Day 41 of 49
Death, the final frontier. Jesus existed from the beginning as God, a member of the Trinity, always living. He never experienced separation from God or death. He knew what it was, he knew the effects on a human…but he had never experienced either himself.
Jesus faced the death of his physical body. Did he know about the separation from God? It sounds as if he is surprised by it on the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”, while experiencing separation from God for the very first time.
Did he face his coming death with trepidation? In the garden he prays, “If possible, let this cup be taken from me.”
Jesus made a statement to the people around him, “God gave me the authority to lay down my life and the authority to take it up again.” This statement of faith showed that he trusted God completely, that by dying, something he had never experienced, he would be able to rise again.
When he spoke in the garden, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done,” he gave a statement of conviction. He chose to walk in obedience, fully dependent upon God to keep his word.
Life exists in organisms who are capable of performing functions such as reproduction, ingesting nutrients, expelling waste. Death occurs when those functions cease. Life must exist for death to take place.
Resurrection, coming back to life, can only occur after a death.
When we use the term resurrection, which literally means to rise up, it almost always means to be raised up from the dead. Spiritually, we use it to refer to ourselves after accepting Christ, we are now dead to sin and risen in Christ.
On Day 11, I spoke of the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Today I will focus on Martha’s discussion with Jesus.
So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Jn 11:20–27.
When he tells her that her brother will rise again, she answers that she knows he will on the last day. It didn’t cross her mind that Jesus meant that day. Jews believed resurrection could happen up to the third day. But four days meant that Lazarus was as dead as could be, no hope for a physical resurrection.
The understanding of the resurrection in first century Judea considered it to be on the final judgement day, when Israel would rise to its former glory with the Messiah as the forever King. All the other nations would be judged and condemned for their treatment of the Jews.
Jesus continues: “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Everyone who believes in me will never die.” Then he asks her if she believes that.
Martha’s dilemma: “Everyone who believes in me will never die”…my brother believed and is dead. Belief vs sight, it’s not always crystal clear, our eyes are dimmed by our experiences.
So Martha gave a statement of faith. “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who was promised to come.” In her understanding, he was the one to bring about the resurrection in the final day. He was her only hope…”even now, the Father will do what you request.”
To follow Christ, we need to die to ourselves. Death came into the world, because Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil instead of the Tree of Life.
Christ was life from the beginning, he had no death within him. However, he came as a man, to die so that we could have a resurrected life, free from sin. Jesus embodied life, he did not have to die. He chose to die, and chose to take up his life again in resurrection.
- Jesus being both-gives life initially and returns it when lost
- Jesus had life within himself
- Jesus able to give and receive the resurrection
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jn 11:38–44.
Jesus told the people to roll the stone away. Can you imagine the shock on every face? They all knew four days dead meant he would stink. Martha spoke up, and he reminded her of his words, “Did I not tell you, if you believed, you would see the glory of God.”
What went through her mind at that time? Was her heart stirred with a belief that passes all understanding? Did hope arise in her? She gave the word to remove the stone. This is not stated, but it is understood that no one would have moved the stone without her permission.
”Lazarus, come out.” Jesus had to call him by name, if he had just said “Come out,” it is very possible that all the past relatives would have come out with Lazarus. Jesus told the people to unbind him, so that he could walk freely.
It is interesting to read the resurrection narrative in light of Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life. In these narratives, we find the living example of a life laid down and taken up again. Because Jesus Christ lives, we have eternal hope.
- Matthew 27:32-28:10
- Tombs were opened-saints who had fallen asleep appeared in the city
- Saints, those that lived for God
- Imagine being in Jerusalem and seeing your dead relatives
- You seek Jesus who was crucified: not here, risen as he said
- Tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me
- Tombs were opened-saints who had fallen asleep appeared in the city
- Luke 23:26-24:12
- Jesus continued to do the work of God, even on the cross
- Thief: Today you will be with me in paradise
- “Save yourself”
- Why seek the living among the dead?
- Disciples didn’t believe the women
- Mark 15:33-16:8
- You seek Jesus who was crucified. He is risen
- John 19:1-20:18
- Pilate no authority unless given by God
- Made sure his mother was cared for
The resurrection is key to the Gospel message, without it, we have no hope of a future. It is mentioned quite often in the letters written to encourage Christians.
- Acts 24:14-16
- There will be a resurrection of the just and unjust.
- Keep a clear conscience before the Lord
- Christianity first called “The Way”
- Romans 6:5-11
- We will be united with Christ in resurrection
- Old self crucified so we no longer enslaved to sin
- Die with Christ, live with Christ
- Death has no more dominion over the one who died
- When we are dead to sin, we are alive to God in Christ Jesus
- Christ’s death, once for the sin of all
- Christ lives his life for God
- 1 Corinthians 15:42-49
- Resurrection of dead
- Sown perishable-raised imperishable
- Sown dishonor-raised in glory
- Sown in weakness-raised in power
- Sown in natural body-raised a spiritual body
- Adam became a living being, Christ became a life-giving spirit
- We are the image of the man of dust, we will bear the image of the man of heaven
- Resurrection of dead
- Philippians 3:7-11
- Knowing Christ
- More valuable than anything I own
- More valuable than anything I am
- More valuable than my own righteousness
- By faith
- Know him
- Know the power of his resurrection
- Know the fellowship of his suffering
- Become like him in death
- So that I may attain the resurrection from the dead
- Knowing Christ
- 1 Peter 1:3-6
- Resurrection of Christ provides a living hope
- It causes us to be born again
- We have an inheritance
- Imperishable
- Undefiled
- Unfading
- Kept in heave
- Ready to be revealed in the last time
As I consider Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life. He is the essence of life. In him flows the blood of the ages, an eternal existence that brings glory to God.
He brings life back to the world, what Adam sold for a piece of fruit, Jesus restored by his death and resurrection.
We are resurrected to live a new life, not bogged down in the bondage of sin, but free to live as God desires, dying to our own desires.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Php 3:7–11.
Because Jesus said “I AM the Resurrection and the Life”
- I have_________________
- I can_______________
- I will________________
TRICIA LATHROP 