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March 14, l999
THINGS ARE SELDOM AS THEY
SEEM! (John 11:1-45)
Things are seldom as they seern is a saying which
helps us to accept if not always explain, the inevitable
gaps, ironies and mysteries of life, It is, as we shall
see, an apt maxim for interpreting today' s long,
dramatic and perplexing text from John 11.
NOW A CERTAIN MAN WAS ILL, LAZARAUS OF BETHANY, THE
VILLAGE OF MARY AND HER SISTER MARTHA. MARY WAS THE ONE
WHO ANOINTED THE LORD WITH PERFUME AND WIPED HIS FEET
WITH HER HAIR; HER BROTHER LAZARUS WAS ILL.
Mary and Martha and Lazarus were among the closest of
Jesus' friends. For her anointing of Jesus' feet as John
records in chapter 12 following , Mary is remembered as a
woman friend on intimate terms with Jesus. It is again
evidence of Jesus' humanity that he not only enjoyed but
needed a few intimate friends. The threesome lived in the
village of Bethany only an hour's walk outside Jerasalem
so Jesus must have gone ofien to relax and pass a day and
evening with these three intimate soul mates. Fortunate
are those among us who make such close friends, And now
the brother, a dear friend of Jesus, is ill.
SO THE SISTERS SENT A MESSAGE TO JESUS. "LORD, HE WHOM
YOU LOVE IS ILL."
The message is short because the sisters must have
expected Jesus would read between the lines and come
immediately to assist. That's what friends do. But Jesus
replied to those who carried the message to him, and to
others around him who also he heard the news, in an
unexpected way.
BUT 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 GLORIFED THROUGH IT.
This response from Jesus is odd. First, his risky
medical diagnoses at a distant proves to be wrong for we
know Lazarus will die before Jesus arrives. Second, it
does not seem a compassionate response to the anxiety of
the sisters back in Bethany. Are we to read Jesus
response as a prophecy that Lazarus, though dead, will be
revived; is Jesus forecasting his own death and
resurrection? I'm not certain. It sounds like Jesus is
setting his followers up to interpret what follows as
evidence of God's power of life over death and as an
anticipation of his own power over death. Things are
seldom as they seem!
v.5 ACCORDINGLY, THOUGH JESUS LOVED MARTHA AND HER
SISTER AND LAZARUS, AFTER HAVING HEARD THAT LAZARUS WAS
ILL, HE STAYED TWO DAYS LONGER IN THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS.
THEN AFTER THIS HE SAID TO THE DISCIPLES, "LET US GO TO
JUDEA AGAIN."
About time, wouldn't you agree? We have no idea what
Jesus did during those two days of delay. But some of his
more protective followers attempt to delay him
further;
Vs 8: THE DISCIPLES SAID TO HIM, "RABBI, THE JEWS WERE
JUST NOW TRYING TO STONE YOU AND ARE. YOU GOING THERE
AGAIN?" JESUS 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. BUT THOSE WHO
WALK AT NIGHT STUMBLE, BECAUSE THE LIGHT IS NOT IN
THEM."
I hear a little of John's anti-Semitic orientation
here. The followers of Jesus during his lifetime might
have referred to the Pharisees as the enemies of Jesus,
but they would not have used the phrase "the Jews"
because they were all Jews. The reference to the Jews
wanting to stone Jesus does point to a hostility toward
Jesus among some Jews, but the phrase assumes a much
later time when the Jewish Christians had experienced so
many sharp theological and physical clashes with the
Jewish religious establishment that Jewish Christians had
come to distinguish themselves from the Jews. Things are
not always as they seem.
Why does John insert this strange saying from Jesus at
this point and what in the world does it mean? Was Jesus
reassuring his disciples that they need not fear for him
because he and they worked and walked in the daylight and
Jesus' enemies would need the cloak of darkness to do
them any harm. Indeed, we remember that when the betrayal
finally came it was at night. And we know that John loves
to contrast Light and Dark and since Jesus was very
Light, he would have nothing to fear in the daylight.
V.11: AFTER SAYING THIS, HE TOLD THEM, "OUR FRIEND,
LAZARUS HAS FALLEN ASLEEP BUT I AM GOING THERE TO AWAKEN
HIM." THE DISCIPLES SAID TO HIM, "LORD. IF HE HAS FALLEN
ASLEEP, HE WILL BE ALL RIGHT." JESUS, HOWEVER, HAD BEEN
SPEAKING ABOUT HIS DEATH, BUT THEY THOUGHT THAT HE WAS
REFERRING MERELY TO SLEEP. THEN JESUS TOLD THEM. PLAINLY,
"LAZARUS IS DEAD."
I wonder about this word play between Jesus and the
disciples. He says that "Lazarus has fallen asleep" using
a euphemism for death. The disciples with their usual
sharp insight say that if he has fallen asleep he'll be
just fine. Nothing like a refreshing nap to lift the
spirits! You get the impression that Jesus is speaking a
foreign language….another instance of John's use of
irony.
Then Jesus cuts through the confusion with the
bluntest of statements; LAZARUS IS DEAD.
V.15 FOR YOUR SAKE I AM GLAD I WAS NOT THERE, SO THAT
YOU MAY BELIEVE. BUT LET US GO TO HIM. THOMAS, WHO WAS
CALLED THE TWIN, SAID TO HIS FELLOW DiSCIPLES. "LET US
ALSO GO, THAT WE MAY DIE WITH HIM."
Following the guideline that THINGS ARE SELDOM AS THEY
SEEM, Jesus explains to his followers that he has delayed
attending to Lazarus because he knows he is dead but he
also knows, or believes, or hopes, that God will give
him, Jesus, the power of life over death Jesus alone
seems to realise at this point that his own death is
certain. He, also, alone is trusting God to produce new
life from the death. Is the raising of Lazarus a test
proof for Jesus' own faith and for his followers? The
bold declaration by Thomas does not ring true; Thomas was
not even present in Jerusalem at Jesus' death. But we all
are capable and culpable of making promises which we turn
out not to keep.
V 17: WHEN JESLUS ARRIVED, HE FOUND THAT LAZARUS HAD
ALREADY BEEN IN THE TOMB FOR FOUR DAYS. NOW BETHANY WAS
NEAR JERUSALEM SOME TWO MILES AWAY, AND MANY OF THE JEWS
HAD COME TO MARTHA AND MARY TO CONSOLE THEM. ABOUT THEIR
BROTHER. WHEN MAkTHA HEARD THAT JESUS WAS COMING, SHE
WENT AND MET HIM, WHILE MARY STAYED AT HOME. MARTHA SAID
TO JESUS, "LORD, IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE, MY BROTHER WOULD
NOT HAVE DIED. BUT EVEN NOW I KNOW THAT GOD WILL GIVE YOU
WHATEVER YOU ASK OF HIM."
Martha is clearly mad at Jesus, reproaching him for
his delay. Though angry with Jesus, Maitha retains
confidence that Jesus can do do something to ease the
tragedy. BUT THINGS ARE SELDOM AS THEY SEEM and
Martha's expectation now from Jesus are not very great as
we now see.
Vs. 23: JESUS SAID TO HER "YOUR BROTHER WILL RISE
AGAIN." MARTHA SAID TO HIM. "I KNOW THAT HE WILL RISE
AGAIN IN THE RESURRECTION ON THE LAST DAY."
Martha misses Jesus' point for here she is merely
repeating a general Jewish beliief in a general
ressurection at the end of time. "Of course,' she sighs,
"We all will on that glorious day." "That's not what I
mean" says Jesus.
\r5 25: JESUS SAID TO HER, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND
THE LIFE. THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ME, EVEN THOUGH THEY DIE,
WILL LIVE, AND EVERYONE WHO LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME WILL
NEVER DIE. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?" SHE SAID TO HIM, "YES,
LORD,I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD
THE ONE COMING INTO THE WORLD."
It seems to me we hear John speaking as much as Jesus.
Jesus must have said sornething like: 'Martha: That's not
what I mean. What I mean is that I arn God's Resurrection
and New Life. Do you believe that?"
With John'b editing some 50 years or so later, and
with all the accumulated faith experience of the early
church, we hear adoctrinal statement from the mouth of
Jesus. But the idea is right on for Jesus is suggesting
to Martha that she can have a great deal more than
temporary solace if she will exercise her faith in Jesus'
power to fight death on her behalf and that of her late
brother.
Vs. WHEN SHE HAD SAID THIS, SHE WENT BACK AND CALLED
HER SISTER MARY, AND TOLD HER PRIVATELY, 'TEACHER IS HERE
AND IS CALLING FOR YOU. AND WHEN SHE HEARD IT, SHE GOT UP
QUICKLY AND WENT TO HIM. NOW JESUS HAD NOT YET COME TO
THE VILLAGE, BUTWAS STILL AT THE PLACE WHERE MARTHA HAD
MET HIM. THE 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 SUE WAS GOING TO
THE TOMB TO WEEP THERE. WHEN 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.'
Mary, like her sister, reproaches Jesus for his poor
sense of timing!
Vs. 33: WHEN JESUS SAW HER WEEPING, AND THE JEWS WHO
CAME WITH HER ALSO WEEPING. HE WAS GREATLY DISTURBED in
SPIRIT AND DEEPLY MOVED. HE SAID, "WHERE HAVE YOU LAID
HIM?" THEY SAID TO HIM. "LORD COME AND SEE." JESUS BEGAN
TO WEEP. SO THE JEWS SAID, "SEE HOW HE LOVED HIM!" BUT
SOME OF THEM SAID, "COULD NOT HE WHO OPENED THE EYES OF
THE BLIND MAN HAVE KEPT THIS MAN FROM DYING?" THEN JESUS,
AGAIN GREATLY DISTURBED CAME TO THE TOMB.
When Jesus was hit with all this weeping, he, too,
grew teary butt I suspect his deep emotion was that of
anger, anger like the sisters and their friends had felt
when death robbed them of Lazarus, the death that we all
must know when we have to come to terms with death of a
loved one. This is an important incident because Jesus
did not often lose his cool: at the temple when he saw
the commercial trading sullying the divine place of
worship, he showed intense anger. In Gethesenie when he
prayed that His own death might be delayed, he sweated
with dread. Not often do the scriptures say he was deeply
moved except with compassion. But here I think he is mad
at death. Not just the singular death of Lazarus, because
he had already accepted that death back in Jerusalem and
he now knew that Lazarus might be revived, but his tear's
are against Death with a capital D, Death which cancels
everything that is living, lively and good. THINGS ARE
SELDOM AS THEY SEEM'. Jesus emotion is at a much more
profound level. He was deeply upset because Death had
snatched his friend and held the whole human race in its'
thraIl through fear, The great dog Death needed to be
muzzled.
Vs. 38b: (THE TOMB) IT WAS A CAVE, AND A STONE WAS
LYING AGAINST IT.
A hint here of Jesus' own tomb in a cave with a stone
blocking the entrance.
Vs. 39: JESUS SAID,"TAKE AWAY THE STONE." MARTHA, THE
SISTEROF THE DEAD MAN SAID TO HIM., "LORD, ALREADY THERE
IS A STENCH OF DEATH BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN DEAD FOUR
DAYS."
The text pulls no punches here. This is real reporting
on the smell and revulsion of real physical death. BUT
THINGS ARE SELDOM AS THEY SEEM.
Vs. 40: JESUS SAID TO HER, "DID I NOT TELL YOU THAT IF
YOU BELIEVED, YOU WOULD SEE THE GLORY OF GOD?" SO THEY
TOOK AWAY THE STONE. AND JESUS LOOKED UPWARD AND SAID,
"FATHER,I THANK YOU FOR HAVING HEARD ME. I 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."
Once more, while hearing Jesus, we also hear the faith
of John and the early church appealing through this story
to non-believers to understand that God in Christ was
bringing new life to them.
Vs.43: WHEN HE HAD SAID THIS, HE CRIED WITH A LOUD
VOICE,"LAZARUS, COME OUT!" THE 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."
And when Lazarus crawled his spooky way out of that
tomb, stinking, and bound up in death's clinging cloths,
death had met its match The sting of death was withdrawn,
and the poisonous wound healed. We know that death did
not disappear. Lazarus did die and not too much later.
Death did not disappear that day in Bethany for any of
us. We will all see his inexorable maw one day. But the
fear of him was removed, the horror of his supposed
kingship was shown to be no ultimate sovereign rule at
all. And the result? The plot to kill Jesus intensified,
because if life is the final word and not death, then
those who specialise in death will find themselves out of
work. In the desperation that the warriors of death feel
when they come even a hundred feet close to the power of
Jesus, they will surely intensify their feverish work:
All the agents of death - the torturers and maimers, the
murderers and the governments who execute the murderers,
the advocates and rationalises of injustice, prejudice
and greed. Yes. the army of Death is munerous and nothing
so upsets Death as Life.
Jesus had to die to quench the anxiety of Death.
BUT THINGS ARE SELDOM AS THEY SEEM. He got up.He
was the resurrection and the life, and death is always on
edge, always aware that the God of life is supreme.
Pastor Gene Preston
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