The Death of Lazarus - Jesus Meets the Sisters

We'll take your scriptures this morning, turn to the Gospel of John, John chapter 11. We will be in verses 17 through 33. Again we're in our series called Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. John chapter 11 verses 17 through 33. Now last week we started a new chapter in John's Gospel. We started a new phase in the ministry of Jesus. Chapters 11 and 12 have Jesus in a less public arena unlike the previous chapters. Chapter 11 and 12 have Jesus focusing on individuals more so than the crowds.

I know I shared with you that 11 and 12 can be viewed as a bridge between that lengthy public ministry of Jesus and the cross which we will get to after we get through chapter 12. Now last week I shared with you the main characters of chapter 11. The main characters are Jesus, Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus. Of course he's the one that died in the chapter. Now if you took notice I did not list the disciples as part of the main characters because they are only mentioned in the first portion of the chapter. To be truthful with you I wrestle with that. Whether to put them in the main characters.

You might feel like they need to be put there if that's the case. Put them there as you categorize and you take notes. But we see the main characters, Jesus, Mary and Martha and then Lazarus and of course right behind them these main characters we have the disciples. Now in our verses this morning we will see two of the main characters come on the scene. That is Martha and Mary. They were the sisters and they were sisters to Lazarus, the man who had died. And if we were to break this story down in stages the first stage would be Jesus involving the disciples in this event.

That was last week verses 1 through 16 and the second stage is right here in our verses this morning and that is Jesus interacting with these sisters. That's Martha and Mary. Now of course the main event of the chapter is the death of Lazarus and Jesus raising him from the dead. Everything within this chapter focuses on this great miracle and Jesus revealing His glory through this miracle and practically what Jesus is doing in the individuals within the story. Now in commenting on this ministry event John MacArthur describes what Jesus does in this story in a very short manner. I'm going to give this to you.

This might help you get your mind around the complete chapter and the event here. Just within this event we see that Jesus demonstrates His power over death. We see that in other places in the gospels. We see that in Luke chapter 7 verse 11, Luke chapter 8 verse 52. But we see it in a great way here in chapter 11 when we see He raises Lazarus from the dead. So Jesus demonstrates His power over death. Second Jesus strengthens the disciples faith. We saw that last week. We saw that in verse 15. What does Jesus say there in verse 15? He is saying all this is for a work that I'm going to do in you. And He strengthens their faith.

And then third Jesus gives evidence to His deity. The purpose of the miracle was a sign, was it not? The purpose of all of these miracles were to direct people's attention to who Christ was. Then fourth Jesus' demonstration of such power points to the fact that He would Himself rise from the dead. So that helps us get our mind around what is taking place here in this chapter. Now let's get into this second stage of this event. I like dividing it up in stage one, stage two. That might help you. And in stage two we see Jesus interacting with these sisters, Martha and Mary. I want you to notice I use two different words purposely.

He interacts with the sisters, but He involves the disciples. He kind of drug them along. But now we're going to see that in the second stage He interacts with the sisters. You see the title of the message, the death of Lazarus. Lazarus meets the sisters. Jesus He comes and He meets these sisters. You know that we're going to be in verses 17 through 33. You see the main truths there on the screen for you. I hope that you're taking notes. Trust that you take notes. I think that you should take notes so that you can study and learn all through the week and in the weeks to come so that you would retain all that the Lord wants us to get.

So let's look at these verses together starting in verse 17. So when Jesus came, He found that He had already been in the tomb for days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and many of the Jews had come to Mary and Martha to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him. But Mary still sat at the house. Martha, therefore, said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother shall rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." And Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection in the life. He who believes in Me shall live, even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.

Do you believe this?" And she said to him, "Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ or the Messiah, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The teacher is here and he is calling for you." And when she heard it, she arose quickly and was coming to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. The Jews then, who were with her in the house and consoling her, when they saw that Mary arose quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Therefore, when Mary came there, came to where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who were with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have You laid Him?" Now you see the truths that we're going to explore this morning. So let's look at truth number one, the new scene. Truth number one, the new scene. We see that in verses 17 through 19. It says, "When Jesus came," verse 18 says, "now Bethany was near Jerusalem." So He is coming on to a new scene.

Remember a two-day delay that we saw in verse 6, "Jesus finally comes to the scene of Lazarus' death." This is a new scene in two ways. First geographically, we will examine that a little later. We're going to look at the new geographical location. And then second, this is where He encounters the actual death of Lazarus, whereas before He had been away dealing with the disciples as He involved them in this death. So this is a new scene in many ways. Now let's notice what Jesus finds when He arrives. Now I'm going to warn you, I'm going to take these verses a little out of order.

I'm going to start with verse 18, and I'm going to do that purposefully and I will explain. But notice first, He arrives at Bethany. Look at verse 18. "Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off." What do we see here? Notice the proximity of Bethany to Jerusalem. The translations read, all of the modern translations say, "about two miles." Now the King James uses an old English measurement for loins, but that means about two miles. Now if you have at your fingertips a map of this area in Jesus' name, you will see that Bethany was directly east of Jerusalem on the road, or the main road, to Jericho. Now this is significant in two ways.

First this would explain why the disciples were afraid to go back in the area in verses 8 and 16. Why? They didn't want to go back near Jerusalem because of the danger that they had just left there. And second, this would explain why the crowds were able to come and come to Bethany so quickly. What do we see? Bethany is very close to Jerusalem. That's why the disciples were fearful. That's why the Jews were able to descend on this situation so quickly. But what is Jesus find here? Second, He finds Lazarus dead four days. Go back up to verse 17. So when He came, He found that He had already been in the tomb four days.

Notice that Lazarus had not only been dead four days, but he was in the grave four days. There are two observations that need to be brought out here. First it was Jewish custom to bury their dead very quickly. That's a little different from our custom in our day, but we see this in Acts chapter five as well. When Ananias and Saviara died, the Scriptures say in Acts five that they were buried immediately. That was part of their custom. Second, the Jews believed that the soul stayed near the body or hovered over the body for three days seeking to return into the body with decomposition setting in hand, setting in at four days.

The soul had no hope of returning to the body. Now where do we get this? This understanding, this Jewish understanding could be seen in rabbinical writing from that day. This was a common Jewish mindset. So from the Jewish mindset, after four days in the tomb, Lazarus was definitely dead and there was no hope for life. So Jesus finds Lazarus dead, but four days dead and definitely dead in the Jewish mindset. Then third, he finds many Jews had come. We've already read that verse because many Jews had come from Jerusalem. Some speculate that this family was well known. There's no problem believing that.

Some even speculate that they could have been wealthy. We don't really have specifics that would tell us that. Those Jews would have come there to comfort the grieving sisters, the grieving family, and in Jewish culture, this grieving period would have taken place over a long period of time. It would have taken place over several days and it would have been a very large and public event. So there were many Jews there openly and publicly grieving with the family over a long period of days. So here we have Jesus coming on this new scene, the scene of Lazarus' death. And there are two things that make this scene very, very dramatic.

I want to hold onto that word and emphasize that word dramatic. This was not a calm scene. It was a dramatic scene. Two things that show us that. First, Lazarus had been in the grave four days, therefore solidifying his death in the minds of the family and friends. It's hard for us to understand that mindset, but at the first day they would have thought maybe there was hope. But with four days having gone by, he was definitely dead in their minds. That would have been very emotional to the Jews and the sisters. Second, there were many Jews there who would have witnessed all of the events.

This was the greatest miracle of Jesus' miracle so far in John's Gospel. And the great crowd adds to the wonderful revelation of his glory here. When Jesus raises this very dead man, this adds to the glory of his miracle. And when Jesus raises this very dead man right in front of a big crowd of Jews, this just adds more people to witness his glory. This was a very dramatic scene on both sides. Now how could this apply for you, for me, for us this morning? For some of you, we learned last week that you have a sickness in hand.

Now as things escalate, as trial, as obstacles, as spiritual difficulties escalate, it goes from sickness to death as we take Jesus' hand and just walk through difficulties. And some of you have begun to realize, no, it's not just the sickness in my life. There is a death at hand in my life. It is far worse than I ever anticipated. You just might have to get worse. It just might have to get worse and worse for God to reveal his glory in a greater and greater way. That's what was taking place here. Lazarus just wasn't dead. He was four days dead and in the grave. God just might be revealing your situation to more and more people.

It could be that you are in your situation at hand for more and more people to observe your circumstances and in that he could get greater glory. You see how this applies? The days just might get darker. The road just might get longer. The obstacles just might not go away for more days, more months, even more years and more and more people in the life of the church and in your family and in your community, they might become more and more aware of your circumstances and you might not understand why Christ might come. It could be that he is waiting for more glory. So we see the new scene. Let's move on. Let's notice truth number two.

Martha meets Jesus. Martha meets Jesus. We see this in verses 20 through 27. Verse 20, "Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, she went out. She went to meet Him." And then we see this interaction between Martha and Jesus all through these verses. So here we see Jesus' first interaction with the family and that is Martha. This is the opposite of Jesus' interaction with these sisters in Luke chapter 10. I don't know if you're familiar with those verses starting in verse 38. Jesus interacts with Mary and Martha.

There in Luke, when Jesus was coming to their home, Martha was the one who stayed behind while Mary occupied Jesus' time. So it's kind of reversed here. Martha comes to Jesus here, whereas it seems like in Luke's gospel, Mary goes to Jesus first. But let's break down these verses. There's several things I want us to see. So be patient as we explore these observations. First, Martha went to meet Him. We saw that in verse 20. Here we see that Martha took direct action. She took direct action to go out to meet Jesus before He arrived at their home. Now we do not see any record of Mary and Martha being summoned by Jesus.

It seems that Martha, on an impulse after hearing Jesus was near, went out to meet Him. One observation that John MacArthur made about her personality went like this. He says that Martha had a forceful personality. I grabbed a hold of that and I meditated on that and I wanted to bring that out to you. The evidence of this assertion comes from two or three places. First of all, it comes from this impulsive behavior here. The fact that she asked Jesus also in Luke chapter 10 to rebuke Mary for not helping her in those household duties. So with that observation, could we not see that Mary has a bold, possibly a forceful personality?

What do we see? She hears that Jesus is coming and she goes out. She in a bold, direct manner goes out to meet Him. Second, Martha exhibited great faith. Look at verses 21 through 20. "Martha therefore said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask, God will give you.'" She is exhibiting great faith here and we need to break down her faith. But right away through a bold and heartbroken statement, Martha exhibits great faith. That is in verse 21. What does she say?

"Lord, if you had been here, He would not have died." Now it does not seem that she is rebuking Jesus, but she is emphasizing that if He had not delayed, He could or would have done something about this sickness. You see? You see this great faith that she is exhibiting? Now in her second statement in verse 22, she makes another great statement of faith. Look at verse 22. "Even now I know that whatever you ask, God will give you." You see that statement? But notice the difference in these two verses. In verse 21, Martha is more specific in her faith, seeming to believe that he could have healed her brother.

While in verse 22, she is more general in her faith. She seems to say that she understood that Jesus could or would raise her brother from the dead. But listen, she did not understand that He could do that now. Because what does she say in verse 39? In verse 39, when Jesus says, "Roll away the stone," she does not understand what He is doing. So she did exhibit great faith, but not to the point that she understood that Jesus could or would raise her brother from the dead. What is she saying?

"Lord, if You would have been here, You could have healed Him." But she does not believe or does not really go to the place where she believes she could raise Him from the dead. Third, notice Jesus' definitive statement. Verse 23, what does He say? "Your brother shall rise again." This is a very definitive statement concerning the fact that He was going to raise Lazarus from the grave. Of course, she nor the others, they did not understand what He was saying. But this is a definitive statement. He is saying He will rise. Then fourth, Martha revealed great spiritual understanding in verse 24. What does she say?

"Martha said to him, 'I know that He will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.'" And then what do we see here? Martha understood Jesus could be speaking of the resurrection at the end of the age. Now, the resurrection of the body was taught all throughout the Old Testament. We see this taught in Job 19, verses 25 through 27, Psalm 16, verse 10, Daniel chapter 12, verse 2. And Jesus taught about the resurrection as well in John 521, in John 525 through 29, in John 6 verses 39 through 40, verses 44 and 54. So what do we see?

She understood resurrection in the future at the last day, but she did not see that Jesus could or would do such a thing as here. So you see how it's building? She went to meet Him in great boldness. She exhibited great faith. Jesus made a definitive statement about what He was going to do, and Martha revealed great spiritual and accurate understanding. But then notice fifth, Jesus' deity was claimed. You see that in verses 25 through 26? What does He say? "I am the resurrection of the life. He who believes in Me shall live, even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die." Do you believe this?

Now, here in these verses, we have the fifth of the great "I am" statements in the Gospel of John. We've run across these in our study. These are direct claims to deity from Jesus. A brief overview of those statements, John 6, 35, John 8, 12, John 10, verses 7, 9, and 11 and 14, John 14, 6, John 15, 1 and 5. All through the Gospel of John, there are these "I am" statements, and here this is one of them, and this is a definitive claim to deity. And here because of his deity, listen, he made promises. Notice what he promises. He says, "He who believes in Me shall live." Isn't that a promise? If you believe in Him, you shall have life.

And then the second promise was, "He who believes in Him shall have eternal life." You see those two promises? He makes a promise concerning this life and the life to come. But notice Jesus' bold question at the end of verse 26. Do you believe this? Now what is he asking here? He's making these claims to deity, and now there's a bold question. Jesus is not asking here if she believed that he could raise her brother, but this is a bold challenge and question of her faith. He is saying, "Do you really believe in Me in such a way that your faith can go where you never have gone before?" You see what he's doing?

He is claiming deity, and he is questioning her faith. The last thing I want us to observe here, sixth, Martha declared great faith. Look at verse 27. And she said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." Mary's declaration of faith here is loaded. It is rich. It is thick. First, it is significant in what she says about Jesus. Notice what she says. She says first, "You're the Christ. You are the Messiah." What is he saying? She's saying, "You are the promised Messiah of the Old Testament." Second, she is saying that he is the Son of God, deity.

And third, she is saying, "You are the one who was to come." This is an accurate and thorough confession of Christ as the Messiah, deity, the Son of God. This is a full and accurate confession of Jesus. But then second, it is also significant in what she says about herself. Go back to the verse. She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I have believed." This is very significant. This "I have believed" in the construction tells us a lot. This word "I" is in the emphatic. What is she saying? "I have believed." And the construction of this word "believed," it is in the perfect tense which indicates a faith that is perfectly and permanently remaining.

This faith has its origin and it has been continuing up to this point and it will continue on. She is saying, "I believed yesterday, I believed today, and I will believe tomorrow." And she is placing an emphasis on "I." "I have done what you have questioned," so she declares a wonderful, saving, accurate faith. So here, Martha goes out to meet Jesus, but here is a four days in the grave rotting body, dead brother, right behind her, and here she is before Jesus. You see that? You see what she is in between? Behind her is a four days in the grave, rotting brother, dead. And before her is Jesus, Messiah, the Son of God.

And in her deepest, darkest, most difficult trial, what comes out? First, she possesses true saving faith. Second, she has a proper understanding of who he is. Third, she has a proper understanding concerning the Scriptures about resurrection. And fourth, she exhibited a great faith, but it was an incomplete faith. "Oh, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." But her faith had not grown to the place where she could comprehend that he could live again. You see? For you, for some of you here, you must see that God wants your faith to grow. He's trying to grow your faith through trial and through difficulty, through darkness.

He is trying to grow your faith by putting your faith to the test. And He never tests you to see what you're going to do. He knows what you're going to do. He knew what you would do before the foundation of the earth was laid. He is showing you what you are going to do. And He wants your faith to grow. And He's putting you to the test through darkness, through the fire furnace, to grow you, to change you, to mature you, to grow you to a place where you never could be unless you faced the difficulty that is before you. Let's move on. Let's notice this third main truth. Jesus meets Mary. Jesus meets Mary.

You'll notice that I turned that around purposely. We saw earlier that Martha meets Jesus. Now we'll see that Jesus meets Mary starting in verse 28. And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary, secretly saying, "The teacher is here and calling for you." And this goes all the way down to verse 33. So here in this meeting, there are some differences between the meeting with Martha and Jesus. This meeting is shorter and there is no great declaration like in verse 27. In verse 28, we see a transition. Martha seems satisfied with her time with Jesus and what He has told her.

And she facilitates a meeting between her sister Mary and Jesus. It seems that Mary was still at the house with the Jews who were there to mourn Lazarus' death. And she goes to Mary on behalf of Jesus. So let's notice some things, some observations, some truths out of these verses. First, Jesus is calling for Mary. Isn't that what we saw in verse 28? It seems that Martha goes to Mary quietly, secretly to tell Mary that Jesus is wanting to meet her. It would seem that Martha did not want the Jews there to know that Jesus was coming. Most likely this was for privacy. Great crowd of Jews and they did not want to be interrupted.

Second, notice she quickly went to Him. Look at verse 29. And when she heard it, she arose, arose quickly in what's coming to Him. This construction of the language here indicates that she arose and went in one motion. She did not arise and wait and then go. This is one action and we will see this is one action swiftly done in great emotion. So Jesus is calling for Mary. She went quickly. And then third, Jesus was still outside the village. And 30 now, Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha met Him.

There is no indication given here as to why Jesus didn't enter the village if He wanted to meet with Mary. Some writers speculate that this was near the site of Lazarus grave. Now there's no evidence for that. That's just speculation. But I want to pose a question. Could it be that He knew that He would not have a private meeting if He went into the village? Possibly so. Could it be that He knew that to have a private meeting with Mary, she had to come to Him? We do not know the answer, but privacy seems to be desired from Jesus. So Jesus was still outside the village. Notice, Jesus, the Jews, excuse me, were following her.

We see that in verse 31. "Therefore, when Mary came to where He was, we see that she fell at His feet." Verse 32. But verse 31, "The Jews then who were with her in the house consoling her, when she arose, they followed." If Jesus did want a private meeting here, verse 31 tells us that that would not be the case. "In their desire to console Mary and her grief, they followed her, assuming that she was going to grieve at the grave." But we have here, notice in these verses, Jesus seeking Mary through Martha. You see that great observation? We see Jesus is seeking Mary through Martha. What does Martha do?

She comes to Jesus and says, "The Lord wants to meet you." So we need to notice that Jesus is seeking Mary. Now I want to transition and I want us to notice their interaction. So under this Jesus meeting Mary, we have several truths. We've already dealt with four. So let's look at the fifth truth I want us to see. Mary came humbly. Look at verse 32. "Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, she fell at His feet, and saying to Him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'" Now notice that she fell at His feet. Mary seems to express a lot more emotion here than when Martha met with Jesus.

Notice that observation? Matthew Henry says that this represents overwhelming sorrow and many tears. One Bible commentator that I look at sometimes, Leon Morris, says that she was wailing in her grief. Now we can know that that is the case if we cheat a little and go on over to verse 33. This word for weeping, all the translation used, they used, this word for weeping applied to Mary and the Jews was a word that explained loud wailing and loud tears. You see? But notice this was a genuine brokenness and humility from Mary. This was not pretentious. This was not surface.

So she came humbly with great emotion, with great wailing and great weeping, great sorrow and great tears. Sixth, she exhibited great faith as well. What does she say in verse 32? "Mary's words were almost identical to Martha's words." She seems to be expressing a specific and definitive faith that Jesus could have healed her brother exactly like Martha did. And then seventh, notice Jesus' reaction. I want to read this verse. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping." Remember the word? It's a loud wailing. It is a genuine wailing, many tears, great sorrow at His feet.

"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping," wailing, "and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled." I want you to notice that the latter portion of this verse says that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled. The King James reads, "He groaned in His spirit." This word groaned is an unusual word that represents a loud, inarticulate noise. It appears only three other times in the New Testament, and it is usually used to signify anger. Here, it seems to point to some deep emotion, and it is expressed in an inarticulate noise. The word troubled here also expresses deep emotions.

And we need to see that Jesus is experiencing deep emotions here, and that those emotions are expressed both visibly and audibly. What He expresses audibly is an inarticulate, deep noise that represents a true brokenness and emotion for the situation at hand. You see His reaction? So here, we see Jesus. He seeks after Mary. Martha comes earlier to Him, and now He goes to her. She does not pursue Jesus like Martha, but Jesus sends an invitation to Mary to come to Him. To come, yes, in her brokenness, in her wailing, in her emotion. But also, we need to see that Jesus meets her and this circumstance with great emotion and brokenness as well.

Now in application for you, for me, some of you, you have this death at hand. You realized last week that you had a sickness at hand, but now you're beginning to realize it's much worse. It is deep and it is dark. Your situation is four days dead. And listen, some of you need to be enabled to come to Him. And listen, when you are enabled to come to Him, when you do come to Him humbly and genuinely, you will find a compassionate, loving, emotional, caring Jesus. Remember the reality of the relationship change. He is not just Savior and Lord. He relates to us as brother and sister and friend.

And some of you need to be enabled to come to Him in honesty. And what will you find? A broken Christ for your circumstance. Now, in conclusion, moving away from the text, in both Martha and Mary, Jesus' desire was to grow them in their faith. Listen, He desired to do a work in them. Painful? Yes. Difficult? Yes. Hard to see and understand? Yes. Yes. Good? Yes. Some of you really need to grasp that. Some of you question, how could a kind and loving God use pain and difficulty and tragedy and difficult circumstances? That many times is God's way to draw us to Him.

And it is good, and we must embrace it because it is God's way of working in us, at growing us in our maturity and understanding of Him and growing us in our faith. And in you, some of you, in your death at hand, your situation might seem like it is four days in the grave rotting and stinking and very painful. Now, as I wrap things up, I'm going to ask you two questions and make one statement. Question one, are you the one who rushes to meet Jesus? Is that what Martha did? She heard that Jesus was coming and she rushed to Jesus.

Are you the one who can take all that you're struggling with, all your difficulties, the deepest, darkest situation that you're in? Can you bring it to Jesus? Some of you, you might think that you're bringing it all to Jesus when actually you're holding some of it back. Can you rush to meet Jesus? And the second question, are you the one that has to be summoned to meet Jesus? Some of you here this morning, I am the instrument. This message is the instrument to summon you to come to Jesus.

And no matter if you're a Martha or a Mary, if you are truly born again and you are in a dark, deep, difficult set of circumstances, Jesus wants to meet you. Allow the statement in your situation, in your sickness, in the rotting death of a grave that is in your life. Embrace it. Embrace it. Yes, welcome it so that it would bring about growth in you and increase your faith. The statement is as your pastor, embrace it, welcome it, receive it, no matter how tough it may be. So what do we see? The death of Lazarus. Jesus meets the sisters. It's a beautiful statement.

For Jesus, thank you for this message, thank you for the truths, the examples, so many layers, so much that we can learn.