Themes of the Bible: Believe (John 11)

 

Themes of the Bible: Believe (John 11)

Next week we will be in chapter of Luke 23, that’s the crucifixion of Jesus. and there is a part of this that we will focus on for next week. Luke chapter 23. Now, it's probably super inappropriate that I'm going to start this week’s sermon, given the day that it is on our calendar the way that I'm going to start it, but, I don't know how many of you are familiar with Alfred Hitchcock. Those of you that are older are probably more familiar. I actually had heard of Alfred Hitchcock, but I never watched any of his stuff until I was in college. At the time, I was also working nights, so my sleep schedule was all messed up, but what it meant is that I got to watch a lot of things on TV that I wouldn’t normally watch. So, I start flipping through the channels and I come across an all-night Alfred Hitchcock festival. So, I thought, I'll give this a shot. So, I sit there and I start watching one of these shows alone at night. And I'm thinking that this is old, It's not going to be scary. It's not going to be uncomfortable, nothing like that. The episode that I watched, maybe if you know Alfred Hitchcock, you've seen this one before. This woman had been awful and she had murdered somebody. And so the scene that I come in on she's being sentenced to prison for the rest of her life. And she's shouting back at the judge in the midst of all of this. She's saying it doesn't matter what prison you put me in, I will escape from that prison. And so the next thing you see is her on this bus ride and she's riding from freedom to captivity, and as they're pulling into the prison yard. She looks out the window and she sees an old man who's pushing a cart with a casket on it. The old man himself is wearing a prison uniform as she realizes that this is the prison undertaker and that he’s a prisoner who has been entrusted with the keys to the gate and he's the undertaker, so she reasons that if I ever want to get out of this place, well then I'm going to need to make friends with this guy. And so she does over the course of weeks. She'd befriends the guy, then comes to find out that he suffers from cataracts. It's going to leave him blind, and he doesn't have any money to get surgery for it. And so, she makes a deal with him and says if you will help me escape from the prison, I have a lot of money on the outside. I'll see to it that you get the money to take care of your problem. It takes a little convincing but eventually he agrees, and they have this plan. And the plan is that whenever somebody dies in the prison, the bell is rung to let everybody know that someone has died. And the next time that happens, when she hears that bell, she'll make arrangements so that she can get out of her cell at night and go down to the morgue and climbed into the caskets. He will then bury that casket like normal and then come back a few hours later when no one's paying attention and dig her out and release her to her freedom. Its a great plan. So, a couple days go by and she's going about her business in the prison yard. She hears the bells ring and so now she makes all the preparations, and she's ready for it. And that night, she slips out of her cell. And she goes down into the basement morgue and all the lights are off and everything and the guards don't see her and she walks over to the casket and she lifts the lid and there's just a silhouette inside, you can't really see because it's so dark. And she starts to climb into the casket and the moment that she's climbing into the casket. . . The door opens and my mom walks in. And I want you to imagine being in her shoes for a second you've been out doing whatever, and you come back and there's your adult son sitting in the dark on the couch watching a lady climb into a casket with a dead body. It's a very confusing scene. I'll come back to that story in a minute. But when she walks in and she sees this a woman climbing into a casket, she doesn't know the full plan. She doesn't know what's taking place, and doesn't grasp the purpose of why a person is climbing into the casket. She can't understand the point of why an individual would do something like that. And I think anybody in that situation would be like her. I did my best to explain the movie. But she didn't really have much to say to me for a few days, but if you’re anything like her, you've been pretty confused and a little grossed out by the whole thing.

That's the way I feel about John chapter 11. I think that this account is full of potential for that same type of thing. People who don't fully understand what is taking place throughout the entirety of the chapter. If you're reading this. You saw a number of people who are watching these events unfold and they're not getting it. They don't understand why Jesus is doing what he’s doing, and they're a little grossed out. They’re a little uncomfortable with the things that Jesus is doing and saying, and even though we’re reading it today, there's a possibility that we'll read this account of what I regard to be one of the greatest moments in the history of the world when you consider what's going on, and not fully understand what's happening. If you've got your Bibles, we’ll be in John, chapter 11. Let's pick it up there. We're going to read this together. We're going to go through this story today and make sure we understand what God's trying to communicate to us now. [Read John 11:1-3].

Alright, a couple of things here that you need to pick up on. First of all, ‘the one you love.’ There's a couple of different words in the Greek for the word love. And this one is philio. That's the love of a friend. It’s personal affection. This isn't divine love. God loves all people, but that's not what this is. This is the type of love that you would be talking about for one of your close friends, someone who was very close to you, maybe even a sibling. Obviously, some of us don't have siblings and so there's maybe not close with our siblings, but it's that type of love that type of affection. Why is that important? We're not talking about divine love here. The word that's used there is describing personal friendship and personal affection that you have for someone else. The reason that's important is, and this is what we can miss. This is helping reveal Jesus's humanity. It is so easy to think of Jesus as God on Earth, because he is. He's 100% God on Earth, but he is also 100% Human. And yes, I know the math doesn't add up. But God isn't bound by natural law, so my mind cannot wrap around how someone can be 100% God and 100% human, I can figure out 50% God and 50% human but that's not what this is. He is 100% God, completely God but at the same time, he has every single temptation, every single feeling that you and I have ourselves, 100% Human and that's what this is revealing. What Lazarus filled in Jesus's life is the need that every single one of us has, for that personal close friendship. One of the reasons COVID and that whole season has been so awful is because it deprives us of our community together. It deprives us of those personal relationships and being close to one another. Human beings need that. And this story reveals that Jesus needed it too and Lazarus fulfilled that need for him.

Alright, let’s keep going. Verse 4. [Read John 11:4-5].

Okay, a couple things about those two verses. First of all, Jesus confirms right there what this whole thing is going to be about. Don't skip over verse four, because it's huge. There is going to be a death, but it's not going to end in death and the grave. Yes, there's going to be a death that happens, but that's not going to be the end of the story. This story is going to end with God being glorified, with the Son of God being magnified in people's eyes. This is a sickness, and it is a serious sickness and illness, but it's not one that's going to end in death. It is a sickness, that the whole point of it is going to be to glorify God. And then in verse five, Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary, and also Lazarus. Now we get the other kind of love. There's a specific reason why those two words of love are used here the agape love. This is that divine love, and now both of them are present. Jesus loved Lazarus like a close friend, like a sibling, but he also has divine love for the entire family. The first five verses make total sense to me. He loves Lazarus like a friend. He loves the entire family in a godly sense. So, all of this is making sense. And then you get to verses six and seven. [Read John 11:6-7], and skipping to verse 11, [Read John 11:11-15].

Alright, so all of this is making sense and then I get to those verses and what in the world is happening there? I feel like my mom walking in on me watching a lady climb into a casket with a dead body. What in the world is going on there? None of that makes sense. He loves them. He loves Lazarus as a friend and he loves them as a family. Why would he delay? This is perfect love that Jesus has for these people. So why in the world would he do that? If I had perfect love for someone, and they told me someone that they cared about was sick, I would go immediately and I would take care of that. Right? That's perfect love, but he waits until Lazarus dies. That makes no sense. And he says he's glad that he wasn't there to help. That also makes no sense.

Stop being spiritual for a second and stop thinking along spiritual lines. Seriously, think about this in your own personal life. Your child is very sick, and everything that doctors have tried doesn't work. And then you hear that one of your best friends is a doctor that has this experimental drug and it's worked 100% of the time on whatever your child has. Well, desperately you would reach out to that doctor, to the friend begging them to come and help your child. He’s someone who has come to your house multiple times. You are extremely hopeful, you send for your friend, tell them the seriousness of the situation and you are waiting because you know your friend will come. But then after all of that, your friend doesn't come. He just strolls in a few days after your kid is dead. Your child dies and then to top things off, when he actually gets there, you find out that he said to the others at the time that ‘I'm glad they died.’ I'd seriously stop and think about how you would react to that. Imagine how frustrated you would be and how angry you would be that this had just taken place. And by the way, it actually gets worse, but we got to stop for a second.

I want to remind us of what we have learned together this year, as we've looked through the message that God has given us in His Word. Do you remember when we were in the book of Job and everything starts falling apart for Job? He loses his loved ones and his wealth and all of that stuff? The message that God preserved for us in the story of Job is that we're thinking like men, but the entire account of Job was telling us not to think like a man. Think like Christ, have the mind of Christ. And I know that that's an impossibility for us. But that's what we're striving towards, to have the mind of Christ. And take this and apply it back to what you're reading here regarding Lazarus, because the mind of Christ is always focused on the same thing. Go back to verse four. What is the point of this account? The sickness isn't going to end in death. It is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified. And in verse 15, I'm glad this happened. So that you may believe. What is the mind of Christ always focused on? How to use this situation to glorify God and to bring others into the kingdom. That's the focus. That's the point. Now, I understand that's really easy to say. It's certainly not easy to have that mindset. Not when you're the one suffering. When we're the ones suffering it's beyond comprehension, how someone could say those words and be completely free of any grief or anything like that. And it's absurd to think that it certainly wasn't second nature for Martha and Mary. You see what they did. In this account. Look down to verse 17. Verse 17, here's how they react. [Read John 11:17-24].

I'm going to be completely upfront and honest with you here. I have absolutely no idea the best way to read this exchange. I wish that I did. But I don't know exactly how to describe what Martha's emotions are. I can try to put myself in that situation. I do know that the Scriptures tell us that she didn't wait for Jesus to get there. She ran out to meet him. But I don't know if she ran out to meet him and threw herself on the ground in tears. I don't know if she ran out to chew him out. I honestly don't know. And I can read this either way and see it. I can read it with a grieving Martha who throws herself at the ground with tears streaming down her face and saying, ‘He didn't have to die, helped me understand this.’ I can read it that way. Because that's the way I would want to be in that circumstance. But I can also read it the way I know I would be in that circumstance. And to me, that's the way I think this probably went, even though I can't prove it. But I would be boiling over with frustration and confusion. I just told you about that doctor that was my friend that didn't show up, and then he was glad that my child died. I'd be furious with him and that's the way I see this. Martha goes out there. ‘Jesus, where were you!? What could you been doing that was more important? We sent the message to you days before he died, and you never came. Why?’ And then Jesus responds and says, ‘Martha, your brother will rise again.’ ‘Yeah, I know he'll rise again in the last day when you come back and everybody's resurrected. That's not what I'm talking about. I know my theology. I mean, he may not have died now. So, Jesus, explain yourself.’ I think that's what's happening here. I think she's mad about all of this. Maybe you see her a different way. I don’t really know how to read her, but I do know how to read Jesus. I do know how to read his response and it is filled with love. And it's filled with compassion. Look at those verses 25 and 26. Martha's up in Jesus's face and Jesus said to her, [Read John 11:25-26]. Can you hear this exchange? I can. ‘Where were you Jesus? He need not have died.’ I think he’s probably hugged her and said ‘Martha, stop and look at me. You are looking at the resurrection and the life. You know that right? And anybody who believes in me, like your brother, they don't really die. He's just changed to live on.’

By the way, Mary, who was waiting back at home she has the same response that Martha did when Jesus gets there. But this one, I can tell you is certainly grief. It's not the anger. You can see it as it leads up to this important moment in verse 35. Let’s look at verse 32. [Read John 11:32-35].

Jesus weeps. I'm struggling with this. We're talking about Jesus here. Why would Jesus ever weep? It doesn't really make sense, right? This is the one through whom all things were made. He has complete control over everything. Anything he wants, he can have, so why would he weep like this? He's the one that delayed visiting. Right? He could have gone but he intentionally waited. And now he's going to weep about it. He is the one that didn't heal from a distance. You remember when the sick girl he healed from a distance? He told the servant just go back. She's healed because of your faith. He could have done that with Lazarus. He didn't have to even be there, but he chose not to. He tells his disciples that he's glad Lazarus has died. And yet he's going to weep about it. So what gives?

He knows he has gone to Bethany for one reason. He's going to put on a show. He's going to bring Lazarus out of the tomb. So why in the world is Jesus weeping? I think there's two reasons though, that Scripture tells us that Jesus weeps, do not miss either of these two things. Go back to verse three. That's the reason we've got that word there. I feel firmly that's exactly why we are told that he loved Lazarus. He’s 100% human, he has that affection of a close personal friend. That's exactly what you see on display at the gravesite of Lazarus. He is crying at the reality that his friend has died. That’s exactly the same emotion that you’d feel. And that's exactly what makes him a perfect savior. One who is completely in touch with every suffering that we have ever had or ever would have. Yes, part of what affects us as humans is physical, but part is also emotional. His tears revealed that he understands our grief. That's what we think those words, ‘what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and what and briefs to bear.’ He doesn’t tell us that we don't mourn as those with no hope. We mourn with hope, but we still mourn. This is what Jesus is demonstrating at the tomb of Lazarus. But there's another reason that Jesus is moved to tears and I don't want you to miss this either. Go back to verse 15. What did he say? “I'm glad I wasn't there, so that you may believe. . .’ In Jewish tradition, whenever someone would die in Jewish culture, they would make a whole scene out of it. They would have these paid hired mourners, like you hire a DJ for your wedding and stuff like that. They would hire these people to come and perform at these wakes that would go on for days and days. And you got these stringed instruments and everything as the mourning for the dead would go on and on and on. And Jesus has been to these funerals his entire life. He was raised in a Jewish family. And here he is at another one. He realizes as he's going to the tomb and he's seeing all of the sorrow, and He understands that all of this is needless. It didn't need to happen, and it doesn't need to happen. He weeps over what sin has done. This was never what God intended. He never wanted to see his creation suffer like this. He weeps over what sin has done, and they bring him to the graveside. Look at verse 37. [Read John 11:37].

What are you seeing? The doubting and the complaining and the unbelief. Couldn't you've not delayed? Couldn't you've done something in all of this? And then you get to verse 38, and 39, [Read John 11:38-39].

This is the same Martha who just got done looking right at Jesus in saying, ‘Yes, I believe’ and what's she doing now? Now she's questioning Jesus again. He says move the stone. But here's Martha, ‘I don't think you know what you're doing here, Jesus.’ The doubt is everywhere in this account, and that's what's making Jesus struggle. They don't believe. Yes, Jesus is about to erase her doubts, and everybody else's doubts. But you know what else Jesus remembers? Two weeks ago we were in Luke 16, the parable of the unrighteous steward, and right after that is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Do you remember how that ended? The rich man is in hell, and says, ‘I beg you father Abraham send Lazarus, the one in heaven, to my family, for my five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham, he said, if someone from the dead goes to them, then they will repent.’ Abraham replies, ‘if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.’

Those words are prophetic, because that's exactly what's going to happen here at the tomb of Lazarus. These are tears. Yes, Jesus's tears are those of human empathy and sadness and grief. There's no question about that, we mourn with those who mourn. But there are also tears of frustration that there are so many who should be mourning as those with hope, those who supposedly have confidence in Christ, they don't really believe he knows their hearts. Look at what he prays in verse 41, [Read John 11:41-42]. I mean, I don't know how much Jesus has to try to blatantly tell us what he's trying to teach us in this passage, but since we’re thick headed, here it is: ‘so that you may believe.’ For the disciples, so that you may believe. For Martha, so you may believe. For Mary so that you may believe. For the people hearing me pray this, that they may believe when they see it. So that the people of this church in 2021, when they read this account and study, so that they will believe the entire point of me coming was so that you would believe me and believe in me, and have eternal life because of it.

Verse 43. [Read John 11:43]. I want you to understand the contrast here with just a few verses before. [Who’s ever cried? Yad Vashem story]. We have gone from the most human expression. Jesus weeping, this vulnerable human expression of Jesus grieving in tears. We've gone from that, to the single most divine expression of Jesus's power. He's speaking to a grave and telling the dead to wake up. That is incredible, right? “Lazarus, come forth.” And by the way, we know that Jesus never chooses his words randomly. They're always intentional. There's a reason he said, “Lazarus come forth”. Because if you were the master of life and death, and you are standing in front of a tomb at a cemetery, and you just say, ‘come out,’ every dead body that side of Jerusalem is going to come out. . . There's been a mistake, all of you return to your places, just Lazarus please.’ This is the command of the author of life himself.

So how does all this wrap up? You can imagine the reunion. Here comes Lazarus wrapped up in linen cloth, he wouldn't have been able to move very much, so maybe whatever power of Christ woke him up, lifted him and brought him to the entrance of the tomb. And Mary and Martha are undoubtedly hugging him, and he’s probably saying, ‘Can I get a little help here, please?’ So, you got that chaos, and then all of the people who were hired mourners who came in, they don't really know the family that well, they're doing a job, but they just witnessed this. They have no idea what they just witnessed and saw. Don't do what my Mom did with the movie. Don't sit there and stare in awe, and totally miss the point of all of this. I know there's a lot of chaos going on. But look at verse 45. This is it. This is the point of the whole story.

[Read John 11:45]. That was it. That was the reason behind the delay. That was the reason that he said he was glad that Lazarus had died. It doesn't make sense to listen to that until you realize the mind of Christ is focused not on worldly things, but on glorifying God and bringing others into the kingdom, which is exactly what happens here. That's what this entire account is about.

But just like Jesus foretold what would happen occurs, look at verses 46 and 47. [Read John 11:46-47]. Let's get down to verse 53. [Read John 11:53]. That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. This guy just demonstrated power to raise the dead to life and your grand scheme to stop him is to kill him?! How's that going to work out for you? But then look at verse 57, [Read John 11:57]. That's the deal that Judas is going to make. That leads us to the events that you'll read about this week in Luke 23, because Judas is somebody who never got it. He walked in on the scene, and he has no idea what he's seen. He’s someone whose heart was hard, and his mind was hopelessly confused. He should have known, and yet he never did. He had encountered the savior of humanity, and he wouldn't accept what he was seeing right in front of his eyes. Instead, he chose man's mind. Always planning, always calculating, always thinking like a man. ‘I can figure this out on my own. I don't need to surrender my heart, my life, my mind. I've got this all under control.’

You know who he's like. He's like that woman in the Hitchcock story. Let me finish that story for you. She pulls the lid down tight on the casket and she waits. Morning comes and she feels the casket being loaded onto the cart. She's starting to smile. The plan is working. Nobody's looking into it. It's working. And she feels the casket being wheeled out and she hears the gate open and she feels the box being lowered into the ground. She's got a grin from ear to ear. She's outside the gate and the dirt begins to be shoveled on top of the casket. And then afternoon comes, the old man doesn't come dig her up, and she starts to fear the worst. She doesn't know what to do. So, there in the darkness of the casket, she strikes a match and looks and the face of the dead body is the face of the old man that had promised to come and get her out of the grave. ‘Yeah, watch that late at night by yourself. . . ‘ This woman had planned for everything. She taken everything into consideration, had the most brilliant plan the mind of man could come up with, but the one most important thing is if you plan to get out of the grave, don't put your confidence in one who is subject to the grave. I can’t give you know better advice than that. If you plan to live beyond the grave then put your trust in the only one who has power over the grave and is not subject to its power. The account of John 11 tells us that the empathy of Jesus is comforting in our deepest sorrow. It tells us that His love is reassuring to all of us, no matter what we go through and his promise that He is the resurrection and life. It changes everything.

            Let’s pray.