Scripture Reading - John 11:1-44

Today we will be reading all of John 11, 1 to 44, where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

You can find this on page 897 in your Pew Bibles. So in this story,

Christ has just fled from Jerusalem and was preaching and teaching across the Jordan, around where John the

Baptist had been baptizing. It's after this time of flight that we come to the story of Lazarus, as Christ is preaching and teaching and displaying his power, with John 10, 42 telling us that many came to believe in him.

Christ receives word out in the country that Lazarus is ill and does something that may seem odd to us, he waits.

Rather than acting quickly to save Lazarus from death, he claims that the sickness is intended for the glorification of not only

God the Father, but of God's Son. So Christ waits until the appropriate time and then embarks upon a sudden return to Judea, his disciples concerned with the safety after they were run out by threat of stoning last time.

Christ arrives at the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus to find Lazarus already entombed for four days and takes the opportunity to teach a bit on the nature of his power and his authority.

Famously, Jesus weeps over Lazarus, not just as a man who left a friend, but as a creator God through which

Lazarus was made, weeping over the effects of sin on what he had made good. The weeping is not followed with despair, but instead of Christ miraculously resurrecting

Lazarus from his tomb. We are not to have limited faith in the means of our Lord.

Luke seven shows us the centurion believing that Christ can heal by his word from afar, simply by his authority, not by his presence.

Contrast this with Martha's statement that Lazarus may have been saved if Christ had returned in time. If Martha places requirements and restrictions upon Christ's power over something like this, how much more will she do this on the greater works of Christ?

We have an opportunity to demonstrate our faith in Christ in the small things and not restrict our view of his power and influence.

This will work to deepen our affections and loyalty to our Lord. These affections will help us in refraining from cheapening

Christ's salvific work. His work on the cross was not penultimate, but final and lacking nothing from our efforts.

Christ responds to Martha with a profound statement of his authority and power, claiming authority over the penal evils of death.

Christ is pointing out his ability to resurrect without asking of the Father, reflecting on what we have heard

Christ claim about himself before. We have John 5, 19 to 21, where Christ ends by saying, for as the

Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. Or Mark 2, 10, that you may know that the

Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise up, pick up your bed, and go home.

The Son has full authority to give us life and to forgive us from the penalty of sin, demonstrated here when he raises

Lazarus from the grave. Christ, with his ultimate demonstration, reveals in his resurrection from the grave and his triumph over death his authority in the matter.

Let us pray, let us read. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister,

Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with an ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.

His brother, Lazarus, was ill. So the sisters sent him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.

But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the

Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

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

Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

After saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest and sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him.

So Thomas called the twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we may die with him.

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the

Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now

I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her,

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world.

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you.

When she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

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.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?

Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it.

Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor for he has been dead four 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 lifted up his eyes and said,

Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me.

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth.