Jesus raises Lazarus

Gospel for March 26, 2023

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

Order Go and Find a Donkey today to prepare your family for this year’s Easter season!
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Kindle book of Go and Find a Donkey.
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Paperback of Go and Find a Donkey.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 11:1-45
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal, dramatic moment in the Gospel of John. Here we see both the compassionate humanity of Jesus and his divine power.

First, a little background. Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, were close personal friends of Jesus. They had offered hospitality to Jesus and his disciples at their home in Bethany (as reported in the Gospel of Luke 10:38-42), and of course here in the Gospel of John. Jesus had likely been a guest in their home on many occasions. In fact, we receive a little preview of what is to happen in the next chapter, after Jesus performs one of his mightiest miracles:

It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

When Lazarus became ill, it was perfectly natural for these sisters to send a message to Jesus when he was across the Jordan River, telling him:

Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.

So it may seem understandable that Martha and Mary are perplexed, and perhaps even hurt, when Jesus delays his journey to Bethany by two days! What they don’t know is what he has said to his disciples:

This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.

Jesus finds it necessary to explain this whole thing to the disciples because they put up a fuss about Jesus returning to Judea. They have been beyond the Jordan river in order to avoid being arrested for blasphemy. And now Jesus wants to go back? They fear he will be stoned to death.

Jesus explains that this is his mission:

Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.

This is very similar to his words concerning the healing of the blind man in John 9:

I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world (John 9:4-5).

The disciples, typically, are obtuse. When Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep they think he is speaking literally. Surely he’ll recover, they insist. Jesus must confirm that Lazarus will die:

Lazarus is dead. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.

Interestingly, Thomas, the man who has been given the rap down through the centuries as the “Doubter” is the one who musters up the courage to say to his colleagues:

Let’s go also, that we may die with him.

Perhaps it would only be fair to also call him “Courageous Thomas” as well as “Doubting Thomas.”

And when Jesus does arrive in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead for four days. Given the travel time, this would explain why Jesus waited two days. If it took two days for the messengers to reach him on foot somewhere near the Jordan, possibly more than 25 miles away, Jesus may have known through divine means that Lazarus was already dead by the time they arrived. The two-day delay would have made no difference.

Incidentally, the disciples were right to be concerned about their return to Bethany. Bethany was just a little less than two miles away from Jerusalem, where Jesus had only recently been threatened. That was a little less than an hour away on foot!

We get the distinct impression that the two sisters are not only grieving for their brother, they also seem angry with Jesus. Martha, the sister with the reputation for being both practical and outspoken, hears that Jesus is coming. She proactively leaves the house, where the grieving Mary remains, and comes out to meet him. She seems rather confrontational, even a little accusatory:

Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

She tempers this harsh tone with a statement that seems as much a matter of hope as faith:

Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.

What ensues is one of the most powerful dialogues in all of Scripture:

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha is a good Jew, of the school of Judaism which believed fervently in the resurrection. But she sees this resurrection as something far off in the future:

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

This becomes the context for one of Jesus’ greatest I Am statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.”

We have learned from the Gospel of John that Jesus is the Word, eternally present from the beginning, and that Jesus is God in the flesh. And we have heard Jesus claim this identity repeatedly through his I Am statements in the Gospel of John, identifying himself with Yahweh who calls himself:

I Am (Exodus 3:14).

But Jesus is also the I Am through whom resurrection is to occur. He himself is life! And Jesus declares that faith in him is the means by which this life is to be grasped.

And Jesus asks Martha the most important question she will ever answer:

Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Martha professes her faith in Jesus, recognizing not only that he is Messiah but also God:

She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

Martha next does the same thing that others have done — and will do — when they have come to faith in Jesus. She goes and tells another about Christ. Andrew goes and tells Simon Peter (John 1:41). Philip finds Nathanael (John 1:45). The Samaritan woman leaves her pitcher at the well and goes and tells her neighbors in Sychar (John 4:28-29). Mary Magdalene tells the disciples that she has seen Jesus after his resurrection (John 20:18). And here, Martha tells her sister Mary that their Rabbi wants to talk to her.

Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

There is a hint of blame, implying that Jesus was not more responsive to their request that he come. Nevertheless, Mary also expresses her confidence that Jesus could have done something if he had been there.

When Jesus sees the expression of grief by Mary and those who are mourning with her, he is deeply affected:

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.

The emotional reaction of Jesus provokes a debate among the onlookers:

The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

There is tension between those who recognize Jesus’ humanity, and those who blame him for doing too little too late.

John tells us that Jesus is still deeply moved:

again groaning in himself.

We ask ourselves, is he now disturbed because of the grief of the family, or is he disturbed by those who are critical or skeptical?

Jesus comes to the tomb, which is described as a cave sealed with a stone. Without further ado he commands:

Take away the stone.

We hear again from the other sister, Martha. As we see in Luke 10:38-42, Martha’s personality is practical and realistic.

She points out the obvious facts here:

Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.

Jesus reminds her of their previous conversation, and her own confession of faith:

Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

What happens next is one of the climactic moments in the Gospel of John. The stone is removed, and Jesus prays:

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus has absolute confidence in his relationship with the Father. And it seems clear that he is praying aloud not for his own sake, but for the crowd. He knows that the Father will act; but the purpose of the prayer and subsequent answer is to promote faith that he is indeed God’s Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus then summons Lazarus from the darkness of the tomb:

…he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

Jesus has authority even over death!

Jesus instructs them to unwind the wrappings that now imprison Lazarus. He is free from death. And the response to this powerful event is faith:

Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

APPLY:

This passage seems oddly placed in the season of Lent. It is still two weeks until Easter, when we will celebrate the resurrection that will change EVERYTHING — the resurrection of Jesus after the Passion and Crucifixion.

Why is this passage read on this particular Sunday? Perhaps because this is part of the inevitable journey of Jesus toward Jerusalem and the events that will soon begin on the day we call Palm Sunday. And this event, with so many witnesses watching Lazarus shuffle out of the tomb after four days of death, certainly would have built momentum for the crowds that were soon to shout “Hosanna!” when Jesus entered the city riding on a donkey.

But this passage is also a foretaste. Lazarus, we presume, would die again. In fact, when news began to spread that he had been raised from the dead, many began to believe in Jesus. And John writes:

…the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus (John 12:10-11).

For some, the resurrection of Lazarus was a source of faith. For others, it was a pretext for conspiring against Jesus.

This should be a reminder to us that no matter how clear faith may be to us, there will be those who simply cannot see what we see.

Though Lazarus had been raised, Jesus still had to endure betrayal, arrest, torture, trial and death prior to his own resurrection. But he had given a word of promise to Martha that certainly must have comforted her through those dark events that were to come:

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

This is also a word of comfort for all who believe — despite suffering, persecution, loss and grief that we may experience in the future. Because of our faith in Jesus as the resurrection and the life, we will never really die.

At the same time, we need not be ashamed when we grieve for those who die. Jesus was unashamed to weep for Lazarus, even though he knew that he had the power to raise Lazarus to life. Grief is a normal and natural response to death, even for those who are strong believers.

There is a resurrection that is coming for all of us. Paul describes it this way:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The same Jesus who raised Lazarus with a loud voice will raise us with a shout.

RESPOND:

Modern Christians often have a kind of “cognitive dissonance” when we read what the Gospels say about eternal life, and what we hear in most funerals.

Almost without exception, the New Testament teaches that at the end of the age the resurrection of the body will occur, rather than a disembodied immortality. We are told that the former view is Biblical, but the latter view is a Greek notion.

The Greek notion would have us believe that the body is somehow disgusting, and that true immortality separates the soul from the body. That isn’t a Biblical view at all. We remember that when God made the material world and our bodies, he said It is good.

While no one living really knows what happens when we die, we do have confidence that those who have died in Christ are somehow alive in Christ. We take comfort in Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross:

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 24:43).

But we also know that there is a resurrection that will come at the end of the age, when we will be raised, and we will have all the qualities promised in the resurrection of Jesus:

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).

While we will have a body, it will certainly not be a body like our present bodies, but a transformed, spiritual, glorified body — perhaps not unlike the body of the resurrected Jesus, who could be touched and could eat, and yet seemed to be unlimited by the physical dimensions of space and time as we understand them.

We are venturing into metaphysical speculation here, for which we won’t have answers until Christ comes again. But I think we can clearly repeat the promise of Jesus to those who have lost loved ones:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

Our Lord, as you came to Bethany and brought the comfort of resurrection and life to the family of Lazarus, so you come to us when we stand by the graveside of someone we love. You remind us that you are victorious over death, and that you are the resurrection and the life. Thank you for that comfort and that promise. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Raising of Lazarus (Ravenna)” by Jim Forest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for October 31, 2021

Note from Celeste: Since the alternative lectionary selections for October 31 are those for All Saints Day (which was one of Tom’s favorite celebration days in the church), I’m posting his SOAR studies from All Saints Day, year B.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 11:32-44
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal, dramatic moment in the Gospel of John. Here we see both the compassionate humanity of Jesus and his divine power.

When Lazarus became ill, it was perfectly natural for these sisters to send a message to Jesus when he was across the Jordan River, telling him,

“Lord, he whom you love is ill” (John 11:3).

“This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).

He also makes it clear to the disciples that Lazarus will die:

“Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11:14-15).

And when Jesus does arrive in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead for four days. We get the distinct impression that the two sisters are not only grieving for their brother, they are also angry with Jesus:

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

There is a hint of blame, suggesting that Jesus was not more responsive to their request that he come. Nevertheless, Mary also expresses her confidence that Jesus could have done something if he had been there.

When Jesus sees the expression of grief by Mary and those who are mourning with her, he is deeply affected:

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep.

The emotional reaction of Jesus provokes a debate among the onlookers:

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

There is tension between those who recognize Jesus’ humanity, and those who blame him for doing too little too late.

John tells us that Jesus is again greatly disturbed. We ask ourselves, is he now disturbed because of the grief of the family, or is he disturbed by those who are critical?

Jesus comes to the tomb, described as a cave sealed with a stone. Without further ado he commands:

“Take away the stone.”

Now we hear from the other sister, Martha. As we see in Luke 10:38-42, Martha’s personality is practical and realistic. She points out the obvious facts here:

“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

We should remember that in John’s account, Jesus has previously encountered the grieving Martha when she comes out to meet him even before he has arrived in Bethany. She seems even more accusatory than Mary, but also reveals a deep faith in Jesus:

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him” (John 11:21-22).

And this is the context of one of Jesus’ greatest I Am statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

And Martha answers with one of the very first confessions of faith in Jesus:

“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (John 11:27).

When they all arrive at the tomb, Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away. When Martha protests, he reminds her of their previous conversation:

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

What happens next is one of the climactic moments in the Gospel of John. The stone is removed, and Jesus prays:

Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

It seems clear that Jesus has absolute confidence in his relationship with the Father. And it also seems clear that he is praying aloud not for his own sake, but for the crowd. He knows that the Father will act; but the purpose of the prayer and subsequent answer is to promote faith that he is indeed God’s Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus then summons Lazarus from the darkness of the tomb:

….he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus has authority even over death!

APPLY:

Why does this passage seem appropriate for All Saints Day? Obviously, this is a unique event that is unrepeatable. Jesus doesn’t come to our loved ones’ graves and command them to burst through their coffins and push through the earth to life.

And yet, we have here a forecast of what will happen when Christ returns, as recorded in the Scriptures. This is sometimes called the “General Resurrection” which is to occur when Jesus returns.

In 1 Corinthians 15:20-24, Paul writes:

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.

And Paul writes more succinctly of that Resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

What happens for Lazarus is what will happen for all who believe — that we will hear the cry of command that comes from the returning Christ, and we also will be raised!

There are several truths we need to bear in mind — as he tells Martha, Jesus himself is the source of resurrection and eternal life, received by faith.

Jesus, and his promise of resurrection and eternal life, is our comfort in the face of the death of our loved ones, and in the face of our own death.

RESPOND:

Modern Christians often have a kind of “cognitive dissonance” when we read what the Gospels say about eternal life, and what we hear in most funerals.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 24:43).

But we also know that there is a resurrection that will come at the end of the age, when we will be raised, and we will have all the qualities promised in the resurrection of Jesus:

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).

We are venturing into metaphysical speculation here, for which we won’t have answers until Christ comes again. But I think we can clearly say what Jesus says to those who have lost loved ones:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

PHOTOS:
“Kabr Al-Ezar” by Fr. Gaurav Shroff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for March 29, 2020

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 11:1-45
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal, dramatic moment in the Gospel of John. Here we see both the compassionate humanity of Jesus and his divine power.

It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

When Lazarus became ill, it was perfectly natural for these sisters to send a message to Jesus when he was across the Jordan River, telling him:

Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.

This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.

Jesus explains that this is his mission:

Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.

This is very similar to his words concerning the healing of the blind man in John 9:

I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world (John 9:4-5).

The disciples, typically, are obtuse. When Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep they think he is speaking literally. Surely he’ll recover, they insist. Jesus must confirm that Lazarus will die:

Lazarus is dead. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.

Interestingly, Thomas, the man who has been given the rap down through the centuries as the “Doubter” is the one who musters up the courage to say to his colleagues:

Let’s go also, that we may die with him.

Perhaps it would only be fair to also call him “Courageous Thomas” as well as “Doubting Thomas.”

Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

She tempers this harsh tone with a statement that seems as much a matter of hope as faith:

Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.

What ensues is one of the most powerful dialogues in all of Scripture:

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha is a good Jew, of the school of Judaism which believed fervently in the resurrection. But she sees this resurrection as something far off in the future:

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

This becomes the context for one of Jesus’ greatest I Am statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.”

I Am (Exodus 3:14).

But Jesus is also the I Am through whom resurrection is to occur. He himself is life! And Jesus declares that faith in him is the means by which this life is to be grasped.

And Jesus asks Martha the most important question she will ever answer:

Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Martha professes her faith in Jesus, recognizing not only that he is Messiah but also God:

She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

When Jesus sees the expression of grief by Mary and those who are mourning with her, he is deeply affected:

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.

The emotional reaction of Jesus provokes a debate among the onlookers:

The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

There is tension between those who recognize Jesus’ humanity, and those who blame him for doing too little too late.

John tells us that Jesus is still deeply moved:

again groaning in himself.

We ask ourselves, is he now disturbed because of the grief of the family, or is he disturbed by those who are critical or skeptical?

Jesus comes to the tomb, which is described as a cave sealed with a stone. Without further ado he commands:

Take away the stone.

We hear again from the other sister, Martha. As we see in Luke 10:38-42, Martha’s personality is practical and realistic.

She points out the obvious facts here:

Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.

Jesus reminds her of their previous conversation, and her own confession of faith:

Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

What happens next is one of the climactic moments in the Gospel of John. The stone is removed, and Jesus prays:

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus then summons Lazarus from the darkness of the tomb:

…. he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

Jesus has authority even over death!

Jesus instructs them to unwind the wrappings that now imprison Lazarus. He is free from death. And the response to this powerful event is faith:

Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

APPLY:

But this passage is also a foretaste. Lazarus, we presume, would die again. In fact, when news began to spread that he had been raised from the dead, many began to believe in Jesus. And John writes:

….the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus (John 12:10-11).

For some, the resurrection of Lazarus was a source of faith. For others, it was a pretext for conspiring against Jesus.

This should be a reminder to us that no matter how clear faith may be to us, there will be those who simply cannot see what we see.

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

There is a resurrection that is coming for all of us. Paul describes it this way:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The same Jesus who raised Lazarus with a loud voice will raise us with a shout.

RESPOND:

Modern Christians often have a kind of “cognitive dissonance” when we read what the Gospels say about eternal life, and what we hear in most funerals.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 24:43).

But we also know that there is a resurrection that will come at the end of the age, when we will be raised, and we will have all the qualities promised in the resurrection of Jesus:

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

PHOTO:
“Raising of Lazarus (Ravenna)” by Jim Forest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for November 4, 2018

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 11:32-44
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal, dramatic moment in the Gospel of John. Here we see both the compassionate humanity of Jesus and his divine power.

When Lazarus became ill, it was perfectly natural for these sisters to send a message to Jesus when he was across the Jordan River, telling him,

“Lord, he whom you love is ill”(John 11:3).

“This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).

He also makes it clear to the disciples that Lazarus will die:

“Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11:14-15).

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus sees the expression of grief by Mary and those who are mourning with her, he is deeply affected:

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep.

The emotional reaction of Jesus provokes a debate among the onlookers:

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

There is tension between those who recognize Jesus’ humanity, and those who blame him for doing too little too late.

John tells us that Jesus is again greatly disturbed. We ask ourselves, is he now disturbed because of the grief of the family, or is he disturbed by those who are critical?

Jesus comes to the tomb, described as a cave sealed with a stone. Without further ado he commands:

“Take away the stone.”

Now we hear from the other sister, Martha. As we see in Luke 10:38-42, Martha’s personality is practical and realistic. She points out the obvious facts here:

“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him”(John 11:21-22).

And this is the context of one of Jesus’ greatest I Am statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

And Martha answers with one of the very first confessions of faith in Jesus:

“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (John 11:27).

When they all arrive at the tomb, Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away. When Martha protests, he reminds her of their previous conversation:

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

What happens next is one of the climactic moments in the Gospel of John. The stone is removed, and Jesus prays:

Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus then summons Lazarus from the darkness of the tomb:

….he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus has authority even over death!

APPLY:

And yet, we have here a forecast of what will happen when Christ returns, as recorded in the Scriptures. This is sometimes called the “General Resurrection” which is to occur when Jesus returns.

In 1 Corinthians 15:20-24, Paul writes:

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.

And Paul writes more succinctly of that Resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

What happens for Lazarus is what will happen for all who believe — that we will hear the cry of command that comes from the returning Christ, and we also will be raised!

There are several truths we need to bear in mind — as he tells Martha, Jesus himself is the source of resurrection and eternal life, received by faith.

Jesus, and his promise of resurrection and eternal life, is our comfort in the face of the death of our loved ones, and in the face of our own death.

RESPOND:

Modern Christians often have a kind of “cognitive dissonance” when we read what the Gospels say about eternal life, and what we hear in most funerals.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 24:43).

But we also know that there is a resurrection that will come at the end of the age, when we will be raised, and we will have all the qualities promised in the resurrection of Jesus:

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).

We are venturing into metaphysical speculation here, for which we won’t have answers until Christ comes again. But I think we can clearly say what Jesus says to those who have lost loved ones:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

PHOTOS:
“Kabr Al-Ezar” by Fr. Gaurav Shroff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for April 2, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

John 11:1-45

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal, dramatic moment in the Gospel of John. Here we see both the compassionate humanity of Jesus and his divine power.

It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

When Lazarus became ill, it was perfectly natural for these sisters to send a message to Jesus when he was across the Jordan River, telling him:

Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.

This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.

Jesus explains that this is his mission:

Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.

This is very similar to his words concerning the healing of the blind man in John 9:

I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world (John 9:4-5).

The disciples, typically, are obtuse. When Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep they think he is speaking literally. Surely he’ll recover, they insist. Jesus must confirm that Lazarus will die:

Lazarus is dead. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.

Interestingly, Thomas, the man who has been given the rap down through the centuries as the “Doubter” is the one who musters up the courage to say to his colleagues:

Let’s go also, that we may die with him.

Perhaps it would only be fair to also call him “Courageous Thomas” as well as “Doubting Thomas.”

Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

She tempers this harsh tone with a statement that seems as much a matter of hope as faith:

Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.

What ensues is one of the most powerful dialogues in all of Scripture:

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha is a good Jew, of the school of Judaism which believed fervently in the resurrection. But she sees this resurrection as something far off in the future:

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

This becomes the context for one of Jesus’ greatest I Am statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.”

I Am (Exodus 3:14).

But Jesus is also the I Am through whom resurrection is to occur. He himself is life! And Jesus declares that faith in him is the means by which this life is to be grasped.

And Jesus asks Martha the most important question she will ever answer:

Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Martha professes her faith in Jesus, recognizing not only that he is Messiah but also God:

She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

When Jesus sees the expression of grief by Mary and those who are mourning with her, he is deeply affected:

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.

The emotional reaction of Jesus provokes a debate among the onlookers:

The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

There is tension between those who recognize Jesus’ humanity, and those who blame him for doing too little too late.

John tells us that Jesus is still deeply moved:

again groaning in himself.

We ask ourselves, is he now disturbed because of the grief of the family, or is he disturbed by those who are critical or skeptical?

Jesus comes to the tomb, which is described as a cave sealed with a stone. Without further ado he commands:

Take away the stone.

We hear again from the other sister, Martha. As we see in Luke 10:38-42, Martha’s personality is practical and realistic.

She points out the obvious facts here:

Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.

Jesus reminds her of their previous conversation, and her own confession of faith:

Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

What happens next is one of the climactic moments in the Gospel of John. The stone is removed, and Jesus prays:

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus then summons Lazarus from the darkness of the tomb:

…. he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

Jesus has authority even over death!

Jesus instructs them to unwind the wrappings that now imprison Lazarus. He is free from death. And the response to this powerful event is faith:

Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

APPLY:

But this passage is also a foretaste. Lazarus, we presume, would die again. In fact, when news began to spread that he had been raised from the dead, many began to believe in Jesus. And John writes:

….the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus (John 12:10-11).

For some, the resurrection of Lazarus was a source of faith. For others, it was a pretext for conspiring against Jesus.

This should be a reminder to us that no matter how clear faith may be to us, there will be those who simply cannot see what we see.

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

There is a resurrection that is coming for all of us. Paul describes it this way:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The same Jesus who raised Lazarus with a loud voice will raise us with a shout.

RESPOND:

Modern Christians often have a kind of “cognitive dissonance” when we read what the Gospels say about eternal life, and what we hear in most funerals.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 24:43).

But we also know that there is a resurrection that will come at the end of the age, when we will be raised, and we will have all the qualities promised in the resurrection of Jesus:

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

PHOTO:
“Raising of Lazarus (Ravenna)” by Jim Forest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for November 1, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

John 11:32-44

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal, dramatic moment in the Gospel of John. Here we see both the compassionate humanity of Jesus and his divine power.

When Lazarus became ill, it was perfectly natural for these sisters to send a message to Jesus when he was across the Jordan River, telling him,

“Lord, he whom you love is ill”(John 11:3).

“This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).

He also makes it clear to the disciples that Lazarus will die:

“Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11:14-15).

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus sees the expression of grief by Mary and those who are mourning with her, he is deeply affected:

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep.

The emotional reaction of Jesus provokes a debate among the onlookers:

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

There is tension between those who recognize Jesus’ humanity, and those who blame him for doing too little too late.

John tells us that Jesus is again greatly disturbed. We ask ourselves, is he now disturbed because of the grief of the family, or is he disturbed by those who are critical?

Jesus comes to the tomb, described as a cave sealed with a stone. Without further ado he commands:

“Take away the stone.”

Now we hear from the other sister, Martha. As we see in Luke 10:38-42, Martha’s personality is practical and realistic. She points out the obvious facts here:

“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him”(John 11:21-22).

And this is the context of one of Jesus’ greatest I Am statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

And Martha answers with one of the very first confessions of faith in Jesus:

“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world”(John 11:27).

When they all arrive at the tomb, Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away. When Martha protests, he reminds her of their previous conversation:

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

What happens next is one of the climactic moments in the Gospel of John. The stone is removed, and Jesus prays:

Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus then summons Lazarus from the darkness of the tomb:

….he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus has authority even over death!

APPLY:

And yet, we have here a forecast of what will happen when Christ returns, as recorded in the Scriptures. This is sometimes called the “General Resurrection” which is to occur when Jesus returns.

In 1 Corinthians 15:20-24, Paul writes:

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.

And Paul writes more succinctly of that Resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

What happens for Lazarus is what will happen for all who believe — that we will hear the cry of command that comes from the returning Christ, and we also will be raised!

There are several truths we need to bear in mind: as he tells Martha, Jesus himself is the source of resurrection and eternal life, received by faith.

Jesus, and his promise of resurrection and eternal life, is our comfort in the face of the death of our loved ones, and in the face of our own death.

RESPOND:

Modern Christians often have a kind of “cognitive dissonance” when we read what the Gospels say about eternal life, and what we hear in most funerals.

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 24:43).

But we also know that there is a resurrection that will come at the end of the age, when we will be raised, and we will have all the qualities promised in the resurrection of Jesus:

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49).

We are venturing into metaphysical speculation here, for which we won’t have answers until Christ comes again. But I think we can clearly say what Jesus says to those who have lost loved ones:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

PHOTOS:
“Kabr Al-Ezar” by Fr. Gaurav Shroff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.