John 11

Chapter 11 starts out with an introduction to a man named Lazarus. In the first few verses we come to know four things about Lazarus: *He is from Bethany. *He is the brother of Mary and Martha (We are already familiar with his sisters from a previous chapter. ) *He is sick. *Jesus loves him (for me this is the most important thing to know about Lazarus)

Moved by hope and faith, the sisters send word to Jesus about Lazarus’s  sickness. Now this wasn’t a common cold or mild headache type of sick. No, this was a call the family to say their goodbyes kind of sick. But even with Lazarus being gravely ill, the sisters had faith that Jesus would be able to heal him.

When the Lord hears what’s going on with His friend, He reassures them that Lazarus’ illness will not lead to death (not in the sense that they were thinking of at least), and that it had a purpose. So that Christ would be glorified.

It is noted that Jesus loved all three of the siblings. So naturally, He didn’t want to see them hurt. I love how His love for them did not get in the way of His assignment/ mission though. Jesus could have easily gone to Lazarus and his sisters as soon as he heard about his illness and healed Lazarus instantly. The glory of God would have been seen through that healing, but HOW much  more glorious is resurrection? However, Jesus was obedient to the Father, even until death.

After two days had passed, Jesus headed back to Judea to see about Lazarus. The disciples were apprehensive about returning to that region because they knew that the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Jesus uses an analogy about the hours of the day, and a man walking in light verses a man walking in darkness. Jesus wasn’t concerned with the Jews trying to kill Him before his appointed time. A man walking in the light is a man walking according to God’s will. The man walking in darkness is a man walking according to his own. This verse really encouraged me, because I know that as scary as the world may be at times, I don’t have to be fearful of what is to come if I am walking in the Light of the Lord. With the Light to illuminate our paths we can see and not stumble. But trying to walk in the dark leaves you open and vulnerable to falling, crashing into things etc. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. (Don’t you just love when scripture confirms scripture?!)

Sensing that Lazarus had already died, He tells the disciples that Lazarus is asleep and He must go wake him.

Obviously this went over their heads, because Jesus had to flat out tell them “Look, Lazarus is dead.” He also mentioned that they would come into a deeper faith because of the events that were about to unfold. Thomas AKA Twin was ready to ride and die. Literally.

Jesus arrives on the scene and discovers that Lazarus is not only dead, but he had been dead for 4 days. This is significant in Jewish culture, because according to Jewish tradition a person’s spirit was thought to linger around the body for three days. Moving on or departing only after decomposition had began. So the fact that it had been four days confirmed for the Jew that Lazarus was DEAD dead.

The word of Jesus’s arrival spread and eventually Martha heard that He was near, and rushed out to meet Him, while Mary stayed at home (Oh how the tables have turned. At one point it was Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus learning. Now stricken with grief, she didn’t rush to see him as Martha had.)

Having full faith in Jesus’s ability to heal, Martha expresses that if Jesus had been there, her brother would still be alive.

Jesus tells her that her brother will rise again, and Martha assumes that He is talking about the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus reveals that He is the resurrection! Eternal life is found in faith and belief in HIm. Those who believe in Him with not experience eternal separation from God.

Martha believes and confesses that He is the Messiah, the Christ. Then she calls her sister Mary, who quickly responded by going to Jesus. Not only did Mary go to Jesus, but the Jews who were there to comfort the family went as well. They assumed that she was going to the tomb to hoot and holler.

Mary gets to Jesus and falls at His feet. (Just as we should when we are going through! Lay it at the feet of the Master). She said something similar to Martha “If you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

Mary is crying, the Jews are crying, JESUS is crying. He was so moved by the grief of the people that He wept as well. That lets us know that God cares about the things that concerns us. When we are grieved, God feels and cares. Their emotions, their pain, Jesus felt that and He was grieved as well.

The scripture tells us that Jesus was deeply moved when he arrived at the tomb. And ordered them to move the stone that was covering the opening to the tomb.

At this point the people around were probably looking at Him strangely. Martha even warns Jesus that Lazarus had been dead for 4 days, and there was sure to be an odor because of decomposition.

But Jesus was adamant, and ensured that if she believed she would see the glory of God at work.

After the stone was taken away, Jesus looks up towards heaven and THANKS the FATHER! He thanks Him that He heard Him and always hears Him. But the purpose of all of this was so that the people might see and hear and come to believe that Jesus was sent from the Father. The whole public ministry of Yeshua was to bring people to belief and faith in Him and thus the one who sent Him, the Father.

Yeshua then yells for Lazarus to come out. And just as we should do when He calls us out of things, Lazarus came out. Still covered in burial clothes, Jesus instructs the people to loose him and let him go.

Many of the people who had witnessed this miraculous event believed in Jesus. (Naturally so, the resurrection of a death person is hard to deny). However there were some witnesses who took what they saw and told the Pharisees what happened. I think there are a couple of different reasons why they would have done this. One, they reported what they saw to Pharisees because they were prominent Jewish leaders, so they were supposed to be kept abreast of spiritual goings on. Others probably couldn’t fathom what they had seem or what it meant, so they needed someone to explain and confirm it for them. Not having a mind of their own and needing someone to tell them what to make of that situation. Whatever the motivation was, this cause an uproar amongst the Pharisees. They concluded that if remained unchecked, Jesus would continue to perform signs and miracle and eventually the whole nation would believe in Him. This posed a problem for them because if the people believed in Him as Messiah and King, then Rome would see that as someone competing for the role of ruler. And at the time Rome had authority over Judea.

The Pharisees were concerned that Rome would retaliate against the nation for treason or insubordination. They figured that they must nip it in the bub. Getting rid of Jesus would eliminate the threat He posed. Or so they thought.

The high priest Caiaphas unknowingly prophesied that it would be better for one man to die for the people verses the whole nation perishing. He was talking about the physical, national, and political aspects of it. However, Jesus’s death would have a spiritual implication that would outweigh and overshadow EVERYTHING else. Jesus would die so that we could live. Though at the time Caiaphas was merely thinking about avoiding trouble with Rome.  Whole time Jesus dying is what saves us from being in trouble with God.

So they began plotting on Jesus, devising plans to kill him. Because of this, Jesus stopped going around the Jewish people openly. Talk about wisdom! Jesus wasn’t afraid of them, but He knew what His assignment was and wasn’t going to deviate from it at all.

The time for Passover was coming and they weren’t sure of Jesus would be coming to Jerusalem as the other Jews were to purify themselves before the Passover or if he would miss the feast entirely. Eventually, they put the word out that they were looking for Jesus, and that if anyone had any information about His whereabouts or how to find Him to let them know. Not them issuing as BOLO for the Lord....