Sermon: Seeing Death from Jesus’ Perspective
Bible Passage: John 11:25-27
I. Introductory Information:
1. Jesus loved the family of Lazarus (verse 5)
2. When Lazarus fell ill, his sisters, Martha and Mary, sent word to Jesus (verse 3)
3. But yet, Jesus did not respond to their call (verse 6)
4. Subsequently Lazarus died (verse 14 )
5. Both the sisters and villagers believed if Jesus had been there Lazarus would not have died (verses 21)
6. Both sisters probably thought that Jesus failed them
7. Jesus viewed Lazarus’ death differently! (verse 11)—Lazarus’ death would be a platform on which He would bring glory to the Father and exalt the Son
8. Jesus did not rush to Bethany, but viewed illness and death differently!
9. Jesus’ coming to Bethany after four days appeared to be useless because Lazarus had already died (verse 17)
10. Martha met Jesus on His way and apparently protested, probably upset at Jesus (verses 20)
11. With grief, Martha expressed her feeling and human assessment of the situation (verses 21-22)—it’s normal
12. Mary, on the other hand, was home-bound, mourning or depressed, or probably feeling frustrated with Jesus not showing up in time (verse 28)
13. The family was concerned about the death of Lazarus, but Jesus was focused on the life after death
II. Jesus responded to the sisters in two different ways:
1. To Mary:
a. Jesus was moved in His spirit and was greatly distressed at Mary’s grief (verse 33)
b. Jesus identified Himself with the grieving family
c. Jesus teared up as He was talking to Mary (verse 35)
i. Jesus demonstrated what is needed to a grieving person—“empathy”
ii. Death hurts everyone, particularly the immediate families
2. To Martha:
a. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies. The one who lives and believes in me will never die (verse 25)”
i. In the Fourth Gospel, the expression “I am” has a special significance
ii. The predicate “the resurrection and the life” refers to the same idea of “life”
• Jesus is saying: “I am the life”
• John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was the life
• John 5:26 just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself
• “The life” in these places refers to something unique to God, something divine which is different from the idea of life and death in medical terms
• Man was created with this life (1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind)
iii. “Resurrection and life” are better understood in the context of death
• There are two deaths: spiritual and physical
• Everyone who is born will one day die—the physical death
• Spiritual death happened when man sinned and was removed by God from the Garden (cf. Gen 3)
• With this death, man lost the life that connects him with God—God the Father is life, so is Jesus (John 5:26)
iv. Jesus tells Martha that He is the life, the opposite of spiritual death—He is the life that resurrects the dead man back to life so that he can be in relationship with God—eternal life
v. This life is the one man lost in the Garden!
vi. When everyone is aware of the physical death and mourn over it, most of them do not think about the spiritual death and consequently don’t mourn over it
vii. The spiritual death is the eternal death, which separates man forever from God
viii. Jesus is the “life” that takes care of man’s spiritual death and brings him back to God
b. Jesus asked Martha if she believed this truth (verse 26b)
c. Martha answered more than the required answer (verse 27)
i. She addressed Jesus “Lord” as opposed to “teacher”
ii. She said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world” (this is the confessional statement of the Early Church)
d. From His conversation with Martha, Jesus draws attention away from those who are dead to those who are alive
e. Jesus’ focus is not necessarily the life on earth, but eternal life
f. Martha and Mary were mourning for the physical death of their brother
g. But Jesus is helping them to understand how one can live beyond death—“believe in me” is the important expression of this chapter
III. Observations:
1. Jesus-followers have already resurrected from their spiritual death; they already have eternal life (realized eschatology)
2. Jesus-followers who are now physically dead continue to live (eternal life)
3. Two things are important in any human situation: God’s glory and exaltation of the Son (verse 4)—every situation of believers need to take these two into consideration
4. Just because a person is a believer, it does not mean that God is obligated to answer all their prayers—He continues to be the Sovereign One and works at His time clock!
5. When believers do not receive answers to their prayers does not mean that God has not heard their prayer
6. If believers have not received the answer they wanted, it does not mean that God rejected them—He empathises with them
7. Prayer delayed is not prayer denied (As Martha and Mary wanted, Jesus came, but He came at His appropriate time)
Take Away:
1. Believe in Jesus and confess that He is the Messiah (Martha)—this is the spiritual resurrection from spiritual death
2. Seek the glory of God and the exaltation of the Son in all your life-situations