Easter Sunday
I am the Resurrection
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: One of the unique phenomena of the past decade has been the proliferation of reports of after-life experiences. Ever since the publication of Dr. Raymond Moody’s book, Life After Life, there have been magazine articles, movies, talk shows, and more books capitalizing upon the public’s fascination with life after death, or near death.
Most of these accounts purport to relate the experiences of individuals who for a few seconds or a few minutes felt their souls being detached from their bodies while near death. Without trying to offer a biblical analysis of these experiences at this time, I ask you to compare these stories with the experience of a certain man in the NT who was not near death but stone dead; whose soul did not leave his body for a few seconds or minutes but for four days!; who was not just revived but resurrected, to the point that the processes of rigor mortis and decay had to be reversed!
Imagine the experiences he could have recounted had he been one to capitalize on his notoriety. My suspicion is that Lazarus was very carefully chosen by God as a person who could handle this unique event. I remember reading that the U.S. government carefully examined hundreds of astronauts before picking Neil Armstrong as the first man to step on the surface of the moon. They gave as much attention to his character as they did to his expertise or physical conditioning, for had the wrong person been chosen for that task, the resultant fanfare could have been almost unbearable for the rest of us. Just imagine if Donald Trump had been the first person on the moon or Jesse Jackson or Oprah Winfrey or Geraldo Rivera (I guess Geraldo would never have agreed to do it—there’d have to be an audience there first). The very dignified, low-key way Neil Armstrong has conducted himself in the past 20 years demonstrates that the government made a very wise choice. (Note added in 2025: This sermon was written in 1989 long before Trump became a political figure).
And God also made a wise choice in Lazarus, for there is no evidence he tried to exploit the situation. Let’s read his story, as found in John 11:1-53:
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Our text today is long, and months could be profitably spent on it. Dr. James Montgomery Boice preached nineteen 45-minute sermons on this chapter alone. But I have decided to look at the whole rather than the parts and take a simple biographical approach, asking the question, “How did the various individuals and groups of individuals who appear in this story respond to Jesus and to this marvelous miracle He performed?” Then we will ask ourselves how we have responded to the one who is the Resurrection and the Life.
But let’s begin with a bit of background. It is very late in Jesus’ earthly ministry, perhaps just a matter of weeks before the crucifixion. Jesus has stirred up violent opposition with His teaching, and now He is ministering exclusively across the Jordan, outside the grasp of His enemies.
Chapter 11 opens with reference to a family from the village of Bethany—a family who loved Jesus and who were loved by Him—consisting of two sisters and a brother, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. How Jesus met them or why He took to them we do not know, but we do know that for Jesus, who had no home of His own and no place to lay His head, this home in Bethany was a very special place. What a precious thing it is (and how often we take it for granted) to have a house and a home into which we can go at any time and find rest and understanding and peace and love. I’m afraid only those who once had it and lost it fully appreciate it.
Lazarus was sick, and a simple message came to Jesus from the two sisters: “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” They don’t ask Him to come; but do they really need to? When the nurse at school calls you mothers and tells you that your child is sick, she doesn’t say, “I was wondering if you could possibly come and pick him up.” No, she simply says, “Your child is sick,” and it is assumed that you will come. I believe that Mary and Martha assumed that Jesus would come.
But Jesus doesn’t come. Instead, He does two things: First, He comments about the sickness that it is not “a sickness unto death” but rather one that will result in glory to the Father and the Son. In the context Jesus must have meant that it was not a sickness unto final death, for Lazarus did die.
Secondly, we read in verse 6 that “When therefore Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was.” In this verse a logical connection is drawn between the report of Lazarus’ illness and the fact that Jesus stayed two more days. Jesus doesn’t stay because He is too busy, or because He is ill, or because He has misunderstood Mary and Martha’s message. Rather He stays two more days because He has heard that Lazarus is sick.
Now what kind of a friend is that? I believe John expects us to ask that very question, and that’s why he goes out of his way to tell us very pointedly that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. You see, love doesn’t always mean giving those we love what they want when they want it. Sometimes the loving thing is to say “no” and sometimes the loving thing is to say “wait.” Jesus, by His action said, “Wait.” I like the way one commentator put it: “God often delays but He’s never late.” To be late means that you weren’t where you were supposed to be on time. To delay means that you wait for a better time. Jesus delayed in going to Bethany—He wasn’t late. How often have we accused God of being late in meeting our needs, only to find out later that He had merely delayed!
There’s another lesson I see in this delay of two days, and it is that the Lord will not allow us to set His timetable or order His priorities—He is sovereign! Twice before in the Gospel of John this truth has been pressed home. First, in John 2 at the marriage feast of Cana of Galilee, Jesus’ mother hinted very strongly to Him that He should do something about the fact that the wine had run out. And His response was, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” A second example is found in John 7, where Jesus’ unbelieving brothers tried to get him to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles and promote Himself. Their idea was, “If you want to be a V.I.P. you’ve got to press the flesh and kiss the babies.” But Jesus answered them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.”
Now once more here in John 11 we have the people that Jesus loves the most trying to order His priorities and tell Him what to do. Interestingly, in each of these cases He does what they request, but only after making it clear to them that He would do it in His own way and in His own time. Let us never forget that we are creatures and tat Jesus is Lord. He will not accept coercion from even His dearest friends.
With that as an introduction, we come now to the first group of individuals who respond to Jesus.
Jesus’ disciples—frightened literalists
We read in verse 7 that after His two-day delay Jesus says to His disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” His disciples are aghast, for Judea is where the greatest opposition to Jesus is centered, especially in Jerusalem its capital; and Bethany is only two miles from the outskirts of Jerusalem! So, in verse 11 Jesus explains to them why He wants to go there—because “our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.” The disciples take that information as a good reason to argue, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. We don’t need to go there and risk our necks for someone who is recovering!”
Frightened literalists is what I have called them. In their fright they are like the ten spies sent into the Promised Land who saw nothing but giants in the land and saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison. What they don’t realize is what Pogo immortalized: “We have found the enemy and they are us.” They need to learn some important spiritual lessons, and Jesus proceeds to offer them some in a brief discourse about day and night in verses 9 & 10: “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has not light.”
Two key lessons are found here among other truths: First, God has allotted each of us a specified amount of time, and we are immortal until that time is up. No amount of opposition will shorten the day that God has granted to us. And second, when the time that God has allotted us is gone, it’s gone. We must make the most of the light God has granted; we must capitalize on the presence and power of Christ.
The disciples are not only frightened, but they are also literalists. When they hear the word “sleep”regarding Lazarus, they seize upon it as an excuse not to go to Bethany. But Jesus does not mean “sleep” literally. “Sleep” is a consistent NT euphemism for the death of a believer, picturing the peaceful, temporary nature of death for one whose heart is right with God. So, Jesus finally speaks plainly, “Lazarus is dead and I am glad.” Aren’t those words rather shocking!? Of course, they do not imply that Jesus was glad his friend died but glad that this extremity has provided an opportunity for the development of faith: “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe.” They need to learn the lesson that the power of God is not limited to the physical presence of Jesus, for in a few days or weeks Jesus’ physical presence will no longer be available to them ever again. Yet His power would continue to be available to them. And considering Jesus’ purpose of developing their faith, it is not hard to understand why He allowed Lazarus to die, for what would help their faith more, to see a sick man healed or a dead man raised?
In verse 16 we see our second biographical sketch, which is very brief, and I have referred to this one as …
Thomas—the pessimistic loyalist
To Jesus’ words that Lazarus is dead and it is time to go to Judea where he is, Thomas responds, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” This is so very much in keeping with all we know of Thomas. Virtually every time he appears in the NT it is as a doubter and a pessimist, a man of melancholic temperament. All of us have known people like Thomas. Their philosophy of life is, “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Their motto is, “Things always look the darkest just before they turn completely black.” They think, “If I expect the worst, at least I can never be disappointed.”
Still, I feel kind of sorry for Thomas. He’s gotten a lot of bad press, and it’s true he deserves some of it. But let us not be blind to the fact that his statement here, “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” can also be viewed as an act of courage. Thomas is looking death in the face and chooses death with Jesus rather than life without Him.
The story picks up again in verse 17 with Jesus in Bethany, where Lazarus has been entombed already four days. At this point we are introduced to our third biographical note.
Martha and Mary, subtle censors but budding believers
Martha and Mary were sisters of very different temperament. Martha was the active type, Mary the contemplative. Here Martha hurries out to meet the Lord while Mary sits in the house alone with her grief. Notice how Martha approaches Jesus: “Lord if you have been here, my brother would not have died.” Later Mary says the exact same thing. Undoubtedly the sisters had rehearsed what they would say.
I believe Martha and Mary have chosen their words very carefully. They don’t want to accuse Jesus of not caring, yet they want Him to know their keen disappointment. There is a subtle censoriousness behind these sisters’ words. And there is also a significant underestimation of the power of Jesus. They apparently haven’t learned that Jesus’ healing power is not limited by space or time. He didn’t have to present to heal, as we learned from the healing of the nobleman’s son in John 4.
But lest we be too harsh on these sisters, may I point out that they are budding believers. Their faith is developing as it is being stretched. They at least believe that had Jesus been there, their brother would not have died! And then in 22 Martha goes a step further and says, “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” I don’t know what she meant, but we learn from verses 23-24 that the furthest possibility from Martha’s mind is an immediate resurrection of her brother. Perhaps she meant that Jesus could give her comfort.
Martha is like a lot of us. We know that God can do anything and can answer any prayer, but we only know that intellectually—we don’t really believe it practically. Frankly, I can sympathize a lot more with her weak faith than with my own, for the thing she is being asked to believe God for is virtually unique—the resurrection of a loved one who has been dead for four days. All God asks me to do is to believe Him for normal things—daily bread, security, relationships, protection, ministry—and I even have trouble with that! Oh, that we might learn to have faith in the absolute power of God. Unlimited faith! Not to demand things from Him but to expect great things from Him.
If Martha’s and Mary’s faith was inadequate, though developing, their words at least provide the context for Jesus’ greatest statement of comfort and power: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believe in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
May we pause there for a moment? Jesus does not say simply that He will cause resurrection and life. He claims that He is the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Jesus will live even though He dies. This paradox brings out the great truth that physical death is not final. For the heathen or the unbeliever, death may be thought of as the end of life, but not for the one who believes in Jesus. The very moment a person puts his trust in Jesus he begins to experience eternal life, and that life cannot be touched by death. I would paraphrase verses 25 & 26 this way: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies physically; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die spiritually. Do you believe this? That is, have you put your trust in me and received me as the resurrection and the life?”
We should not leave this verse, particularly on Easter Sunday, without the further observation that this One who claimed to be the Resurrection was Himself resurrected just a few weeks later. In His own resurrection He conquered death to such an extent that His new body would never again see death. Lazarus was brought back to life, but he later died again. Not so Jesus, or those whom He will raise when He returns to this earth, i.e., all those who have believed in Him.
In verses 28-34 we gain further insight into the situation in Mary’s and Martha’s home. A crowd of mourners are there doing their duty in consoling the grieving sisters. People in those days took the custom of mourning seriously. They generally continued for 7 days, often breaking out into loud wailing. The word for weeping in v. 33 suggests hysterical shrieking. It was a scene of pandemonium, sorrow, and perhaps even a certain measure of hypocrisy.
And that to me provides the key to John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible, which simply says, “Jesus wept.” A different Greek word is used for Jesus’ weeping than for that of the mourners. His was a quiet weeping, but He was no less deeply moved. In fact, one translator renders verse 33 in this fashion: “He gave way to such distress of spirit as made His body tremble.”
Now why does Jesus have such a deep emotional response when he comes upon this scene? I personally don’t see how it could be caused by His own mourning for the deceased, because He is about to raise Lazarus from the dead. It must instead refer to His deep concern at the sense of hopelessness demonstrated by Mary and the other mourners. They so completely misunderstood the nature of death for a believer and so completely underestimated His divine power that Jesus weeps for them.
Then immediately following v. 35 we have our fourth brief biographical vignette.
The Jews—confused skeptics
The Jews observe Jesus weeping, and they attribute it to his love for Lazarus, but some wonder at the fact that one so powerful that He can heal the blind could not have prevented the death of His close friend. The same mistake was made later as He hung on the cross, when some jeered, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.” What both groups failed to realize is that Jesus’ lack of action had nothing to do with His ability; rather it was evidence of a higher purpose. He could have healed Lazarus and He could have easily come down from the Cross, but then His goal of demonstrating the glory of God and saving the world would not have been realized.
As we come to v. 38, we find Jesus at the tomb, requesting that the stone be removed. Martha, thinking perhaps that Jesus wanted to see the face of His friend a final time, protests that decay has already occurred, for Lazarus has been dead four days. The importance of the four days is to stress the actuality of the death of Lazarus. It is curious that the Jews had a belief that the spirit of the departed hovered around his tomb for three days. But on the fourth day the spirit finally left, for the face of the body was so decayed that it could no longer be recognized.
All possible human explanations of resuscitation being removed, Jesus prays and renders to His Father all the glory for the miracle He is about to perform. He doesn’t have to pray out loud, verse 42 indicates, but He does so in order that His submission to His Father might be seen by the people. And with that He cries out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” Someone has suggested that Jesus spoke Lazarus’ name, otherwise all the graves would have opened and everybody in that cemetery would have come to life!
And Lazarus comes walking out of that tomb, still wrapped in his grave clothes, still with His face covered. And Jesus, never one to forget minor details, commands, “Loose him and let him go.” If you wonder why Jesus gave that command, just ask yourself, “Would I have gone up to Lazarus and unwrapped his face without being commanded to do so?” I doubt it.
Well, the miracle is over, but the results are not. In vs. 45 & 46 we see that the result of the miracle, as always, is division. The Jews are split into two camps. Many believe in Him, but some go away to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. And that brings us to our fifth biographical sketch:
The Chief Priests and Pharisees: murderous nationalists
A council of the Sanhedrin is convened in verses 47-48, with the point being made that if they let Jesus go on performing miracles like this one, everyone would end up believing in Him, and then the Romans would come and take away both their place and their nation. They are stretching a point, of course, because there were many just like themselves who would never believe, no matter how great the evidence. But you can see exactly where their concern is. They are the privileged class and they fear the Romans will not stand by indifferently during a popular tumult stirred up by Messianic expectations. They need only to have someone stand up and suggest the execution of their opponent. Which brings us to our final biographical note concerning one man in that Council.
Caiaphas—unwitting prophet
He speaks to the rest of the Sanhedrin and says,
“‘You guys are too ignorant for words! (My paraphrase) You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.”
This is one of those rare cases in the Scripture where God uses an unbeliever to convey His truth. But if He could use a dumb donkey in the OT to be His spokesman, then I see no reason why He shouldn’t use Caiaphas in the NT. Caiaphas’ intention, of course, is murder. It seemed better to him to put one man to death—even an innocent man—than to see the whole nation destroyed by the Romans. But God is also speaking through Caiaphas’ words, and His intentions are quite different. God intends the words as a prophecy of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross.
Either the people must die or Jesus must die. But if He dies, the people can live. And this is not true of the Jewish people only, for it is God’s purpose through the death of Jesus to gather into one Body the children of God who are scattered abroad. In other words, the vision here is world-wide. Anyone and everyone who is willing to put his trust in Jesus Christ can become a full-fledged child of God because He died in our place.
Robert McAfee Brown was a W.W. II American army chaplain on a troopship in which 1,500 marines were returning from Japan to America for discharge. He was approached by a small group of G.I.’s to do Bible study with them and eagerly seized the opportunity. Near the end of the voyage, they were studying John 11 and afterwards a marine came to him. “Everything in that chapter,” he said, “is pointing at me.” He went on to say that he had been in hell for the last six months.
You see, he had gone straight into the marines from college. He had been sent out to Japan. He had been bored with life; and he had gone out and gotten into trouble—bad trouble. Nobody knew about it except God. He felt guilty; he felt his life was ruined; he felt he could never face his family again, although they didn’t even know about it; he felt he had killed himself and was a dead man. “And,” said this young marine, “after reading this chapter I have come alive again. I know that this resurrection Jesus was talking about is real here and now, for he has raised me from death to life.”
That lad’s troubles were not finished; he had a hard road ahead; but in his sin and guilt he had found Jesus as the resurrection and the life.
Have you found Him? He’s looking for you. He’s reaching out to you. This very day He would like to resurrect you from spiritual death and give you abundant life. Then someday in the future He will come again and resurrect you physically and give you a new body like His own glorious body, in which you will be able to enjoy Him and serve Him for all eternity.
DATE: Easter, March 26, 1989
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Resurrection
Pessimism