Reflection on John 11

John 11 records Jesus’ bringing a dead friend back to life and the impact of His momentous act. Lazarus of Bethany and his sisters Martha and Mary were among Jesus' closest friends. Mary "was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair". On a cold winter day, the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." Lazarus was deadly sick, his sisters quickly turned to Jesus for help. It was good and right. They did their part. They probably expected that He would come immediately when He got the news. But the rest was up to Jesus. And they could be sure that Jesus would do the best to bless everyone involved.

When Jesus heard the news, He said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." Jesus didn't imply Lazarus would not die. What He said was "not end in death", which told the sisters and everyone who were concerned that death would not be the ultimate winner. As previously with giving sight to the man born blind, now with the final defeat of death, proved by bringing back a dead man to life, the Father's glory would be praised, and the Son's deity would be demonstrated as never before. Only the Creator and Sustainer of life has the power and authority to overcome death. Jesus is the One.

“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." It was so reasonable for Him to go immediately to them. "Yet, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days." It was because He loved them so much that He didn't leave right away. He wanted to do the best for them. He bent His human will to wait for the Father's timing, knowing complete blessing would come only in His Father's plan. Jesus deliberately waited two days after He got the news. This would end in a far greater miracle than if He had simply healed Lazarus. His Father planned to bring dead Lazarus back to life through His Son, to show people the nature of His Son.

When Jesus said to His disciples "Let's go back to Judea." they clearly didn't hesitate to question the wisdom of returning to Jerusalem area because the Jews there had tried to stone Him. They expressed their thoughts frankly since they had very close relationship with Jesus who always encouraged them to share what worried them. He assured them, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." The 12 hours of daylight might represent the time span God gives us to do His work according His will. If we "walk by day", we walk according to God's will, accompanied by His presence, under His protection. For no one can harm those who belong to God and do His work until His allotted time span for them is over. Regarding Jesus, He meant no one could harm Him until His "hour" arrived. The one who "stumbles" only because he does things out of God's will, therefore, outside of God's light.

Jesus went on to tell His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." Jesus used "fallen asleep" instead of "dead" to hint that Lazarus would not stay as "dead". But His disciples didn't get it. They suggested sleep would only do good for a sick person so that there was no need to go there risking their lives to wake the man up. This time Jesus made it plain, "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." Up to this point, the disciples had no ideas what Jesus would do for a man who was dead already except to mourn him. The disciples could not oppose the idea to go with Jesus to mourn their friend Lazarus whose family had hosted them and served them with love. One of the disciples, Thomas, said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas' suggestion was accepted by other disciples. They all went with Jesus to Bethany thinking they might lose their lives with Him. The fact was that they were very safe when they were with Jesus. But Thomas was not without insight, Jesus would die, and eventually, most of them would die directly for Jesus' sake.

"On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days... and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother." There was no chance that Lazarus would have life left in him to recover naturally. His condition was beyond hope. Mourning was in full progress. Martha and Mary must have been tormented with thoughts of "if only we had sent for Jesus earlier, if only He had been here." Losing a loved one is extremely hard when the person died young. The siblings were young; it seemed none of them married yet. "When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home." 

"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Martha not only expressed her wish that Jesus would have been with them earlier, she also meant for an expression of her full confident in His power. She backed up her first remark with a strong affirmation of faith, "But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus asked His God Father for her and told her, "Your brother will rise again." Jesus' promise seemed like the common consolation with which believers always comfort one another with true faith in the face of death. So Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." This was Martha's firm belief which was with spiritual insight. But on that day, Jesus had more to offer her, and He said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus told Martha, standing right in front of her was the only personal source of unending life. To believe in Jesus is to enter into eternal life as He said, "He who believe in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." In Jesus, the dead are certain to live, and the living are certain never to die. A believer who is physically dead will be physically raised when Jesus returns, because of the eternal life He guaranteed with His own resurrection from the dead. A believer who is physically alive when Jesus returns will never taste death. Spiritually speaking, all believers were once dead spiritually in their sins, but after they believed in Jesus, they were given a new spiritual life which would never perish. When Jesus asked Martha, "Do you believe this?" She might not be able to grasp what Jesus was about to do, but she grasped who He was. She answered, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." Her confession was made because her heart was assured. She planned to base her life on it. That was why she left her Lord and moved on to bring her sister to Jesus. 

When her sister Mary "heard this, she got up quickly and went to" Jesus. "When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him," She threw herself down in front of Jesus in complete helplessness, crushed by sorrow. She had no reservation and made no pretence before Jesus. "She fell at his feet" and managed to utter only one sentence, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." She said the same as her sister said, but only half of what her sister said. 

"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled." Jesus was about to bring Lazarus back to life so there was no sound reason that Jesus was troubled by the fact Lazarus was already dead. So, what was the reason that Jesus "was deeply moved in spirit and troubled"? I personally think perhaps that Jesus was troubled not only by the pain of the mourners, but also by the mourners themselves who caused a chaotic mourning scene by acting like pagans who had no hope. When people do not know the true God, they would outpour their emotions in distress situations and even take pride in being able to show such emotions. However, their hearts are hardened when they face life’s utmost important issue of eternity. Jesus understood their sorrow, but Jesus wanted them to remember the hope. I attended a few funeral services for Christians; I usually found peace and hope without chaotic mourning scene. It should not be overwhelmingly hard to say farewell when you can see each other soon. The mourners with Mary and Martha would see Lazarus really soon. Jesus asked, "Where have you laid him?" They replied, "Come and see, Lord."The ones who addressed Jesus as "Lord" must be favorably disposed to Jesus. Then the Scripture says, "Jesus wept". Unlike the typical funeral mourners, Jesus' silently bursting tears were generated both by His love for Lazarus and his sisters and by His grief over the deadly and constant effects of sin in a fallen world. This shortest verse in the Bible emphasizes Jesus' humanity. He wept because He identified with His people and felt the pain and shock of death, with its profound loss and separation. While some of the Jews were correct in saying that Jesus' sorrow as evidence that He loved Lazarus, but some of them were wrong in thinking that His tear reflected the same hopeless despair that they felt since they blamed Him for not keeping Lazarus from dying. 

While the chaotic mourning party followed Jesus to the tomb, "Jesus, once more deeply moved." It was a cave with stone laid across the entrance. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." After four days, the body of Lazarus should be decomposing. Martha believed everything Jesus said, but she felt obliged to remind Jesus, "Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." I think that her hesitation was not due to unbelief, but most likely because she wanted the Lord and everyone else not to have to contact with a dead body. To a Jew, any form of contact with a dead body meant ceremonial defilement. She wanted the Lord to think twice before He asked her to risk the disgrace of exposing a decaying body. The Lord understood Martha's hesitation and gently reminded her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" Jesus told Martha, after the stone rolled away, she would "see the glory of God", not a decaying dead body. So, she should have no fear about what she was going to see. Martha obeyed and had people to "take away the stone".

As soon as the stone was removed from the tomb, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." The Lord raised His voice so everyone could hear and understand that He thanked His Father for always hearing Him. He would also affirm His divine identity and His power to give eternal life, both tied with His union with His Father and His mighty authority.

As the people looked silently back and forth from Jesus to the dark entrance of the tomb, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" Immediately, Lazarus appeared before the eyes of the stunned people. "The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face." Jesus said, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." This was the final verse on Lazarus getting back his life. We can imagine the awed silence as Martha and Mary untied the head cloth and other bandages in a rush. Imagine Lazarus' gratitude to the Lord; his sisters' cries of joy; the looks of shock among the onlookers. After countless joyful embraces, the siblings went back home with their friends to have a banquet of thanksgiving instead of a funeral meal. Of course the Lord and His disciples were there at the table.

Lazarus must have considered his life no longer his own. He would live his life for his Lord. This is the spiritual experience of everyone who was once dead in sins, has gained a new life by the power of the Holy Spirit as he or she has heard and believed the calling voice of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Like Lazarus' grave clothes were taken away so nothing can prevent him from "going", to follow Jesus, the believers' bondages of old selves, the dead ones, are also removed to set them free to "go", to follow their Lord, to live fully and powerfully with their Lord Jesus.

"Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin." It was definitely a life-changing experience for the ones who witnessed the amazing miracle. But the change could be either way. Believers saw the miracle as convincing evidence of Jesus' divine authority. Unbelievers insisted it was a deception, proving nothing. Jesus' works and words always divide people.

The Sanhedrin met to discuss what to do about Jesus and his increasing influence over the people. They were frustrated by saying, "What are we accomplishing? ... If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him ...” The high priest Caiaphas offered his solution: if they got rid of the troublemaker, there wouldn't be trouble anymore. Amazingly, Caiaphas phrased his solution as an unconscious prophecy by saying, "You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." John told us, "He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one." In His sovereignty, God causes even those who opposed Him to ultimately serve God's purpose. The Sanhedrin met to discuss how to deal with Jesus; their meeting concluded by an agreement on a prophecy and plotted to take Jesus' life. Soon later, they were going to kill Jesus, to make the prophecy fulfilled.

When Jesus heard their evil plot, He "no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples." He stayed there until six days before the Passover, while "the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him." The time of Jesus' sacrifice drew very near. But it would be in God's time, not the Sanhedrin's.