John 11 – Page 2 – Three Minute Bible

March 2, 2019February 28, 2019

Deep Sorrow – John 11: 28-32

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.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 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.
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.”

We have heard Martha’s statement of faith, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Now we are hearing Mary’s statement of faith. Mary firmly believes that if Jesus had seen her brother dying he could have stopped it from happening. Jesus would have been able to heal her brother and make everything okay again. Her words are, to my ears, a plaintive cry of lament.

March 1, 2019February 27, 2019

Yes, Lord – John 11: 27

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, ‘’I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Martha’s response to Jesus is concise and succinct.

“I believe…” She states clearly what she believes. This is not an opinion of hers or wishful thinking, but a belief.

February 28, 2019February 27, 2019

Do You Believe This? – John 11: 25-26

Jesus said to her, ”I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

As a human being, it is hard for me to get my head around what Jesus is saying here. When he says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” I think he is being quite literal. Coming from a guy who speaks mostly in metaphors, this change of gears is hard enough to keep up with. Looking at the content of what he says makes it even harder.

My tendency, as an engineering type guy, is to think of salvation as a sort of mechanism. I think in terms of process and process means that there are moving parts and things I need to do, levers to pull and ’cause and effect’ stuff going on.

Only there isn’t.

It is just Jesus.

February 27, 2019February 25, 2019

Conversation – John 11: 19 – 24

…and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
”Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus said to her, ”Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, ”I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Martha is the practical one. She and her sister, Mary, are often contrasted as two very common archetypes; the one with her feet solidly planted in this world’s work, the other with her head and heart on other matters.

In this conversation Martha comes very close to chastising Jesus; “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And then she adds, almost as an aside, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

In response, Jesus speaks comfort to her: “Your brother will rise again.”

February 26, 2019February 24, 2019

Assurance – John 11: 17 – 18a

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem…

At the end of Chapter 10, John tells us that Jesus had gone back to where John the Baptist had been baptizing near the Jordan River. While we do not know with certainty where this was, it appears likely that the place was north of the Sea of Galilee, about twenty some miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies.

If Lazarus had died about the time the news reached Jesus and his disciples, and if the walk back to Bethany was about a two day walk, then the two days that Jesus waited after hearing the news that Lazarus was ill fits with Lazarus being in the tomb for four days.

Why would this be important?

February 25, 2019February 23, 2019

Thomas – John 11: 16

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘’Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Ya gotta love Thomas! If Thomas were an animal he would be Winnie the Pooh’s Eeyore the donkey. You can almost hear his sad, slow, lowing voice say, “Oooookay. We might as well go, too. Probably all end up getting killed anyway.”

February 24, 2019February 22, 2019

So You May Believe – John 11: 11-15

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.”
His disciples replied, ”Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, ”Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Belief is an odd thing. Certain beliefs are accepted without question. In many cases, we believe what our parents believed, for no other reason than wanting to be part of the family. Sometimes, less often, we arrive at a belief as the result of a personal journey; a research project or extended study of some sort.

February 23, 2019February 22, 2019

Jesus Time – John 11: 9-10

Jesus answered, ”Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Are there twelve hours of daylight? The answer to that is, “… it depends.” It depends on where you are on the planet and what time of year it is. In Anchorage, Alaska there is only about one hour of daylight during the months of December and January. In June and July, there are about twenty-three hours of daylight. Jerusalem is about the same latitude as Ensenada, Mexico; just south of the border. That far south the seasonal shift is much less noticeable, but it is still there.

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

Timing – John 11: 7-8

…and then he said to his disciples, ”Let us go back to Judea.”
”But Rabbi,” they said, ”a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

If I close my eyes and picture myself sitting among the disciples with Jesus, I imagine that we are camped near the bank of the Jordan River, near where John the Baptist appeared out of the wilderness and started preaching. In my mind’s eye, it is morning. The sun is peeking over the eastern horizon and some of the disciples have been up since very early. A fire is going in the middle of the camp and as the few disciples who are still asleep wake-up, they gather around the fire where a breakfast of small fish is cooking. Someone passes around a rough-hewn wood plate with dates on it and I take one to eat and pass the plate on.

February 21, 2019September 22, 2019

Non Sequitur – John 11: 5-6

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,

Ordinarily, these two sentences would not go together. If they were written about anyone else, they would be a contradiction, a joke. Imagine someone writing a story that included the lines:

Dick loved Jane more than life itself. When Dick heard Jane was sick he…

(A) … rushed to her side.
(B) … thought about going to see her. 
(C) … stayed where he was two more days.

Obviously, if Dick loves Jane he is going to want to be there when she needs him. He is not going to be indifferent to her feelings. Yet Jesus operates with a different kind of love and a different kind of viewpoint.