John Chapter 11

I. John 10:12 – Jesus was at Jerusalem, about 1.5 miles from Bethany, where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived.

A. John 10:39-42 – Jesus left Jerusalem and went to where John baptized at the first, which according to John 1:28 was Bethabara, about 20 miles east of Jerusalem. Jesus had to go past Bethany to go to Bethabara.

II. Verse 3 – Mary and Martha did not ask Jesus to come, they merely sent word to him that Lazarus was sick.

A. Jesus always knows what he is doing, whether we understand it or not.

B. Mary and Martha did not understand why Jesus had not come.

1. Mary and Martha did not want their brother to die, but did not ask Jesus to come heal him, or keep him from dying.

C. Verse 8 – Verse 16 – The disciples thought Jesus refused to go that close to Jerusalem because of fear of the Jews.

1. Verse 30 – Jesus did not go into Bethany, but remain outside the city.

2. Those Jews that came to comfort Mary and Martha concerning their brother and remained in the city did not see the miracle of Lazarus coming from the grave.

3. Only those Jews that came to comfort Mary saw the miracle.

III. Different people react differently at different times.

A. Luke 10:38-42 records the time that Martha invited Jesus into her home, but Mary did not help her serve, instead sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to his teaching.

1. Luke 10:38-42 occurs before John 11.

2. It appears that Martha learned from the rebuke of Christ and in John 11:20 went immediately to Jesus when she heard he had come.

3. I do not know if Mary knew that Jesus was come when Martha went to him, but it seems she did.

B. In Luke 10:38-42, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to his teaching, but perhaps that teaching didn’t help her during times of stress.

1. I certainly do not want to put Mary down by anything I say.

2. In John 11:28,29, it seemed Mary needed a little extra push to go to Jesus.

IV. Verse 20 – Mary was able to "sneak" out of the house without being seen.

A. In Verse 28,29 – When Martha heard about Jesus coming (when Mary told her), she arose up quickly, which was noticed, and many followed her thinking she was going to the tomb to weep there.

1. I do not believe Martha lied to Mary about Jesus wanting to see her.

B. Who told Mary?

1. I do not know, the Bible does not say.

2. The person who told Mary apparently did not tell anybody else, even Martha.

V. Why did Jesus allow Lazarus to die?

A. Jesus is not being cruel.

B. Jesus is not being cruel when "bad" things happen to us that he could have stopped.

1. All these things teach us to ask Jesus for what we want, and not expect him to know without us asking.

2. All these things teach us to wait patiently on him.

3. Things often don’t turn out the way we think they should.

C. Both Mary and Martha believed Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying, but did not understand that Jesus could raise him from the dead.

1. Verse 21-22 – Martha states she believes Christ could have kept Lazarus from dying, but she still believes in him.

a. There seems to be some indication here that Martha believed Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead.

b. Martha is not putting any limitations on Christ, but completely yielding herself to God and his will.

2. Verse 32 – Mary could do nothing but state that Jesus could kept her brother from dying, then she began to weep.

3. Note that Mary wept before Christ, but Mary did not.

4. Also note that Martha came to Christ, but Mary did not. Did grief keep her from Christ?

VI. Verse 33 – Jesus groaned.

A. The word in the Greek indicates that Christ snorted with anger.

1. People have different opinions about what Christ is angry about.

2. Some may not think he is angry, but grieving.

3. Verse 35-36 – Some believe Jesus is weeping because he loved Lazarus so much.

B. It seems to me that Jesus groaned within himself (that is – within his person as being God) because of the unbelief of the people and their sorrow at their present circumstance.

1. Jesus groaned because all the people could see was what was in front of them.

2. They could not see nor make application of spiritual truths to their present life.

3. So it is with us.

4. I am sure God is often grieved with us because we have no idea of what he is doing.

VII. Verse 39 – Why did Jesus command them to take away the stone?

A. If Jesus could raise the dead, could he not remove the stone?

1. Jesus could remove the stone, or he could have brought Lazarus forth through the stone.

2. Jesus wants the people to do what they can, just as he wants us to do what we can.

3. What we cannot do, Jesus will do the rest.

B. Jesus also commanded the people to loose Lazarus from his grave clothes.

1. Jesus could have removed the grave clothes at the time he brought him back to life, but he did not.

2. Jesus could have brought Lazarus forth fully clothed, but he did not.

3. Jesus wants us to do what we can.

4. What we cannot do, Jesus will do the rest.

VIII. Verse 41 – The people obey Christ, even though they do not understand the end result.

A. This is also a good thing for us to do.

1. It is always good to obey God and let him take care of the results.

2. God will never do anything wrong or against us or hurtful to us.