#7 In “What’s IN A Name? The ‘I Am’ Statements of Jesus” || March 24, 2024 || Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL || James Jackson, Pastor
The Sisters and the Savior
John 11: (Pew Bible p. 843)
Today we are talking about a story that happened a little bit before Holy Week. About, kinda, if you will, a dress rehearsal of what was to come as we talk about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and that’s in John chapter 11. If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to John chapter 11. I apologize that at the top of your listening guide it says John 22. There is not a John 22 – just divide it by 2 and you get John 11. You know, just math. But, happy Palm Sunday. If you are not familiar with the Christian calendar and aren’t really sure what some of the different dates mean, Palm Sunday is the day that Christians all over the world celebrate the day Jesus came riding down from the Mount of Olives and across the Kidron valley and up into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. And you guys may not realize this but that exact scenario was prophesied more than 400 years before in Zachariah 9:9 down to even the detail of a colt, the foal of a donkey that Jesus rode on. So, God’s plan is perfect. If there is anything that you can take away from the service this morning, especially after that amazing song by Paul, is that God knew every detail. It’s that none of this, none of this surprised God. And Jesus knew full well when He got on the back of that donkey and rode through the gate into Jerusalem that He was going to die. But, He also knew that that wasn’t the end of the story.
So, today we come to the sixth “I AM” statement of the seven that we are studying, where Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” So, if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to John chapter 11 this is verse 17. If you are physically able, I would invite you the stand to honor the reading of God’s Word.
John chapter 11, verse 17:
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles[c] off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from 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.[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
[Prayer]
You may be seated.
So, just like we have talked with the other “I AM” statements that we have covered so far, context matters. If there is any one story where context matters more in helping you understand what Jesus meant by “I am the resurrection and the life” it is the context here. So, if you go back to the beginning of chapter 11 we are going to realize that Jesus – His teaching wasn’t disconnected from the events of His life. Every teaching, every statement, every sermon that Jesus preached was to a specific group of people at a specific time, by a specific person, in a specific circumstance. You are really going to see that in chapter 11.
And it opens with a messenger coming to Jesus and the disciples saying that a man named Lazarus was sick. Now Lazarus was the brother of Martha and Mary. They lived in a town called Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, about two miles outside of Jerusalem. We know that these siblings, Martha, Mary and Lazarus had a really special relationship with Jesus. It says in verse 5 says Jesus loved them. Which makes verse 6 kinda confusing, doesn’t it? Turn to verse six and it says He loved them,
6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
He loved them, yes, he stayed two days later. The Bible doesn’t say why Jesus waited two more days before heading to Bethany. I would have expected verse 6 to say, “so when he heard Lazarus was ill, he left immediately to see Him.” That’s not what it says and the only clue is in verse 4:
“This sickness will not end in death,” he said. “No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (11:4)
So, Jesus knew that this sickness was for the purpose of glorifying God. And do you know what, that is true for all of us, too. In our sicknesses, in our diagnoses, in our battles with long term illnesses and every one of them is for the purpose of glorifying God. And I challenge you, even when it’s hard, even when it’s painful the prayer is “Lord, let me be strong enough to bring honor and glory to your name. Amen.” So, Jesus said this sickness would not end in death but is for God’s glory but the strange thing is that Lazarus may have already been dead by this point. We aren’t sure where Jesus was at this time, how far away He was from Bethany but we know he waited two days before he set out, and we learn later that Lazarus had been dead for four days. So by the time they start toward Bethany, Lazarus was already dead, and Jesus knew it. Look down at verse 14:
So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (v. 14)
What is going on here? Verse 4 Jesus assures the disciples that the sickness will not end in death. Verse 14 says Lazarus is dead. Which is it? Is he dead or is he alive? Will this sickness end in death or will it not? And the answer is “Yes” Yes, because with Jesus the answer is yes.
It’s both. For every one of us, the answer is “yes.” Our death is not the end of the story. God created us to live eternally in relationship with Him. Now, we know that sin messed that up which means that not all of us will spend eternity with Jesus. All of us will spend eternity somewhere. But death is not the end of any of our stories. Some of us will go on to everlasting life in the presence of Jesus. Some of us will go on to everlasting separation from Jesus in a place called hell but death is not the end of the story.
So, as we think about this as a story, think about it as a one act play with six scenes. I’m not, in way, suggesting it didn’t happen, but I want us to really appreciate the drama of John chapter 11. So, think of it as a one act play with six scenes. Scene 1 is going to be Martha’s pain, scene 2 is going to be Jesus’ promise, scene 3 is going to be Mary’s pain, and you will notice how they experience pain in different ways, scene 4 Jesus’ passion, scene 5 Martha’s practicality, and then scene 6 is Jesus’ power. So that’s our roadmap for the morning. And I’ll keep that up the whole time (indicates power point)
So, let’s look at scene I.
- Martha’s Pain (v.21)
Did you know that there is no record of Jesus ever conducting a funeral? No, I mean He crashed a few, but He never led a funeral service. There was Jairus’ daughter’s funeral, we read about that in Mark 5. Jesus interrupted the funeral and raised the little girl from the dead.
Similar story in Luke chapter 7. Jesus was going through this town called Nain. There was a funeral procession for the only son of a widow. And Jesus stopped the procession. He interrupted the great interrupter which is death. He interrupted the interrupter. Put his hand on the casket and said, “I tell you rise” and the man rose. And you know when that happens the funeral procession is pretty much done. So, you know crash the party.
So whenever Jesus came to a funeral, it stopped being a funeral and it turned into a celebration.
And so, here we are two days after Lazarus/four days after Lazarus has died Jesus rolls up on Bethany, and Martha goes out to meet him. And I think there’s some accusation in what she says. She says:
˜Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (verses 21, 32)
Martha hasn’t lost her faith—no, she still calls Jesus, Lord. But she has questions. She’s kinda sorta maybe not really but actually yes blaming Jesus for not being there. “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
After all, Jesus could heal the sick. If he’ d been there Lazarus could have been healed and he wouldn’t have died in the first place.
At funerals – sometimes – especially if somebody dies unexpectedly, there’s a tendency to blame God for the death. We may not say it out loud, because we don’t want lightning to strike us, but the questions are there:
“Lord couldn’t you stop the cancer?
Why couldn’t You have stopped the oncoming car?
Why didn’t you prevent the overdose?
If you had been here, my brother… my son, my daughter, our mother… my wife… my nephew, my cousin – If you had been here my friend would not have died.
Is it a sin to ask those questions?
Well, Jesus didn’t think so. Check it out, Martha asked that question and in a couple of verses, Mary would ask the same question and Jesus didn’t fuss at either one. This wasn’t the place where Jesus said, “Oh, ye of little faith.” Jesus acknowledged their question and I think Jesus blessed their question.
Those of us who have a real relationship with Jesus have learned that it’s NOT sinful to question God.
It’s not out of bounds to ask why God would let the one we love die. God’s a big God and He can handle your questions.
And you don’t have to feel guilty for asking the question because asking the question, in itself, acknowledges that you’ve got some faith in a God who is personally involved in our lives otherwise you wouldn’t have asked the question at all. By asking the question you are saying – I believe that God is powerful—that He could keep him from dying. And I believe God is loving—He should keep him from dying.
But the fact that He didn’t and the fact that He couldn’t points us to a third reality and that is God is God and we are not Him. God is all powerful; and God is all good; but God is not us. And we are not Him.
So, there is going to come a day when all of us will die. And we will all die because we live in a world that has been damaged by sin. Sin, when it entered into the Garden of Eden, millennia ago, it messed everything up and it broke the relationship that we were intended to have for ever and ever with God. And so one of the consequences of that is death. God said to Adam and Eve, “From this day you will surely die. They didn’t die right away but from that day death entered the world. Because we were supposed to live forever in unbroken fellowship with Jesus.
2. Jesus’ Promise (v. 25-26)
Now look at what happens next. Act 2 is Jesus’ Promise. Martha says if you had been here my brother wouldn’t have died. But it’s almost like she hears the words coming out of her mouth and she’s “oh, I shouldn’t say that” and she walks it back. She said to Jesus in verse 21:
21 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
Jesus had to respond. Jesus responds with what I think is an intentionally ambiguous statement:
He said, “Your brother will rise again.”
But, Jesus understands that Martha is the practical, analytical one of the two sisters. And so she’s here, she’s is trying to process the meaning of all this that has happened. And so, Jesus meets her where she is. She is ready to ask some questions. She is ready for some conversation. She is ready for some dialog. Remember that when we talk about Mary in a minute. But Jesus engages with her where she is and she responds analytically and logically. She says to Him, verse 24:
24 “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
See, the Jews believed that when the Messiah came then the bodies of all faithful, righteous Jews would be raised and be reunited with their spirits. And they would all live together in a rebuilt Jerusalem. After the exile, they all believed that the temple would be rebuilt and that all faithful Jews would be reunited with their bodies and then they would live forever. So, this is what Martha was talking about. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. That general resurrection.” But Jesus moves from the general to specific. Jesus says to her in verse 25:
25 “I am the resurrection and the life.[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
And then He asks that crucial question that I have to ask you this morning: Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Or, are you here because it is Palm Sunday and that’s what people do – they go to church on Palm Sunday and Easter. If that is you, welcome. I am so glad you are here. But the question is for all of us: Do you believe this?
And, Martha’s answer is consistent with Jewish theology. She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ.” That is the word for Messiah. “I believe that you are the is going to raise everybody on the last day.” “You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” So, she says, “Yes, I think you are the one. And, I believe that on the last day you are going to raise us all.” But that is not exactly what Jesus said. He said, “I am the resurrection. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” It is not going to be some future event for everybody. It is going to be for each person individually.
3. Mary’s Pain (v. 31-32)
So, Martha goes back to the house – this is act 3 Mary’s Pain and she found her sister Mary. Verse 28: “The teacher is here and he is calling for you. So now, Mary comes out to meet Jesus. Look at verse 32:
32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Notice it is the exact same thing that Martha said. The only difference, and it is a big difference, is that Mary fell at Jesus’ feet. She felt her grief with her whole body. She couldn’t even stand up. Martha had a conversation with Jesus. Mary just fell at His feet and all she could get out: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus meets her there.
See, people deal with grief in different ways. Don’t they, Martha? Martha is a counselor. She knows these things. People deal with grief in different ways. Some want to talk it out. They want to process their pain. And others just need someone to share their pain. To feel with them rather than explain something to them. And so, Jesus had a different approach for analytical Martha and feeling Mary. And He responded to each of them according to who they were. And Jesus does that for all of us. That’s why we call Him a personal Savior. Jesus meets you where you are. And so He sat with Mary and He feels deeply with Mary.
Check out verses 33-38.
The Savior’s Passion (v. 33-38)
Twice in this account we see that Jesus is “deeply moved.” That’s how the English Standard Version. It says:
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved[e] in his spirit and greatly troubled.
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Anyone have anything different than “deeply moved in your translation?” “groaning” “groan” Yours is angry? So, yeah, so what is that? The New Living Translation? Maybe? Holman! Oh, I didn’t realize the Holman said it that way. But, yeah, that’s actually the most accurate translation is angry.
The Greek word embrimiomai, and it means literally “snort with anger.” So, Jesus was indignant. He thought ** (that’s a snort more or less) And, I think the reasons that a lot of translations say Jesus was angry or Jesus was indignant is because it confuses us. We’re thinking well who was Jesus angry at? What was Jesus indignant about? Was He indignant, was He angry at the sisters for expressing their question? Was He angry with the mourners because they didn’t believe in Him. I don’t think so.
I think Jesus was angry at the death itself. You see, Jesus had been there in the Garden. Jesus knew what the plan was. Jesus knew what the blueprint called for and that was for us to live forever with Him in an unbroken relationship, in unbroken fellowship.
And sin screwed that up! And Jesus is ticked about it. Jesus knows this is not how it was supposed to be. I think all of us should feel just a touch of indignation at every single living go to. I mean, we can celebrate a life well lived, like Greg. We can morn a life cut short, like my family did for my nephew back in August when he died of a drug overdose. But no matter what, we can look at the blueprint in Genesis 1 and we know it is not supposed to be like this. And friends, I think that is what Jesus was angry about.
When Jesus came to the grave he could have said something extremely profound. But there’s no sermon, there’s no powerful observations. We don’t know what Jesus said at that point. We only know what Jesus DID. What did Jesus do? Shortest verse in the Bible. You know this one. What did Jesus do? He wept. Sure He did.
Here is Jesus of Nazareth, the most complete, most perfect man who had ever lived on the face of the planet attending the funeral of a friend, and weeping openly.
Weeping without embarrassment, weeping without apology.
And those standing near Him said, “Look how much he loved him!” And others said, “Well, yeah, but why couldn’t He raise him from the dead?”
Some of you have wondered where Jesus was when your loved one died. In your heart of hearts, you have wondered why Jesus didn’t do this or that.
But here, I think there is a very good indication of what Jesus did do when your loved one died. I think Jesus wept. I don’t think there is any degree of difference between how Jesus loved Lazarus and how Jesus loves my nephew, or Greg, or Mark’s dad. Jesus wept. And there is no degree of difference between how Jesus love Lazarus and Mary and Martha and how Jesus loves you. Jesus wept at the disruption and the interruption of death. But then Jesus interrupted the interrupter. We’ll get to that.
But let’s look at Martha’s practicality first. This is one of my favorite parts of the story.
The Sister’s Practicality (v. 39
In verse 39, Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” And Martha, the sister of the dead man said, “But Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
If you have the King James, you have the best translation for this verse. “ He stinketh.” Verse 39: “Lord, by this time he stinketh.” Go King James. See, Martha is still being the practical one. Martha is still not really seeing the connection between what she says she believes and what she actually believes. She’s just told Jesus, “Yes, I believe you are the Messiah. I believe you are the one who is going to raise the dead. But when they come to the grave, when they come to the testing point, when they come to the part where the rubber meets the road and the fork meets the grits, and the glaze meets the donut, she says, “Lord, it’s too late. He stinketh.”
And Jesus says to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?”
If you believe, you will see the glory of God. And that is when Jesus demonstrates His powers.
Scene 6:
The Savior’s Power (v. 40-44)
And I want to read that. Verses 40-44:
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I know that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, so that they may believe that you sent me.
Remember, this is a sickness that will not end in death but will be for the glory of God so Jesus says I know that you hear me but I said Father thank you for hearing me cause I wanted them to hear me praising you for hearing me.
43 When He had said these things, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out! I mean, you don’t say no to Jesus.
It’s a good thing He said Lazarus, because otherwise they would all come. LAZARUS! No, not the rest of you. Lazarus, come out.
44 The man who had died came out with his hands and feet bound with linen stripsand his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose that man and let him go.”
What a great word for us. When we are bound by sin. When we are bound by disappointment. When we are bound by struggles. When we are bound by financial worries. When we are bound by anxieties. Jesus says to us, believer, child of God, Christian come forth, loose that man, loose that man. Let them go.
And Lazarus came forth. And, like I said, this is a dress rehearsal because not long after this Jesus, himself, would rise from the grave. Jesus, himself, would be hung on a tree, crucified for the sins of the world so He could be that sacrificial lamb. So that He could be the lamb that was slain that was worthy to receive power and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever and ever as it says in Revelation 21. And Jesus hung on that cross so that the fellowship that was broken in the Garden of Eden could be restored again. And three days later we will celebrate on Easter Sunday next week, He arose from the grave to show that the grave had no power over Him.
Conclusion: Do You Believe this?
I want to circle back to the question that Jesus asked Martha.
Do you remember what He said? Do you believe this?
˜I am the resurrection and the life.” says Jesus, “He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”
Do you believe this?
No, really, Do you believe this?
Jesus wasn’t merely saying there was going to be a resurrection. Most faiths of the world – Islam believes that there is going to be a resurrection of everyone and then they will go to be judged before the Lord. Hindus believe that there is going to be a reincarnation and that this life is not all there is. Most major religions believe that there is going to be some kind of resurrection but Jesus is the only one who said “I am that resurrection.” “I am what you are looking for. Do you believe this?
We often think of this life as the ˜land of the living,” and that when we die we go the ˜land of the dead.”
But the truth is exactly the opposite. This is the land of the dying. Jesus’ offer is to pass to the land of the living.
The place Jesus offers is described like this in Revelation 21:
˜God himself will be with us and be our God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
See, the only thing that passes away in heaven is passing away.
“He who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new!”
Also, He said, “Write this down because these words are faithful and true.”
We can trust Him. We can take it to the bank.
You don’t earn heaven by how good you are, or how many nice things you’ve done for others. You don’t earn heaven by getting clean from drugs, or by never doing drugs in the first place.
Jesus SAID: I am the resurrection and the life.
He who BELIEVES in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Glynwood, those watching from home: Do you believe this?
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