"I am The Resurrection and the Life"

A man named Lazarus was sick. His sisters sent word to Jesus,"Lord, the one you love is sick." Lazarus'family had many problems He and his sisters, Mary and Martha, in Bethany on the far side of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem. “Bethany” means “house of the sick”It was a place where many sick and diseased people lived. Bethany was close to Jerusalem, but still out of sight of the temple. We all know people like Lazarus’ family. Trouble follows them like a cloud. Through no fault of their own, they live through disaster after disaster. Even so, Lazarus' illness was a big problem. It was tough for two women to make it on their own. There was nothing Martha and Mary could think to do but to call on their friend Jesus. Jesus was on the other side of the Jordan River. If he drew close to Jerusalem towards Judea, he might be killed.When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. How this must have puzzled those around him! If he were going to go help, then why wait two days? He might not live two days! Do you ever try to hurry God? I confess that I have. If things do not work out immediately, then I start to lose faith. But God is never in a hurry. He comes when it is time. Miracles are not hard for God—far from it! It is as easy for God to do a miracle as it is for us to eat or breathe. If But a miracle can have unintended consequences. God uses miracles to maximum effect.So He saves them for just the right time. In John 9, when Jesus healed a blind man, He said he was blind so God’s power will be revealed. Now, he says Lazarus is sick so God’s His glory will be revealed. We can have power without patience, but we cannot see glory until the time is right. He waits so we can wonder. On his arrival, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in their loss. When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she ran to meet him. "Lord," she said, "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 was a woman of great faith, but resurrection was beyond her belief. She did not yet understand how far He can go to rescue one of his own. When we first become believers, there are times it seems like every prayer we pray is answered. We ask and receive. God seems generous and kind as long as we get what we want. But the moment we do not get it, we would pout and complain, like the children we are. Then God exercises our faith by withholding the answer for a time in order for us to experience anxiety and doubt. Then, he gives us abundantly, though not in the way we expect. In that way, we come to experience not only his power, but is Glory as well. God is bigger than we imagine. He takes away, so he can give. He dashes our hopes so He can resurrect them. Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." He could have said “I can resurrect.” Instead, he said. “I am the resurrection.” There is a huge difference between these two. One is a statement of power, the other a statement of being Jesus did not just come to resurrect, but to be the resurrection. This is the difference between a one night stand and a lifelong marriage. Or being a one night houseguest and being given a permanent place in the family. He did not come just ot resurrect us once, but to resurrect us over and over. Whenever we are dead in the depths of our sins, He is our resurrection. Jesus spoke another woman by a well in Samaria. He said, “Give me a drink.” She said. “You’re a Jew. I’m a Samaritan. How dare you ask me for a drink!” Jesus replied, “If you knew who I was, you would ask me for living water, and you would never thirst again.” She thought He meant a spring. But He himself was the spring. He was source of never-ending water, just as He is the source of never-ending life.. My wife and I have been through some tough times. There have been days when we did not know how to pay the bills, or how we were going to make it. But we have seen God provide. When we go through hard times, it is good to be relieved from them, but it is even better to have the assurance that whatever happens to us is still under God’s control. 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." 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.People grieve different ways. Some get busy, others can do nothing but sit Mary just sat in her room. Her grief overwhelmed her until Jesus came. Then she forsook her grief and ran to Him. The people around her never guessed this. When she suddenly burst out the door, they assumed she was running to the tomb, when she was actually running to the resurrection. 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. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" They bystanders who watched were impressed by two things. First, by His love. He wept over His friend’s pain. Second, by the irony of it. He healed so many people, but He could not heal his friend. I relate better to those bystanders than I do Mary and Martha. I would be asking what kept Him. We never fully believe until we see. I would never have believed what happened next. Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "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." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 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." And the dead came out, shuffling, stumbling, smelling, but alive. Death ws swallowed up in victory. The grave had lost its sting. What happened to Lazarus after he was resurrected? In John 12:10, we read that the Jewish leaders intended to kill Lazarus. Tradition says they succeeded If that is the case, then what was the point? We know that the mourning of his family was repeated. So why resurrect a man from death, only to have him die again? There is one difference between Lazarus’ first and second death. In between Jesus had died and was resurrected. Mary and Martha witnessed it. For the second time in two weeks, they saw a dead man live. Don’t you think this changed the way they looked at death? When we are sick we ask for healing. Whe we are dying, we ask for resurrection. But what is te point of asking for resurrection to the same life. Jesus is the life. If we are saved for this life, we will still face death tomorrow. But if we know the one who is the resurrection, then we know that we will face resurrection tomorrow. Lazarus lives, though not on this earth. He lives in heaven, with the Lord of the resurrection. We live on this earth, but not forever. Death has no victory over us, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.