Life: John 11

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0:00 So for the rest of us, we are working our way through these four core values, story, peace, lineage, life, and I've said in the weeks leading up to this that these emerged from a conversation we had amongst ourselves probably about a decade ago and they hold true for us I think still these are good core values of a congregation of the church, that's us, we're a congregation of the church, and these are center for us so we talked about story and the idea that that the

0:33 scriptures are a story of what God has done in the world and that our stories take place inside of this larger one we talked about the peace of God which transcends all understanding and comes with faith we talked about lineage that we're not the first ones to start this road that we're following along and a long line of people before us and this week we're talking about life for a second week guys what is happening? What is it? Oh it's next door? Yeah. Yeah, Mike's got

1:12 he'll be it will be fine. Mm-hmm. Love your neighbor Bob said. It's funny. Is it for the oh yeah it is Super Bowl Sunday that's funny. All right so to get us through life this week I was thinking about wrapping up these core values next week we'll start in on our length focus but but thinking through

1:43 life and this week I wanted to look at John chapter 11 and when I got into the section in John chapter 11 that I wanted I realized we need the whole chapter so we're just gonna move through a lot of scripture this morning because sometimes that's good and you need the whole story. What's fun about this section here in John chapter 11 and pushing into John chapter 12 is that John in this one story gets very descriptive it's like a really kind of the reason it's

2:13 important to go through the whole chapters because the whole chapter is almost one story which really rarely happens you know usually you get like a paragraph that's a story and then you get another paragraph in there arranging these stories in order to make the point they want over the whole chapter but uniquely with this story John's telling the whole thing all the way through and it's really kind of compelling to read so I'm gonna start because there's lots get through so John chapter 11 verse 1 Beverly. Okay got to get into the light here now certain man was ill Lazarus of Bethany the village

2:52 of Mary and her sister Martha it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair his brother Lazarus was ill just one thing to mention here before we go too much further just for the back of your mind when the Synop when the gospel writers whether it's Matthew Mark Luke or John when the gospel writers even Paul this is true for him too when they mentioned someone by name it's usually because then the first century church will have

3:23 heard of them it's like a callback it's like a origin story like oh you've heard of Mary or Lazarus you know them of renown in the church for one reason or another this is where they come into the story so it's fun to think about the first readers John maybe his gospel might be the last book written in the New Testament really at the end of his life he was the longest living of the disciples he wrote the letters but the very last thing before he died the disciple whom Jesus loved wanted to catalog all of he had experienced with

3:55 Jesus so he wrote this down so he's got the most experience with the first century church by the time he writes the the gospel of John and he's writing about these people he wants you to know who he's talking about and if you were in the first century you might even know these names or have heard of them and so just put that in the back of your mind that they become people of renown in the church verse two it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was ill so the sisters sent to Jesus

4:30 saying Lord he whom you love is ill but Jesus heard it when Jesus heard it he said the illness does not lead to death it is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it not the answer you're looking for probably I mean maybe if the sisters send someone to find Jesus hey go get Jesus he really likes Lazarus tell Lazarus is real sick and the person goes

5:03 so wherever Jesus is finds him by word of mouth or whatever walks to him right gets to him however long it takes hey Jesus the one whom you love is it'll be fine this won't lead to death it'll just be for the glory God comes running back Jesus said it'll be fine right it sounds great when Jesus says it but probably for the sisters it's not what they're looking for they would have preferred for Jesus to hustle back and he doesn't he says it'll be fine so verse

5:33 five now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus and so when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was and then after this he said to his disciples let's go to Judea again and the disciples said to him teacher the Jews were just now seeking to stone you are we going there again if we were to go back in the story you'd realize they were like

6:05 bringing someone up on charges trying to get the legal recourse to kill Jesus they're already interested in it and so Jesus had left the region of Judea we'll find out later Bethany was only about 12 miles from Jerusalem it was a more central city in Israel so they had left there and gone out wider into Galilee to get away from the Pharisees who were like trying to build a religious legal case to kill Jesus and Jesus says let's go back in there and the disciples are

6:36 like why man they were going to kill you and we're with you side note right so they weren't excited about it okay because they don't want to die verse nine Jesus answered are there not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world but if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him it's crazy to me that John member remembers this stuff and the only reason I can imagine that he

7:08 remembers it is because it's like what just tell us why you're willing to go back to where people are trying to kill you and when they ask him why are we going to go face death and he gives him this thing about there's 12 hours and you walk around in the night and you stumble they're like now they're thinking about it for the whole walk back to Bethany what is he talking about that's probably why he could remember it you know and after saying these things he said to them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him and

7:39 the disciples said Lord if he's fallen asleep he'll recover we don't have to wake him up you know he'll wake up now Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought he meant he was taking a rest in sleep then Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died and for your sake I'm glad that I was not there so that you may believe but let's go to him so Thomas called the twin said to the fellow disciples let's go that we may die with him they're pretty sure they're going to their death here I mean and reasonably so like the guys were all the

8:12 Pharisees were on the verge of getting the legal excuse to stone Jesus right and so Thomas is like Lazarus is already dead we might as well go and die with him verse 17 now when Jesus came he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them you see the math there if it took him a while to get there and he took two days off he maybe could have

8:44 got there before Lazarus was dead maybe not right but either way he's he's pretty solidly dead right like four days it's not like he fainted like it's he's all the way dead I remember when we were when we were in in seminary we translated Jonah and they they talked about the story that developed in the ancient Near East of the time that it takes to go down to the underworld and come back

9:16 and there Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and that's the length of time in the ancient Near East where they figured it took you to go down to the place of death and come back so it's significant that Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days that Jesus was in the tomb three days Lazarus is in the tomb four days y'all he's not coming back right he's he's staying okay and so when Martha Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and when the Jews

9:51 had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother so when Martha heard Jesus was coming she went and met him but Mary remained seated in the house Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you it's like like Martha in the Mary Martha dyad like Martha gets a bad rap I feel like this sounds like a whole lot of faith to me doesn't it hey if you'd have

10:27 been here he wouldn't have died a lot of faith already right there but even now whatever you ask God will give you I know she's not asking anything specific but she's like I know that all options are open with you which is like I don't know anyone who there are very few statements of faith in the scriptures that are that have more potential in them than that for Martha it's incredible Jesus said to her your brother will rise again verse 24 Martha

11:00 said to him I know that he'll rise again in the resurrection on the last day and Jesus said to her I am the resurrection of life whoever believes in me though he dies yet she'll he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never died do you believe this and she said to him yeah Lord I believe you're the Christ the Son of God who's coming into the world she's like all open this is all open here's the reality he's dead if you'd have been here he would have died but who knows what's next right okay and when she said this she went and called

11:30 her sister Mary saying in private the teacher is here and is calling you and when she heard it she rose quickly and went to him and now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him and when the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly and go out they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there and now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him she fell at

12:01 his feet saying to him Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died and when Jesus saw her weeping she's so bummed right and even Martha is clearly bummed even though she acknowledges that at the end Lazarus will die she's really bummed and I was thinking about like why are they so sad if they have such confidence that at the end he will be raised because it

12:34 would still be nice to have him here now right I was thinking about this like the things that are pressing like ultimately they know Lazarus will rise from the dead but still they are so sad because it's hard to step out of this things of the moment and step into what will be true forever there's like this

13:05 narrowing of our vision around this one little moment where the this experience becomes everything and we can't see past it at a friend this week who she has two kids two girls and they're not in school yet they're like they go to like a preschool so two young kids this week she had two twin girls she had twins girls now four children very young I mean they're adorable I was looking up the

13:43 names let me get them because they're great here it is Miley and Irie two little girls that awesome she sent me a picture and I was like amazing can't believe you pulled it off twins what a job you know and then I was thinking about like those first couple months if you've had kids the first couple of months where it's like you can't get them to eat you can't get them to sleep

14:15 they're just like pissed off all the time like it's really hard and you know you when you get kids the first time you're like why did no one tell me these child was going to be so unreasonable why did it do I have the only unreasonable child and and no one can tell you anything right and then you get the second one and it's like you forgot right you have a second kid and it's like

14:47 surely the first one wasn't this hard and and I found the best thing I could say to friends that have kids just remember it won't be like this forever you will sleep again one day right just remember it won't be like this forever but in the immediacy of the moment it could be hard to remember that anything else will happen and so I can imagine Martha and Mary fully believing there's

15:22 a day of resurrection coming and carrying very little because they've lost their brother in a moment now right okay let's see Lord if you'd have been here when Jesus saw her weeping verse 33 and the Jews who had come with her also weeping he was deeply moved in his

15:54 spirit and greatly troubled and he said where have you laid him and they said to him Lord come and see and then verse 35 Jesus wept I was like thinking about from Jesus perspective why he weeps right there he had the announcement when a friend came the one whom you love is sick at the point of death and he had some settled assurance there then by the time that he is leaving to go see

16:27 Lazarus with his disciples with his buds he knows that that Lazarus is dead and then when Martha comes out to him and and meets him and and tells him hey if you'd have been here and she's heartbroken and that's the one he loves Martha he doesn't weep there and then when Mary comes and like gets at his feet and doesn't have the hope or the faithful statements of Martha Mary's just like what were you doing and why didn't you come and why didn't you fix

16:58 this she's all despondent she can't see the hope she's stuck in the moment the phrase this is the this she's like got a myopia just like a narrowing of the vision for just this moment right just this one little thing and Jesus looking at Mary in this myopia of the moment doesn't weep then either and he doesn't weep later when he says show me and then when he when he's like show me where

17:29 you've laid him and then they go and I was thinking from Jesus perspective John says that this is the primordial logic wisdom action word of God from in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the words was with God and in him all things were made and through him everything that has been made was made Jesus carries the like deep well of wisdom and the intent of who humanity

18:01 would be and he looks at who humanity becomes these like lifeless little things stuck in holes and weeps at the tragedy of death it's not what was intended he looks at what all these people have to put up with Mary and Martha and the Jews who came out to weep and he says the crowning achievement of creation the image bearers of God in the world tuck neatly tucked neatly into

18:37 lifeless little holes and he weeps it's so much smaller than God's intention for man death is unnatural interruption on the beauty and creation of life unnatural interruption and Jesus weeps when he sees it so the Jews said oh see how he loved

19:08 him but some of them said couldn't not have he who opened the eyes of the blind man also just a side note it's like in that first century healing the blind was supposed to be harder than like the lame or something else so it was a big deal that Jesus healed the blind like he healed the blind couldn't he also fixed this sickness and then verse 30 something I can't eight yeah thanks or six I can't so then Jesus deeply moved again came to the tomb it was a cave and the stone

19:44 lay against it and Jesus said take the stone away and Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time there will be an odor in there for he's been dead for four days and Jesus said to her did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God so they took the stone away and Jesus lift up is it lift it up his eyes and said father I thank you that you've heard me I knew that you always hear me but I said on on this on the account of the

20:17 people standing around that they may believe that you sent me he must have prayed to God hey can we raise this one because this I just got to show these people that death is the unnatural inter interruption on the gift of life right and so God said yeah so Jesus says thanks and then verse 43 when he had said this these things he cried out in a loud voice Lazarus come out and the

20:50 man who had been dead came out his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go I just thought for a moment we're not done yet but but just for a moment here on this when Jesus is standing outside of the tomb and remember that that John said that through Jesus all things were made that have been made that this is the active force of God in the world so that means that there is some element of what Jesus of Nazareth speaks outside of the tomb of Lazarus that also spoke let

21:21 there be light separate the waters that there is a creative action happening in the midst of the people what does it feel like to have the life-giving words spoken right next to you it must awaken something to have the ultimate truth brought into the reality of the moment we know in the end all will be raised from the dead that ending reality brought into the moment right here man I think it would have been cool at a minimum right something stirring in you right

21:55 look many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary and in seeing what he did believed in him but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done oh this is so interesting Jesus with the authority of the Creator God banishes death and recalls life from wherever it dwells it animates the body

22:28 of Lazarus and with grave clothes on he walks out and they unwrap him some of them are like okay this guy clearly is the reality others go back to the Pharisees and then look when some of them had went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said what are we to do I underlined it what are we to do go get

23:01 your dead man this guy is raising people from the dead what other tombs should we stand him outside of let's get let's get to work man four days might be the cutoff we could try five and see if that works but like let's get an assembly line going bring some people back is very clear what we should be doing right when you encounter ultimate reality the potential of God to forgive to restore to renew to start again to provide to keep to protect to enliven

23:36 to love when you encounter the reality of God it's very clear what to do go ask him to do it again if you are forgiven ask him to forgive you again if he is provided for you ask him to provide again if he has inspired you ask him for more inspiration if he has protected you say protect me again as I walk through the world it's very clear when you encounter the act of God what you should do recognize he's God that's what he does ask him to do it again he

24:09 raised Lazarus from the dead and the Pharisees are like what should we do and I'm like find some more tombs raise some more people nobody asks him to I can't it's crazy how easily you and I are blinded by the ultimate reality blinded from the ultimate reality by the immediate little myopia of the moment the little narrowing of our vision to the problem of the day today it's astounding

24:47 look at what it does to the Pharisees okay what are we to do for this man performs many signs and if we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation if he goes on raising people from the dead everybody's gonna believe in him and then we'll lose our land man your land how about life on the other side of death

25:23 they don't lose their power and their prestige and because of that they are blinded to what's in front of them this this is the same problem you and I have this is why Jesus says why are you storing up treasures on earth when you could be storing up treasures in heaven this is when you and I feel like the money that we pile up is our protection our our our affirmation our value our

25:58 worth this is when we feel like our jobs our sacrosanct and the last vestige of hope we have for the future this is when we feel like the vacation that we stack up is the only bit of rest that we'll ever find in the world you and I get blinded by the little things that we cling to and covet and it's narrowing down our vision and too often we miss the work of God like right outside our door

26:33 the Pharisees are like the students raising people from the dead we better get it's gonna the Romans are gonna come take our land man all right and then this business about cave is we're gonna skip just a little bit sorry I know you guys are into the story but I don't have time to explain cave is because I can feel myself going long so look at verse 33 so from that day on they made plans to put them to death they're gonna kill

27:04 Jesus 54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly openly among the Jews but went from there to the region near the wilderness in a town called Ephraim and there they stayed with the disciples this is a little spot I found a while ago because there's some tradition it's kind of fun to look up the wilderness retreat in Ephraim it doesn't say how long Jesus stayed here but you get this feeling he's near the wilderness he's retreating with his disciples near the

27:36 wilderness in a town called Ephraim after they raised lasses from the dead as the disciples are going what is happening the Pharisees want to kill us you're raising people from the dead Jesus takes them on a wilderness retreat that's another spot I'd like to be if we get to play back kind of some movies of history I would like to see that one right could someone replay the Ephraim wilderness retreat with me I'd love to see what Jesus teaches after raising his buddy from the dead and hiding out from the people that want to kill him what do we talk about you know that's amazing so just a little story in there that

28:10 I didn't want you to mess okay now the Passover the Jews was at hand and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves and they were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple what do you think that he will not come at all and now the chief priests in the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was he should let them know that they might arrest him we're building towards the end here but I want to get to one little thing here in chapter 12 so keep going six days

28:42 before Passover Jesus therefore came to Bethany he was up in Ephraim at the wilderness he makes his way down to Bethany he's on his way to Jerusalem he's about to go through the triumphal entry in the Passover and be crucified but before that he stops on the way in Bethany back at Mary and Martha's house and Lazarus the dude who was dead to catch a meal okay and and Lazarus and whom Jesus had raised from the dead verse two so they gave dinner for him there and Martha served and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table

29:16 are you kidding me amazing right at the table Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of perfume but Judas Iscariot one of the disciples he was about to betray them said why is this ointment not sold for 300 denari and given to the poor

29:49 well Paul is there 300 denari they like the little notes like a denari is about a day's wages for a day laborer so it's about a year's worth of wages for a day laborer the value of what Mary just dumps on Jesus's feet and the reason I wanted to get here is because Mary when she's weeping and complaining to Jesus why weren't you here and doesn't have the hope of Mary she's stuck in the moment and can't see past the reality she doesn't have the hope for the future

30:22 in the way that Martha does but here now at the meal with her brother there something stirs in her where she willingly and gratefully gives over something worth a year's wages on the feet of Jesus Judas is not wrong they could have taken that and given the money to the poor but Mary by now realizes if we're gonna help the poor we're taking this guy he raises people from the dead

30:53 it'll be fine there's something in her that's genuine love and this is not performative have you ever loved someone extravagantly like that unreasonably I don't know that I have to the point where you would spend irresponsibly a year's wages on them I'm saying that she has some kind of recognition of faith for the reality of Jesus the potential of what he can be in

31:24 her life that all things future will be fine I can spend a year's wages because I got this guy here with me and all my provision protection affirmation value comes from him and so in this moment while he's here I will rest all I have is yours let's let's anoint him now with all we got

31:55 we put life as a core value because life comes from the God is sustained now by the God and preserved protected and set aside for you forever and if you have the patience or foresight or some gift of faith to step out of your pressing moment today the little myopia of the moment and look at the reality and realize

32:29 the God has set aside life for you forever if we can be people who put the pressing moments of the day in the perspective of life forever we'll get a richer experience today that will intensify forever who had the better meal Mary or Judas in that setting Judas is stressed and worried Mary is alive and happy and so can we be people who are alive and happy stepping out of

33:11 the myopia of the urgent and into the like vision of forever life thanks for going through that with me I was a lot let's pray hey Lord thanks for the story of Lazarus and your faithful work teach us how to receive life from you and live it gratefully receive it wonderfully and respond with some semblance of the

33:46 beauty of Mary in Jesus name we pray