Marcus Mecum - A Lazarus Sized Miracle
John 11, if you can find that, in verse 35, the shortest verse in your Bible, «Jesus wept». Everybody say that with me, say, «Jesus wept». Maybe you’ve never memorized a scripture before. Say that one more time, «Jesus wept». There you go. You’re leaving this service more spiritual than what you came. You’ve just memorized a Bible verse, «Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, 'see how he loved him'»! Speaking of how Jesus loved Lazarus.
«And some of them said, 'could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying'? And then Jesus, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. And Jesus said, 'take away the stone'. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days'. And Jesus said to her, 'did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God'? And then, they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, 'father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that you sent me'. Now, when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth'»!
Lazarus come forth. «And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, 'loose him, and let him go'». Loose him and let him go. I wanna talk to you about a Lazarus-sized miracle. The book of John, we know why it was written. It’s different than the other gospels, the other three gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke would be the synoptic gospels and we know what those are because it tells us. Synoptic, optics, optics, in other words sin is with or saying optics. So, they say they were writing from the same view, the same optics. John writes from a different point of view and we end the book of John and it tells us what he was writing to us about. He says, in the very end, «It’s that you might believe». It’s that you might believe.
So, there are things comes to the signs, the miracles and the sayings of Jesus in John that are designed specifically for those of you who are in a place where you’re struggling to believe because of the kind of situation that you find yourself today. And I like the fact that verse 35 says that Jesus wept. So, everything we need to know about God can be experienced and revealed in those two words, Jesus wept. Lazarus would be a picture to you and I of someone who is too far gone. It’s a picture of a situation that has no hope. Jesus is late to the scene and his involvement up to this point, they would suggest, is insufficient at best. The scene is one of sickness, it’s a scene of disease, it’s a scene where there’s a funeral, graves and death. And the Bible uses the phrase, «The stench of death».
So, it’s one thing to watch about death on TV it’s another thing to read about it or hear about it in the news or on social media but yet it’s a whole 'nother thing the stench of death. The finality of the sense of smell, smelling death, takes it to a whole 'nother level. And so, here is the scene that is set that Jesus is walking into. The odds are stacked against them, the statistics are overwhelming, they are facing an impossible situation. And maybe you’re here today and you’re facing a Lazarus-sized problem. I think we could all agree that we’re facing some type of problem in our life. I believe that it would be a rare person here that has no problem in their life. And then, for many that are here you would even say, «I’m looking at something that appears impossible. It is a Lazarus-sized problem».
In other words, it’s too late. The stench of death is all around it. There’s no hope in your mind for what’s going on. But today, I’ve decided to open up the scriptures to this story so we can allow God, by his spirit, to reach into that grave. We can allow God to move back the stone of hopelessness in front of that tomb in Jesus' name and believe for your Lazarus-sized problem. The Bible says, again, «Jesus wept». We see Jesus weeping in a few places in the Bible. He weeps over Jerusalem. Hebrews teaches us that he would have wept in the Garden of Gethsemane. And now, here, John tells us that he wept over Lazarus. He’s weeping not because he has like a generic relationship with Lazarus. He’s weeping not because Lazarus is described as a disciple he’s not described as a Christian or even a follower of Jesus.
The Bible refers to Lazarus as a friend of Jesus. They’re very close. Multiple times it says that Jesus loved Lazarus. The word love translates a deep yearning. So, this is a deep, personal love. Jesus has a deep, personal connection with Lazarus. So, to the extent that when he shows up to the scene that we’ve been looking at he begins to groan and mourn, not just shed tears. But the word groaning speaks of an intense rage and anger on the inside that caused him to stay silent and unable to speak. In other words, we know that Jesus is experiencing real grief because of the way it’s described. He’s experiencing the kind of grief we all experience when we face hopelessness. He’s experiencing the kind of grief that we encounter when we have a crisis in life, the kind of grief that words can’t describe, the kind of grief and pain that you can’t even tell someone about that has not experienced it because there’s no words that would help them understand it.
This is the kinda grief that Jesus is facing and he is devastated for his friend. And, maybe more important than how Jesus felt about Lazarus we should consider how Jesus feels about every single one of you. The Bible is clear that Jesus feels the exact same way about you as he did Lazarus. The Bible places you and I in the category of friend. And you would say, «Well, not me. I know there’s other people that are here that they are good little Christians. They fit in the category as friend. But you don’t know what I’ve done, you don’t know where I’ve been, you don’t know the places that I’ve been, you don’t know the mistakes that I’ve made. There’s no way that I would find myself in the category as friend».
But, know this that one of the reasons the hated Jesus in his time so much, one of the reasons they would murder him and put him on a cross, is because of the friends that he had. It’s because he was the friend, the Bible says, not of the saint but of the sinner. Which means you are here and no matter how far gone you think that you are, when Jesus looks at you he considers you his friend. You might be at enmity with him, but he is not at enmity with you. He looks at you no matter what’s going on in your life and he says, «That person right there, that person up there, that person over here. That one. That one, that who says there’s no way». Yes, you sir, you ma’am, he considers you friend.
When you hear that Jesus weeps, it gives you a picture of God’s heart for the Lazarus-sized problems in our world. He’s heart broken. He’s not detached, he’s not despondent, he’s not distant, he’s not indifferent because God’s heart is personal for people. It’s intimate, it’s deep, it’s yearning. It’s the kind of love that reaches into the graves of life. It’s an intense anger and rage if necessary. It’s the I’ll fight for you if I have to. I’ll die for you if I have to. I’ll lay down my life for you if I have to. That’s the kind of love we’re talking about. It’s the I’ll do anything I have to, but I will not let you stay the same. I’ll give everything I got to get you out of that situation, I’ll leave it all on the table but I’m not going to let you stay the same. I’m not gonna leave you in that desperate place. I’m not gonna leave you in that broken place. Jesus is questioned by people because he wasn’t there for Lazarus. Lazarus' name means the one who helps.
So, Jesus was not there for the one who helps, the one who serves, the one who gives, the one who’s surrendered himself, the one who’s kind of the best possible, they’ve really given their life to Jesus and, Lazarus was always there helping Jesus and now he’s in a situation where he needs Jesus to help him and Jesus is not there, so people question him. But the Bible says, watch this, that when they same to Jesus the messenger says, «Hey, you’re friend Lazarus is sick unto death». And the Bible doesn’t say, «But Jesus couldn’t go». It says, «So Jesus didn’t go for two more days». So, implies he could have gone but he didn’t. And it goes on to say, «Because he loved Lazarus».
So, he didn’t go when they wanted him to, he didn’t show up when they expected him to. Here they are, «If he really loved us he would be here. If he really cared this wouldn’t be going on. If he was really a friend he would be here in this situation». That was their expectations. Lazarus probably expected this, but we don’t have that detail. The people surrounding Lazarus absolutely expected that, but Jesus said, «I didn’t go when they thought I should and I wasn’t concerned about meeting their expectations because I wanted to show them that I love them». Isn’t that something? That we doubt his love because he doesn’t do what we expect him to. But Jesus said, «If I do what they expect me to do there’s going to be a dimension of my love they never fully understand». Isn’t that right? «So, I’ll wait. I’ll wait because I love them».
There’s some moments where God reveals his love to you in such a way that you looked back and you realize, «If he had done things the way I wanted him to, I wouldn’t have realized how much he really loves me. Because, if he would have shown up when I wanted him to I would’ve been like, 'oh yeah, you love me, I love you'. But when you didn’t show up when I thought you should, I gave up. I got frustrated, I got angry, I got mad, I kinda quit, I kinda turned my back. I sing about, 'I’ll follow you no turning back, ' but that works good in the song. But the truth is, you didn’t do what I thought you should, so I doubted your love for me». And then, you go through life a little bit and then God comes through for you and then you realize, «Man, he really does love me». Because he loves me when I didn’t love him back. He loves me when I didn’t serve him. He loves me when I turn my back. He loves me when I didn’t believe.
So, there’s a part of this miracle that if you’re facing a Lazarus-sized problem you need to understand that if he’s not doing what you think he should, when you think he should, it’s because he loves you. Now, to understand this miracle and what happened when Jesus showed up I want to go back into the culture and the history of this miracle for just a minute. And I’m saying some of these details because I know some of you are looking at a scenario and you are putting all the facts together on why there’s no way God could do a Lazarus-sized miracle in your situation. So, I want to give you a clue as to what possibly was happening in this resurrection miracle. Are you ready?
Okay. So, this is according to Tertullian. Now, Tertullian, if your read about church history was a brilliant Christian thinker, preacher, and author. He was a distinguished historian and theologian. He was distinguished in legal matters and medicine. This is one of the great thinkers after Jesus died. For 700 years after Jesus' death people would refer to Tertullian’s sermons and thoughts. So, he would be one of the primary influences in the life of st. Augustine. He would have been very influential in what we know as the Nicene creed or what would become the apostle’s creed.
So, this a very influential, early church leader. He wrote a sermon concerning Lazarus. In this sermon, he said several things about Bethany that would help us know the extent of how great this miracle was. And so, according to Tertullian, Bethany would have been populated with elephantine Egyptian Jews. Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were all Egyptian Jews. All of them would have been raised in Bethany, which simply meant their worship practices would have been in Judaism but their customs, including burial practices, would have remained Egyptian in their influence. So, Lazarus would have not been buried in a traditional Jewish manner, but rather in a Greco Roman Egyptian manner.
So, in order to do this, when Lazarus died, to prepare his body for burial they would have drained the body of blood, taken out his heart, his brain, his tongue, his eyeballs and his lungs, put them in a honey wine olive filled pottery jar and sealed it with beeswax. Coins would have placed over the empty eye sockets of Lazarus where the empty organs would have been removed or where the body would have been empty because the organs were removed. They would have filled that empty area with a mixture of honey, olive oil, and spiced wine. After the body was sown together it would have been covered in salt and aromatic spices. They would then wrap the body in a mummy style fashion with dozens of widen strips of linen. Then the tomb he would have been placed in would have had two rooms.
The first room would be 8 square feet and the deceased body parts that were placed in those pottery jars would be put in the first room. So, in the first room, you would have had the pottery jars with the heart, the lungs, the brain, the eyes, etcetera, there in that room. Then there would be a 40 step stairway downward to a larger room where they would’ve placed the body in a stone vault with a stone lid on it. From that point the deceased’s family would receive visitors from day two to day four. By day four the body would rapidly decompose and this would be the official day of the public funeral.
This is what Tertullian says, «The day that Jesus showed up was during the public funeral so he was not met with enthusiasm, he was met with contempt. And in front of the public he goes to Mary,» or sorry, «Martha, and says to move away the stone. This is an impossibility for a dirty woman, probably an impossibility for several women. And so, he insists, even though it’s impossible for the stone to be removed. She brings up that the body, at this point, would smell and that there was going to be a stench». In other words, she’s implying what Jesus is requesting is inappropriate in every way and to do anything about it at this point it’s too late. Jesus would push past all of that, pray to God, ultimately speak into the grave for Lazarus to come forth but according to what Tertullian wrote, Lazarus would have not have instantaneously just showed up outside of the grave.
It would have taken him time to find his way out of the second room, so he would have had to kick the stone lid off the door, stumble up 40 steps still bound in grave clothes that were more like a cast at this point. He would have had to walk through that room where all of his organs were placed in the pottery jar. Finally, he would have ended up in the opening, outside of the grave, still wrapped in his grave clothes, and according to Tertullian, many that were gathered there initially when Jesus said for Lazarus to come forth would have begun to get wary and skeptical and left. They would have believed that even this level of a miracle, even though they know he opened the blind eyes, even though his reputation preceded him as a miracle worker, they would have still concluded that this type of a miracle was an impossibility.
Anyone that had any confidence in Jesus at this point because of how long it would have taken for Lazarus to come out, their confidence would have been absolutely shattered. So, now you have a few eyewitnesses remaining that are still there that see the miracle. And according to Tertullian, if you think about the miracle it was not only a resurrection miracle, and there’s a reason I’m saying this, it was a creation miracle. Lazarus would’ve had to be given a brand new heart, a brand new mind or brain, brand new breath and lungs, brand new speech and tongue, brand new vision and eyes, and so this is not only a resurrection miracle, but a creation miracle. And then, Jesus looks at those who were there to loose him and let him go. Meaning, Jesus can do a brand new work in your life. He can give you a brand new heart, a brand new mind, make you a brand new person.