Not Too Late | When Jesus Steps into Our Dead Ends | John 11

September 23, 2013

Book: John

INTRODUCTION

There are moments in life when everything seems lost and life seems to be going nowhere—when doors close, dreams die, relationships break, health declines, and prayers seem unanswered. We call them dead ends. You’ve tried everything, waited faithfully, believed earnestly, yet nothing has changed.

I would like to turn your attention to the Gospel according to John 11.

In John 11, we encounter a family that faced just such a dead end. A beloved brother, Lazarus, has died. The funeral is over. The tomb is sealed. But the story is not finished, because Jesus steps in.

This morning, we’re going to see that no matter how dead a situation may appear—when Jesus steps in, resurrection is possible, hope is restored, and God’s glory is revealed.

John 11:1-15

1Now 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.) 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4When 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.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7and 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?”

9Jesus 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. 10It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

11After 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.”

12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When 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. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and 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.”

28After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When 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.

32When 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.”

33When 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.

35Jesus wept.

36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

38Jesus, 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.”

40Then 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. 42I 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.”

43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The 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.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then 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. 48If 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.”

49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

hat anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

CONTEXT

We are in a place in the Gospel of John where the Pharisees and the teachers of the law are trying to arrest Jesus.

Bookends – Jesus avoiding arrest.

Story centres – Raising of Lazarus

Jesus avoiding arrest in Transjordan: 10:40-42

  • Jesus has left Jerusalem and gone to Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John had been baptizing (John 1:28). This happened at Bethany.
  • Jesus has left the tense dispute and opposition in John 7-10.
  • He leaves the city and goes out into the country side. End of Ch. 10, in this location many people came to him. We are told in that place many believed in Jesus.

There he hears of Lazarus’s sickness and Jesus travels back to Bethany.

We are coming closer to the end of Jesus’ public ministry, and here we have an account of the last of Jesus’ miraculous signs before the cross – the raising of Lazarus from the grave. This is the climatic 7th sign in the ministry of Jesus. This passage is the transition from the end of signs to the beginning of Passion. Lazarus’s death and resurrection foreshadow the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Passive Lazarus: Although Lazarus is at the centre in the story, he is almost entirely a passive character. He does not speak, and all the events – his illness, burial and resurrection – merely happen to him. The main responses come from his sisters Martha and Mary, and from ‘the Jews’.

The episode consists of four parts:

  • The news of Lazarus’ death (11:1-16)
  • Jesus the resurrection and the life, and the responses of Martha, Mary and ‘the Jews’ (11:17-37).
  • The resurrection of Lazarus (11:38-44
  • The final response of ‘the Jews’ (11:45-53).
  • 11:7-16 – Jesus proposes the trip and teaches the disciples
  • Jesus returns to Bethany
  • 11:17-29 – Jesus converses with Martha.
  • 11:30-37 – Jesus converses with Mary and mourners
  • 11:38-44 – Jesus arrives at the tomb and raises Lazarus.
  • 11:45-46 – Result: Some Jews believe, others betray.
  • 11:47-53 – The Pharisees plan to kill Jesus.

11:1-6 – Jesus learns of Lazarus’ illness but delays.

We are told in John 11, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus about Lazarus’ illness. The basis for this request is Jesus’ love for Lazarus.

V4: Lazarus was to die but restoring him to life, Jesus would be glorified, which will result in God’s glory. God would be glorified through Jesus’ action.

V5-6: Jesus learns that Lazarus is sick. Jesus loved Mary and Martha but and he stayed back for 2 days. It does not match, isn’t it? We learn that Jesus’ delay was not because he did not love them, but the delay was motivated by love. The spirit of the departed was thought to hover around the body for three days in the hope of a resuscitation. The raising of Lazarus after four days, then, would be clearly seen as a manifestation of the glory of God (4), which would strengthen the two sisters’ faith.

Delay does not mean that God does not love us.

11:7-16 – Jesus decides to return to Judea

John 11:7-10

7and 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?” (John 10:31, 33)

9Jesus 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. 10It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Jesus regarded the period of his ministry as the ‘day’ (9:4), and during the day he would accomplish his Father’s purpose without stumbling, i.e. without being deflected by reminders of previous attempts by ‘the Jews’ to stone him, or because of the possibility that they would try to do so again if he returned to Judea.

Theme Light and Darkness

Reference(s)

Jesus is the Light

John 1:4–5, 1:9, 8:12, 9:5, 12:46

Response to Light

John 3:19–21, 12:35–36

Urgency and Mission

John 9:4–5, 11:9–10

Salvation and Identity

John 12:36 (children of light)

John 11:11012

11After 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.”

12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

Death is portrayed as sleep. Disciples misunderstood it, v12. Jesus told metaphorically, the disciples understood it as literally.

Sleep is a common metaphor for death; 1 Kings 2:10 David rested with his fathers (rested – NIV; slept – KJV; lay down – NASB); 2 Kings 8:24 Jehoram rested; 2 Chronicles 9:31 Solomon rested with his ancestors; 1 Th. 4:13 – 13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope..

14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:8)

Thomas is very sarcastic, v16. He is referring to v8. He is admitting that there will be danger in Jerusalem and the disciples will be in danger in Jerusalem. (Thomas: 14:5; 20:24-29; 21:203). In fact, the disciples fled, and Jesus died. Jesus’ death was unique and no one could die with him.

Jesus returns to Bethany.

Jesus Comforts Martha

John 11:17-27

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When 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. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (This is an orthodox belief of the Pharisees, Jesus shared the same belief 5:21, 28-29; but Jesus was talking about an immediate restoration of Lazarus’ life.)

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (5:21, 26. What Jesus would do to Lazarus will be a foreshadow of the resurrection fo the last day. People who live and believe in Jesus will never die)

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (Messiah, the son of God: Martha has grown in her faith; her confession echoes Nathaniel’s confession 1:49, this is the faith that the write wanted to evoke in the minds of his readers – 20:31).

V24 Martha – Believes in the final judgement and resurrection to precede it.

Jesus comforts Mary

John 11:28-36

28After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. (Immediate, instant response)30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When 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.

32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet (Worship tension in her worship but reproached Jesus as not coming on time. Perhaps when we worship these two things can coexist; reflecting her faith in Jesus and despair at the same time.) and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved (11;38)in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35Jesus wept.

36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

The Humanity of Jesus:

What is the post popular and the shortest verse of the Bible? John 11:35 – Jesus wept.

V33-35, 38 Jesus is deeply moved in spirit and troubled; Jesus wept. This shows the humanity of Jesus.

We live 2025 years after Christ and sometimes we miss out on the humanity of Jesus. He was God become human who identified with us and lived on this earth all the limitations that a human being have. The life of Jesus and especially this passage in John 11 fully proves both the humanity and divinity of Jesus.

When we reflect on the significance of Jesus weeping, we have a profound, a window into the reality of the incarnation. How Jesus Christ was truly authentically, genuinely, fully human.

The Bible constantly brings us this truth that Jesus is God. He is Immanuel. He is God with us. Jesus, God with us is not just an appearance or illusion (Docetism). It is a true authentic incarnation, Jesus’ full authentic humanity needs to be understood as well.

Or Gnosticism that held that the body and the material universe is inherently evil and so God could never become man. He could never become man because he has to compromise his holiness. Well the Bible is not Gnostic and it does not agree with the Docetic error that Jesus just appeared like a vision. He was a real incarnation.

2 John 7

I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

You deny Jesus’ humanity, you are an antichrist.

1 John 4:2-3

2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Jesus wept. Jesus was fully human and fully divine.

Hebrews 4:15

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin

He experienced the full range of emotion.

He experienced anguish as he approached Gethsemane.

The price of death on the cross was real suffering.

Jesus wept because he loved Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. He wept in the garden of Gethsemane.

Hebrews 5:7-10

7During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

He claimed to be the son of Man. 82 times this name is used in the gospel records. Not just any son of man but the Son of man, the one predicted in Daniel 7.

John 13:31

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.

Daniel 7:13-14

13“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Jesus is standing before the High Priest and he says

Matthew 26:63-64

63The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

64“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus is fully human.

Restoring Lazarus to life

John 11:38-44

38Jesus, 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.”

40Then 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. 42I 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.”

43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The 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.” (foreshadow of future resurrection 5:28-29. Let him go: No publicity stunt.)

The Divinity of Jesus

Brining Lazarus back to life proves that Jesus is God. He has control over death and life. The gospel beings with the statement that – in the beginning was the Word.

John 1:1-4

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Paul talks in Colossians about Christ, the fullness of God’s life.

Colossians 2:9

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form

Jesus himself taught about His divinity:

John 14:9

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

John 10:30

I and the Father are one.

Jesus claimed pre-existence.

John 8:58

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Jesus called himself the very name of God that God revealed in Exodus 3.

John 6:38

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

Jesus is God

He forgave sins.

He controls nature. He commands the wind and the waves, and they obey his voice.

Jesus accepts the worship of his followers. After His resurrection in Matthew 28:9, the disciples, they came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

Our passage is a foundational passage for the hope of resurrection. Do not live like the rest of men who have no hope. We Jesus’ affirmation to Martha.

John 11:25

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

One thing is apparent that Martha had no trouble in believing in a very remarkable way in what Jesus could accomplish in this terrible situation.

Martha says:

John 11:21-22

21“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

I believe she really meant that. It does not matter what sickness you have, God will answer the prayer of Jesus and Lazarus will be fine.

Mary says the same thing when she sees Jesus:

John 11:32

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.”

They both were in agreement that Jesus can prevent even the most dreadful problem. If he is there at the moment of need, Jesus can handle it. Many of us have that kind of faith. We believe that Jesus is up to prevention. We apply that to our marriage, if Jesus helps us we can keep our marriage going. But there will come a point like in the life of Lazarus where the problem becomes irremediable, buried, dead for 4 days. Now it is too late.

We bring this to our lives. Some say: Jesus could prevent a marriage from going bad, but once we are no longer loving each other, it is done. It is buried. It is too late. Likewise, we hold the same view with respect to illness and cancer, for that matter. We say, “Jesus can help you prevent cancer by changing lifestyle but once you get it, the most you can do is to keep you in good spirits. What about depression? Maybe Jesus can prevent it but Jesus cannot solve it. We feel that Jesus cannot solve a problem, once it has overtaken you.

But that does not seem to be the lesson here. Jesus is not allowing Martha to remain in that level of faith. The more dead Lazarus is, the greater the glory to Christ. The greater the problem is, the greater the glory for Christ.

John 11:23-24

23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

If Jesus can solve the problem in the last day, he can solve the problem today as well.

John 11:25-26

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

His nature as the resurrection and life just does not apply to the end time. He is the resurrection, he is going to show by raising Lazarus, interrupting death at that moment.

He is the life that keeps us from dying. It is a life that is in-interruptible, it is in-extinguishable, it is in-corruptible. Yes, physical death will put an end to our material existence but it cannot end the spiritual life that we have, which is fellowship with God. that is uninterruptable. God will not allow the grave to get in-between us. So eternal life starts now. Do you have that quality of life that he speaks about.

John 5:24

24“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

You have resurrection right now. The kind that Jesus wanted to depict in the raising of Lazarus.

The take away lesson for the rising of Lazarus is that: Jesus is not only hope for the afterlife, Jesus is hope for now. That the same resurrection power is available to us in whatever deadly situation we find ourselves.

Ephesians 2:1-7

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

We are invited to respond by faith: John 11:25

John 11:25

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26and 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.”

John 10:10

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

In John 5 Jesus puts these words together,

John 5:24

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

A time is coming when all who live in the grave will hear his voice and come out.

Jesus is saying, “What is true of Lazarus is just an example of what can be true for you this morning. You can come out of your grave. “Yes, the situation looks hopeless. Yes, we are dead in our transgressions and sins. Yes, some of us are chained in our habits..”

We look at our lives and we see worry as the characteristic quality, we see always the problem up ahead. But God says to us trust in him.

That resurrection power is available for us today.

God Loves You

We see through the scripture that God loves humanity. God loves you. Jesus wept because he loved. He loved Lazarus.

John 11:35-36

35Jesus wept.

36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Deeply moved in spirit. In Greek, it is the word for the horse’s snorting. It refers to fast breathing. That is how Jesus was in response to the sorrow of those who love. He feels deeply our grief and our sorrow.

Our saviour is not far off.

Job 34:28

They caused the cry of the poor to come before him,

so that he heard the cry of the needy.

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

He is the one who Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Isaiah 63:9

In all their distress he too was distressed,

and the angel of his presence saved them.

In his love and mercy he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them

all the days of old.

Result:

V45-53 Some Jews believe

Many reject and betray Jesus.

From this most amazing of Jesus’ miracles, we see a plot to kill Jesus.

Mary and Martha’s grief and belief. They believed that Jesus is the Messiah.

Many Jews believe, 11:45. The Pharisees did not believe Jesus was the Messiah; 11:47-53.

LIFE APPLICATION POINTS

God’s Delays Are Not His Denials

Jesus Understands and Feels Our Pain

No Situation Is Beyond Resurrection Power

Jesus Invites Us to Personal Faith in the Present

Jesus Loves You