“17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” 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. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw Him, she knelt at His feet and said to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So 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?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard Me. 42 I knew that you always hear Me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said this, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go” John 11:17-45.
After Jesus walks from Jordan at least a day’s distance He is met by Martha while Mary remains behind in the house grieving with the others over the death of Lazarus. Martha’s words to Jesus are a mix of disapproval that Jesus was not present before her brother died with a request “that God will give You whatever You ask of Him” John 11:22.
Jesus’ response promising resurrection is misunderstood by Martha when Jesus corrects her with the statement that He is the “resurrection and the Life”, meaning that He is the Resurrection who gives spiritual life to all who believe, and He is the Life in that He does not permit spiritual death to harm all who hear Him and believe in Him. This inspires Martha to make a great statement of faith identical to the one Peter made in Matthew: “16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” Matthew 16:16. This inspired Martha to get Mary who comes to Jesus followed by the other mourners. Because there was no embalming most of the grieving took place after the burial, and there was still great grieving.
Mary has the same reaction to Jesus’ arrival after the death of her brother as Martha had, and her deep grief along with the grieving crowd had a huge impact on Jesus. He was “greatly disturbed” by the death of Lazarus. When Jesus asks that the grave stone be rolled away, Martha’s response shows that her faith is still imperfect, and so Jesus exhaust to explain to her that he is about to show His glory in this sign He is about to perform. So Jesus speaks to His father in a voice that can be heard by everyone gathered ‘round, and He says that He and His Father are One, so there is no doubt that His father hears Him!
The miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead should not be a surprise because of an earlier promise of Jesus: “28 Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 29 and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation”
John 5:28-29. Notice that Jesus “cried out” to Lazarus to rise from the dead! Later the crowds will “cry out” for Jesus to be crucified, not once but twice, in chapters 18&19. How ironic that Jesus cries out for Life and the crowds cry out for Death! “40 The crowd cried out in reply, “Not this man, Jesus, but release Barabbas” John 18:40, as did the Chief Priests and the police: “6 When the chief priests and the police saw Jesus, they cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him” John 19:6, and the crowds again, “the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor’”
John 19:12, and “15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him”
John 19:15. Four (4) times in John 18&19 the people cry out for Jesus’ crucifixion while at the grave of Lazarus Jesus cries out for the Life of Lazarus!
“45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what He had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! 50 You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned to put Him to death.
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and He remained there with the disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Surely He will not come to the festival, will He?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest Him”John 11:45-57.
The people who did not believe Jesus report Jesus to the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin agrees that if they permit Jesus to continue teaching and performing miracles “the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation” John 11:48. And yet in tragic irony it is their killing of Jesus that results in God no longer dwelling in their “holy place” — the Temple. And just 40 years after their plans to put Jesus to death was realized, the Romans destroyed both their Temple and their nation. And in even greater irony are the words of the High Priest, Caiaphas who says: “It is better…to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed” John 11:50. Caiaphas meant that it is better that Jesus die instead of while John meant that it is better that Jesus die on behalf of. The decision of the Sanhedrin is death for Jesus, a sentence they cannot carryout unilaterally according to Roman law. But Jesus is in complete control of His life and He will not die until Passover so He slips away to Ephraim.
Take time today to consider in prayer why it is that Jesus is so misunderstood, and then pray that You will believe everything written about Jesus and all that Jesus Himself says about Himself. Never forget that Jesus is exactly who He says He is. Oh dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner, for I have doubted You at times and behaved as if You were an option, not the loving necessity — the loving Creator and Savior of the entire world — and of my life. Help me to listen to You and to follow You. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
From the Bible:
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise” Jeremiah 17:24.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed”
1 Peter 2:24.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Psalm 147:3.
ความคิดเห็น