John 11:17-27, 38-45

Comfort in the Face of Death!

¹⁷On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Bethany 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. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

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 would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So 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.”

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

“I’m sorry sir, but she expired.”  Those are the words that a nurse spoke to me when I went to visit one of my members who had just been admitted into a hospice facility.  Since she had just arrived at the facility and since this was my first visit, I stopped at the nurses’ station to find out what room she was in.  After asking me who I was, the nurse looked at me and said with a great deal of empathy in her voice, “I’m sorry sir, but she expired.”  I had never heard that expression before, so I asked her, “Do you mean she died?”  The nurse answered, “Yes.”  I went to my member’s room and found her family gathered around her bed.  After having a devotion and prayer with the family, I headed back to church.

As I was driving back to my office I kept thinking about what the nurse said to me, “I’m sorry sir, but she expired.”  Those words made me think about the fact that we all have an “expiration date.”  Those words also reminded me that only the Lord our God knows exactly when our “expiration date” is.  Since we do not know when we will “expire” the Lord encourages us to always be ready.  We need to be ready for the moment we “expire.”  We need to be ready for the day that someone we love “expires.”

While our sermon text for today is one of the more familiar portions of John’s Gospel I would like us to look at this text from a very specific perspective.  As we continue looking at how Lent Reveals Our Greatest Needs our goal today is to see how these words of John 11 address one of those greatest needs:  Comfort in the Face of Death!

Our text begins by taking us back to a situation which many of us find all too familiar.  After receiving word that His friend Lazarus was ill, Jesus waited two days before He went to Bethany.  John tells us that by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany Lazarus had been in his grave for four days.  For Mary and Martha those four days must have felt like four months.  Many of us know from personal experience that after the death of a loved one time gets all “out of whack.”  John also tells us that when Martha heard that Jesus had finally arrived, she ran out to meet Him and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”  While Martha laments that Jesus had not arrived “in time” to prevent the death of her brother, she confesses her faith, her trust, and her confidence in Jesus with those words, “I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”  Martha drew a tremendous amount of comfort from knowing that Jesus has the power to do amazing miraculous things!

Jesus takes Martha’s trust and confidence and focuses it on the powerful promises contained in God’s holy Word.  Jesus says to her, “Your brother will rise again,” to which Martha faithfully responds, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  While we sometimes think of the resurrection of all people on Judgment Day as a “New Testament” truth, Martha very clearly held to that very same truth— on the basis of  what she had learned from God’s Old Testament Scriptures!  Perhaps Martha was recalling what the prophet Daniel had revealed to God’s people.  As Daniel talked about the Last Day he assured God’s people, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).  Or perhaps Martha was holding on to those words of Job that still bring so much comfort and so much confidence to God’s people right down to this very day, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes— I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!”

Martha gives us a wonderful example to follow when someone we love dies.  We turn to Jesus.  We draw comfort in His power, His strength and His love.  We also turn to God’s holy revealed Word.  We draw comfort and strength from the promises our God has recorded for us here in His Word as well as the many examples of how God’s power and God’s love is able to carry us through even the most difficult and overwhelming situations we experience in life.  Don’t let your Bible collect dust, my friends.  Be in God’s Word on a daily basis so that when something happens to you or to a loved one, you will have ready and easy access to the comfort that God’s holy Word so freely and so richly provides!

John then goes on to reveal to us how Jesus gently directs Martha’s attention away from the death of her brother and the resurrection that will take place on the Last Day to the ultimate source of comfort—especially when someone we love dies.  In love Jesus speaks those words that we love so very much, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?  ‘Yes, Lord’ she told him, ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into this world.’”

These words capture the essence of what a Christian funeral is all about.  Like Martha and Mary we grieve when someone we love dies.  But as the apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Thessalonica, we do not “grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13ff)  Our comfort is found in the fact that Jesus is “the resurrection and the life.”  Our comfort is found in the fact that Jesus guarantees that everyone who believes and trusts in Him “will live; even though he dies.”  Our comfort is found in the fact that everyone who “lives and believes” in Jesus “will never die.”  While the physical body of a Christian is buried in the ground where it awaits the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day, their soul is immediately welcomed into the glory and the perfection of eternal life in heaven!  This is a comfort the likes of which the unbelieving world cannot comprehend!  This is the comfort that dries our tears when we gather together for the funeral of a fellow Christian.  If you have ever been to a non-Christian funeral you know just how precious this unique comfort is!

How do we know that Jesus can and will fulfill the promise that He made to Martha?  Look at verses 38-45 of our text.  Again, I want to highlight the key points.  Look at verse thirty-eight.  John tells us, “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.”  The days and the weeks and the months after the funeral of a loved one can be very lonely.  The phone calls, the visits and the cards tend to fade away.  The people who came up to us at the funeral and said, “If there’s anything you need just let me know,” suddenly become very busy and very unavailable.  Thankfully, we have the comfort that comes from knowing that Jesus is the only One who not only says, “I know what you are going through,” but He also says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:26)  The One who wept at the graveside of His friend Lazarus knows how easily the tears can flow from our eyes.  The One who comforted Mary and Martha when their brother died, will also comfort us when someone we love dies.  How does Jesus come to us and comfort us today?  Once again, it is through His holy inspired Word!  This is yet another reason as to why we need to make sure that our Bibles never gather dust.  As we read and study God’s Word— both at home and here at church— we find the comfort our souls need!

But as you know the ultimate source of comfort in the face of death is found right here in our text, isn’t it.  The One who has the authority to say, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die,” is also the One who has the power to say, “Lazarus, come out!”— and he did!  John tells us, “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.’”  

As we stand beside the grave of someone we love we have the unshakable comfort that comes from knowing that we are not there to say, “Good-bye.”  Our comfort comes from knowing that we can say with all confidence, “Until we meet again!”  Jesus has promised us that when He returns to this earth He will raise all people from their graves, including our loved ones, including us!  Jesus has also promised us that on that day everyone who believes and trusts in Him as their Savior will hear Him say to them, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).  Jesus’ promises to us are a wonderful source of comfort whenever we come face-to-face with death— no matter whether it is the death of a loved one or our own death.

Now we need to be prepared for the fact that the world in which we live will ridicule and reject this comfort— because they reject and ridicule Him!  (Pointing to the cross)  Don’t let that ridicule and that rejection diminish the comfort that Jesus gives to you.  Two weeks from today we will gather together to celebrate the physical resurrection of the One who said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  The One who raised Lazarus from the dead by simply saying, “Lazarus, come out!” will use His divine almighty power to raise Himself from the dead.  No matter how much the world ridicules and rejects Jesus, the world  can not detract from the fact that Jesus’ resurrection guarantees that we have the comfort of knowing that our sins have been paid for; we have the comfort of knowing that the devil has been defeated; and, we have the comfort of knowing that death itself has been conquered!  This is our comfort, my friends— even in the face of death!  Four days in the grave were no match for the One who proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  Any amount of time that we or our loved ones spend in our graves— even if it is decades, even if it is centuries!— is no match for the One who has promised us, “He who believes in me will live; even though he dies.”

Every time I buy milk or bread or anything that has an expiration date on it, I am reminded of what that nurse said, to me, “I’m sorry sir, but she expired.”  We are all born with an “expiration date.”  We don’t know what our “expiration date” is— but He does!  (Pointing to the cross)  As people who joyfully stand alongside of Martha and say concerning Jesus, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into this world,” our “expiration date” does not fill is with fear.  In fact, that faith, faith in who Jesus is and why He came into this world, that faith is what brings us comfort— even in the face of death!

To God be the glory!

Amen