John 11:1-16

Hey everybody!

Thanks for finishing up the week with us as we continue through the Gospel of John.

We're moving into the 11th chapter.

Today, the 11th chapter is again an interesting chapter.

If you were with us when we went through chapter nine, chapter

11 has some similarities in that.

It all functionally grows out of one story.

John is going to tell us a story, and then really

the rest of the chapter is kind of anchored into that story,

actually, even maybe on past did a little bit.

So I think it will be a story that is largely familiar.

I think if you've hung around in church much, this would be a familiar story.

It's also pretty memorable, I think, because of the content.

But let's jump in verse one, chapter 11.

Or read all six verses or so.

Then we'll try to see what we can find in it.

Now a certain man was ill Lazarus

of Bethany, in the village of Mary, and her sister Martha.

Mary was the one who anointed the Lord

with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.

Her brother Lazarus was ill.

So the sister sent a message to Jesus,

Lord, he whom you love is ill.

But when Jesus heard it, he said,

this illness does not lead to death.

Rather, it is for God's glory so that the Son of God

might be glorified through it.

Accordingly, though Jesus loved

Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

after having heard that Lazarus was ill,

he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

So just kind of in the introduction here, Michael, we have Lazarus,

a reference to an event that I think hasn't happened yet in regard

to Mary that's coming in the next chapter.

We've been, for the last day or so mentioning signs, a reminder

that the scholars who study the book of John say there are seven major signs.

This is the seventh.

And I think in some case, you'd have to say the pinnacle.

It is perhaps the most,

amazing of the signs

in regard to,

you get the sense that the people John

is writing to know these folks, that they're known in the community.

The effect of the story, though, is that they just kind of drop in.

A certain man was ill.

Lazarus, I don't think,

we've had mention of Lazarus yet

that I remember, although it's possible that I've forgotten.

And we have this very strange

moment where

Jesus makes this strange pronouncement again to tie back to chapter nine.

You might remember that chapter begins with the question of why

the man was born blind, and Jesus says, so

that the glory of God can be seen.

And here we have a similar kind of answer.

The illness does not lead to death.

It is for God's glory and

John isn't into explaining things to us.

He often just lays out a detail that we wish we knew more about.

But in this case,

he says, because of this pronouncement that Jesus has made,

that Jesus stays where he is,

it couple of days longer now,

there's some interpretive stuff that we'll have to work out

through that lens later in the story, but for now,

it doesn't maybe hit us as an important detail,

but it sets the stage for everything that's going to come next.

I'm not going to have much to add, to this here.

I think maybe just, one comment that I would,

make sure we want to know that that Jesus continues.

The two threads, really, as this story moves forward.

So and we're going to see more of this as we go.

So I'm going to be brief about this, but the first thread is

that whenever Jesus is going to prepare to do a miracle,

it's in the Gospel of John, never just blanket revelation.

It's never just a miracle. For miracles sake.

I think that this is an impression that people have of the of the Bible.

That is not entirely helpful and not true, that the telling

of miracles in the Bible is not like, sort of record of magician acts.

This isn't like, oh, and then he did this other really cool, amazing,

you'll never believe it kind of thing. No. The Gospel of John,

the red

letters here in verse four are really, really an important reminder

of the characterization of why Jesus is doing what he does here.

This idea, that illness that Jesus, we he already knows where it's going, right?

He he already has that foreknowledge that doesn't lead to death.

We have that tip.

The idea.

It's not going to death, though in just a moment we're going to see it

go in that direction.

Rather, this is for God's glory, so that God may be glorified through it.

So, so it has a way of witnessing to who he is.

Jesus already knows what's going to happen,

but he's already seen not just the physical action,

but the spiritual meaning that will come when it's all connected.

It all of this is sort of reaching forward.

The other thing I think I just want to point out here is the fact that we would

really love to have all of the information about these characters and,

and why they get in so that the times that they do and all these kinds of things

at the end of the day, you have to remember that

all of these encounters with Jesus for John fall

under the heading and the purpose of seeing Jesus for who he is.

And I think that this story

does cause problems for folks, as we're going to see as we go through it.

There's some relational things in it that may just seem off to a modern hearer.

And just a reminder Jesus has purpose is, as we have explicitly listed here,

Son of God, glorified through what's about to come, what

we should be looking and seeing in in this entire story.

How it reveals something uniquely true about who

Jesus is, and therefore the one who who was sent.

And and that's not even connecting to the previous theme.

We're going to get into this as as we go further in the story.

But you got to remember, Jesus was just talking about life,

being willing to give up life.

So now we've immediately

transitioned into the story where a person is at the edge of death.

They're they're nearly at the end of life itself,

those things being grouped in that way.

That's not accidental.

John's leading us on the journey here. Yeah.

And let's let's jump into the next chunk and then we'll come back.

Then after this, he said, the disciples let us go to Judea again.

And the disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you.

Are you going there again?

Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours of daylight?

Those who walk during the day do not stumble

because they see the light of this world.

But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.

After saying this, he told them, our friend Lazarus

has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he will be alright.

Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,

but they thought he was referring merely to sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead for your sake.

I'm glad I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him.

Then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to the other disciples,

let us go also, that we may die with him.

This, I

think, is kind of vintage, John, that we've seen.

Jesus makes a statement.

The disciples argue with him.

Jesus makes a cryptic statement they don't understand.

Then Jesus says a thing that sort of ends the conversation.

And interestingly enough, here at the end of the passage,

you have Thomas, whose claim to fame is that he later in the gospel he doubts.

In fact, he often wears the label doubting Thomas.

But here he says, with an act of faith

or courage or whatever it might be, let's go with him.

And if we let us go, that we may die with him.

So, interesting that this same disciple, who is thought of by history

as the one who doubts, shows such,

courage here in this matter.

I don't know what we learn

from this part of the story, Michael, other than, again,

Jesus knows what he's going to do,

even to the point of saying, I'm glad you weren't there.

I'm glad I wasn't there.

So that you might believe.

Because for John, as we've been saying, it's saying it's always about belief.

It's about how do you respond to what you see Jesus do.

And this on ramp takes us exactly

back to that place we've been many times.

So I think a really important detail that he's mentioned here is the fact that,

right right away here, we now see the connection to yesterday's text.

So if you weren't with us yesterday, you know,

hit the back button, go back to the previous video in the series here.

But what's really interesting is notice verse seven,

after he says

this, the, the he says, let's go to Judea again.

The disciples say, just so we, the reader, don't forget,

the Jews were just trying to stone you and you want to go back there.

Well, let's just get back here.

Just always remember here that previously Jesus was talking

about being the shepherd, the one who was willing

to lay down his life for the sheep. Right.

You have all of these themes about the one who's

willing to give up life for the sake of the others having life.

Well, now we immediately transition to the story where Jesus is saying,

let's go back to the place where they were trying to take my life.

Jesus is living out his, teaching.

He's he's willing to do the very thing that,

he said that a good shepherd should do, except for the fact.

And, Clint, this is the great overall irony of John.

It's not Jesus's time.

And so there really is no chance

in the Gospel of John in the context of this gospel.

There's really no chance that Jesus is going to lose his life because he's

not reached a determined time where he's going to give that up.

He always understands to the extent that in this story

he knows that this illness is going to lead to something else.

So we have that the beginning of chapter 11.

And then now he knows that he's died, though the disciples clearly don't.

And and so that foreknowledge, that ability to understand what is happening,

that clarity is always set against, as we've said so many times now,

that the darkness or the confusion of the disciples who are there.

I think one thing worth noting here, though, is,

this story, Clint, I think, lands

very powerfully on an early church

that is themselves waiting for Jesus to return.

Come soon, Lord Jesus, I, I think this story would have had

an unbelievable, powerful impact on the people who counted themselves

and the number I was saying, hey, Jesus, we're sitting here waiting for you.

We're sick.

We're we're in trouble.

We're in dire circumstances.

Are you going to come and hear Jesus delays for just a few days?

And why?

Lazarus certainly didn't know that, Mary.

Martha didn't know that.

But now Jesus has predetermined.

There's a there's a glorification, a plan, a providential work

that is going to be done because of this circumstance.

Jesus knows it, and that would be of great comfort

to the Christians who themselves.

I think we're really in a circumstance of waiting in the trouble

and the trial in their own time.

So I do believe that this story

that comes to us as a powerful significance,

as the people who would have first heard

that would have found in it, I think a great comfort.

It seems

to me that it would be hard to read this story

and not ask your question.

Asked the question, why doesn't Jesus go right away and, yeah,

I think not to oversimplify it, but your answer, I would say

Michael, is really the only answer you can give.

From John's perspective, it was time it Jesus's.

Jesus is unhurried in his mission.

Jesus knows what to do.

Jesus knows when it's time to do those things.

And as Jesus hears the news about Lazarus,

he he doesn't feel compelled, as if

if he could only get there fast enough, he could help.

Jesus knows that he has the power over life and death,

and that he will speak life when he gets there.

And I think when we are troubled by these details,

which is a natural outcome of the way the story is told,

I also think that's an opportunity to see through John's

perspective that this isn't an issue for Jesus.

In this gospel, Jesus does

what he's supposed to do when he's supposed to do it, and

and absolutely does.

Does that have resonance?

Does does that,

land on a community that is saying,

hey, I thought Jesus was coming right away to bring life?

What was this eternal life?

He early on in the chapter you said we were at, this

would live forever, and his life was light and light of the world.

And why isn't that happening yet?

And the simple answer that John might again provide

is that's to God's glory and in God's time.

And so there may be a lesson beyond the obvious story of the text here.

I think that's I think that's a really good insight.

Well, I just verse 11, I'll just point out really, really quickly here

that language of fallen asleep

is really a substantial statement of faith that the early church repeats.

And then we actually find in later New Testament letters as well.

So I just want this to be clear that that's such a striking statement,

the idea that Jesus is saying, a person

who has died, who has ceased living,

you can't emphasize that enough so that you get the force of it.

A person who you stand at the grave, in this case, when they get there,

you know, we're not there the story yet, but it's going to be in the grave.

Right?

And and the reality is, when you say that this person

is merely asleep, it's just a temporary moment,

that that kind of statement is a powerful witness

to the Christian theology, which is simply the the vocabulary word.

We used to say the the thing that we believe about,

the, the

reality of resurrection, about what God is going to do.

And, Clint, I think many of us are going to be surprised.

We don't generally think about this, but the the first encounter with death

that is reversed in the New Testament account here in John

is not going to be the resurrection of Jesus and not to spoil the story

that is to come, but just to say that this idea of falling

asleep is planted right here in chapter 11 of John.

We have a lot more chapters to come.

And John's already having Jesus give us teaching about that thing.

And that's a really significant addition and a significant learning

for the church as as it matures and as we study who Jesus is.

I think not only that, Michael, but the second half of that verse,

I am going there to awaken him, not to see what I can do,

not to share with the grief, not to pass my condolences on to his sisters.

Everybody in this story, from this point on

is going to assume that this is a death story.

But Jesus, from the very first instance, knows it's a life story.

Even the disciples are.

If you go there, they might kill you.

And Thomas says, I'll go with you.

Let's go with him and we'll die to.

Jesus is the only one in the story

who even remotely considers that this is a life story,

that this is about living and not death, not dying.

And that's going to be even more prevalent,

I think, as we move through the story.

But it it is a credit to John,

and it's what we've always said about this gospel.

He's not in to surprising us.

If you listen to Jesus, you know where he's falling asleep

and he will be all right.

I am going there to awaken him.

Well, and just one final note here, because realizing, you know,

you're going to have to come back

to the next study to see the next two really important part of this story.

But I just want to point out that

there are some amazingly consistent themes throughout this book,

and we see it again and could so easily pass by

because Clint verses nine and ten here in red that they are not

particularly easy in terms of just following with the narrative.

Right?

Because we hey, we have this person who's really sick.

He's a friend of Jesus.

Jesus has been go asked to meet the person he's holding back.

Right.

We can't wait to push that story ahead.

Would be our proclivity, but but instead,

John records this lesson about the daylight.

Those who walk in night, they stumble because,

you know, they don't stumble if they see the light of the world.

But but here's the crazy thing, verse

ten, the very end of it, because the light is not in them.

Remember how this book began?

Jesus is the light of the world who took on flesh.

He came to be with us, and now we have this idea that the light is in them,

that the light can actually be part of your experience

of the world, that you can see clearly as the light has now come.

And I think that that is the amazing consistency of this book.

It continues to weave these themes back.

Through.

Is it always seamless?

I honestly, I don't think it is.

I think it is in many ways much more like a patchwork kind of quilt

where where these things get sort of blended in and put in together,

and you see how they're all supposed to inform one

another that their proximity is not accidental.

And so here once again, you have not just the idea of sleep,

not just the idea of death, not just the idea of what's

going to happen, resurrection, providence, God's glory.

You also have, once again, this idea of darkness and light.

What do we see and not see? What do we believe?

What we do not believe?

What are we going to discover

about who Jesus is through the actions he's about to take?

And that is just sort of mashed and melded right into this story here.

So it's a part of it from the very start.

Yeah.

And I think again, this is a familiar story.

This part

of the story might be difficult to read devotional, but I think it does

ask some questions as to what do we understand Jesus timing to be?

And are we willing to wait and look to him?

And what do we think would be beyond Jesus limits?

These people that have seen these incredible things

still have far to go to understand the depth of

and and the power of this man that they think they're getting to know.

And so this is an eye opening kind of story.

And I think, in this part of the story, though, it gets easier later.

It's still there.

And I think those lessons still function in this, in this part of the narrative.

Surely if it's true for them, it's also true for us.

So, so certainly, I hope you'll continue

with us along this journey through the gospel.

John, as we turn to such an important part of this story,

how we're going to continue that next Monday.

And, friends,

certainly give this video a like if it has been interesting, challenging,

if there's something in it

that you think others might want to see, it helps them find it.

Thanks for being with us. Thank you.