JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
By Lay Pastor Jusak Pundiono Lemah Putro
Sunday, July 5, 2020
Shalom,
Our online service is entering the new normal now; we have gone through and heard many sufferings and grief, but we must believe that all things happening in this world are under God’s control, God who created the universe and men. Therefore, let’s be certain that things are going to be beautiful in His time.
This morning the Lord keeps on consoling people who believe in Him through His words that is taken from John 11:1-44. Before this, Jesus exposed Himself as the good Shepherd who gave His life so that we could live (John 10:11). To the people He shepherded, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die…” (John 11:25-26).
Who will lead us facing tomorrow? Who are the subject and the object? Jesus is the only subject for He died, rose, and is alive. He has clearly stated to us, the object, that He is the resurrection and the life. Therefore, we need to look at Him from a correct, right and normal perspectives of faith in whatever problems we face. Here are those right perspectives:
- Believing that the right of problem solving is in Jesus (John 11:1-17).
We often hear and talk about human’s right, but do we know that the right of our problem solving and our right to live is in Jesus for He is the resurrection and the life? Through COVID-19, we learned/trained to see that none of the powers of this world is able to solve this problem. In this gripping situation, there are people He watches over and protects not because they are believers or good people. Let us give our right to live to Him who manages all things. If with a disease or COVID-19, God calls one of the believers whom we love, nobody will be able to take the right to live that is in His hands, but that the name of the Son of God will be glorified (John 11:4).
The gospel of John stated that Jesus is the Word that became flesh (John 1:14). He – the Word – has been there in the eternity, and without Him nothing was made that was made. He proclaims Himself through all His creations. He also created man, and when man fell into sin, He proclaimed His love in such a special way through His death on the cross. He took the full responsibility and knew in detail about the men He created. He also knows exactly what problems we have. For example, without getting any information from anybody, Jesus knew when the dying Lazarus would die and when He would rise him from the dead (v. 11). For Jesus who is marked with resurrection and life, the shepherd who holds the lives and the Word that created all things, all problems and even the terror of death are like “a sleep” for Him. He also solves problems in His time; therefore, let’s bring all of our problems and our rights to live to Him, we must not hold them by ourselves for it will make us stay in the problems.
Pay attention here, Jesus loves men without necessarily being bonded by our problems like how He loved (agapao (v)) Martha, Mary and Lazarus (John 11:5-7). This was different from the love that Martha and Mary expressed about Lazarus whom He loved (phileo (v); v. 3). This case showed that no matter how great the love that men have, it’s only in the level of phileo, and the agape love comes from the creator of heaven and earth to the sinful men who aren’t worthy to receive it. For example: our prayer to the Lord or our love to our family were all in the level of phileo. It’s so different from the agape love of God that has chosen us even before the foundation of the world. That’s why we need to give the right to solve our problems to Jesus who keeps working with His agapao, and not give it to humans who only have love and comfort in the level of phileo (that even for a self-interest). For example: Peter loved (phileo; John 21:17) Jesus and ended up in a denial. Don’t ever doubt the work of Jesus’s love (agapao) in facing either small or big problems, for God allows all problems and He helps us face them within His agapao to us.
What was the evidence that Jesus loved (agapao) Lazarus’ family? He was willing to take the risk of having the Jews stoned, caught and even killed Him if He got back to Bethany (v. 8). Agapao has the right of men’s life, and it also solves a problem wholly! Doesn’t God prove the agape (n) love by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to this world to suffer from the day He was born to the day of His death on the cross?
Furthermore, Jesus also taught His disciples to learn to believe that He did the work of agape love that was far from men’s reaching by going to Bethany with whatever risks He would face (v. 15).
Application: We should have faith that is set to the agape love, with a proof that we won’t doubt Jesus’ agapao work and be patient in waiting for His time to solve the problem.
We need to know, Jesus has His own time to solve a problem. He knew Lazarus had died and had been in the tomb for four days (vv. 16-17). The disciples (and also us) learned to have an obedient heart through following Jesus’ agapao way even though it seemed slow and risky as they were facing a threat of death.
- Believing that Jesus is working on the progress/development to the problem solving (vv. 18-38a). By comparing verse 17 with verse 4, we knew a progress was taking place. From the beginning, Jesus was working on the problem solving even though He seemed like He was “letting it go” and not in any rush though it was an urgent situation. Do you know that ever since God created man, He took a full responsibility on them, and He kept working on in His agapao love no matter what? He knows and fully understands all problems, even the eerie ones that men face like deadly accident, illness, martyrdom, etc. His agapao controls all things and are never wrong in allowing any events to ever happen in our
No matter what, with the phileo love that we have (which is so much different from God’s agapao), there are parts we must work on while Jesus also works on His part in dealing with the problems, which are:
Lazarus lived in Bethany, which was near Jerusalem (v. 18) as the center for worshiping God. Then, he had to be worshiping God regularly, at least he had to be doing the three big celebrations (Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles) and offered the offering in the temple as how it was written in the Law.
Application: With the phileo that we have, we do our obligation to worship, minister and give offering to God whole heartedly. We need to increase the level of our phileo so it will not only for our self-interest but also for others and God. However, let it not be that as we have faithfulness, persistence and diligence in worshiping God and in giving offerings, these make us feel as if we had a right to ask Jesus to solve our problems faster.
The phileo love that Lazarus family’s friends had only comforted and helped in a range of their capability (v. 19). Look closer here, we cannot count on the phileo love of our families, relatives and friends in dealing with our problems. Then, who must we trust for our problem solving and how?
Hearing Jesus came to Bethany, Martha went and met Him (v. 20). It’s clear, that with our earnest phileo (that is limited), we come and meet Jesus who is present with His agapao even when it seems too late. Remember, the time is in His hands – whenever and however the situation is.
It seemed like Martha and Mary counted on Jesus, but we need to be aware that with their phileo, they wanted to control the time for solving the problem. What was the proof? Martha and Mary said, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died” (vv. 21, 32b).
Application: Coming and bowing before the Lord, with our limited phileo, we must not try to control the Lord with many kinds of “if/if only” reasoning.
Jesus affirmed that Lazarus would rise and Martha answered that her brother would rise at the last day (v. 24). Martha had a knowledge about the resurrection at the last day, but this wasn’t the faith that Jesus wanted. Afterwards, Jesus continued saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (vv. 25-26). Jesus wanted Martha to prove her faith by having a conviction that whenever she encountered a problem, at the same time the power of His help was also working (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13).
Introspection: Do we believe that the Lord holds the right to solve our problems and that He is powerful enough to help us since that problem came until it is solved completely? Having knowledge about what will happen in the future, the resurrection of the dead, many doctrines and Jesus’s second coming, we should use it not merely as a theory, rather it should make our belief in Jesus get even stronger; otherwise, our faith is not different from Martha’s when she encountered with a problem.
Jesus knows exactly how our character is: impatient, slow, emotional, skillful, feeling like we are able to solve our own problems, etc. How about Martha and Mary’s characteristics? Their personality and body languages happened to be different. As she met Jesus, Martha automatically talked about her problem (v. 21), while Mary bowed before Jesus’ feet (v. 32). However, Jesus looked at their hearts: they both came and met Him (vv. 20, 29).
Implication: Each of us has different personalities and body languages. Therefore, we do not need to copy-paste other people’s gesture, like: copying how someone raises his hands, prays, sings, etc. Let our gestures express our sincere heart that is longing to personally meet Jesus, not to just fulfill the Torah’s requirements or to impress others. We can easily distinguish the different gesture between someone who is being apprehensive about his problems and one who totally believes that God is working on his problems.
There came some comments from the Jews about Jesus’s love (phileo) to Lazarus and hoax comments that weakened faith (vv. 35-37). Don’t let spectacular testimonies contain spiritual hoax entrap us! A testimony of someone is quite personal and it doesn’t work in the same way for everybody. We must express our heart, faith and good gesture through our mouths and actions; therefore, we must cast away all the useless spiritual hoax!
- Believing that Jesus’ hard words are able to solve problems (vv. 38b-44).
“Jesus is the resurrection and the life” is not just a motto, but Jesus wanted to convince Martha to believe in His words to see God’s glory (v. 40).
Traditionally, Jews’ tomb is in a shape of a cave where they lay the corpse and then close it with a rock (v. 38). This depicts the worldly way (not the way with the power of resurrection and life) in dealing with unsolved problems. For example: dealing with financial problem, there is this phrase: “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” As a result, when one breaks open the problems, “there is a stench” that isn’t glorifying God.
What did Jesus do to break open the worldly traditions?
After He gave thanks to the Father (with a usual tone), Jesus cried with a loud voice (facing the rock of tradition) asking Lazarus to come out of the tomb (vv. 41-43).
Breaking open the worldly practices in dealing with a problem, Jesus needed (a warning) the harsh Word of God (that is still in His agapao).
Application: We should always give thanks in facing whatever problems for we believe that we are in His hands and He shepherds us (John 10:26, 29). We also need to be willing to open our ears to listen to the harsh Word of God and take a firm action to break open the way to bury problems according to the worldly traditions. We need to read the Bible in the full extend (from the book of Genesis to Revelation), introspect whatever wrongdoings we have done, and anticipate them with the power of resurrection by the living Word before the problems come.
Surprisingly, Jesus kept calling out Lazarus who had died for four days and had stench. Jesus remembered Lazarus’ name before he got sick, when he was sick and when he died because Jesus knew His sheep and whatever problems they were facing (cf. John 10:3, 27-28).
Introspection: Does the Lord know our names because we are one of His sheep that He shepherds? Jesus and the Father is one (John 10:30), there is no one able to take us from the hand of the Father and Jesus (vv. 28-29).
Jesus involved people to open the grave-clothes that bound Lazarus’ hands and feet and the cloth that wrapped his face (v. 44). There is a time when we need helps from man and the Lord Himself moves people to help us so that we can be free and have more faith in Him. Still, let us not look for man before we look for the Lord; it should be another way around.
Do we believe that Jesus is the resurrection and life? Come to Him, tell Him honestly about all of our problems, give them to Him and have faith that He is able to solve our problems according to His time. Let’s simply accept His hard Words that is able to break open (the rock) the worldly traditions in dealing with the problems, and keep learning to give thanks in whatever condition. That way, the name of the Son of God will be glorified. Amen.
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