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MARCH 9, 2008
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. 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 also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. (ESV) John 11:17–45
Lazarus, Mary and Martha’s brother, is dying. So Martha sends an urgent SOS to Jesus pleading for help. But Jesus doesn’t come. Doesn’t he care? He doesn’t even attend the funeral or the burial. But four days after his death, Jesus finally shows up. For Martha it’s a case of too little, too late. So she blurts out, saying to him, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”1 There’s pain in those words.
Martha’s words sound, at times, like our own. “Lord,” we cry out, “help me!” But there is only silence, a stone wall of silence. Why? Could it be that Jesus does not always grant our cries for help because he has a higher, more important purpose in mind? Such is often the case. In fact, this is why Christ delayed his coming to Bethany.
The reason that Jesus doesn’t rush to Lazarus’ sickbed is because there are some things more important to him than preventing a death. Maybe you are thinking, “What could be more important than preventing a death?” The answer is life! Life is more important, but life of a altogether different kind. You see, when we talk about life and death, we normally think of life as simply “being alive” and death as “not being alive.” To us it all seems crystal clear: either you are dead or you are alive. To us, life is good and death isn’t. That’s understandable because, at the human level, that’s all we can see.
What we can’t see is that, at the deeper level, we are all fatally flawed. All of us were born dead in “trespasses and sins.”2 Thus, from conception we are all headed to eternal condemnation. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that Jesus has come to give all who are spiritually dead the greatest of gifts, namely, spiritual life. In the original, this life is called zōē.3 Zōē is the inner, spiritual life that never dies. This zōē is created and sustained by God himself. Thus, we hear Jesus says with regard to all people, “I have come that they may have life [zōē], and have it abundantly.”4 To have zōē is to have spiritual life now that will bloom fully into eternal life at the instant of earthly death.
Zōē is an important word in the New Testament, and an even more important word in Gospel of John. In John’s Gospel, zōē appears twice as often as it does in the other three Gospels combined.5 How important is it to possess zōē? If a person does not have it, he will die in his sins unto eternal torment. Conversely, if a person has it, he will inherit eternal life. A person receives the gift of zōē simply by trusting in Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation. Such a great gift! And it is given freely with no strings attached!
So, let’s put ourselves in Bethany with Jesus and Martha. Lazarus is dead. And Jesus sees something Martha can’t. He sees the same thing he saw from a distance days earlier when Lazarus was sick. He saw, then, and he sees now a multitude of people. He rejoices to see those who have zōē. But he is saddened to see so many who don’t. Oh, how they need zōē lest they perish forever! What a mission field stands before his eyes! And he desperately wants to kindle in them a faith that trusts in him, a faith which, at the very instant it is kindled, will receive from him the precious gift of zōē.
What to do? Jesus knows. He knows the moment has arrived. Yes, some things are more important than preventing the death of a friend. He wants the Holy Spirit to kindle faith and life in the hearts of the spiritually dead.
Days before, he purposely stayed away. Yes, he let Lazarus die because he wanted to do what no one else could, viz., to raise his friend from the dead. And the miracle would give the Spirit opportunity to create faith and bestow the gift of zōē. Thus, we see that Jesus makes use of the death of Lazarus to work his infinitely higher purpose of bringing zōē to Bethany’s spiritually dead. Yes, Jesus had come to seek and to save the lost!6
Let’s take a closer look. Jesus will now tell Martha what he is about to do. He says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life [zōē]. He that believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live [zaō].7 And whoever lives [zaō] and believes in me shall never die.”8
What an amazing statement! At first glance, however, his words seem contradictory. On the one hand, he says that all will die. And, on the other hand, he says that believers will never die. Actually, there is no contradiction. Jesus means to say that the common lot of mankind, believer and unbeliever alike, is to die physically. But for the believer, that is, for those who possess zōē, that zōē will never die. It cannot be killed. It shall last forever. The believer will pass safely through “the valley of the shadow of death” to heaven without pain or pause or fear or uncertainty. He will have gone up higher into the paradise God has prepared for his dear children.
Jesus, then, walked to the tomb with both Mary and Martha. Mary was weeping—as were many others who loved Lazarus. When Jesus stood before the tomb, he was moved. He was moved to great emotion. He was moved to tears. It is precisely at this time and place where we read the shortest verse in the Bible. Just two words: “Jesus wept.”9 Why did he weep? He wept because God never intended for man to die. He created man to live with him forever. But sin entered the world through Adam—and death through sin. Hence, his friend Lazarus lies dead. He grieves over the death of a friend and over the reign of sin and death as the common lot of all humanity.
Don’t you see? Jesus is God–in–the flesh. And God does not rejoice at funerals. He doesn’t paste on a smile and say, “Well, at least he’s in a better place.” No, God weeps at funerals. He weeps because of what sin has wrought. He weeps because he loves you as he loves his all his dear children. He wants all of you, not just your soul, but your body also. He wants you to live with him, whole and complete, body and soul, forever. And he will ultimately have his gracious way with you. You see, your Savior is good and he is the Lover of your soul. And every funeral he attends ends with a resurrection!
But let’s return to what Jesus had said, namely, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Those were his exact words. And now was the appointed time to give evidence of the truth of this statement.
Jesus directs that the tombstone of his friend’s grave be removed. It is. All stands ready. Now remember: What Jesus commands, he creates.
When he said to a leper, “Be cleansed,” the leprosy departed instantly.10
When Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Rise, take your mat and go home,” he immediately rose and walked away.11
So, then, you know what is going to happen when Jesus stands before the tomb. He cries out with a loud voice, saying, “Lazarus, come forth!”12 By the life–creating power of his word, Lazarus instantly came alive! Imagine being there! What would you have been thinking and saying. This much we know: When Lazarus walked out of the tomb, the eyewitnesses were amazed. Never before had they witnessed such a thing.
Did the miracle do any good? That is to say, did it kindle faith and zōē in the hearts of any in Bethany? Most assuredly, for we read, “Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.”13 So, now we can see why Jesus didn’t heal Lazarus right away. He wanted to kindle zōē, the life that never dies, in the hearts of Bethany’s spiritually dead.14
But the central question is not whether the raising of Lazarus brought people to faith 2000 years ago. We know that it did. The central question is whether this same miracle has strengthened your existing faith, or perhaps, moved you to trust in Jesus for the first time.
Moreover, the resurrection of Lazarus points us to Jesus’ own resurrection wherein we learn that the Father accepted Christ’s death as payment–in–full for all our sins. This, too, is intended to kindle and strengthen our faith in him.
The central truth of history is that Christ has conquered death and is the giver of zōē, the life that never dies, to all who put their trust in him. And he is the one who comes to you and me this day with a promise. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” What shall we do with this promise. We shall trust these words, for they were spoken by him who can never lie.
My friends, all of Christ’s words are moving. But nothing moves me, captivates me, stirs me, and inspires me more than the crimson wounds in my Savior’s hands and feet and side, for there I learn that I am deeply loved ...
Yes, I am deeply loved and wrapped in the garment of Christ’s righteousness. And so are you. This is the very promise of the Gospel.
Blessed are you if you believe these eternal truths, for to believe them means that you possess zōē, the life that never dies. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Endnotes
1 See John 11:21.
2 See Ephesians 2:1, 5, and Colossians 2:13.
3 Zōē is pronounced as “zoh-ay.”
4 See John 10:10b, author’s translation of the original.
5 The noun zoē is used 32 times in John and just 16 times in the synoptic Gospels. The verb form, zaō is used 13 times in John and 17 times in the others (6 times in Matthew, 3 times in Mark, and 8 times in Luke).
6 See Luke 19:10.
7 Zaō is the verb form of zōē and expresses the same meaning as zōē.
8 See John 11:25-26.
9 The particular word John uses for “weep” is dakryo. It is used only here in the New Testament. It means “to shed tears,” but quietly or even silently. The more common word for weep is klaio. It denotes an audible weeping. It is often used in connection with wailing that was common to Jewish funerals. It also was used to denote weeping out loud as a common to young children. (See Thayer). It might be the purpose of John to select a word, here, that distinguished Christ’s weeping from the staged “wailing performances” that were typical of funerals in Jesus’ day.
10 See Mark 1:40-42.
11 See Mark 2:11.
12 See John 11:43.
13 See John 11:45.
14 Though the miracle created faith in many, some spies sent by the Pharisees also witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus. We know they returned to Jerusalem and reported the sign Jesus had done. As “hostile witnesses” they affirmed the reality of the miracle to their leaders, but whether they came to faith or not is not reported. It is doubtful, though possible—especially at a later time. See John 11:45-53.
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