Sunday School Lesson
Lesson scripture: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Introduction: Jesus and death cannot coexist. Death has no victory around Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:54, 55). Jesus destroys the one who has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). Jesus proved this in his earthly ministry. Prior to his own resurrection, Jesus raised three people from the dead: the widow’s boy at Nain (Luke 7:11-17), Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:21-43), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Five reasons made the raising of Lazarus the most famous: 1) Its proximity to Jerusalem—the others took place in Galilee. 2) Its nearness in time to Jesus’ own resurrection. 3) The reaction by the religious leaders. 4) The space devoted to the narrative—44 verses. 5) The “I am” claim associated with the event. This month our lessons have considered four joyous weddings. But today we focus on a solemn funeral. Funerals remind us that the world is not set right yet (Romans 8:18-25). Funerals remind us of our poor choices (Genesis 3:1-19). But when Jesus attended, the funeral death was swallowed up by life.
The Tomb Unsealed
John 11:38-40KJV
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
The earlier narrative tells us of Jesus’ tender relationship with the family of Lazarus. Jesus was informed of Lazarus’s illness with these words, “Lord, the one you love is sick” (John 11:3). When Jesus arrived and greeted Martha and Mary, he was moved by their disappointment and tears. John 11:33 says, “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” Whole sermons could be preached from the tiny verse, “Jesus wept” (v. 35).
Our printed text begins with these words: Jesus, once more deeply moved . . . We have a Jesus who can be moved. We have a Jesus who can be touched by our grief. Truly as the song says, “No one understands like Jesus.” But Jesus’ pathos was more than mere sentiment. His pathos moved him to action. “Take away the stone.” Martha probably objected for a number of reasons, but the one stated in the text is, “By this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” In Jesus’ day burial followed quickly on the heels of death. Bodies were not embalmed but placed in a stone-like grave for one year to give the body time to decompose. Then the bones were removed and placed in a bone box called an ossuary. But Lazarus’s decomposition would be interrupted. The pathos of Jesus moved him to do something that put the glory of God on display.
Jesus' Prayer
John 11:41-42KJV
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Jesus needed no excuse to pray. He prayed before meals (Mark 6:41), in the early morning (1:35), and all night before he chose the apostles (Luke 6:12, 13). He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). He prayed on the cross (15:34). He often withdrew to pray (Luke 5:16).
After the stone was removed from the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed. The prayer began with Jesus’ typical intimacy, “Father.” It proceeded in thanksgiving, “I thank you that you always hear me.” It acknowledged that an omniscient God knows everything, “I knew that you always hear me.” Finally it allowed others to overhear and thereby believe, “But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” Everything in John’s Gospel moves us to the purpose of his writing, namely belief in the one sent from Heaven (John 20:30, 31).
Loose Him and Let Him Go
John 11:43-44
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
The pathos of Jesus motivated the prayer of Jesus, which fueled the power of Jesus. Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” More than one person has observed that it was good that Jesus called Lazarus by name. Had he not done so, Jesus would have emptied the cemetery! Who could doubt that he had that kind of power (John 5:25)?
The next words are a stunning tribute to the power of Jesus. The dead man came out. What other teacher can do that? This power is what sets Christianity apart from other religions. Philostratus tells of Apollonius of Tyana who supposedly performed a resurrection, but it was never substantiated. Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism have nothing quite like this. Jesus is in a category all his own when it comes to resurrection.
Lazarus crawled up those steps with his strips of linen and sudarium (the cloth around his face). Jesus commanded his sisters to unwrap him like they would a Christmas gift. What words of liberation these were, “Let him go.” When Jesus shows up at funerals, dead people move out of the cemetery.
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