The Weeping of the Resurrection and the Life | Sermon 08/20/2023

John 11:17-37

After a purposeful delay Jesus finally arrives to Bethany, the village of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, His close friends. Lazarus had been dead for four days already. Martha had come out to Jesus, hearing He was near, and demonstrated desperation and grief but also faith. How many times do we do as she did? “God if only you did things differently, this hard circumstance would not have happened.” But then she also showed a confidence in Jesus. He is able. He can do all things. Jesus says Lazarus will rise again and Martha thinks He’s speaking of the final day. Jesus, however, makes a powerful statement that He is the I AM, the Resurrection and the Life, thereby calling her to transfer her hope from an impersonal theory to the personal Son of God. There is no hope for resurrection and eternal life outside of Jesus Christ. And this eternal life is such a sure thing for those who believe that it’s as if that reality were for them now. As if they will never die. They will have salvific life, life in the kingdom of God, life that is everlasting. Martha believes this and therefore anything else pales in comparison to the power of the Christ.

Martha then left to bring her sister, Mary, back to Jesus for a private meeting but the mourners in the house followed her out to Him. When Mary saw Jesus, when her eyes met with her Lord, desperation and grief caused her to collapse; she fell at His feet. She said the same thing as Martha but with far more emotion. And so when Jesus saw her and the Jews weeping something happened to Him. He was outraged in His spirit and stirred Himself up. And the reason He was like this was because He had come face to face with His greatest foe: death. What Satan and sin did to desecrate His creation, the effects of the fall; all these things caused Jesus to look upon the grief of those He made in His image and likeness and be enraged.

Which then at the same time led our Lord to experience one of the most powerful emotions in history. Grief came upon Him and Jesus wept. He didn’t cry for Lazarus specifically; He knew He was about to raise Him. He wept for His people and what sin did to this world. Only the fulfillment of His mission could fix this. And what He was about to do next was on the trajectory of that. The I AM would experience all that was necessary for the salvation of His people.