At a veterans event a year ago in Leadville, Colorado,
special tribute was paid to a Leadville native killed at age 19 in Fallujah,
Iraq. Before the event NPR Saturday Edition very respectfully interviewed his father
by phone at the father’s kitchen table. At one point the host asked whether his
son had mentioned why he had joined the Marines. The father replied, “Felt he
could make a difference. You know, he was killed December 16, 2006. I don’t
know. Everybody says it should get easier, but it don’t.” [1]
When through death we have lost someone very dear to us,
what word does the Gospel speak to us in our struggles and what practical
counsel may be offered?
In part one we ask:
when gnawing aloneness and aching grief have become our companions because of
the death of someone close, what message does the Gospel bring? In John
chapter 11, a grieving woman says to Jesus, “I believe that you are the Christ,
the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” The surrounding passage gives
the Gospel’s four-fold message to people like her who are beset with sorrow due
to the death of someone near and dear.
• Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is deeply troubled by death (John 11:33).
In Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem, in the province of Judea,
lived a man, Lazarus, and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus had such a
close relationship with them that it was as if they were his very close
biological brother and sisters. Lazarus became deathly sick and the sisters
summoned Jesus. Two days later Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go to Judea.” “No, Rabbi [teacher],” they protested, “you don’t
want to do that. The authorities will arrest you and then stone you to death.”
Jesus replied in effect, “It’s part of my mission to do this. You’ll see.” When
they come near Bethany,
Martha goes out to meet them. The group goes on to the two sisters’ house where
Mary her sister and other people are grieving. When Mary went outside to meet
Jesus, other people followed her, and all came weeping. Seeing the scene, Jesus
was “was deeply moved [could also be translated “was deeply angry”] in his
spirit and greatly troubled” (John 11:33).
Why was Jesus deeply moved (or angry) and greatly troubled?
He had publically taught on the trip he had just made to Jerusalem (John 10:7-10), “Truly, truly, I
say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and
robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters
by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and
have it abundantly.” The mission of Jesus was to bring life to people. That is
why he came. The death of people was profoundly troubling and contrary to his
mission. When we face our own death or face the death of someone else, he feels
our anguish and misgivings.
• Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, wept (John 11:35).
Having become deeply moved and greatly troubled, Jesus asked
the group outside Mary and Martha’s house, “Where did you bury him?” They
replied, “Come and see.” Whereupon the Gospel text tersely states, “Jesus
wept.” Again, we might ask, why? The immediate context explains (John 11:5),
”Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” In the context of the
entire book, it’s important to remember that (1) the Father and Son are one in
nature: Jesus had said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58) and “The Father
and I are one” (John 10:30). And yet (2) they are distinct persons: “In your
Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who
bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me”
(John 8:17-18). As a result, the love of God (who is one) includes that of both
the Father and the Son:
“For
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16)
(Jesus
to the disciples:) “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you (John
15:9).
Our sadness – whether we are dealing with the death of
someone close to us or facing any other circumstance -- touches Jesus deeply.
His compassion moved him to tears.
• Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).
We need to back up in bit in the story to the point before
which Jesus met Mary and the people with her. As Jesus was approaching Bethany, Lazarus had lain
dead in the tomb for four days. And Martha, the other sister, had come out to
meet him. This is the conversation that took place (John 11:23-27, quote):
Jesus said to her [Martha], “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 then sent a message for Mary to come to meet Jesus
and other people followed her. Then everybody went to the tomb of Lazarus. The
tomb was a cave and Jesus said, “Roll away the stone.” Martha objected, “Lord,
by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” But, at
Jesus’ insistence, they took away the stone to the opening of the tomb. After
looking heavenward and praying, Jesus yelled, “Lazarus, come out.” Wrapped
tightly in his grave clothes, he dead man walked out alive.
This miracle was meant to be a sign: Jesus the Christ (the
Messiah), the Son of God, is the resurrection and the life. He not only gives
spiritual life now to those who are spiritually dead because of sin, but he
shows he has the power to resurrect to eternal life on the last day all those
who believe in him. Although we are powerless over sin and death, he has the
power to come to the rescue.
• Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, died as the one for the many (John 11:50).
As was true for many of the people groups throughout the
Mediterranean Sea at the time, the Jewish nation had no independence but was
ruled by overlords appointed by Rome,
along with Roman soldiers strategically stationed to enforce that rule. The
little freedom the Jewish national authorities did have could be threatened by
civil unrest. These authorities were aware of Jesus’ miracles. He had just
publicly and unmistakably healed a blind man (John 9). Now he had publicly and
unmistakably raised a man from the dead (John 11). He was positioned to garner
followers who might cause unrest. So the authorities met in council and said
(John 11:47-48), “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we
let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our place and our nation.” In the give and take of the
discussion, Caiaphas, the high priest that year declared (11:49-50), “You know
nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man
should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” The
apostle John saw this as a unwitting prophetic utterance. Earlier in the Good
Shepherd discourse, Jesus had said (11:14-18) using pastoral images from the
everyday lives of his hearers:
“I am the good shepherd. I know my
own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and
I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this
fold [the Jewish nation]. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my
voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father
loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes
it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it
down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received
from my Father.”
The upshot: Jesus will voluntarily die, the good shepherd
(the one) for the sheep (the many). The sheep are not just from among the Jews
but from all nations. After he voluntarily lays down his life, he will take it
back again. The Gospel began with the eternal Word of God, who was with God and
was God, becoming a human being, Jesus (John 1:1,14). John the Baptist saw him
and declared to everyone standing there, “Look, there is the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world…. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a
dove, and he remained on him” (John 1:29,32). Now Jesus will fulfill his
mission: die on the cross as a sacrificial lamb, rise again in glory, and
ascend to the Father as the risen Lord (John chapters 18-20).
In our loss of a loved one, at first all we may see is
death. This was how it was with the disciples of Jesus at the cross. They had
envisioned the Christ (the Messiah) as a conquering military hero come to free
the Jewish nation from their Roman overlords. They had hoped things would work
out differently, but it didn’t happen.
All the disciples saw was
crucifixion, but what they did not see in Jesus' crucifixion is that God was
submitting himself to and participating in a world where so much fails to work
out the way we want or plan or expect. He doesn't stand aloof, accepting the
results. God is not a spectator in heaven, untouched by suffering, pain and
death. God enters our world of crucifixion and makes it a world of
resurrection. [2]
As the risen Lord, he asks you and me the same question
which he asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” If we do, we like Martha will
answer, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is
coming into the world.” And we will receive the comfort of the Gospel. (1)
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is troubled by death, including the death of
those near and dear to us. (2) As the Eternal Word come as a human being, he
feels the grief which we ourselves feel. (3) As the Christ (the Messiah), the
Son of God, he himself is the resurrection and the life. (4) He died on the
cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and who has been
anointed with the Spirit. He rose again and was glorified in heavenly session
with the Father. He now invites us to believe the Gospel and to trust in him
for spiritual life and peace and joy in the present age and for eternal life
and peace and joy in the age to come. At the last day there will be a
resurrection and believers of all ages will be united forever in the presence
of the living God – Father, Son, and Spirit.
[1] “Colorado
Event Honors Iraq
War Hero,” NPR Saturday Edition, August 31, 2013.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=217511142
[2] Scott Carney, “Death,
Resurrection, and Carlton Fisk's World Series Home Run,” Christianity Today
(web), August 5, 2014. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/august-web-only/death-resurrection-and-carlton-fisks-world-series-homerun.html
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