Lesson 13 - John 11:21-27, 33-44 - THE RESUURECTION AND THE LIFE
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in John 10:1-5, 7-10, 14-18, 25-30, we heard Jesus deliver what is known as the Good Shepherd Discourse. He referred to Himself using two metaphors: (1) He is the 'shepherd' who enters by the 'door' that the doorkeeper opens for Him and (2) He is the door by which His sheep receive salvation and find their pasture. Jesus used this discourse to teach us how God forms His flock, His followers. First, we learned that Jesus is our true shepherd because He calls us by name and we know His voice because we belong to Him. Second, we learned that Jesus is THE DOOR that leads to eternal salvation, and by going through it, we receive God's protection and blessing in this life and eternal security in the next, which, taken together, form the "abundant life.' Third, we learned that we know Jesus as our Good Shepherd because we have an intimate personal relationship with Him which is based on trust. Finally, we learned that we are eternally secure because nothing can ever snatch us out of His hand, because the eternal life He gives is His life.
This week, in John 11:21-27, 33-44, our final lesson in the first half of John's Gospel, we will study the well-known story of the raising of Lazarus where Jesus declares, "I am the resurrection and the life," which is at the heart of this lesson. This miracle will be the last of the Seven Signs reported in this Gospel, and it is universally recognized by Bible scholars as the greatest of Jesus' seven Signs.
Read John 11:21-27 - I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
21 Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." 23 Jesus *said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha *said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She *said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."
v. 21a: "Martha then said to Jesus," - We know from the gospels that Mary, Martha, and their brother, Lazarus, were faithful followers of Jesus who lived together in Bethany, a small town near Jerusalem (Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-15). When the sisters sent word that Lazarus was sick, Jesus delayed for two days and while still en route he told His disciples that Lazarus had "fallen asleep" (a metaphor for death, v. 11), and by the time He arrived, Lazarus had been in a tomb for two days.
v. 21b: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." - This isn't a rebuke but most likely an expression of grief. While Martha expressed faith that Jesus could have healed Lazarus had He been there, her faith in Him is still incomplete-she though He had to be physically present.
v. 22: "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." - Here, we see Martha show faith in Jesus, but since Lazarus was already dead, she didn't understand how Jesus could help; still, she believed He could do something, and that God would somehow honor His request. Even so, it does not imply that Martha believed at this point that Jesus had the power to raise the dead.
v. 23: "Jesus *said to her, "Your brother will rise again." - This response was very typical of Jesus: His words (as we will see) had an obvious literal meaning, and at a deeper level, were truer and more profound than any of them, disciples included, could have imagined at that precise moment. In their minds, Lazarus' physical death was a fact, a fixed reality they all had to accept and live with.
v. 24: "Martha *said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." As a knowledgeable Jew, Martha would have understood "rise again" as a reference to the OT prophecies predicting that God would resurrect His people "on the last day" (Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2). The "last day" referred to the end of the present age as the Jews viewed history, just before the Messiah would establish a new kingdom age. But in this instance, it would have only been a minor consolation to Martha, who is forced to live with the stark reality that Lazarus is truly dead today.
v. 25: "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,'" - Now, Jesus makes yet another "I AM" (Gk. ego' eimi, lit. myself who exists) claim, and in making it, Jesus intended for Martha to focus on the PERSON who would accomplish the resurrecting rather than the event itself. This pronouncement is central to this Gospel lesson: Rather than remembering this story as the resurrection of Lazarus, it's more important for us to remember the fact that Jesus Himself personifies "the resurrection and the life." The point is that Jesus raises people to "life" just as He is the "bread of Life" and the "light of the world," which both spiritually regenerates those who believe in Him and gives them eternal life (John 6:48; 8:12).
v. 26a: "and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die." - To paraphrase, Jesus promises that every person who believes in Him will live spiritually and eternally, even though he or she will die physically. Lazarus died, and the physical death rate since then has held steady at 100 percent.
v. 26b: "Do you believe this?" - First we should notice that Jesus is asking Martha to affirm her faith in Him, not OT doctrines. As we learned in the context of making the blind see, Jesus is the pivot-do you believe in Him or reject Him?-upon which all of human destiny history turns (John 9:38-39).
v. 27: "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." - Martha then replies with a threefold confession of faith: She believes Jesus is (1) the Messiah; (2) the Son of God; and (3) the One who comes into the world-His incarnation as God in the flesh. Her example forms the most complete confession of faith in John's Gospel.
Read John 11:33-37 - JESUS WEPT
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, 34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They *said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"
v. 33: "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled," - This passage is difficult. The word "moved" (Gk. embrimaomai [em-brim-ah'-om-ahee], lit. moved with anger and indignation). So, why would Jesus be angry? There have been several explanations: the misery that death inflicts on humans and on the loved ones who die, the stubborn unbelief of the Jews present there, the severe consequences of unbelief, and maybe resentment at feeling pressured to perform another miracle. Take your pick.
vv. 34-35: "and said, 'Where have you laid him?' They *said to Him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept." - As Jesus observed Lazarus' burial place, He was stricken with grief and shed real human tears. But he was not weeping for over the loss of His friend Lazarus since He was getting ready to restore him to life; no, His tears were proof of His compassion and grief for fallen humanity. While Martha's confession of faith in v. 27 bore witness to Jesus' deity as the Son of God, Jesus tears in this instance bore witness to His humanity at the deepest level.
v. 36-37: "So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?" - The Jewish officials (Pharisees, Scribes?) looking on here might have interpreted Jesus tears in two ways: (1) They saw it as great evidence of His love for Lazarus as a friend or (2) He was emotionally grief-stricken over His seeming inability to prevent Lazarus from dying. In either case, it revealed the magnitude of their unbelief as well as their complete ignorance of Jesus' person.
Read John 11:38-44 - LAZARUS COME FORTH!
38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus *said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus *said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
v. 38: "So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it." - Jesus, "deeply moved," still felt angry emotions (see, v. 33) as he approached Lazarus' tomb. Tombs cut into the limestone hillsides of that area were very common. Large, round stones were typically used to seal the entrance against animals and thieves.
v. 39: "Jesus *said, 'Remove the stone.' Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.'" - Even though Martha had earlier confessed her belief that Jesus was the resurrection and the life (see, v. 27), she did not comprehend that Jesus was preparing to raise her brother from the dead immediately. Jesus had given her no reason to expect this. Her initial response was to protest Jesus' order to remove the stone because Lazarus body would have undergone enough decomposition by that time to produce a noticeable stench, and the body would be somewhat deteriorated, too.
vv. 40-41a: "Jesus *said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' 41a So they removed the stone." - Martha believed with her heart but not with her head. He had already told her that her brother would "rise again" (v. 23). But now He reminds her that "if you believe, you will see (notice present tense) the glory of God," by which He literally means right now. In response to this, Martha's willingness to allow removal of the stone testifies to her faith in Jesus.
vv. 41b-42: "Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." - Jesus routinely addressed God in prayer as His Father. Notice that He speaks as though the raising of Lazarus was something that the Father had already commanded, which was in fact true. His prayer wasn't a request for Lazarus' resurrection but in reality a prayer of thanksgiving for what the Father was preparing to do. Thus, Jesus already knew what the Father the father would do-raising someone to life as an act that glorified the Father by revealing His Son. It also demonstrates that Jesus does nothing independent of the Father's will.
v. 43: "When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.'" - The dead Lazarus heard the voice of the Son of God and lived. Scholars speculate that if Jesus had not specified Lazarus by name that every dead person in the world might have arisen at that time! Jesus "cried out with a loud voice" to emphasize His authority and make it clear that this resurrection was not some kind of magic trick.
v. 44: "The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'" - We see that Lazarus walked out of the tomb, probably hobbling, with all the burial cloths still wrapped around him. At the same time, we need to understand that Lazarus' resurrection was only a pale shadow of Jesus' resurrection to come. Lazarus came to life only to die again later, as a mortal, whereas, Jesus rose never to die again, as immortal. Lazarus arose with the same physical body that went into his tomb, whereas, Jesus arose with a glorified body that could pass through solid objects (John 20:26).
ENDNOTE: The raising of Lazarus is considered to be the greatest of the Seven Signs. The miracle of this sign served three great spiritual purposes:
APPLICATION-Believing and Living:
