I Am The Resurrection and The Life

“He is risen!” “He is risen, indeed!” With this exchange of greetings comes the acknowledgment that life has forever triumphed over death! In the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, life wins! Welcome from the Panhandle.

For some reason Christians tended to relegate this good news to Easter, why is that? Life wins! Christ Jesus rose from the dead; this is one of the central or should be one of the central affirmations of your Christian faith.

What does it really mean to say, “He is risen”? Is it more than an acknowledgment that Christ Jesus has overcome the injustice and agony dealt by His betrayal, cruel torture, and His horrible death on the cross? Is it merely a seasonal greeting – one that holds no depth of truth to sustain us in the moments of loss and the pain it brings?

Death, it is hard and it is harsh; taking our loved ones. Some it takes in an instant, others seem to languish riddled with disease. Let's face it death of a friend or family member is tough even for those who believe in the promise of the resurrection. And so it was for Martha and Mary as they experienced the death of their brother Lazarus.

John 11:1-24

11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

7 Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"

9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

1. Introduction (vs. 1-24)

What were the circumstances behind Christ Jesus' statement “I am the resurrection and the life...”? Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha was taken ill and died. These three were very close friends of Christ Jesus (verse 5). They are spoke of in Luke 10, and in John 11, and 12. We are told that Christ Jesus was so moved by Lazarus' death that He wept (John 11:35).

Where was Christ Jesus when He declared, “I am...”? Where were Christ Jesus and His disciples when the news of Lazarus' illness reached them. Matthew Henry in his commentary states that “they were a great way off beyond the Jordan.” And the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary places them in the region of Peraea (pe-re'-a). Two days after receiving the news Christ Jesus told His disciples He was ready to go to Lazarus. And it was on the road just a short distance outside Bethany that Martha met Christ Jesus and the disciples. 

Who was Christ Jesus talking to when He made this “I AM” statement? In verse 20, Martha goes out to meet Christ Jesus on the road to give Him the bad news; Lazarus was dead. I also believe that He was reminding His disciples of who He is. (verses 9-11). Although by this time they had seen many miracles and heard the teachings of Christ Jesus they still seemed clueless. Look at the disciples response when Christ Jesus told them He was going to Lazarus in verse 8. And Thomas' response in verse 16.

John 11:17-22

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

Why make such a bold declaration?

2. Trust Assaulted By Loss (vs. 17-22)

There is no question that Lazarus had died. Twice it is stated that his body had been in the grave four days, (vs. 17, 39). There was a Jewish belief that the soul of the departed hovered around the body for three days hoping to return, but when decomposition set in it would leave. Lazarus may well have been dead by the time the messengers arrived with the word that he was ill—there had been a day’s journey for them to the Jordan area, then Christ Jesus’ stayed on two days before taking the day’s journey to Bethany. By the time He arrived the body had begun to decay. Death was final.

Christ Jesus' delay had to have puzzled Martha and Mary. Why did He have to delay two extra days, if only...if only Christ Jesus would have come as soon as He got the news. If only He had hurried a bit more on His way to Lazarus' side. If only … Lazarus might still be alive. Their Master, teacher, and friend's timing seem to be off in this matter. He was to late!

How differently the two sisters respond to the death of their brother and the coming of Christ Jesus. Martha, practical and realistic, the active one, hurrying out to meet Christ Jesus when she heard He was near. She could not stay around the house mourning. How consistent with the picture in Luke’s Gospel where she is bustling around the kitchen preparing the meal for their guest, impatient with Mary sitting at Christ Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:38–42). 

 

Martha ever the practical one says to Christ Jesus, “Even now I know that what ever you ask of God, God will give you.” She expressed great faith in Christ Jesus when she met Him. But this confident statement was still tinged with Martha's sense of loss. She believed or wanted to, but yet Lazarus four days dead...his death must be final. Christ Jesus could have healed him, but bring him back from four days in the tomb; that was altogether different.

Death is a painful reality as Martha and Mary found out. It is forced upon you by circumstances, or frailty, some would even say cynically, “that life itself is a terminal disease.” Are you left, in the final analysis, to a realization that not even Christ Jesus can overcome the searing painful reality that death and mortality are facts of existence? Like Martha you believe there will be a resurrection – eventually, finally, in some last day. But in the here and now, you must bend your head into the turbulent winds of life and the inevitability of death, and doggedly carry on until that “someday,” if it really comes; of the resurrection. - Jesse C. Middendorf

Yes, we do live in a fallen world where death is inevitable. Yes, you and your loved ones will face the loss and heartache that death brings. However, you do not have to doggedly or with drudgery face death. Death is defeated, I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 

 

"Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?" 

 

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).

The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city's hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child's name and room number and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn't fall too far behind." 

 

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn't accomplished much. 
 
But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live."  
 

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?" -

Bits & Pieces, July 1991.

John 11:25-37

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked.

"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

3. Faith Is Awakened by Hope (vs. 25-37)

In response to both of Martha's statements, Christ Jesus provides us with the central claim of the gospel of John and the major truth of the Christian faith. In verse 25 Christ Jesus declares the source of Lazarus’s resurrection with His statement, “I am the resurrection and the life”… now!

Resurrection, the defeat of death, is an event, a reality within Christ Jesus who is Life. It is impossible for death to prevail in His presence! This is not a concept or a doctrine, but a personal reality. If you cling to Him, are united with Him in faith, you are living eternally now, as well as at the end. You will pass through an incident called physical death, but you cannot die eternally because you have put your trust in the One who is Life. You have put your trust in Christ Jesus.

Ultimately, the faith that saves you is not your faith in the deeds and the miracles of Christ Jesus, but your faith in the person of Christ Jesus. Your faith should not be based on doctrine or particular events in the life of Christ Jesus, but in Christ Jesus Himself. His words and deeds are a continual effort to help you recognize who He is – He is “I AM,” He is God. This what Martha discovered because she trusted the One who is life? You can trust Him to.

John 11:38-44

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said.

"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

4. Death Is Defeated by Life (vs. 38-44)

Lazarus, come forth!” (v. 43). Here is the moment of revelation that is the crux of all our hope. Here is the point towards which all the words of Christ Jesus have been directed throughout His ministry. Here is the central reality on which our celebration of Easter stands (vs. 25-26). 

 

When the crowd cried out for the Crucifixion of Jesus. Theirs was the cry of death. Now Christ Jesus' cry is the shout of life. John states, “And he who had died came out.” God spoke and something happened. The dead man heard the voice of the Shepherd and came to life. Lazarus came forth, still bound in the old grave clothes and death became vulnerable. Vulnerable to Christ Jesus, not because of what He can do. Death released its grip on Lazarus because of who Christ Jesus is; God. 

 

When Christ Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life,” He is saying much more than the dead will rise. He is saying that the living may have life, life only available to you as a gift through Him. He is saying to you that you can have this gift of life which is beyond anything you can imagine. 

 

Conclusion: Christ Jesus has declared, “I am the resurrection and the life,”. Now it is up to you, will you believe and put your trust in Christ Jesus now? Or will you reject Him this morning? Will you except His free gift of life? Or will you turn your back on that gift?