gray, called “Remind Me You’re Here.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8BEYcnIWBA I want to quote part of it. “If it's random or providence neither are a comfort to me. Are You cruel if You planned it, or weak if You allowed it to be? Half of me is still believing. The other half is angry and confused. Oh, but all of me is desperate and longing to be held by You, God. So, I won't ask You for reasons, because a reason can't wipe away tears. No, I don't need all the answers. Just be here beside me Father. Remind me You're here.”
Mary and Martha faced bleak circumstances. They had cried out to Jesus and He had not come. But towards the end of the story, he finally showed up. Now, He stands at the grave side, weeping with the rest. Why, should Jesus weep, when he could have prevented it, and he was about to undo it?
What we so often forget is that Jesus’ grief was bigger than Mary and Martha’s grief. It was about more than the loss of Lazarus. Jesus was grieving over the brokenness of all creation, so different from the beauty that He had intended. He was grieving over the suffering that those He loved had to endure as part of the cost of living in the brokenness. He was suffering too, and would soon take that suffering personally onto Himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the on the cross.
There, suffering the full effects of the evil in our world, He would fight it, and gain the victory over it by the power of His love, so that it would be defeated once and for all. Then, with joy, rebuilding would begin. Someday, suffering would be left behind, but the fullness of that hope is still in the future for both us and Christ. We must remember, this is not the life that God originally designed. But for those who trust in him and believe for salvation, that glorious life will be ours forever one day.
In the meantime, just as Jesus stood at the graveside weeping with Mary and Martha, He stands with us. Just as His grief was deeper than Mary and Martha could know, as He stands with us, His grief is deeper than what we can understand as well. Just as Mary and Martha could only understand that their brother had died and that was all they knew, we too may only see our own pain, but Jesus sees what we don’t see and that we must accept on faith.
In the case of Lazarus, Jesus saw an opportunity to prove that He has power over life and death and that He truly is the resurrection. This event, when Lazarus came back to life, helped many others believe that Jesus really is our Savior, our Messiah and the one who truly conquers death and sin on our behalf. Mary and Martha didn’t know that when he stood next to them, weeping, until after Lazarus walked out of his tomb. Think of the difference between the gratitude and joy they would have expressed if Lazarus had been healed, compared to the wonder and amazement they experienced when they saw that Jesus really did have power over death!
So, with us, Jesus sees a good that can be accomplished in us as suffering does its work in us. We will know why, after the work in us is finished. Paul says in Romans 8:18-21, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
We experience suffering and ask “Why? Why doesn’t God just fix it right now? What is he waiting for?” He sees the glorious end result and calls us to trust. We experience despair and want relief, but He has hope and calls us to “take courage.” We get some relief just by believing in Him. We also learn and trust what is written in Romans 5:3-4, “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
God knows how it will all end. He knows what He is creating. Now, we only see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see Him face to face and He will spin us around and point to what He has made and say, “It is good!” We will be amazed. Your biggest problem would not be dying of the virus. Your biggest problem would be dying without Jesus.
Do you still feel, if only He we here, things would have been different? He is here! He is with you always even to the end of the age if you turn to Him and trust Him. And then, what He is creating in you is something more beautiful than you could have ever imagined. Through Faith in Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, we can endure our suffering today, and live forever too! We will also be raised! Praise be to God.
Let us pray. Father we love You and we thank you for being with us through it all. We praise You for Your constant care and attention. You never sleep or slumber, but watch over us and even sing over us with Your amazing love. And yet we must confess that in this time we can very easily feel scared and alone. Forgive us Father for the ways we fail to trust You and rest in Your care.
Thank You Lord for the wisdom of our medical professionals who are learning about his virus and telling us how to avoid infection or avoid passing it on to others by staying home. Thank You Lord for all the work that is going into finding a cure and for all those who have already recovered.
We pray for all those still suffering, that they will be healed. We grieve with those who have lost loved ones and pray for You to comfort them. Use us for that too Lord.
We pray with thanksgiving for all the ways that our community is pulling together to care for those who are out of work or just need a little extra food to get by.
We pray for all the essential employees who must keep going out to work: Thanks you for truck drivers and Dr.s and nurses, and police officers and emts, Bless them all with protection from illness!
We pray for any who don’t know how much you love them to discover that and turn to you for forgiveness and for eternal life and for enduring hope that gets us through the storms of life. May they truly believe in what Jesus has done for them for forgiveness of sin.
We praise You Sovereign Lord for You are good all the time! You are doing something in the world that in the long run will turn out for the good of those who trust in you. We can wait it out because our hope is in You Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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