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17 Now when Jesus got here, he discovered that Lazarus had already been within the tomb 4 days. 18Bethany was close to Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19and lots of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them regarding their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, however Mary remained seated in the home. 21Martha stated to Jesus, “Lord, should you had been right here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22However even now I do know that no matter you ask from God, God will provide you with.” 23Jesus stated to her, “Your brother will rise once more.” 24Martha stated to him, “I do know that he’ll rise once more within the resurrection on the final day.” 25Jesus stated to her, “I’m the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, although he die, but shall he dwell, 26and everybody who lives and believes in me shall by no means die. Do you imagine this?” 27She stated to him, “Sure, Lord; I imagine that you’re the Christ, the Son of God, who’s coming into the world.”
28When she had stated this, she went and referred to as her sister Mary, saying in non-public, “The Instructor is right here and is looking for you.” 29And when she heard it, she rose shortly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not but come into the village, however was nonetheless within the place the place Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been along with her in the home, consoling her, noticed Mary rise shortly and exit, they adopted her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32Now when Mary got here to the place Jesus was and noticed him, she fell at his ft, saying to him, “Lord, should you had been right here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” 33When Jesus noticed her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her additionally weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and tremendously troubled. 34And he stated, “The place have you ever laid him?” They stated to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus wept. 36So the Jews stated, “See how he cherished him!” 37However a few of them stated, “Couldn’t he who opened the eyes of the blind man even have saved this man from dying?”
38Then Jesus, deeply moved once more, got here to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay towards it. 39Jesus stated, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the useless man, stated to him, “Lord, by this time there shall be an odor, for he has been useless 4 days.” 40Jesus stated to her, “Did I not let you know that should you believed you’d see the glory of God?” 41In order that they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and stated, “Father, I thanks that you’ve heard me. 42I knew that you just at all times hear me, however I stated this on account of the individuals standing round, that they could imagine that you just despatched me.” 43When he had stated these items, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44The person who had died got here out, his palms and ft sure with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a fabric. Jesus stated to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” –John 11:17–44
Two New Testomony students supply passage-by-passage commentary by the narratives of John and Acts, explaining tough doctrines, shedding mild on missed sections, and making functions to life and ministry as we speak.
Demise for the Glory of Christ
We’re not instructed the names of the individuals at whose wedding ceremony Jesus turned water to wine in chapter 2. We’re not instructed the identify of the Samaritan girl or of the official and his son in chapter 4, nor of the person lame thirty-eight years in chapter 5, nor of the person born blind in chapter 9. However in chapter 11 we study the names of Lazarus and his sisters.
For the primary time in John’s Gospel, we learn of Jesus’s loving individuals. Surprisingly, there isn’t any point out of affection in John 1:1–18. God cherished the world (John 3:16). Individuals cherished darkness (John 3:19). The Father loves the Son (John 3:35; 5:20; 10:17). Those that have God as their Father love Jesus (John 8:42). Now in John 11:3, nonetheless, Lazarus is recognized as a person Jesus loves, and in John 11:5 we’re instructed, “Jesus cherished Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (cf. v. John 11:36).
Jesus responds to the information that Lazarus is in poor health (John 11:4) in a fashion harking back to his response to the query in regards to the man born blind in John 9:3. The similarity between these accounts suggests that every one afflictions are “that the works of God is likely to be displayed” (John 9:3)—certainly, that every one deaths are “for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God could also be glorified” (John 11:4).
What Jesus does on this episode appears calculated to show his followers to attend and hope, to belief him as he lets them linger on the tenterhooks of life. Contemplate the connection between John 11:5 and John 11:6: Jesus cherished them, so when he heard, he waited; Jesus cherished them, so he left them within the lurch. The sisters will every say that if Jesus had been there, Lazarus wouldn’t have died (John 11:21, 32), however Jesus has already defined himself in John 11:4. Jesus is just not going to go away these he loves in an enduring lurch, however he’ll go away them there for a time to be able to lengthen the lasting glory he means to lavish upon them.
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The Weeping Christ
Taking Martha at her phrase in John 11:28 would result in the conclusion that John has not recorded each phrase that handed between Jesus and Martha, one thing to bear in mind as we learn the Gospels. Whereas Martha left the gang to go to Jesus in John 11:20, when Mary rises from the home at Martha’s phrases, others intend to go along with her (John 11:29–31). Martha and Mary spoke just about the identical phrases to Jesus (John 11:21, 32), however whereas Martha went to Jesus and spoke to him, John notes that Mary “fell at his ft” (John 11:32). From what we see of those sisters right here and elsewhere (cf. Luke 10:38–42), it seems that Martha was extra expeditious and businesslike whereas Mary was extra emotional and contemplative.
If the truths of John 11:33–36 weren’t recorded in Scripture, we might draw mistaken conclusions about Jesus. We could possibly be tempted to assume this entire situation was a setup. We might coldly conclude that the occasions had been organized for the glory of God (John 11:4), that Jesus waited for Lazarus to die to extend dramatic stress (John 11:6), that every one of this was rigorously stage-managed for Jesus to point out off his energy. There’s a grain of fact in these statements, however insofar as they indicate an unloving puppet-master utilizing individuals, they’re useless flawed.
Generally we’re tempted to assume that God doesn’t care, that Jesus doesn’t care. We might wrongly apply the information of God’s sovereignty as follows: God has foreordained these occasions for our good, so we can’t allow them to trouble us. We should keep above the move, have to be emotionally aloof, as a result of every little thing goes to prove for God’s glory. This mind-set is a foul software of the information of God to our personal lives, and infrequently we mission our personal coldness onto God himself, as if the truth that God has written the tip of the story has made him emotionally uninterested within the plot or characters.
That isn’t in any respect how the Bible presents God. From the earliest pages we learn that God is emotionally concerned within the narrative of historical past and that he cares about his created beings (Gen. 6:6–7), and all through the Bible we see the identical factor. Right here in John 11 we see that Jesus cherished Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (John 11:5). The truth that Jesus is aware of precisely what’s going to occur doesn’t preserve him from reacting emotionally to the info of dying and ache. Jesus is aware of he’s going to boost Lazarus from the useless (John 11:11, 23). That doesn’t make him chilly to the realities concerned.
Sin is terrible, and dying is its horrible consequence. The woe and distress of dying troubles Jesus (John 11:33). He’s no heartless decide, withdrawn from the ache individuals really feel, clucking that they acquired what they deserved. John tells us that Jesus was “deeply moved” and “tremendously troubled” and that he wept (John 11:33, 35). Nobody is aware of higher than Jesus what’s going to occur on this episode. Nobody is best at mourning with those that mourn than Jesus. Jesus loves individuals, so he weeps with them, and over them.
Nobody is best at mourning with those that mourn than Jesus.
Lazarus, Come Forth
When Elijah and Elisha raised individuals from the useless (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:18–37), Scripture signifies that solely a brief interval of time had handed between dying and resurrection. Lazarus, against this, “has been useless 4 days” (John 11:39).
John once more describes Jesus as “deeply moved” (John 11:38) after which describes the tomb with a stone in entrance of it, a scene certainly very acquainted to John’s readers as they recalled the stone rolled in entrance of the tomb of Jesus (cf. Matt. 27:60). Each tombs can have their contents emptied.
Jesus offers the phrase for the stone to be eliminated (John 11:39), and once more we see a misunderstanding. It seems from her response that Martha thinks Jesus desires solely to weep over the physique of Lazarus. When Jesus replies to Martha in John 11:40, we get one other indication that he has stated extra to her than John recorded (cf. John 11:21–27). Jesus has asserted that the sickness of Lazarus was for God’s glory (John 11:4), and now in John 11:40 he reminds Martha that he instructed her that if she believed, she would see the glory of God. When Jesus speaks of God’s glory, he signifies that dying shall be overcome, a beloved brother and pal shall be restored to life, and Jesus shall be seen as one who loves and is ready to assist.
The connection between Jesus and his individuals is just not a sham enacted to present Jesus alternatives to point out off. Jesus loves his individuals and weeps with them and for them (John 11:5, 33, 35, 38). Neither is the connection between Jesus and the Father a bogus pretense. Jesus prays to the Father in John 11:41–42, and his phrases don’t mirror a senseless going-through-the-motions however reasonably afford a glimpse into a significant ongoing relationship. Jesus merely communicates aloud what is consistently passing between himself and the Father.
Jesus subsequent instructions Lazarus to “come out” (John 11:43), and in doing so the voice by which the worlds had been made, by which infants are knitted collectively of their moms’ wombs, by which all issues maintain collectively, by which everybody shall be judged, cries out phrases that may roll again the deepest, darkest curse we all know: by his phrase he made the world, and by his phrase he undoes dying.
Lazarus comes out, and Jesus offers the command: “Unbind him, and let him go” (John 11:44).
Response
Recall what Jesus stated in regards to the man born blind and the dying of Lazarus: Jesus will obtain glory from our struggling. We should wait on him to heal us. In returning to Judea to assist Lazarus, Jesus confronted the murderous Jews of Jerusalem. What made him so daring? Jesus was assured in God’s plan for him. We should study from Jesus and imitate his brave daring, grounded on God’s sovereign plan.
John reveals little interest in having Lazarus testify to his expertise. Lazarus doesn’t converse, nor does he write a bestselling guide about his experiences whereas useless within the tomb. What’s John considering? The truth that Jesus overcame dying. He’s within the means of Jesus to talk the phrase and provides life. John is considering exalting Jesus. Until Jesus comes again earlier than we die, we are going to all discover out for ourselves what lies past the veil. Within the meantime we ought to be considering what John is considering: Jesus.
Due to what John reveals us of Jesus, the fearful finality of dying for ourselves and people we love has been softened by the empathy of Jesus, and we face dying in hope, as a consequence of our assured expectation of resurrection.
This text is written by James M. Hamilton and is customized from the ESV Expository Commentary: John–Acts (Quantity 9).
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