John 11: 1-45 Scripture
for Sunday, March 29, 2020
Like last week, our Scripture this week
is a longer story about Jesus from the Gospel of John. As you read it in anticipation of Sunday, here
are some notes to consider:
1.
Vs.
1: This is not the only time we meet Mary and Martha. Some background on the sisters can be found
in Luke 10: 38-42. It is interesting how
the development of the sisters in that story compare with this one.
3.
Vs. 4: Here is a
parallel to last week, John 9:3. Jesus
once again explains that what is going to happen next is there so that the
power of God may be revealed.
4.
Vs. 8: Jesus has already been at odds with the Jewish
leadership. He is out of Judea precisely
because he is danger of dying at their hands.
5.
Vss. 11-14: The disciples appear to be too thick to
understand Jesus’ metaphor. So he has to
tell them outright that Lazarus is dead.
6.
Vs. 16: Despite his explanation, Thomas still
believes that they are going to Judea to die.
7.
Vs. 31: This scene could be one for comic effect in a
television show. Mary is getting up to
move, so the whole crowd gets up to go with her, thinking she needs a new place
to weep.
8.
Vss. 33 & 38: We have insight into Jesus’ emotional
life. He knows what power he has, but he
is fully human and enters into the grief with his friends.
9.
Vs.
35: In any memory verse competition, one of the favorites is straight from this
story. But most people do not memorize
it in this form, but in the past tense, two little words: Jesus wept.
10.
Vs.
37: This refers to last week’s story. Some
mutter to themselves that Jesus healed the blind man, why couldn’t he be here
to heal Lazarus before the inevitable happened?
11.
Vs.
42: Jesus being deliberately explicit once again for the sake of the
audience. He does not need to pray out
loud to God, but, as with each step along this path, he wants the people to
understand how God’s power is at work in this situation.
12.
Aftermath:
In John 12, after Mary anoints Jesus’ feet, it is revealed that the plot to
kill Jesus by the leaders of the Jews is extended to include Lazarus, as on
account of his being raised from the dead, many were believing in Jesus.
John 11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of
Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume
and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he
whom you love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to
death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified
through it.” 5Accordingly, though
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed
two days longer in the place where he was. 7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go
to Judea again.” 8The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying
to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of
daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the
light of this world. 10But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in
them.” 11After saying this,
he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to
awaken him.” 12The disciples said
to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,
but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is
dead. 15For your sake I am
glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow
disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17When Jesus arrived,
he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles
away, 19and many of the Jews
had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went
and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of
him.” 23Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those
who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never
die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” 28When 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.” 29And when she heard
it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was
still at the place where Martha had met him. 31The 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. 32When 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.”
33When Jesus saw her
weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed
in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord,
come and see.” 35Jesus began to
weep. 36So the Jews said,
“See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the
blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the
tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus 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.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you
would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said,
“Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I 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.” 43When he had said
this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The 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.”
45Many of the Jews
therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
John 11 goes on to conclude with a
change in focus within the Jewish leadership.
In the wake of this most powerful miracle performed by Jesus, it is formally
decided that Jesus must die. When the
disciples worried about Jesus getting stoned to death if he returned to Judea,
that was a fear of mob violence, of passions run amuck. But with this miracle, John records that
Jesus no longer went out publicly-until the time was right-because he knew a
death warrant had essentially been issued.
May this
enhance your reading and understanding of God’s Holy Word.
Rev. Peter
Hofstra
