Sunday, November 8 · Christ Community Church
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
Jesus comes to a grieving family in Bethany, weeps with them, and then calls their brother out of a tomb four days dead, declaring himself to be the resurrection and the life. The sermon holds out that promise as both a future hope and a present confidence.
The passages
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
John 11:1
Go deeper
Why did Jesus stay two more days where he was after hearing that Lazarus was sick?
Word reaches Jesus that his close friend is dying, and he does not move for two days. Mary and Martha both say later that his absence is what killed their brother, and Jesus lets them say it. He was after something larger than a healing.
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
John 11:1–6
So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
John 11:14–15
Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
John 11:21–27
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?” So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
John 11:40–42