Fifth Sunday in Lent

Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 10, 2011

A Resurrection That Led to The Resurrection
John 11

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear friends,

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to make sure that Good Friday and Easter would happen, all according to His design and plan.

(1) Consider who was there to see Lazarus' resurrection.
(2) Consider the timing of Lazarus' resurrection.
(3) Consider the location of Lazarus' resurrection.
(3) And consider what the Scriptures tell us is the result.

Early in His public ministry, in Nain (Luke 7), Jesus healed the son of a widow in public. The reaction by the people is one of fear and awe. Jesus' reputation continued to grow. This resurrection seemed to be the incident that cause John to ask Jesus if Jesus was the promised Savior (Luke 7). But this public resurrection seems to be too early in Jesus' public life for it to be the catalyst for a conspiracy against Him.

In His next resurrection as His popularity grew, He purposely hide His power from the public. When Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead (Mark 5 and Luke 8), He only allowed her Mom and Dad and Peter, James, and John to actually be in the room when the miracle happened.

There were many folks outside of Jairus' house who were wailing with grief. These people laughed at Jesus when He said that this twelve year old was just asleep. He was telling them that as easily as they woke up their child from sleep, He was going to raise her from the dead—and they despised Him for this cruel joke that He was pulling on the parents.

But the miracle happened and Jesus promptly told the witnesses not to speak of it. It's not clear how long it took for the townsfolk to figure out that she was alive again, but certainly it didn't have the impact of seeing Lazarus walk out of his grave.

But perhaps more important than who saw the miracle was the timing of this particular miracle. He did it just before Passover. And then He went to Jerusalem, a city where His enemies were planning to kill... except not during the Passover Feast.

Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.” (Mark 14:1-2; parallel Matthew 26:3-5)

But Jesus went to Jerusalem at Passover... and forced the chief priests and teachers of the law to finally deal with Him. Palm Sunday wasn't just about Jesus' cumulative greatness; the people were in a frenzy because of this last miracle, the resurrection of Lazarus. So many people had seen it and they all lived two miles from Jerusalem (instead of all the way up north in Galilee like Jairus' daughter and the widow's son).

The result was that dozens, if not hundreds of eyewitnesses to an undeniable miracle, poured into the Holy City just as thousands of pilgrims were arriving for the Feast of Passover.

And the result of that was that Jesus had to die. Lazarus, too.

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in Him. (John 12:9-11)

And everything turned out for the best for everybody involved. The chief priests' conspiracy to murder Jesus turned out just fine, and instead of a riot against them, they were able to turn the mob against Jesus.

But even all their crafty plans were used by Jesus to His own plan and purpose. By raising Lazarus He forced His enemies to kill Him during the Passover, the feast which involved slaughtering an innocent perfect lamb. The lamb's blood was painted on the doorframe so that the angel of death would pass over them. The original Passover had happened in Egypt, and had resulted in the deliverance from slavery and into the Promised Land.

The original Passover pointed directly into the future to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus shed His bled and died. Then He rose from the dead. Good Friday and Easter happened because Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The empty tomb in Bethany led to Jesus' empty tomb and to our forgiveness and salvation.

Praise to Christ who raises the dead from their sleep!

Amen.