The Gospel of John Lesson 38 (6-16-2013) John 11:6-10

The Gospel of John Lesson 38 (6-16-2013)

Lesson 38 – John 11:6-10

In the first 6 verses of this chapter we see that Jesus had close personal friends. These were more than casual acquaintances. These were friends. John uses strong relational words to identify them telling us of specific connections with Jesus and using the strongest relational word known, love, to describe their bond. We will see as we continue to read through this chapter just how real and intimate their relationship with Jesus was. It is also important to mention that those mentioned here were also well known by those who were close to and traveled with Jesus, i.e. His disciples. Their relationship represented the early Church.

As friends they had come to Him with a request. Their brother was sick. This was no common cold. Mary and Martha knew that their brother’s condition was serious and had the real possibility and probability of ending in death. It is interesting to note that although they were indeed close to Jesus that their requests to Him and their interaction with Him was always appropriate relating to Him not only as a close friend, but also as their Savior.

In v. 3 we see that Mary and Martha, seeing the seriousness of the situation, send a messenger to Jesus asking Jesus to come quickly. John does not tell us where Jesus was at this time and it is only conjecture as to where Jesus might have been. But, the possibility does exist that he was still at this time at Bethany beyond the Jordon, or in Jordon, where John the Baptist had done so much preaching and baptizing preparing the people for Jesus’ coming. We must remember that Jesus’ time is getting short and He is now in the process of completing His work before His death on the Cross and John the Baptist had done much in preparing the people for Him in this Bethany.

A couple of things would point in this direction. In v. 7 Jesus tells His disciples that they must go back to the region of Judea which would imply that they were not presently in Judea. Second, the inference in the first part of this chapter gives the impression that they were in a relatively safe place and their going back to Judea would be potentially dangerous. Bethany beyond the Jordon would have been a relatively safe place. Add to this, it is obvious that Bethany, considering the short amount of time Jesus had left to do His work, would have been one of the most productive places He could have been to do and complete His work due to the work of John the Baptist.

Sometime after v. 3 Jesus receives the request from Mary and Martha to come. I am sure that the messenger had relayed the seriousness of the situation to Jesus. But, Jesus’ response to their request to come was not exactly what they had expected. At first, one might think that Jesus’ response was a response of apathy to the situation. But, this was not the case. V. 5 tells us what was in Jesus’ heart concerning the situation. He loved Lazarus. But, the messenger had told Jesus that Lazarus was indeed extremely sick and near unto death expressing urgency and that He was needed right away. But, Jesus chooses to tarry instead, sighting His reasons for doing so in v. 4.

In v. 4 of chapter 11 He makes some interesting comments. He tells them that Lazarus’ death was not unto death, which we will see later from a human point of view was indeed unto death. Jesus also points out to them that God was in this situation giving them the heads up that their faith would be exercised and that they should be watching what was about to happen.

So, Jesus did not return with the messengers as expected. Meanwhile back at Bethany in Judea Mary and Martha were dealing with a real life crisis. They were receiving word back that Jesus was not coming which was discouraging. Their faith in their relationship and their beliefs in Jesus is now challenged. They had expected Him to come and fix the problem. They had seen Him heal the sick before. Why not now? Now their faith and their relationship with Him was filled with questions. The question may be asked, ‘was their faith in His abilities initially challenged presenting potential doubts concerning Him and His claims?’ Going further, we could ask ourselves the question, ‘When God does not show up in our life as expected do we too wrestle with doubts concerning God’s love for us and His ability to care for us fully?’ We will see later in this chapter that the faith of Mary and Martha does hold even though things do not initially work out so well.

In v. 6 we see that Jesus stays where He was for two days after He receives His request from Martha and Mary. From a human point of view, this proves to be disastrous for Lazarus. In v. 7 and 8 Jesus finally decides to go to Judea, but not without protest and concern expressed by His disciples. His disciples remind Him of the climate and situation that prompted them to consider leaving Jerusalem reminding Him that the Jews when they left were actually picking up stones intending to stone them. But, Jesus reminds them of a higher calling in verses 9 and 10. First He reminds them that there are some things that are more important than even life itself. He reminded them that this was the light of day for Him and His ministry and that He saw plainly God’s will and purpose in what His Father had for Him to do. It was still light. In John 9:5 Jesus had declared to His disciples, “As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

He had only so much time to complete the work that the Father had given to Him. He would leave the details of His life and of life itself up to the Father. He knew that it was the eleventh hour, and that there was not much time, day, left. Even though He knew that the time of His life remaining was short, and that the destination that was now in front of Him was indeed heading toward the end of His day and that darkness would follow, there was yet still some light of day left to complete His work. Toward the end of the day, when time is short and there is not much day left, you hasten to complete your work while you still have the light.

He knew that the Father would give Him wisdom to navigate what would await Him in Jerusalem being that there was still light to see by. He knew that there would be a time soon to come that He would hand Himself over to the forces of darkness in death, night so to speak, when the Father would complete His work in Him. In v. 10 He was reminding them not to wait too long to do God’s work for opportunity or day does not last forever.

Jesus knew the Father’s will at this time was to go to Jerusalem no matter what the present danger. In doing so He would meet the Father there who would help Him complete His work. Waiting for a safer time and missing the Father Presence and His timing Jesus knew would accomplish nothing. Attempting to do God’s work when God has left or is not present is like trying to do a job in the darkness…stumbling. God had put light in Jesus’ heart to see clearly what He was supposed to do. They would go to Jerusalem.