John 11:38-44

Hey, friends. Thanks for being with us.

We are, continuing through chapter 11, the book of John.

Kind of, getting to the tail end of the narrative

part of the Lazarus story.

There's a conflict, part that happens we probably won't get to today.

But let me jump in here, verse 38, read for several verses here

and then come back and have some conversation.

Then Jesus again, greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.

It was a cave and a stone was lying against it.

Jesus said, take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, already

there will be a stench, because he's been dead for 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 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 you they may believe that you sent me.

And when he said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound

with strips of cloth, his face wrapped up in a cloth.

And Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go.

So, clearly the culmination of the story, the mountaintop here,

Jesus having been moved by the grief around him, Jesus

having been moved by the plight of human condition and the

the pain that accompanies human

experience, has wept.

And after weeping, he goes to the tomb.

And again, this was not unusual.

If you remember yesterday's thing, when Mary left

the people with her thought she had gone to the tomb to grieve.

So, this is the equivalent of Jesus going to the cemetery to see the marker.

I mean, this is not surprising to us.

Certainly would have been a surprise when he said move the stone.

And that, you know, the idea is that that would be a permanent,

barrier.

And so, they, they protest, you know, he's been dead for a while.

Jesus.

That that's not remember, we are in the pre formaldehyde area era.

That would be,

there would be a smell.

And he says to Martha, did I not tell you that

if you believed, you will see the glory of God?

You you know, the rest of the story.

Jesus has this conversation with God.

And then, does what we've known he was going to do

since this story started called Lazarus, to come out.

And I think if there's anything that,

it that I notice about this text, Michael,

it's that, interestingly enough,

and we get a little bit of this in the follow up on Monday.

We will get a little.

But what is striking, I think, about this

telling is that

there's no record of any.

John doesn't need to tell us how people reacted, that he just

he just leaves it there. That in it.

And he I mean, even so subtle

as to say the dead man came out, this is not,

I think, in John's mind, a moment that needs very much commentary.

Yeah.

So that's a stylistic thing that we've seen previous.

John's not really interested in a lot of subtle characterization

and storytelling as it relates to these subsidiary characters

in the story, because ultimately, Jesus is the central character of the story,

and all of the encounters with Jesus are lenses that sort of refract

light in such a way that you can see another element of who Jesus is.

But I do think it's really important, as we look to this text clip

to just recognize John begins with a

another reference to Jesus's heart his.

He's been moved in this case.

This has greatly disturbed in our translation.

So Jesus is clearly,

in this moment, affected by what has happened to Lazarus.

Then when he comes and he makes this claim, it's really

a it's both a spiritual kind of call

take away the stone, take away the thing that's imprisoning this body.

And and I think that really substantial way, Clint.

It's also a very practical sort of where rubber

meets the road kind of faith command.

It's to say, if you believe this is going to require

you doing something and and the action here,

as you've already said, it is something that no one there would have expected.

It would have been offensive both to the senses

but also to the sensibilities, this kind of action.

Because this man now, by

all accounts, is dead four days in.

We've said this before in previous conversations, four days.

And this man's body is is dead and his soul is gone.

In that original culture, this time is enough to allow for that window.

So all that's left now is to comfort those who are aggrieved.

And when Jesus comes, even though he is himself greatly

disturbed, he's going to reveal something about himself.

But he brings others along with him in that effort.

When he gives that call to take away the stone and the question

that hangs over the characters, the story is, you know, will they do that?

Will they listen to Jesus?

Will they allow for this miracle to happen, or will they keep him boxed in?

And John doesn't spend a lot of time narrating that.

But I don't think John needs to. Clint.

I think it's sort of built into the way that John tells this entire gospel,

that Jesus and the encounters that all of these people

have with him creates moments of opportunity.

And the disciples who believe, who see Jesus

for who he is, they consistently take that opportunity.

They they take Jesus at His Word.

They do what he asks.

And in this very practical moment, Jesus, after some pushback about,

you know, you know, the stay the reality, right?

Jesus.

Ultimately, they're going to do that.

They're going to do what Jesus asks.

And the story,

is in many ways,

is showing us, though John's not going to narrate exactly how the stone moves.

Right?

It the story is told in such a way that, it allows

these characters to have a moment to take Jesus at his word.

Right.

And and all of us who know where

this gospel story is ultimately going,

you shouldn't be able to get past verse 38.

There's a dead man, a tomb, a stone.

I mean, this is all planting the seeds for later story.

You know, John, we've said this before.

John is not interested in staying in the idea of saving up for later.

There's.

John's not worried about stealing the thunder of the resurrection story.

So what is this?

This is a precursor, a forerunner of Jesus's own story.

Life in the midst of death,

living in the face of the grave and

and it is significant that at that moment,

before Jesus makes that call to Lazarus,

he he prays, he acknowledges, father, I thank you.

And I've said this for the sake of the crowd.

Again, no doubt, no question.

I've said it so that those who hear may believe that you sent me.

So what is this?

Ultimately, it's a sign.

It's a sign of who Jesus is.

It's a sign of Jesus power.

It's a sign of God's power.

And the role that Jesus plays in bringing that.

And, this command, Lazarus,

come out and this is,

you and I have been

to and performed lots of funerals.

My God, our listeners have been to many funerals.

This is a hard story

at an emotional level to get in touch with because,

yeah, it's familiar to us, but

it literally try to imagine

that Jesus

walks into not even a funeral, a cemetery,

and calls someone to life and that person gets up.

I mean,

John has been carefully orchestrating this entire narrative

to bring us to this moment, to again push back the boundaries

on who we think Jesus is and who we understand Jesus to be.

What what did he hear three different times?

Lord, if you'd been here, if you'd been here, if you'd been here

and now Jesus says, I don't need to be that I there aren't barriers.

I, I'm not able up to a point.

I am the Son of God.

I am the I am.

And here I think John has just done a really,

really fantastic job

of bringing us to the pinnacle of that story.

And obviously, this is a tough story to resonate with,

but we should take a moment to reflect on

how unbelievable, incredible

and awesome what happens is.

And I do think it's worth noting,

there's an exceptional nature to the prayer that Jesus offers here.

Clint.

Jesus has not said a lot of prayers throughout the miracles here

in the Gospel of John.

So this idea, thank you for having heard me.

I know that you've always hear me.

But I said that for the sake of those who are with, me here

for the crowd that they might believe.

Clint, there's an interesting note here

that in the Gospel of John, Jesus doesn't have doubts.

Jesus is not wondering where God is or if God will be faithful.

And in fact,

you know, I'm not going to drift too far into this, but there's a whole

sort of stream of modern scholarship that has sort of reflected

upon, well, was Jesus, you know, did he have doubts during his life?

And and what was his worries?

And anxieties and, and the gospel, like John is just uninterested in that,

in, in sharing details about, an inner dialog

when Jesus prays, it's a prayer of utmost, 100% confidence.

God, I know that you're with me.

I know that you always hear me.

But for the sake of those people gathered here,

might they be able to see and believe that that's the 100%

confidence of God in flesh, a light that has come into the dark world.

And and it's at this moment.

Then after this prayer, Jesus connected to the creator

God it through prayer, he makes this claim a command.

Lazarus, come out and I should circle back around,

because I think I maybe said something that that,

is maybe a little obscure or obscured by how I said it.

I note that the text never does explicitly say,

what ultimately is going to be the outcome of,

that that whole command, about taking away the stone?

I've heard

people make a big deal about the fact that when they move the stone, ultimately,

no one needs to go get Lazarus and that he's bound.

And after four days, a stiff body sort of mummified in an tomb,

the idea would be that the only way that a body like this could sort of

come out would be if

essentially the body is, like, forced up to the front of the tomb.

And I think there's a really interesting,

that that's not in the text, but the idea that

somehow that this body that wouldn't have been capable

of moving in those bonds, in those strips of cloth,

that Jesus actually has to give the second command, you know, move the stone away.

And then the second command is to unloose him, unbind him,

let that get him from the prison that's holding him.

That surely is not just a physical reality that's also,

spiritual reality that in Christ were not only restored to life,

but we experience spiritual life in a way that we couldn't have without him.

Yeah, I think it

has to be a little careful with this,

because I'm not sure that this is the meaning of the text,

but I think there's a sense in which that's bigger

than even that moment that Jesus has been moved.

Remember, in the flow of the story, Jesus from the very get-Go

knew what he was going to do.

He told the disciples, he's dead.

I'm going to make him live, right?

We've known this was coming, and yet Jesus has been affected by the crowds.

Jesus has been,

saddened.

He's he's been grieved by the grief of the people.

Now, yes, some of that, I'm sure

is, is because Lazarus is dead in that moment.

But I, I think I join many other scholars in saying, no, I'm not as a scholar,

but I join the idea of the scholars who say Jesus is moved

by the reality that that there's pain in human life,

that human life has suffering in it, and death.

And he wants he wants more than that for those he loves.

And so I think this unbind him and let him go.

I think that's an interesting subtext

for the work that Jesus does,

because we're, you know, the parable, right?

The strong man who is Satan in the parable but has to bind people

and the homeowner let's.

And so the idea of the strong man,

Jesus is unbinding people.

He wants life, not death.

He wants good, not bad.

And I've always been struck by how quickly Jesus

transitions here, Michael, from, you know, Lazarus, come out dead man.

Get up to, you know, yeah, take his wrappings off

because now those are in his way.

Those are a sign of death, and he no longer needs them.

And that that

sort of illustration

or image of new life and being unbound and taking off grave clothes.

I think John would have appreciated

all of those metaphors, and I don't think it's an accident that they're in there.

I think there's an important transition,

sort of ground that needs to be laid

as we prepare to turn to the the text that follows this.

Because, Clint, your point about the cemetery,

I think is a really essential point.

If you can imagine

a person going

to a cemetery and saying this thing

and and the resurrection moment happening, I think that most of us, at least

at the first thought of that encounter, think I would be astonished.

I would be filled with faith.

I would want to follow that person. You would be.

The ultimate kind of confirmation, I think, is what a lot of us would assume.

But Clint, this is in many ways a story about restoration,

but it's also in the giving of life and the resurrection of it.

It's also a story that's somewhat macabre.

There's a kind of,

anti logic to a story like this, which is unnerving.

And I think in our modern Western popular culture,

you have entire sort of genres

of things that are people are interested in, like the idea of the zombie,

which, which is this sort of dark

kind of image of, of someone who's not dead but was dead and is dead.

And people are sort of captivated by that image.

What's happening here with Lazarus?

Lazarus is, by every account,

a miraculous revelation of the extent of Jesus's power.

But it also, I think you can see in that how it represents a very dangerous

overturning of the world and the order in the system that's expected.

Right?

You you live and you die, and that's the end of it.

And there are some people, in particular in this crowd who are going to find this

reversal that Jesus is demonstrating to be so terrifying,

to provoke so much anxiety to to put at risk so much of their own life

and their their values and their positions that it's going to become for them

a lightning rod moment in their relationship with Jesus.

And I don't want to get to the text that we're going to engage

with next Monday or the next video in this series.

I do want to say, however, that I think what's going to come

has a way of coloring where we are, and that is to say that

this is both a remarkable and vibrant and life filled story.

And it's also an unsettling story because it undoes something that we all,

even to this day, in our experience, take for granted that once

there is a body that has no life, that that body will not have life again.

And yet, in the face of Jesus, as John tells the story, that is not the ending.

That at Jesus's command everything changes.

And you mentioned and he'd said to an early church

that was anxiously expecting, Jesus, Jesus, why aren't you back yet?

In a story in which Jesus wasn't back yet

but ultimately restored the man who's been dead for four days?

That's exceedingly good news, because what it means is, even

if Jesus doesn't show up on your timeline, he has the power.

Whatever the amount of power is

that's needed, he has the power to make things right if you.

But as we have in the text, if you believe in him,

if they believe that is God who sent me.

Jesus says in verse 42, and I think John has told the story

in such a way that we we glimpse the power and goodness of Jesus,

but we're about to see also how that power is very threatening

and is done in such a way that unsettles some of those who are there.

One connection I think that speaks to that, Michael, is that remember,

Martha, in that first encounter with Jesus, proclaimed him Messiah.

She said, you're the one.

You're the Messiah.

And yet she believed that death was still

a limitation of the work that he could do.

Now, in the aftermath, Martha, who was close

enough for Jesus to speak to at the tomb,

now knows

something new about what it means that he is Messiah.

The Messiah is not limited by death.

Lazarus is.

But don't miss that.

That sets the stage for even his own death,

which is going to be Jesus's shift in focus here

in another, oh, half chapter or so chapter maybe.

And I just think

it's it shouldn't be missed

that Jesus is standing there with a woman

who believes him to be the Messiah,

but now has a fuller understanding

that there are no limits to what that means, that even the tomb,

even the grave, even the stone, even dead for days,

that none of that can keep Jesus

from calling and bringing life and,

you know, that turns into sermon very quickly.

But I think that's part of what John is doing.

I think he's preaching to us.

And don't miss not just the image

of what's going to happen to Jesus, but the one who's going to do it.

Because for a moment, recognize Jesus is the one

who calls out to Lazarus, Lazarus, come out!

When Jesus himself experiences death,

the question is going to be, if Jesus is dead, who raises the dead?

Who raises the dead to life?

If he's not there, well, make it very clear.

Father, I thank you for having heard me.

John has, in a very subtle and powerful way, already set up in this story,

this story of resurrection of Lazarus, that it is God the Father,

who also is the one operating with this power of resurrection.

So, Clint, there's already some question answering happening.

Well, what's going to happen when Jesus dies?

Who raises Jesus if Jesus is there to do the raising?

Well, in this story itself is embedded.

The father, the one who has the power over life itself.

And John is laying that foundational bedrock

so that that we might understand, number one,

that, Jesus is doing resurrection power while he's alive,

and that the power that gives him the power to do so

exists beyond him, because it's the father who will do that work.

So there's some really subtle, amazing theological work

being pinned out here in this story, if you're willing and able to see it.

Yeah.

And I think if you if you are aware of that, it's

not surprising that John takes an entire chapter.

He devotes an entire chapter.

In fact, there's more coming to tell us this story.

This is, it's,

you know, it's kind of midpoint.

It's a little bit of a transition in regard to the story itself,

because we are about to move to Jerusalem.

But this is an important moment,

and I think John is carefully shared it with us.

It's a beautiful story.

Yeah. Grateful to have you with us.

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So you don't miss the story that continues on beyond this point.

But it's been a joy to have you with us today.

And we will see you next week.