"If You have Love for One Another" - John 13:21-38

The Forty-Fourth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Jesus is about to depart from his disciples and return to his Father.  But there is much for Jesus to reveal to them before the Passover celebration comes to an end, when Jesus leads the disciples to an olive grove known as the Garden of Gethsemane, where he is arrested, and then crucified the next afternoon.  As the Passover celebration began, Jesus did the unthinkable–he washed the feet of his disciples.  Jesus then spoke of how washing the disciples’ feet pointed ahead to a much more important washing–with the blood he will soon shed upon the cross for all those given to him by the Father.  As the Passover celebration continues to unfold, Jesus reveals more and more about why he is leaving, and how this will impact his disciples.  In the next phase of the discourse, two of Jesus’ disciples (Judas and Peter) will be shocked at predictions made by Jesus, and that one greater than Moses (Jesus, the true Israel) will give the disciples a new commandment.  

We are working our way through the Gospel of John, and we have come to the so-called “Upper Room” discourse which is found in John chapters 13-17.  As we saw last time when we covered the first half of chapter 13, Jesus’ public ministry to Israel has come to an end.  With the arrival of the Passover (sundown on Thursday evening of Passion week), Jesus gathers his disciples in a rented “upper room” in the city of Jerusalem to celebrate his third and final Passover with the twelve.  Jesus knows that with the coming of the Passover, so too, his dreaded hour has come.  Our Lord also knows that this evening will end with his betrayal (by one of his own disciples sharing the Passover meal with him), his arrest and trial (before the Jewish high priest, Caiaphas, and then before the Roman governor, Pilate), the agony of a Roman scourging and crucifixion the next afternoon, followed by his bodily resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.  Jesus knows that all of this is just ahead–hours away, in fact.  Accordingly, our Lord speaks with a solemnity and seriousness of someone saying his final goodbyes.  But his disciples do not know what is about to transpire, and they are struggling to understand what Jesus is telling them.    

We know from the synoptic gospels, Jesus has been openly speaking of his death and resurrection in the days before his entrance into Jerusalem.  Yet, despite the many miracles which Jesus has performed (especially raising Lazarus from the dead just a week or so before), followed by his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus’ disciples surely sense that the atmosphere of celebration and triumph which marked Palm Sunday, has given way to the solemn finality of the Passover.  Jesus is giving his final instructions to his disciples–although they do not comprehend what it is for which Jesus is preparing them.  But this will all become clear in the days ahead when Jesus appears to them after he is raised from the dead, before he returns to his Father in heaven.  As we read in John 2:22 (and which applies here as well), “when therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”  

But on this night–the Passover–Jesus explains to them that he must depart from them and why.  With the momentous events of his death and resurrection at hand, Jesus has much to teach them, but not much time to do so.  This explains the length and attention to detail of the discourse which John sets out in these chapters.  Jesus is going to leave his disciples, and then send them to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.  He must explain to them his messianic mission and why it has come to an end.  He must explain to them the nature of the new mission he is about to assign to them, as well as explain why it is good for him to depart.  Jesus also tells them he will give them the blessed Holy Spirit, who will equip them to preach the gospel fearlessly and with great clarity in the face of hostile audiences.  These are the men who will soon “turn the world upside down” (Acts 17:6), although you would never know it from the events which take place on this night in the upper room.

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"Whoever Receives Me" -- John 13:1-20

The Forty-Third in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

With less than twenty-four hours remaining before his agonizing death upon the cross, Jesus celebrates his third and final Passover with his disciples.  Although Jesus knows what lies ahead, the disciples are blissfully ignorant about the events which will take place later that evening, and the next day (Friday).  Jesus will use his last evening with his disciples to prepare them for what is soon to come.  But before they share their last meal together–hence the “last supper”–Jesus will wash their feet, exhort them to live and act in humility (just as he has done) and then reveal that one of the twelve is a traitor, who is about to commit one of the most diabolical acts in human history.  Jesus must prepare his disciples for the momentous events he knows are coming.

We have made our way as far as chapter 13, which marks the beginning of a lengthy section of John’s Gospel (which runs from 13:1-17:26) in which, having ended his public ministry, Jesus must prepare his disciples for his imminent departure from them.  As we read in the closing section of John 12, “when Jesus had said these things [the discourse at the end of John 12], he departed and hid himself from [the crowds].  Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.”  Jesus has said and done all that he was going to do in terms of his public ministry.  Although God had called many people to faith in Jesus, the sad fact is that the people of Israel, by and large, have rejected Jesus’ messianic mission (as Savior from sin).  Our Lord’s hour is at hand because the Passover has come.  It is time for Jesus to say his final public words to the people of Israel (which John recounts at the end of chapter 12), before our Lord withdraws from the public eye to begin instructing his disciples in the privacy of a rented “upper room.”

The events recounted in chapters 13-18:11, likely take place during the early evening of Thursday of the Passion week, which is the beginning of the Passover which ends at sundown on Friday.  If you know anything about the Gospel of John, and its relationship to the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), then you know there seems to be a difference (if not a contradiction) between John’s chronology of the events surrounding the timing of the death of Jesus, and the chronology found in the synoptics.  There are volumes written on this topic, and virtually every commentary on John devotes a number of pages to this debate, along with the various solutions which have been proposed to resolve it.  A sermon series such as this is not the place to resolve such complicated issues, so let me give you a brief summary of the matter, and explain my take on how best to resolve it as we proceed.

We start with critical scholars, who contend that John’s overriding purpose in composing his gospel is theological–that is, John wants to prove that Jesus is Israel’s Passover Lamb, so it does not really matter if John describes Jesus dying on Thursday afternoon when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered, while the synoptics place the death of Jesus on Friday afternoon.  Critical scholars do not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, so any apparent discrepancies between John and the synoptics are not a problem to them, so long as we consider John’s reason for composing his gospel–which is to convince people that Jesus is a messianic prophet.

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"Whoever Believes in Me" -- John 12:37-50

The Forty-Second in  a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Jesus entered Jerusalem to the great fanfare of the people.  In their minds, God’s promised messianic blessing is playing out before their very eyes.  Jesus, the Davidic king and miracle worker has entered the royal city, no doubt, to claim the throne of David and to lead the people of Israel to victory over Rome.  Jesus proclaimed that his hour had come.  Surely, Jesus was referring to his entrance into the city and the beginning of his reign.  But those who watched and listened carefully to Jesus after he entered the city knew that Jesus was not about to meet the crowd’s expectations.   In fact, Jesus said his hour referred to something soon to come, that he would be glorified, that a time of judgment would come when he is “lifted up” and draws all people unto himself.  At the end of John 12, we learn that time of judgment mentioned by Jesus begins when his public ministry comes to a close, and Jesus withdraws from the public eye.  Having ended his public ministry, Jesus begins to prepare his disciples for his departure from them.  What the people of Israel thought to be a time of God’s blessing was, in reality, the beginning of God’s judgment upon Israel, when the messianic light departs, and the darkness of spiritual judgment falls upon the people who cheer for a Messiah in whom they do not believe, and who’s mission they do not understand.   

As we continue our series on the Gospel of John, we have spent the last several weeks working our way through the twelfth chapter of John.  We have considered Mary’s anointing of Jesus with expensive perfume in preparation for his death and burial.  We have read of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and then we have considered our Lord’s remarkable words to a group of Greeks (Gentile God-fearers) who were in Jerusalem to witness the coming Passover.

Previously in John’s account, Jesus had only spoken of his hour–when he will be glorified–as a future event.  Remarkably, he tells a group of Gentiles that his hour has come, meaning his messianic mission is coming to its end.  When Jesus spoke these words about his hour having arrived, people assumed that he was referring to his triumphal entrance into the city.  But he was not speaking of Palm Sunday.  Instead, Jesus was speaking of events soon to come–his death and resurrection.  Using the analogy of a grain of wheat which falls into the ground and then germinates, Jesus is speaking of how he must die, and then be raised from the dead.  He speaks of how those who follow him must lose their lives in order to receive his (eternal life).  Jesus did not sound like a man about to lead Israel to victory over Rome    

As he was speaking to the Greeks (and probably to the disciples as well) a crowd gathered, listening to Jesus’ teaching about the significance of the events they had just witnessed.  Jesus describes the great anguish of his soul because his hour has come, implying that he must suffer and die for our sins.  Jesus then calls upon YHWH to be glorified through the events about to unfold.  The Father speaks from heaven, confirming that Jesus’ is indeed fulfilling the will of God.  The crowd heard the noise, knew it to be extraordinary (if not supernatural), but did not understand the words spoken.  But Jesus knew that his heavenly Father was speaking, and Jesus reveals to those listening what the Father had said.

Upon hearing the Father’s voice, in verse 31, Jesus announces “now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”  Two times in this verse Jesus speaks of what his impending death and resurrection will accomplish now.  When Jesus suffers and dies upon the cross, God will save his people from the guilt and power of sin.  At the same time, his death upon the cross is a graphic picture to the world of how seriously God takes human sin.  As a sign of judgment, the cross tells all people that either Jesus Christ suffers and dies for the sinner, and in the sinner’s place, or else the sinner must be punished by God for their guilt of their own sins.  While the cross is the visible sign of God’s love and grace toward his people, it is also the guarantee to those who reject Jesus’ person and work that God will judge the world on the last day–yet as we will see in our text, that judgment (at least upon Israel), is about to begin.

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"When I Am Lifted Up" -- John 12:27-36

The Forty-First in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Jesus has entered Jerusalem in apparent triumph.  As he heads along the road from Bethany to Jerusalem a huge crowd spontaneously assembles and begins the messianic chant, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The people expect Jesus to enter the city, to his take his place on David’s royal throne, and then free the nation from their Roman oppressors.  But Jesus is entering his city only to be rejected by Israel, to suffer and die for the sins of his people, to bear the wrath of his Father in his own flesh, and to rise again from the dead.  When Jesus does take his rightful place on David’s throne, it will be a heavenly throne when Jesus ascends into heaven.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus reveals what he is about to do to a group of Greeks (Gentile God-fearers), who have come to Jerusalem to witness Israel’s Passover celebration.  In revealing what is about to transpire, Jesus tells these Gentiles that his hour is now at hand.  Jesus speaks openly of his own great anguish, and his mission is audibly confirmed by his heavenly Father.  Jesus tells the crowds which assembled as he began speaking, that he must be lifted up in order to draw all people unto himself.  Jesus is, of course, speaking of his cross.  And those listening to him are struggling to make sense of it all.

We continue to work our way through the Gospel of John.  We have come to John chapter 12, and we are considering a remarkable teaching discourse which takes place soon after Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph on Palm Sunday.  The remarkable thing about the content of John 12:20-36, is that Jesus begins to speak about his coming death and resurrection soon after he had entered Jerusalem to the messianic chants of the people.  On the face of it, Palm Sunday looked as though this was the long-expected day when Jesus enters Jerusalem to the accolades of the people of Israel to claim David’s royal throne.  While the people correctly sense the messianic implications of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, they cannot yet know that events are about to take a very dramatic and unexpected turn.

The sad reality is that Palm Sunday is every bit as much a tragedy as it is a triumph.  Although the people of Israel cheer and shout messianic anthems, the reality is that Jesus is not the king they want or expect, and so the very moment when Jesus is arrested and stands helpless before Caiaphas (the Jewish high priest) and then Pilate (the Roman governor), the people turn on him and began calling for his death at the hands of a hated Roman bureaucrat–Pilate.  On Palm Sunday, the people see Jesus as the successor to king David and they are thrilled.  By Friday (the Passover), they see Jesus as a mere messianic pretender who should be put to death for causing so much trouble.

The events recorded at the end of John 12 serve to set the stage for the lengthy teaching discourse (the so-called Upper Room Discourse) of John 13-17, when Jesus prepares his disciples for his unexpected departure from them.  In light of Jesus’ dramatic entrance into Jerusalem, the disciples cannot understand how the whole course of Jesus’ messianic ministry will change so drastically in the next few days.  Jesus had raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, just the week before.  This was his seventh and most dramatic sign yet, confirming that he is both the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah.  On Sunday he entered Jerusalem in triumph, but as we read in the synoptic gospels, immediately after entering the city, Jesus went to the temple to pray and saw that the outer court (the so-called court of the Gentiles), was filled with merchants and money-changers selling their wares.  According to Jesus, these men had turned the temple from a place of prayer into a den of thieves and robbers.  Acting in righteous anger, Jesus drove them out.  The conflict between Jesus and the Sanhedrin will rapidly escalate in the days ahead.

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"The King of Israel" -- John 12:12-26

The Fortieth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

There are times when things are not what they seem.  What appears to be a spontaneous moment of triumph and joy when Jesus enters Jerusalem to return the nation to greatness, is actually a sign of Israel’s unbelief and hardness of heart.  The people sense the obvious messianic significance of David’s son entering his royal city.  But for the citizens of Israel, this was a political event with religious implications, not the moment when Jesus enters Jerusalem as the prince of peace, and suffering servant who will lay down his life for his sheep.  What looks like the culmination of his three year public ministry–the messiah has come to his royal city in a triumphal procession–is but a step on the way to Jesus’ cross and empty tomb.  This is a day of joy because Scripture is being fulfilled and Jesus must obey his Father’s will to secure our salvation.  But on this day, the crowds do not understood the true meaning of what they were seeing.  Israel’s moment has come, but the people do not understand the significance of what is happening.

We are continuing our series on the Gospel of John, and we have come to Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem–commonly celebrated in Christian churches on Palm Sunday.  There are few events recorded in all four gospels–Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem is one of them.   As we have seen during our time in John 11-12–which is the literary hinge of John’s Gospel uniting our Lord’s messianic mission (the first ten chapters) and our Lord’s Upper Room Discourse and Passion (chapters 13-21)–Jesus’ messianic mission is rapidly coming to its conclusion.  Jesus has raised his close friend Lazarus from the dead, proving that he is the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah.  Sadly, the Sanhedrin’s response to Jesus’ seventh miracle is to issue a warrant for Jesus’ arrest–which provides a pretext to put Jesus to death.  The Sanhedrin takes this action against Jesus because of their collective fear that Jesus is attracting large numbers of followers and this might provoke the Romans to remove the Sanhedrin from power.

As we saw at the end of John 11, when people became aware of the Pharisees’ order that anyone who saw Jesus or who knew where he was, was to immediately report that information to the Sanhedrin, a buzz began to spread throughout Jerusalem.  Would Jesus dare come to the city to celebrate the Passover, knowing that if he did so he would be arrested and put to death?  That question is definitively answered “yes” when Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph the Sunday before the Passover.  Jesus will defy the Sanhedrin because his chief concern is obedience to his Father’s will and that he accomplish all that the Father has sent him to accomplish.  And this he will do.

In fact, the best indication we have regarding the true meaning of Jesus’ entrance into the city on Palm Sunday actually came the evening before, during a dinner given by Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in the home of Simon the leper.  After the dinner concluded, Mary took a large amount of nard (a year’s wages worth) and anointed Jesus’ head, body, and feet, wiping them with her hair.  When Judas complained that the perfume could have been sold and the proceeds given the to poor, Jesus rebuked him.  Jesus tells Judas and the assembled group, “leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.  For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”  Although the folks in Simon’s home were probably taken aback by Jesus’ rebuke of Judas, and certainly did not yet grasp the full meaning of all that Jesus said, his statement that Mary was going to anoint him for the day of his burial reveals what lay ahead in the coming days.  Jesus will enter Jerusalem in great triumph the next day, but by Friday afternoon of the Passover, Jesus will be dead, and once again, Mary will anoint her Lord’s body in preparation for his burial, exactly as Jesus had foretold.

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"You Do Not Always Have Me" -- John 12:1-11

The Thirty-Ninth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

When he raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus demonstrated for all to see that he is Son of God and Israel’s Messiah.  But Israel’s religious leaders–the Sanhedrin and the high priest Caiaphas–were very troubled by the news that Jesus had returned to Jerusalem and was working miracles just a few days before the annual Passover.  They were afraid that Jesus would return to Jerusalem during the Passover for a final showdown with the Sanhedrin.  And so they had hatched a plot to arrest Jesus upon his return to the city, so that Jesus would then be put to death.  Blind to the fact that Jesus was that one promised throughout the Old Testament, the Sanhedrin was worried that Jesus would do something to provoke the Romans to intervene and remove them from power.  It was clear that many people had seen (or heard of) Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus was already popular because he was a miracle-worker and messianic figure and now, Jesus had many new followers as a result of his seventh and greatest miracle to date.  When Caiaphas proposed that Jesus die for the sake of the nation, his proposal was quickly agreed upon and the Pharisees made it known that if anyone saw Jesus or knew where he was, the Pharisees were to be informed.  And if people are following Jesus because of Lazarus, then Lazarus should be arrested and put to death as well. . .   Yes, it really has come to this.

We return to our series on the Gospel of John.  We have come to the literary hinge of John’s Gospel–chapters 11-12–which serve to join the two halves of John’s Gospel together.  The first 10 chapters of John deal with Jesus’ three-year messianic mission, while chapters 13-21 deal with those events surrounding the coming Passover, which include Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples (the Upper Room Discourse), his passion, and his resurrection (all of which take place during the last week of Jesus’ life).  Chapters 11-12 serve as the transition from our Lord’s messianic mission to his Passion.  

In John 11, we read of Jesus’ seventh and most dramatic miraculous sign, the raising of his dear friend Lazarus from the dead.  We read of Jesus’ great sorrow at the death of his friend, as well as the grief experienced by Lazarus’ friends and family.  When Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ tomb, he openly weeps.  But what moves Jesus to such anguish?  There is the spectacle of death itself.  There is the tomb.  Lazarus’ body is wrapped in linen and embalmed with spices to deal with decomposition–the cruelest reality of death.  There is the wailing of the professional mourners along with Lazarus’ family and friends.  The musicians play their somber funeral dirge.  The family and friends are all grief stricken and wailing.  Jesus rages in anger against what sin and death have done to the human race, including his dear friend.

John also tells us that a good number of people actually witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.  They saw the once-dead man now hopping and staggering out of his tomb, still bound by his grave clothes.  Mary and Martha and Lazarus’ family certainly witnessed the miracle.  So did a number of Jews from Jerusalem who had come to the graveyard near Bethany, a small village about two miles from Jerusalem, to pay their respects to Lazarus’ family.  According to John, many of those who witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus believed in Jesus.  Who else but the Son of God and Israel’s Messiah could raise a man who had been dead for four days?

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"Everyone Believed in Him" -- John 11:45-57

The Thirty-Eighth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Jesus has just raised his dear friend Lazarus from the dead.  There were plenty of eyewitnesses to this amazing miracle–Lazarus’s family saw it, as did many Jews from the city of Jerusalem who were present at the tomb.  This was our Lord’s seventh miraculous sign recorded in John’s gospel, and surely the most dramatic sign so far.  The Jews of Jesus’ day should have understood full-well the significance of this event.  YHWH was to raise the dead on the last day (the general resurrection), yet Jesus had just raised Lazarus.  Since the Jews tied the resurrection of the dead to the culmination of the messianic age, the only conclusion to be drawn is that with the coming of Jesus, the messianic age is a present reality.  There can be no doubt about Jesus’ identity.  Jesus is Israel’s Messiah, the Son of Man, and the eternal word made flesh.  Jesus has demonstrated for all to see that he is the coming one foretold by all of Israel’s prophets.  You would think that upon learning that Jesus raised had Lazarus from the dead, the members of the Sanhedrin would rush to embrace Jesus as Israel’s Messiah.  Instead, the Sanhedrin issues a warrant for Jesus’ arrest and hatches a plot to kill him.  Our Lord’s hour is rapidly drawing near, and at the same time, Israel is also coming to a biblical crossroad.  Just as Jesus’ hour is near, so too is Israel’s.

We are currently working our way though John’s Gospel, and are now in chapter 11.  We are considering the closing verses of this remarkable chapter, in which the wheels are set in motion for Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  We have spent several weeks considering Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead, and it is important to once again consider the role that chapters 11 and 12 play in the overall structure of John’s Gospel.  After the prologue to the Gospel (the first 14 verses), John (who was an eyewitness to these events) spends ten chapters covering Jesus’ messianic mission.  When we left off last time, Jesus was in Bethany where Lazarus had been buried (just outside Jerusalem) and only days remained before Jesus’ death as the Passover Lamb and his resurrection from the dead.  

Beginning in  chapter 11–especially with John’s account of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus–John will spend two chapters preparing us for what is commonly known as the “Upper Room Discourse” which is recounted in chapters 13-17.  During the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus prepares his disciples for his betrayal, arrest, death, and resurrection–all associated the so-called “Passion” found chapters 18-20.  Although they do not yet realize it, the disciples’ time with Jesus is soon coming to an end.  In just days, Jesus will be leaving his disciples and returning to the presence of the Father.  As his hour draws near, little time remains for Jesus to prepare his disciples for a new manner of his presence with them–through the indwelling of the blessed comforter (the Holy Spirit).  

In the first half of his Gospel (chapters 1-10) then, John covers the first three years of Jesus’ messianic mission.  But the material found in chapters 13-17 (the Upper Room Discourse) takes place during one evening, while the Passion account (chapters 18-20) covers a mere three days.  So even though we are about half way through our time in John, everything from chapter 11 until our Lord’s Passion, takes place shortly before Jesus’ final Passover celebration in Jerusalem.  Chapters 11-12 serve as the literary bridge between the two halves of John’s Gospel, taking us from the end of Jesus’ three year messianic mission, to the days immediately before our Lord’s death upon the cross, and his resurrection from the dead.

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"Jesus Wept" -- John 11:28-44

The Thirty-Seventh in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Humanity’s greatest enemy is death.  Yet, God has promised that death will not have the last word.  At the end of the age, God will raise the dead, judge all men and women, and then usher in a new heaven and earth where all traces of the curse and human sin are vanquished.  But until that day, the curse remains, and those whom we love still die.  So when Jesus’ friend Lazarus tastes death, those following Jesus look to him for comfort and guidance, as well as for some word of hope in anticipation of the great day of final victory over death at the end of the age.  But at a burial ground in Bethany–a small village just outside of Jerusalem–Jesus does something beyond all human imagination.  After weeping at the sight of Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus performs his seventh and greatest miraculous sign yet.  He raises his friend from the dead, giving everyone present at the tomb the unmistakable proof that he is God incarnate, and that he is Lord over death and the grave.  But he is also giving everyone a glimpse of what will happen in just a few short days when he dies on a Roman cross and is then raised from the dead on the third day.  It is our Lord’s own bodily resurrection from the dead which is the guarantee of the great resurrection on the last day.

As we continue our series on the Gospel of John, we come to John’s account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (chapter 11).  In verses 28-44, we see the emotions of Jesus on full display when Jesus rages against death, and then raises his dear friend Lazarus from the dead.  If we thought that Jesus’ initial reaction to the news of Lazarus’ death was cold and indifferent, in this section of John’s account we will discover that we were greatly mistaken.  Jesus was not unemotional about the death of his friend–as it seemed.  Jesus knew that his hour was not yet–although his hour is drawing near.  He also knew that there was still much for him to teach his disciples before they make their final trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, in which Jesus brings his messianic mission to its glorious climax as he reveals himself to be the true Passover lamb who takes away the sins of the world.  

In this section of John, the disciple recounts Jesus’ great of compassion for Lazarus’ family, and he himself openly weeps at the sight of the tomb of his friend.  But these are not just tears of sadness as the English word “weep” conveys.  Jesus cries tears of both anger and anguish, as he witnesses what Adam’s fall and the curse have done to the human race.  When we see Jesus weeping at the death of a close friend, we learn much about our Lord’s true human nature and the profound human emotions which Jesus truly felt.  We also learn much about grief, and the Christian attitude toward death, which is grounded in the reality of human sin and the curse, and the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the body.

As I mentioned several weeks ago, John’s Gospel is difficult to preach since there are a number of lengthy discourses which are best treated as a single block of material.  But since we don’t have the time to go through these discourses in the detail they deserve, I have chosen to break these discourses down into smaller units.  The problem with doing so that it is easy to lose sight of the powerful drama and overall thrust of the narrative.  Apart from the rich and profound theological implications of this passage, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus is very compelling in its own right.  The inherent drama of the narrative is especially important to recapture before we take up our text–one of the most moving and dramatic in all the Bible.

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"I Am the Resurrection and the Life" -- John 11:17-27

The Thirty-Sixth in a Series on the Gospel of John

There is nothing worse than getting the horrible news that someone we know or love has died.  First comes the initial sense of shock and grief as we try to process the news.  Then come the intermittent and alternating waves of grief and reflection.  When someone dies, preparations must be made, family and friends begin to assemble, and then comes one of the worst times of all of human existence, the funeral.  Although Christians grieve just like non-Christians grieve, one thing separates us from non-Christians.  Christians grieve as people with great hope because we know that Jesus Christ has conquered death and the grave, because he is the resurrection and the life.  We also know that those whom we bury are in the presence of the Lord, awaiting that glorious moment when the last trumpet sounds, and the dead in Christ are raised bodily from the dead.  In John chapter 11, we witness Jesus deal with the death of his dear friend Lazarus, and we learn that the thing we dread most–death and the tomb–is no match for the power of Jesus, who turns Lazarus’ funeral into a magnificent glimpse of what is yet to come for all those who trust in him as savior from sin.  But before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, we read of a remarkable encounter between Jesus and Lazarus’ sister Martha, in which Martha makes a profound profession of faith–a profession grounded in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the body at the end of the age, an event which is our ultimate hope as well.

As we make our way into John 11, we come to that passage which is read at the beginning of most Christian funerals.  When Jesus says in verses 25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” our Lord offers words which are a wonderful comfort to those who are grieving.  But these words present a very difficult challenge to Martha to whom the words are originally addressed.  The reason these words are a comfort to us is that we know how the account of Jesus and his friend Lazarus turns out in the end.  Jesus walks up to the tomb and commands “Lazarus, come out,” and the dead man does.  We know that when Jesus dies on a Roman cross, he will be raised by the power of God before he ascends into heaven.  But when Jesus spoke these words to Martha, Lazarus is still in his tomb–in fact, he has been dead for four days, and as we learn in verse 39, the surest sign of the curse stemming from Adam’s sin, decomposition, has already begun.  What can Jesus mean when he says he is “the resurrection and the life” when the man he loved lies buried but a short distance away?

These words from Jesus are difficult for Martha to accept because of the circumstances set out in the first sixteen verses of the chapter.  Jesus was still east of the Jordan river–having left Jerusalem for the wilderness, because the Jews were plotting to arrest Jesus if he remained in Jerusalem.  While still in the wilderness, word came to Jesus from Mary and Martha of Bethany–a small village two miles to the east of Jerusalem–that Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus, is quite ill.  The family requests that Jesus come as soon as possible, although Bethany is more than a full day’s walk from the area where Jesus was staying.  Lazarus, Mary, and Martha are well-known to Jesus.  Jesus is said to love them, and they regard Jesus as a close friend.  It is likely that Jesus visited their home often (and perhaps even stayed with this family) during his trips to Jerusalem.

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"Lazarus has Died" -- John 11:1-16

The Thirty-Fifth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Even Jesus could not keep his friend Lazarus from dying–or so it seemed.  All of Jesus’ disciples eventually died, as have all Christians since the time of Jesus down to the present day (including Lazarus, a second time).  This raises the question as to whether or not the curse has the final word and whether death ultimately wins in the end.  At times it sure looks that way.  If Jesus truly is the resurrection and the life, as he claims, then he must decisively defeat death and the grave.  When Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead, we see the unmistakable proof that death does not win in the end.   Although his body has been in the tomb four days, when Jesus steps up to Lazarus’ tomb and commands “Lazarus, come out!” (and the dead man does) we get a brief glimpse of what will happen on the last day, when Jesus returns to judge the world, raise the dead, and make all things new.  The story of Lazarus is not only a critical turning point in the Gospel of John, this is proof that Jesus is who he claims to be, and the events surrounding the raising of Lazarus set the stage for Jesus’ own death and resurrection, soon to come.

We return to our series on the Gospel of John, and we come to the next section of John’s Gospel–the literary bridge between Jesus’ messianic mission to Israel, and the events which occurred during the Passover and Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem.  This literary bridge includes the materials in John 11 (the account of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead) and chapter 12 (Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany, before Jesus speaks of the necessity of his being “lifted up”–a reference to his suffering upon the cross).  This two-chapter bridge prepares the way for the extended Upper Room Discourse in chapters 13-17, in which Jesus instructs his disciples about his soon-coming death, resurrection, and ascension, and when he promises to send the blessed comforter, the Holy Spirit.  

Then, in chapters 18-20, we come to John’s Passion narrative, in which we read of Jesus’ death for our sins, and his bodily resurrection from the dead.  Unlike the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) the first half of John’s Gospel is devoted to his messianic mission, while the entire second half is devoted to the Passover and the final week of our Lord’s earthly ministry.  We are entering that last half of John’s account of the word made flesh, and we will spend much of our time covering events which occurred during the last week of Jesus’ messianic mission, shortly before his death as the true Passover Lamb and his resurrection from the dead–the guarantee of our final victory over death.

Every preacher faces the same dilemma when preaching through John’s Gospel.  Throughout this gospel, there are long teaching discourses, like the 44 verses in John 11 dealing with the resurrection of Lazarus.  These discourses are best covered in one sitting because one event is being recounted.  Yet, these discourses (like that the “Bread of Life” discourse of John 6, and the “Good Shepherd” discourse of John 10) are so rich in content, that if we are to do John justice, we would spend about two hours covering chapter 11.  Given the shortness of the human attention span, the rhetorical skills of your preacher, the weakness of the human gluteus maximus, and the nature of our pews, unfortunately, we must divide John 11 into a number of sub-sections which we will treat over a four week period.  You will help me out, and you will get far more out of these next few sermons on John 11, if you read through this entire chapter several times in the coming weeks so as not to lose the forest for the trees.

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