John 11:1-16

00:00:00:32 – 00:00:33:37
Clint Loveall
Hey everybody! Thanks for finishing up the week with us as we continue through the Gospel of John. We’re moving into the 11th chapter. Today, the 11th chapter is again an interesting chapter. If you were with us when we went through chapter nine, chapter 11 has some similarities in that. It all functionally grows out of one story. John is going to tell us a story, and then really the rest of the chapter is kind of anchored into that story, actually, even maybe on past did a little bit.

00:00:33:37 – 00:00:56:58
Clint Loveall
So I think it will be a story that is largely familiar. I think if you’ve hung around in church much, this would be a familiar story. It’s also pretty memorable, I think, because of the content. But let’s jump in verse one, chapter 11. Or read all six verses or so. Then we’ll try to see what we can find in it.

00:00:57:03 – 00:01:22:16
Clint Loveall
Now a certain man was ill Lazarus of Bethany, in 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. So the sister sent a message to Jesus, Lord, he whom you love is ill. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death.

00:01:22:17 – 00:01:52:36
Clint Loveall
Rather, it is for God’s glory so that the Son of God might be glorified through it. 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. So just kind of in the introduction here, Michael, we have Lazarus, a reference to an event that I think hasn’t happened yet in regard to Mary that’s coming in the next chapter.

00:01:52:40 – 00:02:23:43
Clint Loveall
We’ve been, for the last day or so mentioning signs, a reminder that the scholars who study the book of John say there are seven major signs. This is the seventh. And I think in some case, you’d have to say the pinnacle. It is perhaps the most, amazing of the signs in regard to, you get the sense that the people John is writing to know these folks, that they’re known in the community.

00:02:23:58 – 00:02:58:19
Clint Loveall
The effect of the story, though, is that they just kind of drop in. A certain man was ill. Lazarus, I don’t think, we’ve had mention of Lazarus yet that I remember, although it’s possible that I’ve forgotten. And we have this very strange moment where Jesus makes this strange pronouncement again to tie back to chapter nine. You might remember that chapter begins with the question of why the man was born blind, and Jesus says, so that the glory of God can be seen.

00:02:58:24 – 00:03:45:09
Clint Loveall
And here we have a similar kind of answer. The illness does not lead to death. It is for God’s glory and John isn’t into explaining things to us. He often just lays out a detail that we wish we knew more about. But in this case, he says, because of this pronouncement that Jesus has made, that Jesus stays where he is, it couple of days longer now, there’s some interpretive stuff that we’ll have to work out through that lens later in the story, but for now, it doesn’t maybe hit us as an important detail, but it sets the stage for everything that’s going to come next.

00:03:45:16 – 00:04:14:33
Michael Gewecke
I’m not going to have much to add, to this here. I think maybe just, one comment that I would, make sure we want to know that that Jesus continues. The two threads, really, as this story moves forward. So and we’re going to see more of this as we go. So I’m going to be brief about this, but the first thread is that whenever Jesus is going to prepare to do a miracle, it’s in the Gospel of John, never just blanket revelation.

00:04:14:33 – 00:04:35:28
Michael Gewecke
It’s never just a miracle. For miracles sake. I think that this is an impression that people have of the of the Bible. That is not entirely helpful and not true, that the telling of miracles in the Bible is not like, sort of record of magician acts. This isn’t like, oh, and then he did this other really cool, amazing, you’ll never believe it kind of thing.

00:04:35:29 – 00:04:56:54
Michael Gewecke
No. The Gospel of John, the red letters here in verse four are really, really an important reminder of the characterization of why Jesus is doing what he does here. This idea, that illness that Jesus, we he already knows where it’s going, right? He he already has that foreknowledge that doesn’t lead to death. We have that tip. The idea.

00:04:57:03 – 00:05:18:48
Michael Gewecke
It’s not going to death, though in just a moment we’re going to see it go in that direction. Rather, this is for God’s glory, so that God may be glorified through it. So, so it has a way of witnessing to who he is. Jesus already knows what’s going to happen, but he’s already seen not just the physical action, but the spiritual meaning that will come when it’s all connected.

00:05:18:48 – 00:05:45:23
Michael Gewecke
It all of this is sort of reaching forward. The other thing I think I just want to point out here is the fact that we would really love to have all of the information about these characters and, and why they get in so that the times that they do and all these kinds of things at the end of the day, you have to remember that all of these encounters with Jesus for John fall under the heading and the purpose of seeing Jesus for who he is.

00:05:45:23 – 00:06:08:44
Michael Gewecke
And I think that this story does cause problems for folks, as we’re going to see as we go through it. There’s some relational things in it that may just seem off to a modern hearer. And just a reminder Jesus has purpose is, as we have explicitly listed here, Son of God, glorified through what’s about to come, what we should be looking and seeing in in this entire story.

00:06:08:49 – 00:06:30:45
Michael Gewecke
How it reveals something uniquely true about who Jesus is, and therefore the one who who was sent. And and that’s not even connecting to the previous theme. We’re going to get into this as as we go further in the story. But you got to remember, Jesus was just talking about life, being willing to give up life. So now we’ve immediately transitioned into the story where a person is at the edge of death.

00:06:30:45 – 00:06:39:45
Michael Gewecke
They’re they’re nearly at the end of life itself, those things being grouped in that way. That’s not accidental. John’s leading us on the journey here.

00:06:39:50 – 00:07:04:28
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And let’s let’s jump into the next chunk and then we’ll come back. Then after this, he said, the disciples let us go to Judea again. And the disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you. Are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world.

00:07:04:33 – 00:07:26:22
Clint Loveall
But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them. 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’s fallen asleep, he will be alright. Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought he was referring merely to sleep.

00:07:26:27 – 00:07:50:17
Clint Loveall
Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead for your sake. I’m glad I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him. Then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to the other disciples, let us go also, that we may die with him. This, I think, is kind of vintage, John, that we’ve seen.

00:07:50:22 – 00:08:15:11
Clint Loveall
Jesus makes a statement. The disciples argue with him. Jesus makes a cryptic statement they don’t understand. Then Jesus says a thing that sort of ends the conversation. And interestingly enough, here at the end of the passage, you have Thomas, whose claim to fame is that he later in the gospel he doubts. In fact, he often wears the label doubting Thomas.

00:08:15:16 – 00:08:52:04
Clint Loveall
But here he says, with an act of faith or courage or whatever it might be, let’s go with him. And if we let us go, that we may die with him. So, interesting that this same disciple, who is thought of by history as the one who doubts, shows such, courage here in this matter. I don’t know what we learn from this part of the story, Michael, other than, again, Jesus knows what he’s going to do, even to the point of saying, I’m glad you weren’t there.

00:08:52:04 – 00:09:11:33
Clint Loveall
I’m glad I wasn’t there. So that you might believe. Because for John, as we’ve been saying, it’s saying it’s always about belief. It’s about how do you respond to what you see Jesus do. And this on ramp takes us exactly back to that place we’ve been many times.

00:09:11:38 – 00:09:35:18
Michael Gewecke
So I think a really important detail that he’s mentioned here is the fact that, right right away here, we now see the connection to yesterday’s text. So if you weren’t with us yesterday, you know, hit the back button, go back to the previous video in the series here. But what’s really interesting is notice verse seven, after he says this, the, the he says, let’s go to Judea again.

00:09:35:18 – 00:09:59:58
Michael Gewecke
The disciples say, just so we, the reader, don’t forget, the Jews were just trying to stone you and you want to go back there. Well, let’s just get back here. Just always remember here that previously Jesus was talking about being the shepherd, the one who was willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Right. You have all of these themes about the one who’s willing to give up life for the sake of the others having life.

00:10:00:10 – 00:10:21:32
Michael Gewecke
Well, now we immediately transition to the story where Jesus is saying, let’s go back to the place where they were trying to take my life. Jesus is living out his, teaching. He’s he’s willing to do the very thing that, he said that a good shepherd should do, except for the fact. And, Clint, this is the great overall irony of John.

00:10:21:32 – 00:10:41:42
Michael Gewecke
It’s not Jesus’s time. And so there really is no chance in the Gospel of John in the context of this gospel. There’s really no chance that Jesus is going to lose his life because he’s not reached a determined time where he’s going to give that up. He always understands to the extent that in this story he knows that this illness is going to lead to something else.

00:10:41:42 – 00:11:15:55
Michael Gewecke
So we have that the beginning of chapter 11. And then now he knows that he’s died, though the disciples clearly don’t. And and so that foreknowledge, that ability to understand what is happening, that clarity is always set against, as we’ve said so many times now, that the darkness or the confusion of the disciples who are there. I think one thing worth noting here, though, is, this story, Clint, I think, lands very powerfully on an early church that is themselves waiting for Jesus to return.

00:11:15:55 – 00:11:37:35
Michael Gewecke
Come soon, Lord Jesus, I, I think this story would have had an unbelievable, powerful impact on the people who counted themselves and the number I was saying, hey, Jesus, we’re sitting here waiting for you. We’re sick. We’re we’re in trouble. We’re in dire circumstances. Are you going to come and hear Jesus delays for just a few days? And why?

00:11:37:49 – 00:12:00:55
Michael Gewecke
Lazarus certainly didn’t know that, Mary. Martha didn’t know that. But now Jesus has predetermined. There’s a there’s a glorification, a plan, a providential work that is going to be done because of this circumstance. Jesus knows it, and that would be of great comfort to the Christians who themselves. I think we’re really in a circumstance of waiting in the trouble and the trial in their own time.

00:12:00:55 – 00:12:15:36
Michael Gewecke
So I do believe that this story that comes to us as a powerful significance, as the people who would have first heard that would have found in it, I think a great comfort.

00:12:15:41 – 00:12:45:00
Clint Loveall
It seems to me that it would be hard to read this story and not ask your question. Asked the question, why doesn’t Jesus go right away and, yeah, I think not to oversimplify it, but your answer, I would say Michael, is really the only answer you can give. From John’s perspective, it was time it Jesus’s. Jesus is unhurried in his mission.

00:12:45:05 – 00:13:06:42
Clint Loveall
Jesus knows what to do. Jesus knows when it’s time to do those things. And as Jesus hears the news about Lazarus, he he doesn’t feel compelled, as if if he could only get there fast enough, he could help. Jesus knows that he has the power over life and death, and that he will speak life when he gets there.

00:13:06:46 – 00:13:33:18
Clint Loveall
And I think when we are troubled by these details, which is a natural outcome of the way the story is told, I also think that’s an opportunity to see through John’s perspective that this isn’t an issue for Jesus. In this gospel, Jesus does what he’s supposed to do when he’s supposed to do it, and and absolutely does. Does that have resonance?

00:13:33:18 – 00:14:03:30
Clint Loveall
Does does that, land on a community that is saying, hey, I thought Jesus was coming right away to bring life? What was this eternal life? He early on in the chapter you said we were at, this would live forever, and his life was light and light of the world. And why isn’t that happening yet? And the simple answer that John might again provide is that’s to God’s glory and in God’s time.

00:14:03:30 – 00:14:11:55
Clint Loveall
And so there may be a lesson beyond the obvious story of the text here. I think that’s I think that’s a really good insight.

00:14:12:00 – 00:14:41:36
Michael Gewecke
Well, I just verse 11, I’ll just point out really, really quickly here that language of fallen asleep is really a substantial statement of faith that the early church repeats. And then we actually find in later New Testament letters as well. So I just want this to be clear that that’s such a striking statement, the idea that Jesus is saying, a person who has died, who has ceased living, you can’t emphasize that enough so that you get the force of it.

00:14:41:36 – 00:15:04:49
Michael Gewecke
A person who you stand at the grave, in this case, when they get there, you know, we’re not there the story yet, but it’s going to be in the grave. Right? And and the reality is, when you say that this person is merely asleep, it’s just a temporary moment, that that kind of statement is a powerful witness to the Christian theology, which is simply the the vocabulary word.

00:15:04:49 – 00:15:37:17
Michael Gewecke
We used to say the the thing that we believe about, the, the reality of resurrection, about what God is going to do. And, Clint, I think many of us are going to be surprised. We don’t generally think about this, but the the first encounter with death that is reversed in the New Testament account here in John is not going to be the resurrection of Jesus and not to spoil the story that is to come, but just to say that this idea of falling asleep is planted right here in chapter 11 of John.

00:15:37:17 – 00:15:53:06
Michael Gewecke
We have a lot more chapters to come. And John’s already having Jesus give us teaching about that thing. And that’s a really significant addition and a significant learning for the church as as it matures and as we study who Jesus is.

00:15:53:06 – 00:16:18:50
Clint Loveall
I think not only that, Michael, but the second half of that verse, I am going there to awaken him, not to see what I can do, not to share with the grief, not to pass my condolences on to his sisters. Everybody in this story, from this point on is going to assume that this is a death story. But Jesus, from the very first instance, knows it’s a life story.

00:16:18:50 – 00:16:45:05
Clint Loveall
Even the disciples are. If you go there, they might kill you. And Thomas says, I’ll go with you. Let’s go with him and we’ll die to. Jesus is the only one in the story who even remotely considers that this is a life story, that this is about living and not death, not dying. And that’s going to be even more prevalent, I think, as we move through the story.

00:16:45:05 – 00:17:05:49
Clint Loveall
But it it is a credit to John, and it’s what we’ve always said about this gospel. He’s not in to surprising us. If you listen to Jesus, you know where he’s falling asleep and he will be all right. I am going there to awaken him.

00:17:05:54 – 00:17:34:24
Michael Gewecke
Well, and just one final note here, because realizing, you know, you’re going to have to come back to the next study to see the next two really important part of this story. But I just want to point out that there are some amazingly consistent themes throughout this book, and we see it again and could so easily pass by because Clint verses nine and ten here in red that they are not particularly easy in terms of just following with the narrative.

00:17:34:24 – 00:17:57:18
Michael Gewecke
Right? Because we hey, we have this person who’s really sick. He’s a friend of Jesus. Jesus has been go asked to meet the person he’s holding back. Right. We can’t wait to push that story ahead. Would be our proclivity, but but instead, John records this lesson about the daylight. Those who walk in night, they stumble because, you know, they don’t stumble if they see the light of the world.

00:17:57:23 – 00:18:20:16
Michael Gewecke
But but here’s the crazy thing, verse ten, the very end of it, because the light is not in them. Remember how this book began? Jesus is the light of the world who took on flesh. He came to be with us, and now we have this idea that the light is in them, that the light can actually be part of your experience of the world, that you can see clearly as the light has now come.

00:18:20:16 – 00:18:45:05
Michael Gewecke
And I think that that is the amazing consistency of this book. It continues to weave these themes back. Through. Is it always seamless? I honestly, I don’t think it is. I think it is in many ways much more like a patchwork kind of quilt where where these things get sort of blended in and put in together, and you see how they’re all supposed to inform one another that their proximity is not accidental.

00:18:45:05 – 00:19:06:14
Michael Gewecke
And so here once again, you have not just the idea of sleep, not just the idea of death, not just the idea of what’s going to happen, resurrection, providence, God’s glory. You also have, once again, this idea of darkness and light. What do we see and not see? What do we believe? What we do not believe? What are we going to discover about who Jesus is through the actions he’s about to take?

00:19:06:21 – 00:19:13:27
Michael Gewecke
And that is just sort of mashed and melded right into this story here. So it’s a part of it from the very start.

00:19:13:31 – 00:19:50:40
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And I think again, this is a familiar story. This part of the story might be difficult to read devotional, but I think it does ask some questions as to what do we understand Jesus timing to be? And are we willing to wait and look to him? And what do we think would be beyond Jesus limits? These people that have seen these incredible things still have far to go to understand the depth of and and the power of this man that they think they’re getting to know.

00:19:50:40 – 00:20:03:48
Clint Loveall
And so this is an eye opening kind of story. And I think, in this part of the story, though, it gets easier later. It’s still there. And I think those lessons still function in this, in this part of the narrative.

00:20:03:48 – 00:20:23:13
Michael Gewecke
Surely if it’s true for them, it’s also true for us. So, so certainly, I hope you’ll continue with us along this journey through the gospel. John, as we turn to such an important part of this story, how we’re going to continue that next Monday. And, friends, certainly give this video a like if it has been interesting, challenging, if there’s something in it that you think others might want to see, it helps them find it.

00:20:23:15 – 00:20:24:21
Michael Gewecke
Thanks for being with us. Thank you.