January 22–John 11:38-57; Raising Lazarus

(Note:  In this post all Scripture quotations are from the NIV.)

The raising of Lazarus is a truly powerful moment.  He had been dead and in the tomb four days.  Jesus tells  Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  But in John the apex of the glory of God is Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In John 1:14 we read, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”   John develops this further when he records these words of Jesus, “Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:31-32,  italics mine).  Again in John 13:1, John tips us off to the beginning of the end.  The course is set.  The path will not be reversed.  John writes, “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.”  And in John 17:1, Jesus prays, “Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”

If I’m commenting on the raising of Lazarus, why say these things?  It is because the power of the moment of Lazarus being raised from the dead is magnified by how it brought Jesus’ purpose to climax.  Beyond the ministry to Mary and Martha, Lazarus and friends, Jesus pushes the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, and the high priest over the edge.  Now they must stop him.  Now they must arrest him.  Now they must kill him.

Why did Jesus delay going to help Lazarus?  Jesus tells his disciples about Lazarus’ sickness, John 11:4, “This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  Does he only mean the glory Jesus will receive by having more people believe in him because of Lazarus being raised?  Or does Jesus mean the glory he will receive by ”drawing all men to” himself?  The glory he means is the glory he will receive because he dies lifted up on the cross, just like Moses lifted up the snake in the desert (cf. John 3:14-15).  The glory he means is the “It is finished”–his death (cf. John 19:30) and resurrection.

Note the irony which the Holy Spirit and John paint for us.  After delaying two more days, Jesus tells his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea” (John 11:7).  They ask, “But Rabbi…a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” (John 11:8).  And Thomas bravely says to the other disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16).

So whose death and resurrection is chapter 11 of John about?  Is it about Lazarus’ death and resurrection as it seems?  Or is it really about the prelude to Jesus’ death and resurrection?

The raising of Lazarus gets Jesus killed.  One powerful moment of glory leads to an even more powerful moment.  When Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life…and whoever believes in me will never die”  he is referring to a larger event than the raising of her brother.  Jesus speaks of his own resurrection.  He speaks of our future resurrection.  He speaks of eternal life for all who will believe in him.

Make no mistake,  the sequence in John 11:38-57 demonstrates cause and effect.  John discloses the plot to kill Jesus following on the heels of the raising of Lazarus for this reason.  Oh yes there are many things Jesus did to aggravate the religious leaders, beginning in John with the cleansing of the temple told in John 2.  But the breaking point is when Jesus raises Lazarus.