This week is part three of this three-part sign. I have broken up this final sign into three parts; The Death of Lazarus (John 11:1-16 –- two weeks ago); Jesus is our Life (John 11:17-37 –- last week); and Jesus is our Power (John 11:38-44 –- this week). Each week I will have the entire seventh sign here so you can re-read this sign as a whole; John 11:1-44 or you can just read this week part.
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (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.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 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.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two milesfrom Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 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.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 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.
32 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.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “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.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.”
Still emotionally tense, the Lord came to this cave-like tomb with a stone across the entrance. He was about to display his authority, and everyone would see it publicly and dramatically. The emotional intensity deepened as Jesus approached the tomb, deeply moved. The same word appears in verse 33. The tombstone was probably four or five feet in diameter and several inches thick. Since Martha had raised the protest, the response of verse 40 may be directed primarily at her, though it certainly established a general principle, one that have been repeated throughout this gospel: Believing is seeing.
We might also conclude that Jesus was speaking to the disciples, since to them he had said, “This sickness. . . is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (11:4). So, to the sisters in their grief, the disciples in their bewilderment, and to all who seek faith for life at any age since this dramatic event, Jesus calls for faith first and sight later.
The power of Jesus is also seen in his prayer. These words must have been uttered audibly and publicly. The purpose of the prayer was to create faith in the hearts of those standing around the tomb of Lazarus wondering what would happen next. Here we get a glimpse into the relationship of the Trinity and particularly the Father-Son relationship within the Godhead that John dealt with so frequently in this Gospel.
All three of Jesus’ prayers recorded in John call upon the Father to support the mission on which he had sent the son (11:41-42; 12:27-28; 17:1-26). The prayer presupposes that Jesus knew the Father’s will concerning Lazarus, and what he was about to do would not be merely for the sake of Lazarus but for those who would witness the incredible act that was to follow. The prayer was not primarily for his benefit, but it was aimed at bringing the observers into the group of believers (11:42).
What exactly did Jesus mean when he said to the Father, I said this for the benefit of the people standing here? This public gesture of looking up and speaking aloud was unnecessary, since the Father always hears the Son and responds. But Jesus’ mission was to bring people to faith and John was mission-focused throughout this entire book. The unbelieving crowds of mourners heard Jesus’ rhetorical question of verse 40, watched him, and heard him pray openly to the Father. We learn later that “many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him” (11:45).
Through this miracle we also see that Jesus is our power. How interesting that John should tell us Jesus called in a loud voice, for surely it was not necessary for that call to reach the ears of Lazarus. Perhaps he intended it for the crowd of mourners. No one present that day could possibly misunderstand what Jesus said or did.
This is one of the great dramatic scenes of the Bible, but we must be careful using the word “resurrection” to describe it. In one sense, Lazarus did experience resurrection because he came back from the dead. But New Testament “resurrection” refers to a return to life in a state of immortality so that one never dies again. That was the pattern of the resurrection of Jesus, of course, but not that of Lazarus who would die again. Yet the word “resuscitation” used by some commentators seems insufficient. Let us just recognize the limitations of resurrection performed in biblical times as over against that promised believers in a future day.
This concludes our looks at the 7 signs of Jesus. Next we will begin looking at the 7 “I am” statements which is also in the Book of John.