Lazarus Raised

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Lazarus Raised

John 11:11-15

11 These things [tauta] said [epo] he [autos] : and [kai] after [meta] that [touto] he saith [lego] unto them [autos] , Our [hemon] friend [philos] Lazarus [Lazaros] sleepeth [koimao] ; but [alla] I go [poreuomai] , that [hina] I may awake [exupnizo] him [autos] out of sleep [exupnizo] .
12 Then [oun] said [epo] his [autos] disciples [mathetes] , Lord [kurios] , if [ei] he sleep [koimao] , he shall do well [sozo] .
13 Howbeit [de] Jesus [Iesous] spake [ereo] of [peri] his [autos] death [thanatos] : but [de] they [ekeinos] thought [dokeo] that [hoti] he had spoken [lego] of [peri] taking of rest [koimesis] in sleep [hupnos] .
14 Then [tote] [oun] said [epo] Jesus [Iesous] unto them [autos] plainly [parrhesia] , Lazarus [Lazaros] is dead [apothnesko] .
15 And [kai] I am glad [chairo] for [dia] your sakes [humas] that [hoti] I was [emen] [en] not [ou] there [ekei] , to the intent [hina] ye may believe [pisteuo] ; nevertheless [alla] let us go [ago] unto [pros] him [autos] . KJV-Interlinear

11 This He said, and after that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep.' 12 The disciples therefore said to Him, 'Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.' 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him. ' NASB

The disciples are offering advice. 'Don't go back to Judea. They'll stone us all there.' Next they offer yet more advice, 'If Lazarus is sleeping, then he is getting better.' This implies that now there is no need to return to Judea. Lazarus is getting better!

Next they learn, that Lazarus is not just sleeping in the usual sense of the word, Lazarus is dead, and has been for a couple of days now. You can just see the wheels turning in their heads. 'Well, if Lazarus is dead, then there is nothing more for us to do. No need to return to Judea.'

The disciples were thinking of themselves and only of themselves. They saw impending danger by going back to Judea. Even risking their own lives.

But, wait a second here. Who were they traveling with? Why did they leave their homes and jobs? What are all of these miracles about? All of the healing, and restored limbs that were missing and so forth? What was all of this for anyway? Was this just a change of occupations? Instead of going to work on the docks from eight to five each day, do we now just walk around the countryside and heal people, get fed from baskets which contain virtually no food, and otherwise hang out with Jesus?

My daughter found a web site which had nothing but 'blonde' jokes on it. Clueless is the bottom line for those jokes. Clueless and very shallow. Here are the disciples walking around, interacting on a daily basis, up close and very personal, with God. He is the creator of the universe, the creator of all life, the one who sustains everything that exists. He can merely 'will' something and it will occur.

And they offer advice to Him? Are these guys all blondes? They act like it. But then most folks act in the same way. We all have a personal relationship with Christ available to us, merely for the price of our attention. How many of us take advantage of it? Too few. We all nod our heads in agreement, but then we turn right around and go back to the fog in which we live our lives. It is as though all of this Bible study stuff carries no weight in our souls. And therein is the problem.

We are used to looking around and seeing only that which surrounds us. We have things or we don't have things. We have problems or we don't have problems. We have harsh and very real risks on our horizon, or we don't. We see all of this, or we choose to ignore it all, or we're selective about it.

God is capable of doing anything, for any of us, at anytime. He is not constrained by anything in this universe. He is not dependent on anything in this universe. He does not have to wait for certain things to take place before He can do His own will.

If anyone was in the place of the disciples, then you would think that they would agree with and obey Him without question, with complete trust and confidence.

We don't have to have lived in His time some 2000 years ago. We have His same words and realities today. So what is holding us back? Commitment, faith, belief, consistency, a genuine desire to learn and to grow up?

Do we focus on our wants and needs so much, do we concentrate on that which we do not have so much, that we would forfeit our spiritual life just to feel sorry for ourselves, just to have our tantrum of poor me, just to think that we can find something better out there?

Too many folks aren't patient enough to stick out a lifetime of daily Bible study. Bible study is a daily event, and a life time commitment. You will not find the quick answers over night or on a weekend of heavy reading. In fact you can read really fast through the entire Bible, and it won't do you a bit of good.

John tells us in the last chapter of this book, that Jesus Christ did more and said more than could be recorded in a library the size of planet earth. So what exactly were these disciples listing to, and what were they doing with what they heard? Obviously is wasn't real to them yet. It will be very real later on in their lives, but not now. They are too busy thinking of themselves. And that is the typical nature of all people.

Bible study is generally beyond them. It isn't real enough. Lightning doesn't strike often enough. Miracles aren't delivered in the mail often enough. We just can't seem to drive through and pick up the answers to life (hold the onions). Thank you very much!

We come up with excuse after excuse as to why we shouldn't go back to Judea (danger). Why we shouldn't go back to Judea (responsibility). Why we shouldn't go back to Judea (faith). Why we shouldn't go back to Judea (trust).

We look at our life and think of what we don't have, or we presume that we don't need God (we have a better idea about our life), or we assume that God just doesn't care about us any more (after all we haven't won the lottery yet)! But there is always tomorrow's lesson. Or is there?