READ | SERMON NOTES
SUMMARY l The raising of Lazarus in John 11 is more than a miracle account. It is an audacious call to expand what we believe God can do in our lives. At its heart, it reveals a clash between human perspective and God’s eternal perspective. The message is clear and challenging. In Christ, things can and should be different.
- Things look different from His eternal perspective
The story begins with urgency. Lazarus is gravely ill and his sisters Mary and Martha send word to Jesus. “Lord, the one You love is sick” John 11:3. They trust Him fully yet they do not instruct Him. They simply place the situation in His hands. What follows is unexpected. Jesus delays for two days. While Lazarus worsens and eventually dies, Jesus does not move. By the time He arrives, Lazarus has been dead four days. In Jewish understanding this removed all doubt. Death was final.
Martha meets Jesus with faith and grief. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” John 11:21. Mary echoes the same. Everyone present sees loss, finality and collapsed hope. Yet Jesus declares something entirely different. “This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God” John 11:4.
Here is the tension. Same situation but two perspectives. Humanly it is over. Eternally it is not. We live in a world filled with instability. Wars, economic pressure and personal struggles surround us. In these moments, we do not need shallow reassurance. We need a transformed way of seeing. The overview effect described by Frank White shows how astronauts like Edgar Mitchell saw Earth differently from space. Borders disappeared and problems seemed smaller. Their circumstances did not change. Only their perspective did. John 11 reveals that Jesus sees from eternity. From His vantage point, death is not final and delay is not denial. He sees the end from the beginning. When we begin to see this way, our priorities shift.
Randy Pausch in his Last Lecture faced death and did not speak about achievements. He spoke about what truly mattered. His children. His legacy of love. So, it is with us. Titles, wealth and reputation do not endure. What remains is who we become in God and how we live and love. Jesus modelled this perfectly. He was not driven by urgency but by alignment with the Father. He waited because He acted only on God’s timing. And when He moved it was never late. God’s timing is always precise.
This perspective reshapes our hope. Jesus does not say He will bring resurrection. He says “I am the resurrection and the life” John 11:25. Our hope is not in changing outcomes but in a living Person.
- Things happen differently in His reality
At the tomb Jesus commands “Take away the stone” John 11:39. Martha protests as the body has been dead four days and decay has set in. From every human standpoint, it is too late. Jesus responds “If you believe you will see the glory of God” John 11:40. He prays with confidence then calls out “Lazarus come forth” John 11:43.
What follows defies logic. A dead man walks out still wrapped in grave clothes. This reveals a powerful truth. God’s reality is not limited by human conclusions. What we call final, God does not. Sometimes God allows situations to reach their most impossible point so that when He acts it is unmistakably His work.
A modern reflection of this is seen in the story of Stephen Thorpe. After a devastating accident doctors saw no hope but yet his father refused to accept that verdict. He believed his son was still alive. Against all expectations, Stephen recovered and later said “My father believed I was alive and he was correct.”
This echoes John 11. God has not given up on what we may have written off. There are areas in our lives that feel dead. Relationships, dreams and even faith. Yet God still speaks life. Faith does not ignore reality. It trusts that God’s reality is greater. When Jesus speaks even what is buried responds.
- The future breaks into the present
Martha expresses correct theology. “I know he will rise again at the last day” John 11:24. Her belief is accurate but incomplete. She places hope in the future. Jesus redirects her. “I am the resurrection and the life” John 11:25. This is a profound truth. Jesus brings future hope into present reality.
The promise of resurrection is not only future. It is present. This means God’s life is not distant. It is available now. Peace is present even in chaos. Freedom is available even in struggle. Life exists even in the shadow of death. We are not waiting for God to act. He is already at work. The question is whether we recognise and respond to Him.
Conclusion
When Lazarus comes out, Jesus says “Loose him and let him go” John 11:44. This speaks to two groups.
First, those who are alive in Christ but still bound. They have received new life yet remain wrapped in fear, shame or old patterns. Jesus calls for those grave clothes to be removed so they can walk in freedom.
Second, those who feel something in their lives has died. Hope seems lost. The situation feels beyond repair. To them Jesus stands at the tomb and says take away the stone. The same voice that called Lazarus still speaks today. The question remains, do we believe Him.
Because He is still the resurrection and the life and in Him everything can be different.
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Are there things in our lives that we would do, decide or prioritise differently if we saw things in terms of decades or even in terms of eternity?
- What hope does the resurrection of Christ give us in our lives now? Is there something that needs resurrecting in our lives?
- What are the promises of God that we believe can be fulfilled today and what will only be fulfilled when Christ returns again at the end of time?
