Focus: Faith
Function: To get people to choose Jesus
Form: Story Telling
Intro:
Have you ever wondered why God waits what seems too long to do a miracle?
We humans want security and we want it now.
And sometimes we get impatient waiting.
God promised Abraham that he would be father of many nations and when year after year the promise didn't come true, Abraham had an illegitimate child. He was trying to help God out and it didn't work out for him.
Moses was promised that he would be the leader of Israel. When he was 40 years old, he took matters into his own hands and killed someone thinking the people would follow him.
As a result, he fled to the desert and had to wait another 40 years for the miracle of his leadership to happen.
In both of those situations, God was proving that He is in control and no human problem, no earthly problem can get in the way of God's promise.
Martha, Mary and Lazarus learn the same lesson in this passage.
Jesus taught his apostles, but some of them were pretty unruly.
Jesus was the disciples' pastor, but He was friends with Martha, Mary and Lazarus.
You know the two women. Martha was spiritual by being devoted to serving, a busy woman. She was a great hostess. Mary was by spiritual by listening at the feet of Jesus. (Luke 10:38-42)
When Jesus would visit and begin teaching in their house, Mary would give up her hostess duties and leave the entire burden to Martha.
And many people think that makes Mary more spiritual.
I have a pastoral friend who is working on worship. He says: “The real problem with churches today is that they have lost their sense of worship at the feet of Jesus.”
He cites the difference between Mary and Martha and claims that only Mary has favor with the master.
We know from the text that Mary is the one who broke the Alabaster vial of perfume and anointed Jesus feet. Worship is important. She showed incredible love for Jesus. More than that, the apostles kept missing the clear meaning of Jesus when He said that He must die to purchase salvation for the entire world.
Mary seems to be the only one of all the living people who understood exactly what Jesus meant.
She is indeed a spiritual woman.
But in verse 5 this passage says “Jesus loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus.”
It appears that Martha is the one Jesus is closest to. So, if you are a Martha, you are gifted in hospitality, don't second guess your gift. It seemed to be Jesus' favorite.
And I think it is extremely important that we forgo judging who is the stronger, more faithful Christian. It isn't competition.
It isn't what we know, or what we say we know, it's what we know and act on that demonstrates our spirituality.
Martha had this gift of care. Mary had this thirst for Spiritual knowledge, and both women have a special relationship with Jesus.
And Lazarus is Jesus' dear friend. He gets sick and is dying. The women send for Jesus with a message “come quickly, before it is too late.”
Jesus purposely delays coming to them to prove to everyone that He is indeed Lord and Master of everything, even death.
He uses a play on words about “being asleep,” verses actually “being dead.” Initially the disciples didn't understand. But when you read the epistles later on. The truth of that statement, the truth of the fact of the resurrection comes out.
Whenever someone dies in the rest of the New Testament, they are referred to as having “fallen asleep.”
It is a statement of faith, a statement of hope. Even death couldn't stop Jesus. And if we live by faith in Him, it is not the final victor in our own lives.
Jesus arrives after he has been dead 4 days and is buried.
He comes to Martha first and has the usual conversation.
The usual conversation when someone has died. The comforting conversation about our eternal hope.
Martha is upset with Him: “If you had been there, he wouldn't have died!”
Jesus sees her sorrows and weeps. He loves her so much, even though He knows that once their eyes are opened to His true power and the eternal message of the gospel, that death cannot hold us, even though in a few minutes they will not have any reason to cry, the Bible says: “Jesus wept.”
He continues the usual conversation: “Your brother will rise again.”
This was an important doctrine. It separated the Jewish people. For the most part, the Pharisees, the ones who taught in the synagogues believed in supernatural things like heaven, hell, angels, demons, and life after death.
To make that statement meant that you aligned yourself with a particular camp in Judaism.
The Chief Priests, who managed the Temple were too philosophical to believe in anything supernatural. They taught that eternal life was something like “the great circle of life.” You will have eternal life if you have children and they have children and so on and so forth.
The Jews argued over this. So Martha, aligns herself with Jesus in the more traditional view of scripture and life after death.
And she is quick to agree with Jesus, “yes I know he will rise again in the great resurrection.”
But Jesus changes the focus from this arbitrary promise to something that is specific.
He tells her, that He is the resurrection and the life. He calls her to look only to Himself.
He calls her to look beyond a theory, and to embrace Him as the fulfillment of that doctrine.
He calls her from a mere hope in heaven to a specific hope in Himself.
Verse 26-27: 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe...
Jesus is indeed the way to salvation.
When Jesus walked on earth, God Himself was walking among us showing us how to life.
And Jesus calls them to place their trust in Him.
Move to the specific hope. This is the gospel.
Now, Mary and Martha are still very upset that their brother has been allowed to die.
They start in to crying all over again.
The Text says that Jesus was “greatly troubled” when He saw their sorrow.
Don't think that we are cut off from God when we are in the middle of something that has gone completely wrong.
Don't believe for a minute that God does not care.
The word for greatly distressed is the same word used when a horse cries out whinnying in fear. Jesus made a loud noise. He was beyond weeping. He experienced the full force of human emotion Himself.
Jesus takes the time to cry and grieve with them.
That is what Jesus does when we are in sorrow. He does it twice in this passage.
And then, to prove that He is indeed God. He raises Lazarus from the dead.
So often we believe that God didn't show up “on time” and it is too late.
And we wonder how we will survive. We keep thinking “this will take a miracle.”
And if a miracle is what God decides to do, then trust Him, He will.
God cares. It is never too late. Keep trusting in Him.
Did Mary and Martha get this miracle because they were more special than anyone else? Is it indeed a competition between believers to get more power? NO!
There is a deep spiritual principle in this. 3 weeks ago, we read the literal words from the original text describing salvation: “you must be born from above.” (John 3:3-8)
We saw how the King James Translation's words have been used to explain that doctrine. The King James says: Born again.
The words born again caught on because the NT refers to dying to oneself in order to have a new life in Christ.
We die and are reborn.
You cannot have a resurrection without a death.
So, our own lives must consider this problem as we face what it means for us to be doers of God's word instead of people who merely hear it.
What deaths have you experienced?
I have met so many people who tell me that it wasn't until they lost everything “that they placed between themselves and God” that they really started to live with heaven in mind.
Sometimes the resurrection is as glorious as this one, the laws of nature were changed when Lazarus came back to life.
Sometimes, God brings a death, the end of something that we have held, maybe between us and God, in order to give to us a new life.
And sometimes, bad things happen to good people.
Whatever God is doing, be assured of this. It is never to late. If God doesn't give us what we think we need, that doesn't mean He doesn't love us. If we are weeping, He is weeping with us. If we are crying out in loud groans, He is groaning with us. He loves us. He really does.
In our culture, we are used to getting our own way. For the most part, we have the wealth and power to do it. But if we don't get our own way, that does not mean that God doesn't care.
He is never too late, even if it seems that way. He knows what is best for us. He loves us.
And this story tells us to trust Him.
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