JOHN AND THE BOOK OF SIGNS (8) THE RAISING OF LAZARUS :1-44 Jeffrey S. Carlson March 18, 2018

SCRIPTURE 1A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in with his sisters, Mary and . 2This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3So the two sisters sent a message to telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” 4But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” 5So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6he stayed where he was for the next two days. 7Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to .” 8But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” 9Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” 11Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” 12The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. 14So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” 16Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”

17When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18Bethany was only a few miles down the road from , 19and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” 23Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24“Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” 25Jesus told her, “ the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.

1 Do you believe this, Martha?” 27“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” 28Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29So Mary immediately went to him. 30Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34“Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Then . 36The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

38Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” 40Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” (John 11:1-44 NLT).

INTRODUCTION The last and greatest of the seven signs in the Book of Signs within the is the raising of Lazarus. It constitute the high point of Jesus’ work in the world. It also foreshadows Jesus’ own death and resurrection as well as triggers his opposition’s resolve to take official action to kill him.

Some object to this story of Lazarus because they claim it cannot be historical since the synoptic gospels do not mention it. (The term “synoptic gospels” refers to Matthew, Mark and Luke which tend to chronicle the same events in much the same order.) However, the synoptic gospels tend to focus on Jesus’ Galilean ministry. Only one of their miracle stories takes place anywhere near Jerusalem (Bartimaeus in Jericho). John,

2 on the other hand, is mostly concerned about Jesus’ Judean ministry. Lazarus lived in Bethany – a village only 2 miles from Jerusalem in Judea.

Furthermore, there is more than just one resurrection-like miracle in the gospels. There are three. Two take place in and so it makes sense they are found in the synoptic gospels (Mk 5:21-43; Lk 7:11-17). One takes place in Judea and so it makes sense that it is found in John (11:1-44). The synoptics are somewhat vague about the historical causes of Jesus’ death, but John offers a detailed and plausible account of the political considerations that led to Jesus’ execution.

There are four scenes to this story, the fourth of which deals with the plot to kill Jesus. For our purposes this morning we will be looking at the first three scenes as they have to do with the miraculous sign itself. Each of these three scenes has a misdirect – a conditional statement that, even if it were true, totally misses the point.

1. SCENE ONE: JESUS EAST OF THE JORDAN The first scene has Jesus east of the . The misdirect is this:

“If Lazarus is sleeping then that means he is getting better and we don’t need to visit him.”

John identifies Jesus’ location by saying it was where had been baptizing (10:40; 1:28). He could have just given the name of the location but that may have confused some of his readers. Jesus is in Bethany. His friends, Lazarus, Mary and Martha live in Bethany. Lazarus became sick and so the sisters send a message to Jesus – a journey that would take a messenger at least a day to make. Did I mention that Jesus is in Bethany? The messenger came from Bethany. Are you confused?

In order to help you through this I am going to make you more confused. How many of you know I was born in Portage? I was actually born in Portage. However, I did not grow up there – I grew up in a town about 16 miles away called “Wisconsin Dells.” Some of you are thinking, “Now hold on a minute. Wisconsin Dells is in Wisconsin and it’s a heck a lot farther than 16 miles from Portage to Wisconsin Dells.” No, it’s not. The confusion lies in the fact we are talking about two towns with the same name. You know about Portage, Michigan. I was born in Portage, Wisconsin.

In Jesus’ day there were two towns named Bethany – Bethany of Perea, and Bethany of Judea. Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived in Bethany of Judea. Mary and Martha sent word of Lazarus’ illness to Jesus who was in Bethany of Perea.

3 There are two men named Lazarus in the gospels. The other is mentioned in one of Jesus’ parables – the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Lk 16:19-31). Both deal with an experience of death but beyond that and the name they are dissimilar. Lazarus was a popular name in the first century taken from Eleazar (ehl-ee-AY-zer) meaning “God is my help.”

It is clear that Lazarus, Mary and Martha are close friends of Jesus. John assumes his readers already know of Mary and Martha from reading the other gospels (Lk 10:38-42) or from Mary’s reputation for having “poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair (11:3; Mk 14:3-9).

There are two facts here that seem to be in opposition to each other. Fact one, Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Fact two, he deliberately delayed two days before starting off to see Lazarus. This does not make sense unless he knew Lazarus was already dead. Let me point out that when Jesus does arrive, Lazarus has been in his tomb four days. Even if Jesus had left immediately, he still would not have met up with Lazarus before his death. Lazarus likely died moments after the sisters dispatched their messenger.

So nothing would have been gained by an immediate departure. However, there was something to be gained by waiting two days. It was popularly thought that the spirit of the deceased would linger around the body for three days in the hope of a resuscitation. The raising of Lazarus after four days, then, would be clearly seen as a manifestation of the glory of God and would strengthen the two sisters’ faith and that of his disciples’. Jesus declares:

“Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this” (4).

Meanwhile, the disciples are glad for the delay. They do not want to go back to Judea. The last time they were there the crowds had become hostile and people angrily threw rocks in their direction. Jesus then says:

"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up" (11).

This prompts the misdirect:

“If Lazarus is sleeping then that means he is getting better and we don’t need to visit him.”

4 But Jesus is using sleep as a euphemism for death. He states plainly that Lazarus is dead. Then to the chagrin and horror of the disciples, he tells them he is going back to Judea. Thomas, expressing a mixture of resignation and loyalty says:

“Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus” (16).

For John, the underlining message is that Jesus is willing to risk his life for those whom he loves – anticipating his sacrifice on the cross. John alone remembered and wrote down what Jesus said on the matter:

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13 NLT).

In the cross we discover God has the greatest possibly love for us and wants us to be his friends.

2. SCENE TWO: JESUS AT BETHANY In the second scene we see Jesus arriving at Bethany of Judea. The misdirect here is:

“If you had been here then none of this would have happened.”

Jesus came upon what to us would seem like a noisy and confusing situation. It was customary to pay for professional mourners. In the Mishnah we read, “Even the poorest in Israel should hire not less than two flutes and one wailing woman” (Ketubot 4:4). Family members customarily would stay in their house for one week after the funeral which typically took place one day after death.

Martha and Mary were well off and well-liked. There were many familiar visitors. But there we also many people there who didn’t even know the family.

Richard Henry, the late proprietor of the Richard A. Henry Funeral Home here in Battle Creek, once told me a story about Al Weenink, who was lead pastor here at the First Presbyterian Church of Battle Creek for 25 years. Dick said he called on Dr. Weenink to do a last minute funeral at the Henry Funeral Home. Dr. Weenink did not know the deceased and because of the ambiguity of the name did not even know the gender of the person. But he thought of a clever way to resolve that. Right before the service started he went up to what he presumed were family members in the front row. He bent down and whispered, “Brother or sister?” There was a brief pause and then they said, “Cousin.”

As I noted earlier, it was customary for family members to remain in their house for the

5 first week following a funeral. But as we see in this passage, Martha, true to her nature, is not one to sit still. She hears that Jesus is coming and goes outside to meet him. Her first words are:

“Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (21).

Jesus tells her that her brother will rise again. Then he makes one of those claims that either place him on the throne or in an asylum:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” (25,26).

She says she does but clearly does not understand. In the discussion that follows, Martha expresses belief in the resurrection and belief in Jesus as the Messiah. But her beliefs are shaped more by popular religion than by what Jesus tells her. The common, but not universal, belief of Judaism in this period was that the dead would be raised bodily at the end of time and that the Messiah, when he comes, will heal the sick – nothing is mentioned of his raising the dead. Hence her disappointment in Jesus for not coming soon enough.

She then gets her sister. Mary comes and kneels at Jesus’ feet and unwittingly says the same thing Martha has said:

“Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (21).

The crowd builds on the sisters’ complaint, saying, in effect,

“If only you had been here.”

When we face disappointments and painful struggles in life we are tempted to echo their complaint:

“O God, if only you had . . . then none of this would have happened.”

We don’t usually blame God for causing the bad thing to happen. Rather, we are angry that he did not prevent it.

Jesus has a strong emotional response. At first he seems angry but then expresses great tenderness. This is captured in the shortest verse in the : “Jesus wept” (35 NIV).

6 Jesus burst into tears. But these are not the tears of the professional mourner. Jesus feels our pain. His empathy is real.

Lloyd Ogilvie makes this observation. Notice. . .

How tenderly Jesus meets each of these sisters, who are so different! He meets one with words of life and the other with wordless acceptance. So He meets each of us, where we are with our needs and with what little faith we have.

3. SCENE THREE: JESUS AT THE TOMB OF LAZARUS The third scene shows us Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. The misdirect here is:

If you open that tomb it’s going to really stink!

People were often buried in natural or man-made caves. A disk-shaped stone would be rolled along a groove in front of the cave to protect the remains from animals and grave robbers. The deceased would be wrapped in cloth strips and then laid on the floor. After a year, when all the flesh had rotted off the bones, the family would return to collect the bones in a box and set it in a slot in the wall.

Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. It was no longer winter (11:55) and decomposition was well under way. But Jesus says:

“Roll the stone aside” (39).

Martha says aloud what everybody else was thinking:

If you open that tomb it’s going to really stink!

But worry about the stench is a misdirection. It hides the assumption that the soul of Lazarus is gone. They believed the soul left after three days – and it has been four days for Lazarus. The original Greek has no personal pronoun. They tell Jesus, “It has been dead four days” – meaning the decaying corpse. It not he.

Jesus reminds them of his promise, “you will see God’s glory.” But they do not grasp what he is getting at. It is beyond their imagination and, like all encounters with God’s glory, well beyond their comfort zone. It is no different for us.

A retired pastor known for his solemn and dignified manner became a minister of

7 visitation. One day he was visiting an older woman in a nursing home who was confined to a wheelchair. As he stood to leave, the lady asked him to have a word of prayer. He gently took her hand and prayed that God would be with her to bring her comfort, strength and healing. When he finished praying, her face began to glow. She said softly, "Pastor, would you help me to my feet?" Not knowing what else to do, he helped her up. At first, she took a few uncertain steps. Then she began to jump up and down, then to dance and shout and cry with happiness until the whole nursing home was aroused. After she was quieted, the solemn pastor hurried out to his car, closed the door, grabbed hold of the steering wheel and prayed this little prayer: "Lord, don't you ever do that to me again!"

The stone is rolled away. Jesus prays aloud for the benefit of those around him. Then in a commanding voice he says:

“Lazarus, come out!” 44And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

Here in this seventh sign the glory of God is displayed in Jesus in the fullest and most authentic way. John wasn’t kidding when earlier he said, “We have seen his glory” (1:14). But Jesus does not bask in the moment. His concern is practical and personal. “Would someone please help Lazarus out of that mummy costume?!”

Okay, maybe he didn’t say it quite like that. But this does establish a paradigm for our life as a Christian community today. It’s Jesus’ job to raise the dead. It is our job to unwrap them.

I certainly think Jesus was capable of freeing Lazarus from him his shroud. But for some reason he wants the community to do it. He alone can conquer death. He wants us to show people how to live. His is the power. Ours is the service. A Presbyterian (PCUSA) minister by the name of Tara Woodard-Lehman makes this comment:

Maybe this story is a call for us to roll up our sleeves, and roll away anything that blocks us from seeing those trapped or hidden away in places of death. Maybe it’s a charge to “unbind and let go” all those bound up in institutions, relationships, systems, beliefs and attitudes that lead to death. Just maybe, this story is a commission to bear the image of God in Christ: the One who, in life and in death, is a God both with us and for us.

It is amazing to watch Jesus call people out of spiritual death into new life. I never get

8 tired of seeing it happen. I have also had the privilege of seeing loving Christ-followers welcome these new believers, introduce them to new friends, help them learn the means of grace, and call forth their gifts for ministry. In other words, they unwrapped the grave clothes.

CONCLUSION John does not tell us what happened to Lazarus after this event. Eugene O'Neil wrote a play entitled, "Lazarus Laughs." It follows Lazarus after he leaves the tomb and Jesus has left the scene. As the play's title suggests, after rising from the dead, O'Neil's Lazarus laughs – indeed, laughs all the time. This annoys his enemies who try to intimidate him into being quiet. But Lazarus is unafraid. For he knows he has faced the worst the world has to offer, death, and death lost. Jesus said:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die” (25,26).

Do you believe this?”

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