Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 19; Lazarus Come Forth
Transcript
- Episode 19: Hello everybody, welcome to Finding Jesus Again, episode seventeen. We're going to pick up where we left off yesterday about the story of Jesus and Lazarus. Okay, we're going to begin in John chapter eleven, verse twenty seven. Let's begin. She said to him, Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world. When she had said this, she left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, The teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard this she got up quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Mar Martha met him. Then the Jews were with her in the house and were consoling her. When they saw that Mary had gotten up quickly and left, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. So when Mary came to the place where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. And verse thirty five says Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, See how he loved him. But some of them said, Could this man who opened the eyes of the man who was blind have not also kept this man from dying? Verse 38, so Jesus again, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it. So I'm going to stop right here for a second. In John thirty-three to thirty-five, when Jesus sees Mary crying and everyone around her weeping over Lazarus, John says, Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And then came that famous line that Jesus wept. Now there's something stronger happening in the Greek than simply Jesus got emotional. The word translated deeply moved is from the from the Greek word Ibrahime, which I'm probably do not pronounce that correctly. But it can carry the sense of being deeply stirred, indignant, or even angry. So not just emotionally, not just crying because he was upset. But he became deeply stirred in his spirit. He became indignant and he became angry. So it appears that he's experiencing several different things. Number one, he's feeling their grief. Jesus knows he's about to to raise Lazarus, yet he still enters into Mary and Martha's pain. Knowing how the story ends doesn't make their present suffering meaningless to him, but he cares about them and he cares how they feel. Like even know that God knows how he's going to work in your situation doesn't change the fact that he is moved when we are moved. I truly believe that. I truly believe that when we're moved by something, that God is also moved. And it shows here is the Bible says that we see God through his son. And Jesus knew that he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, but yet he was still very moved. Because of how upset Mary and Martha was. So he wasn't separated from their pain. He felt their grief, even though he knew that he was going to get ready to to dry their tears and they were getting ready to celebrate, but he still felt their grief at that moment. That's the first thing. Number two is he's confronting what death has done. Many interpreters understand the strong language as Jesus reacting not merely with sadness, but with indignation and anger at death. Death and the brokenness surrounding it. Death is an enemy in the Bible, not something Jesus treats casually. Death is Jesus' enemy. And so he was angry at what death had done to this family. So he was stirred, he was emotional, he was indignant, he was upset because of Mary and Martha was upset, he was angry because of what death had done. And the third thing is is that he was deeply moved because he loves Lazarus. And he loves this family. John deliberately emphasizes this that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Jesus' tears show that his divine knowledge doesn't make him emotionally detached. Again, even though he knew what he was going to do, he was still very upset. And there's this beautiful tension here. Jesus knows Lazarus is going to be alive in just a few minutes, but yet he still cries. He still shares that pain. And that says something important about Jesus. He doesn't stand outside human suffering saying, Don't cry, everything's going to work out. But he steps into the grief, he steps into the pain, and he weeps with us, even though he knows that resurrection is coming. Even though he knows what's going to happen at the end of our lives, at the end of our story, at the end of the world's story. I believe that he still walks in the pain with us and he walks in the suffering with us. Jesus isn't only crying about Lazarus, but he's standing face to face with the very enemy that he has come to defeat, and he has overcome with emotion, with anger, with indignance, with grief, all these different emotions, because he is standing face to face with the enemy, and that is death. Let's look at verse 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 said, Remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for this he has been dead for four days. Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God? So they removed the stone, and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. But I knew that you have always heard me. Nevertheless, because of the people standing around me I said it, so that they may believe that you have sent me. And when he had said these things he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And so the prayer that he even prayed, he prayed it out loud, so that the people would hear and the people would believe. Around with the cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. So you may be going through something today, and you may be wondering where's Jesus, where's God? You may think that God doesn't care. But I think that this story is put here for for a couple of reasons. Number one, It's put here for the main purpose of glorifying God. It's put here for the purpose of glorifying Christ and for showing the world who he is. Because only the Son of God can raise the dead. Another reason I believe the story is here to show us that Jesus cares. That even though he knows what's going to happen and he knows the outcome of our lives, or he knows how things are going to work out, that he still cares and that he agrees with us. And that he loves us. And another reason I believe that this story is here is to show us that sometimes God may delay moving in our lives because he is going to do something greater. Let's go ahead and finish out this chapter, starting with verse 47. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council meeting, and they were saying, What are we doing in regard to the fact that this man is performing many signs? If we let him go on like this, all the people will believe him. And the Romans will come and take over both our place and our nation. But one of them, Caipus, who was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor are you taking into account that it is in your best interest that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish instead. So Caipus here is proposing a solution. He says it's better for one man to die than the whole nation to perish. Caipus is thinking politically and practically. Basically, you know, kill Jesus and save the nation. Let's just kill Jesus and it will save the entire nation. Sacrifice this one man so that Rome doesn't come down on all of us. But John immediately tells us there's a second meeting that Caipus himself doesn't even understand that he's actually prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the nation. In other words, Caipus thinks he's proposing an execution and God is announcing redemption through his words. One man dies, so Rome doesn't destroy Israel, is what Caipus is saying. But God's meaning is one man dies so humanity can be reconciled to God. And verse fifty two makes it even bigger. Jesus isn't dying only for Israel, but he says, and not for the nation only, but in order that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they plan together to kill him. They intend Jesus' death as a way of getting rid of him, but God uses Jesus' death as a means of saving. the entire world through him. Lazarus has been has just been raised from the dead, and instead of everyone responding, This must be the Messiah, some leaders responded by deciding Jesus must die. Caipus thought Jesus would die to preserve their way of life. Jesus actually died to give us new life. Caipus said one man must die for the people and he had no idea that he was actually preaching the gospel. Let's finish out this chapter, verse 54. Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the new region near the wilderness and to a city called Ephraim, and there he stayed with his disciples. Now the Passover the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover in order to purify themselves. So they were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple area, What do you think that he will not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he was to report it so that they might arrest him. So Caipus thought Jesus would die to preserve their way of life. Jesus actually died to give us new life. Caipus said one man must die for the people, but he had no idea that he was preaching the gospel. Thank you guys so much for joining us for this episode of Finding Jesus Again.