Failure after failure, dashed dreams upon dashed dreams, wounds upon wounds, pain upon pain. You no longer dream; you no longer attempt new things in life; you bind yourself with so much bondage that no one even knows what the person behind all the bondage looks like.
This is a day after hope has died.
This must be how Martha and Mary felt on the fourth day after their brother Lazarus had died.
This is a day beyond any hope of life.
(Today’s long text from John records another encounter with Jesus. Please give yourself some space and time to read it slowly, preparing to have a personal encounter with Jesus and hear His words yourself.)
John 11
The Death of Lazarus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when people walk at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” 11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 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.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” 45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.
Lazarus was likely already dead by the time Jesus heard the news of his sickness. Jesus stayed on for two more days and then finally went to Bethany on the fourth day. People believed that God could act to restore life within the three days of death as the soul hovers over the body of the dead. By fourth day, the soul departs, and there is no hope of resurrection. Jesus arrives on the fourth day, the hopeless day.
Is there still any reason to hope? Can hope be reborn? Jesus’ answer is an emphatic yes: “if you believe, you will see the glory of God.” (v40b)
The glory of God was clearly seen in the events that occurred that day outside the tomb. When Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”, there came forth “life and liberation from the hopeless hole, on the hopeless day, amidst a hopeless crowd” (Peter Woods). On this day, hope is reborn!
The glory of God is that Jesus now calls forth – in us – life and liberation from our bondage and desperation.
Now Jesus’ question for us is, “Do you believe this?” just as He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (v25,26)
In the Gospel of John, belief and faith are always verbs. What should we do to show that we indeed believe?
First, proclaim that Jesus Christ is indeed the God who does wonders. Martha delivered one of the greatest proclamations of faith recorded anywhere in the gospels (v27), even as she was unaware of what Jesus was about to do to bring her brother back from the dead.
Secondly, obey Jesus’ call by removing whatever tombstone is imprisoning you (v39,41) and take off your grave clothes so that you can live freely from today on (v44). In whatever area of your life that is hidden behind a tombstone, ask the help of the Holy Spirit to open up this area of your life – first by being open and honest with God and then by being open and honest with at least one other person who can help you bring this area of your life to God for healing, deliverance, and renewal. As you live each day, immerse yourself in the Word of God and maintain communion with God through prayer throughout the day. Then you can experience in even greater depth the new life that Jesus promised to all who follow Him!
Go and celebrate your new life with God’s people this Palm Sunday!
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