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John 11: 17-22: Even now.(please click here for todays passage)

This was a grave situation! Literally!!

You will note:

1. The gravity of the problem. Verse 17 underlines just how serious matters were from a Jewish point of view. It wasn’t just that Lazarus was in the grave. That was serious enough. But there was a Jewish belief that when someone died, their soul hung around the grave for three days, hoping to re-enter the body. But on day 4 the soul moved on. So Lazarus, from a Jewish angle, had reached the point of no return. We are being prepared for something remarkable. Jesus can do the impossible.
2. The gravity of the danger. The Jewish people took seriously the responsibility to comfort the bereaved. Verses 18, 19 speak of friends and neighbours carrying out this solemn duty. (By the way, it is a very special and important ministry to care for those who have lost loved ones. It’s all too easy to avoid them, or to not talk to them about the deceased, out of fear or embarrassment and the like.) But they also remind us that in going to Bethany, Jesus was putting His head close to the lion’s mouth (see 7, 8 and 16). Jerusalem crackled with the electricity of danger. Jerusalem and Judea were the focus of concentrated hostility towards the Lord. In going to help Lazarus, Jesus placed Himself in grave danger. Indeed, the raising of this man from death was going to precipitate plans that would lead to Jesus’ own death (45ff.)
3. The gravity of her greeting. Maybe there was a gentle rebuke in verse 21 (see also 32)? It’s hard to say. But I know that we can misjudge others because we do not fully understand the inner workings of anyone else’s mind. There is always a danger that we will fill in the gaps and wrongly attribute motives and meanings that are not there. We can also find ourselves similarly misjudged. It’s not nice. Martha could not read the greater purpose which had caused Jesus to delay. (Perhaps she hadn’t heard that Jesus could heal at a distance (Matthew 8:5-13; Mark 7:24-30.) But a verse that speaks of the gravity of her greeting, also indicates the greatness of her faith. This short section we are concentrating on today begins and ends with the message that Jesus can do the impossible, and ”even now” things can change. Even on the fourth day – when all seems lost – Jesus is able. This was a great expression of faith on Martha’s part. (Although see also verse 39. At best our faith is often tinged with doubt. That’s reality. That’s how it is. But our wavering does not diminish the resurrection power of Christ one iota.)

Prayer: Lord increase our faith. In the ‘even now’ situations, when all looks lost and bleak, please give to us more faith.

John 11: 7-16: ”Let us go…”(please click here for todays passage)

There comes a time to get up and go when God shows you the clear path of duty. Get up and go and take others with you, to learn, and to help meet the need you have become aware of.

1. Go – if it is God’s will – even though it may mean danger (8). Don’t let fear stop you doing the right thing. Don’t allow the discouraging words of others to keep you pressed up against the buffers when you should be rolling down the track.
2. Go – if it is God’s will – according to the ”light” He gives you (9, 10). If God gives you ”light” on a matter, that is not merely for scribbling a note in your journal. Chances are He’s giving you something to DO. You may need further light on the timing of the action you are being shown. But the basic principle is, if God shines ”daylight” on your path, walk in it.
3. Go – if it is God’s will – even though the company may often be disappointing (11-13, 16). The disciples repeatedly failed to understand Jesus – like here, where they thought He was saying that Lazarus had just dropped off: ‘ ”Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.’ (The Message.) And Thomas’ words (16) may have been full of courage, but they sound rather gloomy and resigned, and may have spread negativity like a cloak around the others. (Thomas was also ”called Didymus”, which means ‘twin’. We don’t know who his twin was, but I can sometimes feel that I am!! I can be so negative and doubting.) We are called to partner with fellow Christians, and we can regularly feel disappointed with one another. We are sinful by nature, and even though we are being changed, the sin repeatedly shows through, and we hurt each other. But as much as other people may disappoint me, when I look in the mirror I frequently see a disappointing reflection. As someone said, in the church we are ”Building with bananas.” We are all a bit bent out of shape. Jesus takes us with Him on His mission. We may let Him down, and fail each other; but the call remains to pull together for the sake of the Kingdom.
4. Go – if it is God’s will – though the challenge is huge (14, 15). It doesn’t get bigger than raising the dead, but Jesus is more than equal to it, even though we are not. As William Carey said, ”Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God.” If God is for us…!!!
5. Go – if it is God’s will – but go in His timing (6). It may be hard for people to understand God’s timescale; but He knows what He is doing. Trust Him. There’s a purpose, and one day you will see the other side of the tapestry, whereas now you see only a mass of tangled threads.

Just one final thought. The disciples did misunderstand Christ here (12, 13). Nevertheless, throughout the New Testament, death, for the believer, is spoken of in terms of ”sleep”. Bishop Thomas Ken wrote:

”Teach me to live that I may dread,

The grave as little as my bed.”

 John 11:1-6: Tell Jesus.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

Jesus had people in His world who got sick (1) Such an experience isn’t unique to you and me. The Lord knows and cares and understands how it feels when you have those close to you who are suffering. Jesus, it seems, had such a special relationship with Lazarus, that the unwell man could be referred to simply as ”the one you love” (3). The fifth verse seems to underline Jesus’ love for each member of this family. It was a personal love for ”…Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” It is important that we, the readers, should grasp something of His heart for these dear three, because, superficially it could be appear that He was uncaring (6). But the Lord’s delays are not necessarily His denials.

The people written into the gospel story are real people (2). They are not pain free. They do not float on soft, fluffy white clouds, far above the rugged rigours of real life. The Bible shows that those with great love for Jesus are not thereby exempt from suffering. They are not inoculated against tears (33).This Mary had a great heart (2). It throbbed with immense love for Christ (2; see 12:3).But it was also a heart full of love for her nearest and dearest; a soft and tender heart I believe. How precious it is to know that we can tell Jesus (3). Whoever it concerns; whatever the need, tell Jesus. Bring to Him all the pain and sorrow and earnest desires of your heart. ”What a Friend we have in Jesus…Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

But sometimes, Jesus may allow things to happen in your life and mine where it may look like He doesn’t love us. We know the Word states that He loves us, ”Yet…” (6). There is a ”Yet” that comes into our experience, and we have to take it by faith that He loves us while life seems to proceed in an unloving-looking direction. In reading this story it’s important to see that Jesus didn’t say that Lazarus would not die, but that death would not be the end of the matter (4). If Mary and Martha (and Lazarus) looked for healing, they were not wrong to do so. But they got far more than they asked or thought (Ephesians 3:20).

If people say that sickness can not be for the glory of God, let them be educated by verse 4.

And if you are praying and waiting for an important answer to come through, and you’re wondering why it’s got held up on the spiritual A1, do take on board that God’s delays are not necessarily His denials. In fact, as Ronald Dunn writes, He ”sometimes answers later in order to answer better.”

Prayer: I confess, dear God, that I can become impatient. But I know I need to accept that your timescale is not the same as mine. You graciously answer my prayers, but it has to be your way not mine; and your time, not mine

 John 10: 31-42: ‘Liar, lunatic or Lord?(please click here for todays notes)

I once heard a preacher say that, whatever the human reasons given for the death of Jesus; the real reason He died was because He clearly claimed to be God, and His opponents realised this (33). For them, this was blasphemy. So Jesus had to die. (Although our passage again intimates that they could not take His life from Him before God’s appointed time: verse 39. As we have seen, Jesus had the authority to both lay down His life and take it up again: verses 17, 18). When Jesus declared that He was the good shepherd, that was tantamount to claiming equality with God, who is portrayed as the Shepherd of Israel in the Old Testament.

It has often been pointed out by writers, like C.S. Lewis, that a man who made the sort of claims Jesus made could not be just a good man. Either He is who He says He is, or we have to say something terrible about Him. Basically, when you consider the claims of Christ, you are shut up to three possibilities: He’s either, mad, bad or God; liar, lunatic or Lord. In His days on earth, many believed in His Lordship (40-42), and many still do.

It is also encouraging to note that, in later days, there was fruit from John the Baptist’s ministry that he never knew about (40-42).So, as someone rightly observed, judge each day, not by the harvest, but by the seeds sown.