Divinity of Jesus - Week 6
- May 18
- 12 min read
Today we are going to talk about something that usually makes people a little uncomfortable - death. I know. Not exactly the typical Sunday morning topic. But here is the thing: you cannot have an honest conversation about Jesus without talking about death. Because He walked directly into it.
None of us are getting out of here alive. That is reality. And it can be kind of hard to talk about. But we are looking at truth today. This is not theory. This is some of the most personal and powerful language Jesus ever used.
Here is the setup. Jesus has a close friend named Lazarus. Lazarus lives in Bethany with his two sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus gets sick. His sisters send word to Jesus - the one you love is ill. And Jesus does not come right away. He waits. And Lazarus dies.
By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. This is not an almost-died situation. This is a fully, completely dead situation.
And before we get into the passage, there are a few things to hold in mind as we read:
First - Jesus said upfront that this sickness was for the glory of God, aiming at a miracle that would reveal He is the Son of God.
Second - in first-century Jewish tradition, it was believed that the soul hovered near the body for three days after death. By waiting until the fourth day, Jesus removed any possibility that someone could argue Lazarus had simply fainted or fallen into a deep sleep. Four days in a tomb in the Middle East left no room for debate.
Third - this delay was not negligence. It was setup. Jesus was moving His disciples - and everyone watching - from seeing Him as a healer to understanding Him as the
Resurrection and the Life. From miracle worker to Savior.
Let's look at the text.
1. Martha Meets Jesus at the Edge of Her Grief (vv. 17-22)
John 11:17-22
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 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."
Martha runs to meet Jesus. And the first thing out of her mouth is grief mixed with faith. "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." That is real. That is honest. She is not pretending everything is okay.
But then watch what she does. She does not stop at the grief. She pivots: "But even now
I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You." Even now. Even in this. Even when it feels too late.
Have you ever been in an "even now" moment? When everything you hoped for has not happened the way you planned? When it feels like God was late? Martha is right there.
And she is still talking to Jesus. That is faith - not the absence of grief, but the presence of trust in the middle of it.
Even now. Even here. Even this. Faith does not require a good outcome first.
Exegesis
The detail that Mary "remained seated in the house" while Martha ran out is not incidental. In Jewish mourning culture, sitting on the floor or low to the ground was the prescribed posture of grief. Visitors would come and sit with the bereaved in silence or in consolation. Mary was doing exactly what the tradition called for. Martha broke from it to run to Jesus. Both responses appear in this passage - John is not ranking them. He is showing two people processing the same loss in two different ways, and Jesus is about to meet both of them exactly where they are.
Martha's statement in verse 21 - "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" - is not an accusation. It is honest grief spoken to someone she trusts. The form of it in Greek carries no rebuke. It is the language of someone who knows the person she is talking to is capable of more than what just happened, and she is saying so directly.
That is actually a high form of trust.
Martha's confession in verse 22 - "even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You" - is extraordinary. She does not know what she is asking. She does not fully expect resurrection. But her faith is reaching further than her theology. That is worth paying attention to. She is not asking for anything specific. She is just leaving the door open. And Jesus is about to walk through it.
Application
Bring Your "Even Now" to Jesus. Martha did not clean up her grief before she ran to Jesus. She went with the raw version - Lord, if You had been here. This week, think about the thing in your life that feels like a sealed tomb. The situation that feels too far gone.
The prayer that feels like it has gone unanswered too long. Bring that to Him. Not the polished version. The real one. He can handle the honest version of you.
2. Jesus Makes the Most Personal Claim of the Series (vv. 23-32)
John 11:23-27
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."
Martha gives the theological answer. She knows about the resurrection. She believes in it - on the last day. Future tense. Someday. Eventually. That is good theology as far as it goes.
And Jesus reframes the whole thing. He does not say "the resurrection is coming." He says "I AM the resurrection." Not a future event. A present Person.
This is the shift. Resurrection is not a doctrine to hold. It is a Person to know. And He is standing right in front of her.
"Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." That is a promise that cuts through every fear about death. Not that death is painless. Not that loss is easy. But that death does not get the final word. Because the final word belongs to the One who holds life itself.
And then He asks: "Do you believe this?" Not believe this about the last day. Not believe this in theory. Do you believe this right now, standing in front of a tomb?
Martha's answer is one of the most remarkable confessions in all of Scripture. "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." She says it before she sees anything. The tomb is still sealed. Lazarus is still dead. And she says yes.
That is still the question He is asking us today.
The Resurrection is not a date on the calendar. It is a Person and His name is Jesus.
John 11:28-32
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
After Martha's confession, she goes back to the house and delivers one of the most tender messages in this whole story: "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." He is asking for her. In the middle of her grief, with mourners all around her, Jesus is specifically calling Mary by name.
And Mary rises quickly. She does not deliberate. Something about knowing Jesus was asking for her got her up off the floor. The mourners follow, assuming she is going to the tomb to weep. And in a way they are right - she is going to where the weight of grief is.
But she is going to Jesus first.
And when she gets to Him, she does something Martha did not do. She falls at His feet.
Same words - "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" - but a completely different posture. Martha met Him standing, talking, theologizing. Mary arrives on her knees, in tears, without a speech.
Two sisters. Same loss. Same opening words. Completely different approaches. And Jesus receives both of them.
There is no one right way to come to Jesus in your grief. Martha came with questions and arguments. Mary came with tears and silence. Jesus did not correct either one. He moved toward both of them. He meets you in your language, not His preferred format.
Exegesis
The structure of verses 25-26 is a two-part promise and both parts matter. First: "Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" - this addresses physical death. The believer will die in body, but will live again. Second: "Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die" - this addresses spiritual death. The one who trusts in Christ has already passed out of spiritual death into life, and that life cannot be taken. Jesus is covering both dimensions of human death in a single declaration.
The question Jesus asks - "Do you believe this?" - uses the present active indicative in Greek. It is not asking about her belief in general or her theology on paper. It is asking: right now, in this moment, standing here, do you believe this? It is a present-tense, first-person invitation. It is the same question He is asking every person in the room today.
The phrase "calling for you" in verse 28 carries quiet weight. Jesus had not entered the village yet - He was waiting outside. But He specifically sent for Mary. He did not wait for her to come find Him on her own. He initiated. That is the same pattern from John 10 - the Good Shepherd calls His own sheep by name. Here He is doing exactly that, in the middle of a house full of mourners.
Application
Come to Him in Your Own Language. Martha came standing, talking, questioning. Mary came on her knees, in tears, barely able to speak. Jesus received both of them. There is no required posture or script for bringing your grief to God. If you process by talking, talk. If you process in silence, be silent. If all you have is tears, bring the tears. The point is that you come. He is calling for you.
3. Jesus Demonstrates Divine Authority Over Death (vv. 33-44)
John 11:33-36
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
"Jesus wept." The shortest verse in the Bible.
Notice what triggers it. It is not just the tomb. It is seeing Mary weeping - and the crowd weeping with her. The grief of the people He loved moved Him. He did not step back from it. He stepped into it.
Jesus knows what He is about to do. He knows Lazarus is coming out of that tomb. He knows this story has a good ending. And He still wept. Because He loved them. Because grief is real and He took it seriously.
Do not let anyone tell you that trusting God means you do not get to grieve. Jesus - who is God in the flesh, who knows the end of every story - stood at that tomb and let Himself feel the weight of loss. He was not performing. He genuinely loved Lazarus and He genuinely felt it.
God does not skip past your grief to get to the lesson. He stands in it with you.
John 11:38-44
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."
"Take away the stone." That is the moment. Not a prayer meeting. Not a theological discussion. Take. Away. The. Stone.
And honest Martha says - Lord, he has been dead four days. There is going to be an odor. She is thinking practically about what four days in a tomb does to a body. And she is right. She is not wrong to say it. But Jesus redirects her: Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?
Faith before sight. The stone moves first. Then the glory.
Notice what Jesus does before He speaks. He prays out loud - not because He needs to inform the Father of what is happening. He says it plainly: "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." He is praying out loud so that everyone watching understands that what is about to happen is not a trick, not a coincidence, not a natural recovery. This is the Father and the Son, acting together, in front of witnesses.
And then He speaks three words: Lazarus, come out.
Not a long incantation. Not a ritual. Not a process. Three words from the One who has authority over life and death. And a dead man walks out of his tomb.
"Unbind him and let him go." That is still what Jesus does. He calls you out of whatever tomb you have been in. And then He says - unbind them. Let them go. The grave clothes are not your identity anymore.
He called Lazarus by name. He still does. Your name is on His lips too.
Exegesis
"Jesus wept" uses a different Greek word for weeping than the one used to describe Mary and the crowd - dakruo, which means to shed tears quietly. The crowd's word is klaio, which means to wail openly. Jesus was not performing grief for the crowd. He was genuinely, quietly weeping. And the crowd noticed the difference and said, "See how he loved him."
Jesus' prayer in verses 41-42 is unique in the Gospels. He prays out loud explicitly for the benefit of the witnesses - and He says so. This is an act of transparency and theological intentionality. He wants everyone present to understand the chain of authority: the Father sent the Son, the Son speaks, the dead rise. This is not Jesus operating independently. This is the perfect unity of the Father and Son on display in front of a crowd.
"Unbind him and let him go" is the final command of the miracle. Lazarus comes out still wrapped in burial linens. The resurrection is real, but the grave clothes are still on him. Jesus immediately instructs the people around him to remove them. This detail matters: the community participates in the restoration. The miracle is Jesus's. The unbinding involves others. There is a picture here of how the church is meant to function - we do not raise the dead, but we help remove the grave clothes.
Application
Roll Away Your Stone. Martha wanted to leave the stone in place because what was behind it was too far gone. Sometimes we do that with areas of our lives. We leave the stone in place because rolling it away means admitting how bad it got, how long it has been, how much has decomposed. Jesus is asking: what stone do you need to roll back? What have you sealed off and accepted as dead? He is not afraid of what is behind it.
Stop Wearing the Grave Clothes. Lazarus walked out of the tomb still wrapped in burial linen. He was alive, but still dressed for death. A lot of us live that way - we have been called out of something by Jesus, but we are still wearing the identity that went with the old life. The shame, the label, the old story. Jesus said unbind him and let him go. Let the people around you help remove what no longer belongs on you. You are not who you were in that tomb.
You were not raised to stay in grave clothes. You were raised to walk free.
GOSPEL CONNECTION
The resurrection of Lazarus is a preview. A trailer for what is coming.
Because a few chapters after this, Jesus Himself goes into a tomb. He is wrapped in linen strips just like Lazarus. A stone is rolled over the entrance. And the world thinks it is over.
But the One who called Lazarus out of his tomb called Himself out of His own. The I AM who is the resurrection could not stay dead. Death has no authority over the Author of life.
And because He walked out, we have a promise. He did not say "Lazarus, come out" just for Lazarus. He said it for everyone who believes in Him.
Your name is on His lips too.