Lazarus & Jesus

Sunday Service 11/21/21 : JOHN—Raising of Lazarus
Phil Woodman
Key Passage: John 11

Jesus Waited

  • John Mark Comer said “Hurry is violence on the soul. We get sucked into the tyranny of the urgent, not the important.”

    • Going going going doesn’t allow our soul to breathe. Do you feel that? Especially as we approach the holidays. The pace of everything picks up doesn’t it?

    • Maybe before jumping into anything, the best thing we could do would be to stop, seek our Father in heaven and be filled by the Spirit to prepare ourselves for what’s ahead of us whether it be a crisis, a busy season, or simply the day ahead of us so that we can function out of the fullness of God, rather than depending on the strength of man.

    • That is not the point of the story, but something we would probably benefit greatly from if we put it into practice.

    • There was purpose to Jesus waiting. So that God would be glorified.

Martha Believed

  • She knew, she believed…but Lazarus’ death was still final in her mind.

  • Which is a little interesting because Jesus had already raised someone from the dead….twice! But both of these times, the person was still in their home and had been dead for a few minutes or hours. Like they might not be fully dead. And Mary and Martha had not been present for those occurrences. I’m sure they probably heard about them, but they took place in Galilee far from their home.

Jesus Was Deeply Moved

  • We see the humanity and emotional side of Jesus on display in this passage. We hear of his deep love for his friend that leads him into certain danger to visit. We see mourning and sadness as Jesus weeps, but he is ultimately led to anger.

  • B.B. Warfield writes: “It is death that is the object of his wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death, and whom he has come into the world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage: and he advances to the tomb, in Calvin’s words, [slide] ‘as a champion who prepares for conflict.’”

  • Where have you put him? Let’s go.

Mary and Martha Believed in a New Way

  • Death is the physical result of what sin does in the spiritual realm. God grieves and mourns those who are spiritually dead. And just days later he would do something about it to show his power over death and sin once and for all.

  • Do you KNOW Jesus as the resurrection and the life? Can you clearly state how Jesus has made you alive and transformed you from death to life? How is God making you new each day? If you can’t see how Jesus has changed you, is it possible that you know Jesus, but you don’t KNOW Jesus? Like Mary and Martha, your faith may be sincere, but limited.

  • In this season of thanks, what are we, what are you doing to proclaim the life we have experienced in Christ to those needing resurrection from the spiritual death they live in? It moved Jesus to tears and made him angry to the point he needed to do something about it. May God move in our hearts that we are lead to DO something to help people experience Jesus and have the opportunity to move from death to life.


Jesus is the resurrection and the life. I pray you KNOW that and have experienced that life.