Miracle to Die For
Tom Shrader explores the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, emphasizing that Jesus deliberately delayed His arrival to demonstrate His glory and strengthen faith. He shows how adversity and difficult circumstances become opportunities for believers to display God's grace and mercy to those around them. The teaching culminates with Jesus' declaration 'I am the resurrection and the life' and the fundamental question of belief in Him.
“There is just no way for us to not be touched by the condition that you have around you, and in the midst of this, there are wonderful opportunities for you to minister to people around you, to allow you to become that display case for God's grace and mercy.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: John: The Essence of Life
Recorded: 2008
Duration: 42 min
Themes: resurrection, faith, death, grief, miracles, glory, belief, adversity, grieving loss, facing death, doubting faith, experiencing tragedy, supporting mourners, new believer, struggling with belief, family crisis
Scripture: John 11, John 4, John 9, John 14, 1 John
Theological Themes: christology, divine nature, resurrection power, eternal life, miraculous signs, biblical miracles, messianic identity, incarnation
Full Transcript
Week 7. So if you have Bibles, why don't you open them? John chapter 11. We've worked our way through six sessions. We are going to look at a miracle today. It's the seventh of the miracles that John records.
We talked a little bit about the uniqueness of this gospel. No parables in this gospel. Some would argue it's the most theological of the Gospels. It's John who also wrote the book of Revelation and 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. He is one who is described, self-described, as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
So there's an intimacy here. This is a firsthand account. He's not saying this is what I heard or He's not even saying there was this big movement and I observed it. He's in the middle of this. He's one of the twelve and then in essence, Jesus has an executive committee which is Peter, James, and John. So he's one of those.
There's an intimacy to John. There is tradition that says that he ultimately ends up actually not just taking care of Mary, Jesus' mother, but there's even some travels that they feel took place together or at least there was some crossing of paths that took place.
The Challenge of Familiarity
When we get to John chapter 11, this is a story that you're probably familiar with. But one of the challenges of this is that this is a story that you're probably familiar with. Because you can become so familiar with this that it becomes literally a yawner and it's absolutely a story that ought to take your breath away. The fact that it doesn't probably says more about us and our familiarity with it than it does the story itself.
We meet the main characters in the story very quickly. Verse 1: "A certain man was sick. His name was Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and His sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with hair and His brothers Lazarus was sick. So the sister sent word to Him, that's Jesus, Lord behold He whom You love is sick."
Let's stop there for a second and what I want to do today—and you've got an outline in front of you and go ahead and follow it along and I'll do the best I can to stick close to it—but I want to just tell the story today. I want us to see what's here and make sure we're applying it to our life.
Jesus' Retreat Place
There's a couple little interesting side notes and this is one of them to me. When Jesus is hanging around, Bethany is about two miles from Jerusalem. When Jesus is hanging out and He's working and He's kind of getting away, so maybe the way that you would go to a cabin or the way that you're looking for a little reprieve or you'd carve out some place where you can go and just kind of clear your mind and yet you got some friends around, He would go to the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.
Now one of the things that's interesting is you have three, now with Jesus four adults. We're going to assume here I'm going to assume there's some age correspondence here, I don't know if that's true, but four adults. Now hang on, what's the unique stage of life they're in, what are they? Single. Four adults, single.
A Biblical View of Singleness
One of the things that I look at in the body of Christ that I think we kind of got backwards is our view of singleness. We almost see it as the equivalent of a disease that must be cured. So I happen to have people around church, especially gals, who are 22 or 23 or 24 to 30 who are these incredible women. They're unbelievable. They're the things I would care about. They're pretty, they're smart, they have good senses of humor, that's always a plus for me. They are godly. They're all the, there's a whole, here you go, there would be the whole package. And I am sickened, that's my term now, by how often all these other people are trying to hook them up with a guy.
That is not the highest calling in life to get married, amen? Yeah, amen, you know that, that's exactly right. There's a reason that Paul says, and we need to get this in the water, there's a reason that Paul says it's better to be single than to be married. You can't get away from that.
Now there's a completeness and I got all that, but what Paul's saying is in your life as you're working and as He begins to use you in your set of giftedness and all that goes with it, there is, and cut me slack here, because I have a wife that I've had for 31 years and I love her very much, and two kids who I love dearly, but there are times when they are an encumbrance to perhaps what God is doing.
So I have one gal in particular that I know well and our work kind of crosses over, who's a single gal, who honestly the last thing she needs, and she would say it, the last thing she needs or wants is a guy, but the Christians won't leave her alone.
A Personal Memory
And I just want you to see, I remember I was at Bethany Bible Church the other day, and I hadn't been down to Bethany in a long time, and wonderful, they did a wonderful job with the campus and there's a certain energy there that's exciting. So I was doing a men's morning thing and I came in and they had taken all the classrooms, the old nursery classrooms, and they just tore down the walls and that was the room we were in. As I was going in I was thinking, just walking on campus, it's Saturday morning about 6:45, I was thinking this is the first place I ever came to church as a Christian.
This is the room, this is the door that was the little door that opens the top, I don't know what are they called, Dutch door, that I gave them Sarah. Sarah was three or four months old. I remember shortly after that, a little old lady, godly old lady, every church has one, two, ten of them, godly old lady saying, "Have you started praying for a husband for your daughter?"
And so I'm not going to, you know, I got enough people angry at me, I don't need a little old lady angry at me, but my answer was thank you, but I just thought why, what if God doesn't want her married? So I go off on that just a bit to maybe even reprimand some of
Jesus' Teaching on Singleness and God's Calling
If you're hearing this and you're single, I want to say not only is it an okay place to be, it's a great place to be if God's giving you that gift. And if you're one of those people—maybe you're a mom or a grandma and you're grinding on your grandkids or grinding on your kids or you're trying to fix up the gal or the guy that's in your Bible study—listen to me: knock it off, stop it, leave them alone. They don't need you. Get out of their life. I'm telling you what they want to tell you; they just don't have the courage to tell you. But that's the truth.
The News of Lazarus's Sickness
Here they are in the story. The word comes to Jesus that "the one whom you love" is sick—you see it in verse 3. Jesus hears this and says, "This sickness is not to end in death, but to the glory of God, so the Son of God may be glorified."
There's a verse here that emphasizes this is a reciprocal love. It could be one thing to have Lazarus said to really love Jesus, but what verse 5 says is "Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus." This is a corresponding relationship here. There is a deep relationship amongst these people. The word comes to Jesus that Lazarus is sick, and there's a backdrop that we get here of information that this is a close group of people. Jesus and Lazarus are very close people. It's not that there's a divide between them, or Jesus is ambivalent toward him or even just likes him—He loves them.
Jesus' Unexpected Delay
That makes verse 6 odd: "So when He heard he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was." That's counterintuitive humanly.
Let me tell you a story. A few years ago, it was a Saturday, and Susan calls her mother. She gets off the phone and says, "That was weird. Something's not right." Susan's here, her mom's in Pocatello, and she said, "That's just not right. Something's not right. She didn't sound right."
After a period of 25 years, you know that spouse. After 25 years, unless you're an absolute stone, you have a sense of how this other person is at least feeling, if you're honest enough to deal with it. Susan's instincts are absolutely perfect. I mean, it began with her selection of a husband, and it just goes like that. Her instincts are perfect.
I said, "Well, tell me what you mean." She goes, "I don't know, I can't tell you what. Something's not right." I said, "Babe, if something's not right, I know what to do." I got on the phone, called the airlines, and said, "I'm just going to get you a ticket. Just go up there. Something's not right—go up there." She said, "No, I don't feel like I should. This is a hunch." I said, "Forget it. Hunches are good. Go with your gut." By the way, that's great advice most of the time. We sometimes put that down, but you know in your gut.
God's Gracious Timing
So I put her on the plane. She goes up, calls me when she lands, drives two hours to get to her mom, and finds her mom essentially kind of just out of it. Five hours later, her mom dies.
This is an incredible story. Think of a couple of subplots to that. Think of how God moves in her heart to go, and think of what a gracious gift that is to Susan to get to be there with her. Honestly, what a great gift to her mother that rather than die alone in a room, she got to have your daughter there. That's a great gift.
That's just instinctive. If your phone goes off at eight o'clock and you answer it and they go, "Hey, here's so-and-so," and it's this person you really love, and they're in Albuquerque, you're going. But Jesus doesn't. Very strange. Doesn't that seem odd? We've already established that there's this love relationship between them. Why would He not go?
The Purpose Behind the Delay
Well, He told you back in verse 4. He gave you a little glimpse that this is all about the manifestation of the glory of God. It's the same thing we saw when we looked at John 9 and the whole idea of a man who was blind from birth. The disciples said, "Who's sinned, this guy or his parents?" Jesus said, "Neither one of them, but that he might become a display case for the work of God." Jesus is going to do something. What a story it is.
The Decision to Return to Judea
After that, He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." There's a two-day gap in here. The message comes—no text messaging or instant messaging or any of that now. There's that time gap. So two days come, and He says, "All right, let's go."
The disciples said, in essence, "Have you really thought this through, Rabbi? The Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and you're going to go there again?" When we say "the Jews" here, these are the Jewish leaders. Their intention when talking about stoning here is intention of killing Him. That's their intention. "Do you remember, Jesus, do you remember that these guys are out to kill you, and yet you're just going to march right back in there again?"
Walking in the Light
He said, "Are there not 12 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."
Jesus is speaking here on a physical plane of a spiritual truth, and He's talking about the light. He's here. He's the light of the world. He's here, He's with you. You'll be fine. Follow me, here we go.
The Disciples' Misunderstanding
Then He said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of the sleep." The disciples said to Him, "Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover."
Those of you who have been around for the six weeks that we've been in this—we've almost, I think on almost every week—
The Physical and Spiritual Parallel
We have seen this kind of parallel track that's running throughout John's Gospel. It's Jesus using the physical, the pictures of the things that are around us to teach these spiritual truths. When He's in John chapter four with the woman at the well, they're having this discussion about water, and Jesus is saying, "I got a water. You drink of this water, you're never going to have to come to this well again." And she's saying, "Boy, do I want to do that? Because it's getting tiring. I don't want to haul this water around. Where do I go to get that?" And of course, Jesus is talking and speaking of Himself and talking about Him enriching her spirit and invading her life. And then she's thinking in a physical way.
The same thing is true here. Jesus said, "He's fallen asleep," and they're saying, "Well, He'll wake up. He's not going to sleep forever." Verse 13: "Now Jesus had spoken of His death, but they thought He was speaking literally of sleep." So there's some confusion there that gets cleared up very quickly. Verse 14: "Lazarus is dead." So there's the pronouncement of it. There's no confusion anymore.
Jesus' Strange Gladness
What is as odd as Jesus not moving quickly to see His friend, what's as odd as that is Jesus' next words. Verse 15: "Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad." Isn't that odd? Here's this guy who Jesus loves. Here are these sisters, and you can even build a case, which you don't need to, but here are these sisters whom Jesus loves as well. They're people in a great relationship with one another. He's dead, I'm glad.
That alone tells you there has to be something more to the story, and then He gives it to you. "I'm glad. Why am I glad? For your sake. I'm glad for your sake that I wasn't there. Why? So that you may believe, let us go." See how that's beginning to tie together for us? The word comes, "He's sick." Jesus doesn't go, but He says that His glory's going to be manifest. "I'm glad I wasn't there. Why? Because you're going to believe," because Jesus knows what's about to take place. Something significant is about to happen.
Economic Hardship as Spiritual Opportunity
If I can, and I want to make the point, it relates perfectly to the economic conditions we're in. There is just no way for us to not, and for you to be around, I have an assumption, to not be touched by the condition that you have around you. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not running into somebody who either they or their spouse or a family member or somebody they love is not losing a job.
There's a guy the other day, he's one of those really weird guys that every time I say to him, "How's work?" He'll go, "I love my job." He's been with this company 23 years. Last Thursday, they just told him the ride is over. This is happening everywhere. You know it.
And again, I know I'm not the best guy in the world, because to me, every silver lining has a cloud. That's what I'm looking for. So, and I know that. But when they say unemployment, they're telling you it's going to 10%. So if it's going to 10% and they're telling you that, you know you're 12, 13, 14. It's just bad. Bad and going to get worse for a while and all the stuff that goes with it.
God's Wonderful Work in Difficult Times
And I'm not just blowing smoke at you, and it's not just a power of positive thinking. There's something God's doing in a wonderful way in the country, in the world, in the church, in the heart of His people. Because we're saying, "You know what? I don't need silver. I don't need gold. All I need is you." And He's going, "Really? Let's see how that works out." Jobber. "Okay, well, here's what I meant. And I need a little silver and a little gold. And for sure, just a decent house that's not upside down."
And in the midst of this, there are wonderful opportunities for you. There's wonderful opportunities for you to minister to people around you, to allow you to become that display case for God's grace and mercy. To be able to deliver to the marketplace the idea that this is about something bigger and more than stuff. And we've probably lost that a little bit.
A Personal Illustration of Faith in Crisis
There's something about it. I just was with a guy the other day who, I don't know, 10 days ago, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. So it's a journey I've been on. It's one of those wonderful instances that I can just say, "I know how you feel." I mean, everything he talks about, everything, from the emotion, to just the physical, to the schedule, I've been through it all. And to just walk through them.
And to hear him say after 10 days, he said, "It's really interesting. Because at work, he said, it's really weird now. But at work, I have this giant platform because," and he's a really good guy. But he said, "I have all this platform work because everybody's watching. Everybody wants to talk. They want to know what they can do." And he said, "We were just talking about it the other night." And it's the same thing that you hear. I heard it from Larry Wright over and over again. I think Susan would say it. Certainly I would say it and thousands of others. "I would have never chosen this. But it's one of the great things that's happened to me in the sense," he said, "in 10 days, I can always, and we had a good marriage, I can feel it get even stronger." You know all that story.
The Joy Found in Trials
Adversity is a wonderful thing. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance. These are, and I don't mean this, I'm not trying to con you or do a bait and switch. I'm just telling you, there's something wonderful about opportunity. May not be pleasant, but when you get it in perspective, it's not as pleasant, but it could be joyful.
And you become that person at work, that person in the neighborhood, that person in the homeowners association, wherever it is. You become that person that becomes that ray of light in the midst of this. This is a wonderful opportunity.
Thomas's Faithful Pessimism
So Thomas, how do you not love Thomas? He says, "Let's go, we'll die with Him." I mean, I love it. I got that gene. Let's go. Let's just hope they shoot us real fast. Let's hope it's not a slow thing. Don't pull out fingernails or anything, just shoot me.
Thomas the Doubter Steps Forward
This is the same Thomas who appears throughout John's Gospel. We'll look at him more as we continue, but in chapter 14 of the same Gospel, when Jesus said, "Don't let your heart be troubled, I go to prepare a place for you," He added, "You know the way." Thomas replied, "Lord, no clue. We have no idea what you're talking about. We don't know the way."
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus appears to the ten disciples after the resurrection—Judas is gone, Thomas is gone. When Thomas returns and the ten tell him what happened, Thomas says, "I don't buy it. I don't know what you guys are smoking or drinking, but I don't buy it for a second. Unless I can put my hand in the holes and my finger in His side, I'm not buying it."
So Jesus comes in—remember the story. They're in the room, doors are locked, Jesus appears and says, "Thomas, come up here." Thomas responds, "I don't think so. I was kidding. Hyperbole. Do you know what hyperbole means, Jesus? It's hyperbole." That's Thomas. The guy is just there—he's the perfect guy. And he says, "Alright, let's go," giving you the sense of danger.
Multiple Subplots in One Story
You've got about eight subplots going on here. You've got the main story, which is what's happening with Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and Jesus. But you've got this interaction with the disciples too. Jesus is in the midst of all this—turmoil and danger. What a wonderful way to live. It's just a wonderful way to live.
Two weeks ago, I got an iPhone. Anyone who's dealt with me knows I don't have voicemail. I want a phone that lets me call out and screen calls coming in—that's all I want. But I'm in the middle of some really big things in my life, some things I want to do and launch, and I have to be available. So I went from zero to a hundred overnight.
This iPhone is pretty amazing. Last night at 2:52, I was awake and my iPhone was there, so I started sending messages. I figured I'm laying there—what's the point? I might as well get something done. I was talking to somebody in particular about one of the great joys of my life right now: watching your journey, watching you take a step or two forward and then a step backward, watching you fall and get up, watching you engaged in the race and the battle.
In the Arena
Here you go—Roosevelt's words: to be in the arena. That's a great place to be. Theodore Roosevelt said to be in the battle, not sitting in silence, but in the battle—bloody, beat up, smelly, stinking, but in the battle. It's a great place to be, right in the middle of it.
By the way, God is unfolding His story and He's saying to you, "Come along, let's go. You want to go? Let's go. You can get in that battle too."
Four Days in the Tomb
So away they go. "Jesus came, and He found that he had already been in the tomb four days" (verse 17). He's been sick, he's died, he's in the tomb four days.
I pulled a little data and did some research on what burial and the events around it would look like. Let me read you some general things about funerals and what was attached to them in that day.
The first thing that jumped off the page is they had become very, very expensive. I'm starting to see a parallel here. Let me read you these words: "There was at the time, when there was a funeral, an exceedingly great cost. The finest spices and ointments were used to anoint the body. The body itself was wrapped in the most magnificent robes. All kinds of valuables were buried in the tomb along with the body. By midway through the first century, all this had become a ruinous expenditure."
I love this next sentence: "Naturally, no one wished on such an occasion to be outdone by their neighbor."
Funeral Parallels
Take "funeral" off—what does that make you think of? What would be a parallel we would have? A wedding! A wedding! Oh my golly, I went through two of these things. You have to, if you're at all rational, just put it on "do not disturb" and let this thing go. Give them a budget and get out of the way—that's how I had to do it.
You're going, "That's what a cake costs? Really? Are you kidding me? I'll bake the cake. I can do that." "That's what it costs." "That seems high to me." It costs a mint. I really think they manipulate you more on weddings than funerals, but in either case, it's the same.
I remember when my dad died, I stayed through picking a casket and I'm going, "I'm the wrong one to ask, because as I recall, we're going to put it in a box and in the ground. Give me a price point. What's the cheapest? That's the one I want." But it becomes way more than that, doesn't it? It's a statement to our friends.
Human Nature Unchanged
The same thing's happening there. God is immutable—He does not change. But this is something to remember: neither do people. So they had the same flaws, same foibles, same sins.
This became a process that would go on about seven days. As many as possible from the town would attend this funeral. There'd be a time when the body would be in the house and you wouldn't eat—it'd be a very sobering time. Then they would go to the grave site.
At the grave site, all sorts of speeches would be made. Virtually anybody who wanted to could talk. Then the crowd that was gathered would form two lines, and the mourners would walk through those lines. They were not really expected to have dialogue.
The Jewish Mourning Customs
Let me explain the Jewish customs during this time. After the burial, there would be an exchange, and then back to the house they would go. Here's a celebration for you: bread, hard boiled eggs and lentils. Couldn't wait to eat that! Then there'd be that time at the house, and it'd be a seven day type of period.
Jesus is dropping in with the boys at the end of this time, so they're about to close this time down. He arrives and Bethany's near Jerusalem, two miles away. Many of the Jews had come to Mary and Martha's to console them. So you see that's the normal process of what's going on here.
Martha Meets Jesus
Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went out to meet Him. Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you." This to me has a little bit of weirdness to it too.
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." And Martha said to Him, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." I get a sense in her comment - if you ask God He'll do it - I get a sense that somehow she's saying you can raise him. But she doesn't seem to have that expression here. She seems to say, "No, no, I know that's coming one day down the road."
The Great Declaration
Jesus says in verse 25, "I am the resurrection and the life." Now you can absolutely see why John puts this in his gospel, because remember the purpose for writing - see how this ties together. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even when he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
So again we're thinking physical and spiritual. We have to put it on a spiritual plane. What He's saying is, if you believe in me you will live in that spirit, you will live eternally, you'll never die, even if you do die, because you're going to die physically.
Somewhere in my notes here, the last time I taught this, I wrote a sentence that I hadn't seen. It was right at this point. I wrote on my notes the last time I taught this: "Every week my father calls, but someday he won't." Since then my father has passed away. There's that inevitability to that.
My assumption is that there's not a person here who doesn't feel and understand and know that you're going to die. Some of you, I can just tell by looking, are on the 18th hole of life right now. Some of you are putting out, and others are willing to say "I'll give you the rest of that, go!" I mean just deal with it. It's just where you are. You know it, you understand that.
The Ultimate Question
This next question that Jesus poses - I got the idea the other day for a new series called "Got Questions." I have Karen going through the entire New Testament and circling every verse that ends in a question mark, and then going back and putting these in context. I think that could be really an interesting series. Poor Karen, her eyesight will be gone and her hands will be withered, but I'll have my background information!
Poor Karen as she goes through this, she's never going to get any question bigger than this one in verse 26: "Do you believe this?" That's the biggest question of all. Do you believe it? Rather than have Jesus ask it to Martha, which is totally fair, I think it's okay for me to ask it to you. Do you believe this?
Do you understand this? Do you understand that in Him you have life, apart from Him you are dead spiritually? That's how I come into this world. That's our condition. I'm separated from God. That's why there is - and it expresses itself in a variety of ways - but that's why there is that emptiness. That's why there is that God-shaped vacuum. That's why there is this perpetual search for something that's going to give me meaning and identity and satisfaction.
The Futility of False Foundations
As long as I'm trying to find meaning, identity, satisfaction in anything other than Christ, it will always fail me. Every person will fail you. Every job will fail you. Every possession will fail you. There is not a person around in a relationship you can be in that's not going to disappoint you. Even if their intention is not to disappoint, they don't have the capacity. You weren't meant to be filled with a person, to be completed with a person other than Christ.
Now all of a sudden - I know this is going to sound a little weird - but all of a sudden in that right relationship everything begins to change. It sounds weird: the colors are brighter, life is fuller, the hurts are deeper. We're going to look at some major hurt in a minute. The joys are more magnificent.
Martha's Declaration and Mary's Call
We asked her and she said, "Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who's coming to the world." When she said this she went away and called Mary her sister, saying "The teacher's here." When she heard it she got up quickly and came to Him.
Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but it was still in the place where Martha had met Him, so He's waiting here. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and consoling her, when they saw Mary got up, they got up quickly. They followed her supposing her to go to the tomb and weep.
Part of what happened during this time of mourning is they might be at the house, be so overcome with this mourning that they would go back to the place of burial and just weep there. I was flipping through the channels last night. There was some movie on - don't even know what it was, I stayed on for 30 seconds - but it was a guy at the grave of his wife who had clearly passed away some point in time and he was just there just to be in her presence. The idea of being, in his mind, in her presence.
So they would go back. So they see Mary get up, they see her...
They rush out, their assumption is she's going to mourn, they're going to go with her, support her and encourage her. Verse 28: "Therefore when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him, fell at his feet and said, Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
It's exactly the same thing that Martha says in verse 21. Perhaps these two had been talking this through, going, "You know, it's a shame Jesus wasn't here, but boy if Jesus was here, He could have done something."
Jesus Weeps at the Grave
Verse 33: "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and he was troubled." He was groaning in His spirit. There is this idea that He's moved to grief. "Where have you laid him?" And they said, "Lord come and see."
Look at verse 35: "Jesus wept." Think with me for a second here. Verse 33 and 34 and 35, this interaction with Mary and Jesus, what we see in verse 33 and 35 is that Jesus, something's moving in His spirit that's moving Him in a deep way.
Verse 35: "Jesus wept." Here's the idea - literally it connotes to us a silent bursting into tears in contrast with these loud lamentations. You ever have that? Ever had that moment where you just begin to cry, but it's not that, there's all sorts of different cries, isn't there? It's like sneezes. If you're going to sneeze in a room, belt it out. Spray it on the person around you. Don't give me that little one. Well it's like crying, right? There's those crying, those heaving moments.
A Personal Illustration of Tears
We were talking, Susan and I were in the back porch talking to somebody the other day and we were talking about how we met, how we dated, how we got married, talking about Sarah being born. At the end of the first three or four days of her life, she ends up back in intensive care. They said you got to get yourself prepared when you go and see her. They'll be feeding her through the head and all this and I remember seeing her and I couldn't handle it.
I remember being down at Good Samaritan and I remember being outside. I barely get out the door and I remember just literally just heaving crying. Not a Christian and I remember my prayer or at least my thoughts communicated to God was this: don't ever let me have any more kids. I don't want any more kids. I don't want to ever hurt like this again, ever. And I'm so glad that He didn't listen to that because there'd have been no Haley and this world would suck without Haley.
I remember that tear. I remember various times of crying.
The Real Reason for Jesus' Tears
Well, here's what's interesting. He's not crying because Lazarus is in the tomb and dead because He knows He's going to raise him. What's touched Him here? Well, if you want to pray, here's something to pray. This could radically change your life: "God, let me see sin and its effect the way Jesus sees it and let it break my heart the way it breaks His right here."
That's what He's moaning about. That's what He's crying about. The effect of sin. Your world, and let's just keep it really small. Let's not make this a big thought. Your life and your relationship with God and your world around you is turned totally upside down if you can begin to see sin as God sees it. If your heart begins to ache like His does.
I'm dealing with somebody the other day and this guy's going about heaven and what do you think heaven will be like and I said, "It's going to be great. I can't wait." I was doing this expression the other day. I was going to meet somebody and we were having this wonderful time and I said, "I cannot wait to meet you in heaven. I can't wait to go like this." I'm leaving and Susan said, "Where are you going?" I'm going to go meet so-and-so. "When are you going to be back?" I'm thinking like a hundred years. I don't know. About a hundred years from now. I just think that's going to be so cool.
This guy's going, "When I get to heaven, I just want to ask God. God, what do you, I want to ask God. Do you ever wonder, Tom?" I said, "About like what?" "About these great things. What do you, do you have something you want to ask God?" No, I don't think that way but if I did, the question I would ask, if I could seek Him out and find Him, would be to get a hold of Adam and go, "What were you thinking?" I mean, if I'm going to ask somebody a question, that's who I'm going for because all of this that's associated around you is because of a broken relationship with God. What He's done as a result of sin, by His holiness and righteousness demands it.
The Crowd Gathers at the Tomb
So here's what happens. They said in verse 36, "Boy, see how He loved them. Could not this guy have done it? He opened the eyes of the blind man. I wonder why He wasn't here. I wonder why He didn't do something."
So Jesus, again, being just deeply moved within, came to the tomb. It was a large cave. There's a stone in front of it. Now, if you can imagine at this moment now, hundreds of people gathered around. They know because they're already saying, "Boy, He could have done something. He didn't do anything. Now He's going, you got to know." They're saying, "What's He going to do? What's He going to do? What's going to happen now?"
You got to love that. That's what I mean. See, you get so familiar with this and you're so sterilized. This is, you miss the human element of this. The excitement of this. This is a big deal.
He says, "Remove the stone." And Martha, the sister of the
deceased, said, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench. He's been dead four days." Some of your translations will say, "Certainly he's stinking." So he's dead. He's not in a coma. He's dead. They understand it.
And Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" They removed the stone. Jesus raises His eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me and I know that you always hear me, but because of these people I'm standing around I said it."
It's very interesting. He said, "This is all for them. This is all for them so they could see it." Why? Why does He want them to see it? So they'll believe. See how this comes? This is not rocket science. You don't have to be very bright. If you got to be very bright, I'm not going to be able to play in this game.
All you have to do is look at this. There's about three things to figure out and there's the theme. You don't have to wonder about this. I'm doing it so that they believe. And when He said these things, He cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." And out he comes. His face was wrapped in clothing, said unbind him. So there's the story.
The Stunning Reaction
I want you to see the reaction because the reaction is absolutely as stunning as the story itself. "Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He'd done believed Him. Some went to the Pharisees and told Him these things which Jesus had done."
You know what this says to us? Amazing to me, and those of you that are priority living veterans know exactly where I'm going here. It absolutely is amazing that at that moment, with these people who are around, who understand the dynamic, they'd been mourning, they understand that Lazarus is dead. They now understand he's alive. How can that verse not say, "and they all believed"? How can it not say that?
I have a friend who's probably one of my best friends in my college and post-college years back in Iowa. And he used to say to me, "Schrades, I'd believe if I could see a miracle." And I used to say to him, "No, you wouldn't, because you don't lack information. You will not believe because you will not believe."
The Big Question
This is a big deal. This guy was dead and now he's alive. A blind man couldn't see, now he can. The lame guy can't walk, now he does. Deaf can't hear, now they do. What is going on here? Jesus indeed is who He said He is. That's the whole point of this. He created the world.
Do you know, and if the answer is not yes to this, then you're just lying to me and honestly at that point I can't help you. You're beyond help. Do you know you're a sinner? Do you know that you don't measure up? And even if you go, "I don't really know sin," you know you do these things when you're a little kid, right? And what's wrong is you're a sinner and what makes it right is Jesus. And you come to Him in repentance and faith. Not religion, not church, not any of that stuff. That all comes, that's all part of it, but what makes that right is not you. What makes that right is Him.
You Can't Make It Right
You can't make it right. That's your instinct, right? So you're talking to a friend. Now you're a Christian, you're talking to a friend, they're all screwed up and you say, "You got to come." "Do you know, I think, you know, I'm going to come, but I kind of got to get my act together first." No, no, no. The coming is getting your act together. The believing is getting your act together. And even then we know the terminology breaks out. It's God putting you back together.
You're all screwed up. You're Humpty-Dumpty. You've fallen off a wall. You can't put yourself back together again, but God does that. That's a beautiful picture. What He does. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't get him back together again. That's okay. We don't need king's horses or men or resources. We don't need them. We got God. That's what He does. It's an amazing story. Pick up right there next week.
Father, help us see this amazing truth and then touch our hearts. We pray Your Spirit would indeed, for those for whom this is new information, convict them. For those of us who are so familiar to this, would You just take it and make this real to us? This historic event, this historic occasion. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.