I AM (#5): The Resurrection & the Life
October 24, 2023
John 11:17-38 | Philippians 3:10-12
We pick up today where we left of yesterday - Jesus knows that Lazarus is dead, heads to Bethany. Both Martha & Mary demonstrate that it’s okay to express grief and despair in specific terms to Jesus (“Where were you when…?!). Jesus gives perhaps the most explicit understanding of the future resurrection anywhere in scripture - it is him. Resurrection. He is resurrection.
It’s a common theme with Jesus, but still often missed by many today. For Christians, we don’t primarily define any number of concepts by words and philosophies and persuasive tactics.
It’s Jesus.
What is resurrection? Jesus.
What is truth? Jesus.
What is goodness and care? Jesus.
What is life? Jesus.
These aren’t simply Christianized-platitudes. They are indeed theological statements, but they are not neat and orderly systematic theologies. They are messy. But they are the Christology to which Christians are called.
All of these things are explained by the person of Jesus.
Resurrection & life?
Jesus.
John 11:17-38
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was a little less than two miles from Jerusalem. Many Jews had come to comfort Martha and Mary after their brother’s death. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary remained in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”
After she said this, she went and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The teacher is here and he’s calling for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. He hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.
When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus began to cry. The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus was deeply disturbed again when he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance.
Philippians 3:10-12
The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead.
It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose.
Prayer
God,
Thank you for this day. Thank you for the sun rising. I want to lean into the certainty of such things (the rising sun, the flowing tides, the clouds swirling, the bird singing).
I’ve learned not to lean into the certainty of human things. I’m just being honest.
It’s what is so amazing about your son, Jesus’ person. Frankly, it does seem so often to be quite a stretch: someone so loving, so wise, so simple, so full of compassion.
But I do choose to believe. Help my life follow suit.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
Amen. Amen.