John 11-12: When Jesus is late

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We slow down through John 11-12 and watch the moment that pushes Jesus’ story into overdrive, from Lazarus’ tomb to the leaders’ decision that Jesus must die. We also sit with the raw question Mary and Martha ask and connect it to our own grief when God’s timing feels confusing.
• John’s purpose in the Gospel and the big midpoint shift
• Lazarus’ sickness and Jesus’ deliberate delay
• Martha’s confession and Jesus’ claim to be resurrection
• Jesus’ grief at the tomb and the command to unwrap
• belief spreading and the council’s fear of Rome
• Caiaphas’ prophecy and the plot that accelerates
• Mary’s anointing and Judas’ exposed motives
• Palm Sunday crowds and the humble king on a donkey
• Greeks seeking Jesus and the kernel of wheat teaching
• walking in the light while there is time
• wrestling with unanswered prayers without being shamed

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Transcript

John’s Turning Point Sets Up

SPEAKER_00 0:11

This is the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, and I'm Mike, and we're going through the Book of John. I've talked about how the Book of John is a gospel account that was written much after the other Gospels were written. And John wanted to bring a unique perspective and specifically focus on who Jesus is. And being one of Jesus' closest friends, he wanted you, the reader, to know exactly who he saw Jesus to be and who he believed Jesus to be based on what Jesus did and what he said, and uh and all of it so that you can be assured of your faith in Jesus. And that's that's the goal of this book. And John is one of those books that has a turning point about halfway through, up till now, the first 10 chapters of the book. Uh it's gone over the course of about three years when Jesus started his ministry at about age 30. And uh, going up till right now, we're gonna start reading, and we're a little bit more than a week away from his death. And so the first half of the book covers about three years, and we we focused on how Jesus was debating with some of the religious leaders and bringing some disciples along and all of it to try to establish uh in the minds of the people who he is, that he is the Son of God and the Son of Man and uh the Messiah, the coming king. Not exactly the way everyone anticipated, but that's on them, not on him. And uh and so now we're in the second half of the book, and things accelerate quickly, really specifically due to what we will read about today in chapter 11. This one event is the turning point that really started to accelerate the actions uh concerning Jesus. Uh got a lot of people fired up for various reasons and in various ways, and so things start to speed up quickly and escalate very rapidly here. Uh, however, we also in this zoom in quite a bit, zoom into some of Jesus' final actions and final words. John finds great importance in sharing these, and so we got to pay attention. So uh a really important section of scripture here, the last half of the book of John. Now, this is what we read on Good Friday. Uh we read John 11 through 20, and I hope that gave a a good overview of Passion Week and Good Friday and the this the story of Easter uh for that given weekend where it fell in the calendar here. Uh, and now we're going to go through, yes, the same section, but we're gonna go a little bit slower. Obviously, just take a couple chapters at a time here uh per episode and uh and really dig in what what can we get from each of these sections here that we're gonna read. So let's check out this event today that became the turning point in Jesus' life that really started to escalate quickly to his death, which was, well, the plan all along. So here's John chapter 11 and 12 in the New English Translation. Now, a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. By the way, John does this quite a bit where he kind of says a name and it's like, oh, this is the person who's gonna do this. And like, it just is times like this that it reminds you the Bible is not a novel, it's not a suspense thriller, it's not written for your reading entertainment. There are just spoilers because he's not writing a story to keep you on the edge of your seat. He's writing a story about true things and true people and and things that were really said and things that really happened. So, yeah, sometimes he will spoil something that's gonna happen. That just reminds you, oh, you know, I'm just reading something real. All right, let's keep going. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus. Lord, look, the one you love is sick. When Jesus heard this, he said, This sickness will not lead to death, but to God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days. And then after this, he said to his disciples, All right, let's go to Judea again. The disciples replied, Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death. Are you going there again? Jesus replied, Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he doesn't stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. After he said this, he added, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to awaken him. Then the disciples replied, Well, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover. Now Jesus had been talking about his death, but they thought he had been talking about real sleep, and then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died. And I'm glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let's go to him. So Thomas, called Didimus, said to his fellow disciples, Oh, let's go too, so that we may die with him. When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you. Jesus replied, Your brother will come back to life again. Martha said, I I know that he'll come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? She replied, Yes, Lord, I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world. And when she had said this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, saying privately, The teacher is here and is asking for you. So when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him, and then the people who were with Mary in the house, consoling her, saw her get up quickly and go out, and they followed her because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed, and he asked Where have you laid him? They replied, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Thus the people who had come to mourn said, Look how much he loved him. But some of them said, Well this is the man who caused the blind man to see. Couldn't he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying? Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb. That was a cave, and a stone was placed across it, and Jesus said, Take the stone away. Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell because he's been buried for four days. Jesus responded, Didn't I tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone, and Jesus looked upward and said, Father, I thank you that you've listened to me. I knew that you always listened to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here that they may believe that you sent me. And when he had said this he shouted in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth and a cloth wrapped around his face, and Jesus said to them, Unwrap him, and let him go. And then many of the people who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation. And then one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said, You know nothing at all. You don't realize that it's more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish. Now he didn't say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who were scattered. So from that day they planned together to kill him. Thus Jesus no longer went around publicly among the Judeans, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples. Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, and many people went up to Jerusalem from the rural areas before the Passover to clean themselves ritually. Thus they were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple courts, What do you think, that he won't come to the feast? Well, now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should report it, so that they could arrest him. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead, so they prepared a dinner for Jesus there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table with him. And then Mary took three quarters of a pound of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus. She then wiped his feet dry with her hair. Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was going to betray him, spoiler alert, thanks, John, said, Why wasn't this oil sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor? Now, Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as keeper of the money box he used to steal what was put into it. Again, John with a chip on his shoulder a little bit. So Jesus said, Leave her alone. She's kept it for the day of my burial. For you'll always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. Now a large crowd of Judeans learned that Jesus was there, so they came out not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priest planned to kill Lazarus too, for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem were going away and believing in Jesus. The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. They began to shout, Hosannah! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it's written, Do not be afraid, people of Zion. Look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. His disciples didn't understand these things when they first happened, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that these things had happened to him. So the crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify about it. Because they had heard that Jesus had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him, and thus the Pharisees said to one another, You can see you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him. Now some Greeks were among those who had gone up to worship at the feast, so these approached Philip, who was from Beth Seda in Galilee, and requested, Sir, we would like to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew, and they both went and told Jesus, and Jesus replied, The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the solemn truth. Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life. If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow me, and where I am my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. And now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? Father, deliver me from this hour? No. But for this very reason I've come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him, and Jesus said, This voice hasn't come for my benefit, but for yours. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out, and I, when I'm lifted up from this earth, will draw all people to myself. Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die, and then the crowd responded, We've heard from the law that the Christ will remain forever. How can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Jesus replied, The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light so that the darkness may not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness doesn't know where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light. And when Jesus had said these things, he went away and hid himself from them. Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him, so that the word of the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled. He said, Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they couldn't believe, because again, Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn to me, and I would heal them. Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ's glory and spoke about him. Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, so that they wouldn't be put out of the synagogue, for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. But Jesus shouted out, The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me, and the one who sees me sees the one who sent me. I've come as a light into the world so that every one who believes in me shouldn't remain in darkness. If any one hears my words and doesn't obey them, I don't judge him. For I've not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and doesn't accept my words has a judge. The word I've spoken will judge him at the last day, for I've not spoken from my own authority, but the Father Himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. And I know this commandment is eternal life. Thus the things I say I say just as the Father had told me. In the story of Lazarus we find a really unique treatment of grief and suffering, and Jesus' role in it, and a very human response to it. Because they were right. If this book is about getting to know Jesus, Mary and Martha knew Jesus, and they were right. If Jesus was there, he could have done something. Done something to save Lazarus in the first place. And so they were understandably upset and frustrated when Jesus could have been there to do something, but Jesus didn't show up. Can you relate? You have all the faith in the world. Your issue is not an issue of faith. Just like Martha, it's like, I know you're the son of God, I know you can do anything. I I know that what you say is true. I just I just don't know why you didn't do something. It's not that I d doubt that you can, I just I just don't know why you're not doing something that you could do. It's a very human struggle. Can you relate? Why didn't Jesus heal or protect or save or provide the way you expected? When you were asking, when you were praying, they they already asked Jesus ahead of time, will you come down? Hey, your friend is sick, our brother's sick. You've made your prayers, you've made your petitions, and Jesus didn't answer. It's frustrating, it's confusing, it hurts. But Jesus had another mission in mind, a mission to bring more glory from the other side of the pain than he would have ever received or people ever would have seen if he had just answered Mary and Martha's prayer in the first place, the way that they had hoped. I don't know if it's any consolation or any comfort now to know that Jesus is working out more glory for himself by saying no or not yet than if he were to say yes. But that's the next step in growing in our faith. We may believe that, oh, yeah, you're you're capable of doing all things. It's not a matter of if you can. Well, from there the next point is to grow in humility and submission to the fact that Jesus has plans that don't necessarily involve our hopes and our best case scenarios. But Jesus didn't scold Mary or Martha for their their responses or any lack of faith. It's okay to sit with these things and wrestle with these things. Be upset with Jesus a little bit. That's okay. I guarantee he will not waste your tears, he will not waste your pain, he will not waste your grief. Some sort of resurrection, some sort of new life, some sort of new beginning is coming. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.