First of all good morning to you all and welcome, especially
if you’ve come today because it’s Back to Church Sunday.
Over the past three weeks we’ve been looking at John’s
Gospel and focusing on a series of seven I AM statements which Jesus made about
himself.
This morning we’re looking at Jesus’ claim to be the
resurrection and the life which we come across in verse 25 of today’s gospel
reading, which you’ll find printed on your service sheet.
Sometimes people make very bold claims. Some sportsmen
for instance have claimed to be the greatest or the best in their particular
field.
Sometimes like Usain Bolt they can back up their claim as
they hold both the World record time and the Olympic title. Their track record
verifies their boast.
Sometimes however it doesn’t and rather embarrassingly
they are brought down to earth with a bump.
In this passage today Jesus makes a very bold claim. He
says “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.”
Now either Jesus is telling the truth or he is very
deluded indeed, so this morning I’d like to look at this claim of Jesus and see
what light this story of the raising of Lazarus can throw on it.
Firstly there are 3 pieces of background information we
need to be aware of when looking at this passage. Campbell has already
mentioned these but we need to be reminded of them to fully appreciate what is
going on here.
Firstly John’s gospel is an eye witness account of Jesus
life and ministry.
John saw and touched and lived with Jesus, and his gospel
is based on the time he spent with him and what he experienced.
So John was there when Lazarus was raised from the dead
and he has recorded for us at first hand what occurred.
Secondly John wrote his gospel as he says in Chapter 20 “so
that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and
that through believing you may have life
in his name.”
John’s whole gospel is aimed at persuading you – sitting
here today - that Jesus really is who he claimed to be, the Christ, the
Messiah, God made flesh, so that you can experience the eternal life which he
came to give you.
And thirdly, the words I AM that Jesus uses in this
passage, are very significant as these are the words that God used to describe
himself to Moses.
In Exodus chapter 3 God says to Moses, when Moses asks him
who he should say had sent him; "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to
say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.”
So when Jesus uses the words I AM just before raising
Lazarus, he is using exactly the same words which God used to describe himself,
and John records these 7 I AM statements that we’ve been looking at over the
past few weeks, precisely in order that we ourselves might recognise Jesus as
God.
Let’s look at the passage. Firstly John wants us to be
sure that Lazarus is well and truly dead by the time Jesus gets to him. Thus he
records Martha’s words in verse 39 when Jesus asks for the stone to be rolled
away; “Lord, already there is a stench, because he has been dead for four
days.”
4 days is significant because there was a Jewish belief
that for 3 days the soul hovered near the body in the hope of re-entering it,
but after 4 days the soul departed and the person was well and truly dead.
Martha knew that her brother was dead and that after 4
days it was likely that the body would be starting to decompose.
Jesus however is undeterred by Martha’s incredulity. We
see in the previous verses of this chapter, that He knew when he first received
word that Lazarus was ill that he would be raised back to life.
He says in verse 4 “This illness does not lead to death.
Rather it is for God’s glory so that the Son of God may be glorified through
it.” Jesus knew that his beloved friend would be brought back from death to
life.
So the stone is rolled away and then Jesus looks up
towards heaven and prays out loud to his heavenly father.
He wants all those who are witnessing this event,
including us here today, to understand the intimacy of his relationship with
God the Father in order that we will believe that he has been sent by God.
He says “Father I thank you that you have heard me. I
know you always hear me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing
here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus talks to his Heavenly Father out loud so that those
watching and reading this story will realise that he is talking to the God of
Abraham, the creator of the universe, the one who lives in him and in whom he
lives.
Now this may sound a bit confusing but in John chapter 14
Jesus explains a bit more about his relationship with his heavenly father in answer
to a question from Philip, who says; “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be
satisfied.’
In other words Philip says to Jesus, show us God and then
everything will be clear.
Jesus says to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time,
Philip, and you still do not know me?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me?
“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own;
but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me, that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of
the works themselves.”
So in this account of the raising of Lazarus we see God
himself in the person of Jesus raising a dead man back to life that we might
believe in him.
We see the author of life speaking words of command to a
dead man to reveal his true identity to us, so that we might recognise who he
is, and believe in him.
We see the one who claims to be God and to be the resurrection
and the life demonstrating that he has the power and authority to summon a man
back from death.
Jesus simply speaks a few words of command; “Lazarus come
out,” in the same way that he spoke words of command when he healed people –
“be healed,” and in the same way that he spoke words of command to demons – “come out of him”, and in
the same way that he spoke commands at the creation of the world.
But what does Jesus mean when he says that he is the
resurrection and the life, and that those who believe in him even though they
die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in him never die.
Firstly he is saying that there is neither resurrection
nor eternal life outside of him. He is the only one who can raise the dead to
life and he is the only one who can give us eternal life.
You can look for resurrection and eternal life elsewhere
but you won’t find them except in the person of Jesus.
The resurrection Jesus is referring to is the final
resurrection of believers at the last day.
The bible teaches that those who have believed and placed
their faith in Jesus will be resurrected at the last day. So this resurrection
is a future event.
This resurrection is a sharing in Jesus own resurrection.
Just as he overcame the power of death and burst forth from the tomb so will
those who place their faith in him. On the last day we will be raised up with
him, clothed with immortality and imperishable bodies.
However the life that Jesus is referring to is eternal
life, the life of his kingdom. And this is something that we posses as soon as
we put our faith in him.
And this eternal life will never end. Unlike ordinary
mortal life which ebbs away, the life that Jesus gives will transcend death, so
whoever lives and believes in him will never die.
The life of the relationship we have with Jesus as we
come to believe in him, will carry on into eternity.
The bible teaches that until we come to believe in Jesus
we remain spiritually dead.
Although our bodies and souls are alive we are cut off
from God and the life of his kingdom.
We don’t really know God or experience
fellowship with him.
A useful analogy is radio waves. Radio waves are all
around us but in order to listen to them we need a radio with a functioning
aerial.
Once these are in place we can tune in and listen to
different stations.
Until we come to believe in Jesus our spiritual aerials
are missing. However as we put our faith in him and invite him into our lives,
he imparts eternal life to us, the life of his kingdom.
We experience a spiritual birth. This why Jesus spoke of
being born again and said unless a person is born again they cannot see the
kingdom of God.
At this point we start to experience life in 3 dimensions
rather than just 2. Rather than just experiencing physical life and the life of
the soul, we also start to experience spiritual life, the life of God’s
kingdom, the life that Jesus came to impart.
We become aware that a spiritual realm exists – an
eternal realm, that is inhabited not only by God and angelic beings but also
the devil and demonic beings.
We become aware that this spiritual realm impacts the physical
realm in which we live, and that actually there is a battle going on between
good and evil, between God and the forces of evil.
We become aware that we are called to join forces with God
and seek to lead people towards Jesus, the only one who can save us and protect
us.
This is fundamentally what CS Lewis’ Narnia books are
about. The children in the books become aware of a parallel world where they
are called to fight for Aslan against the forces of evil.
As we come alive spiritually we come to recognise that
Jesus is God and the bible will start to make more sense to us.
Jesus teaching and parables start to become clearer and
Paul’s letters make much more sense from this spiritual perspective.
We experience life with God’s Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
Jesus living within us.
The Holy Spirit is very gentle and unobtrusive –
sometimes frustratingly so – but as we focus our lives on following God he
imparts power and love to us.
Power to start to live in a way that is pleasing to God,
and love for those around us.
When we pray even though God can sometimes still seem
distant we know in our hearts that
He is listening to us.
Life takes on a new dimension and we start to see the
world through a spiritual lens.
This is the life that Jesus is talking about, life in
relationship with Him.
So to conclude John presents us with this eye witness
account of the raising of Lazarus in order that we might believe that Jesus
truly is God, just as he claimed to be.
And we see God made flesh telling us clearly that He
alone is the resurrection and the life.
The raising of Lazarus from the dead is a miraculous sign
that points towards the truth of Jesus claim for those who will accept it.
And this raising of Lazarus foreshadows Jesus own mighty
resurrection and the eventual resurrection of those who will put their faith in
him.
In
the name of the living God. Amen
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