Wonderful, Victorious, Mighty, Risen Saviour!
John 11: 14Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. 16Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
17Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. 18Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: 19And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. 21Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 23Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Martha does not understand so Jesus expounds further…..
25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
My friend, if the Creator says that Lazarus shall rise again then that is exactly what He meant!
Martha had a sister by the all-familiar name of Mary, but I see a difference between the two women.
They both have the same thing to say to Jesus "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." But it seems that they say it differently…..
32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Martha went and met Him but Mary fell down at His feet and wept!
32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35Jesus wept.
The humble attitude of Mary of Bethany touched the Heart of Jesus!
36Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
They believed that Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying but now that he is already dead, and now for four days what could Jesus do?
What could the Resurrection and the Life Himself do for Lazarus?
38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
We see here that Martha still didn’t understand….. she could get passed logic reasoning.
Martha didn’t want the crowd to smell the stench of her dead brother.
Martha may have thought why bother now, it’s too late, if you were going to do something then you should have come before.
If we could only get passed the skepticism, get passed what others think, get passed the opinion of the crowd, get passed our own logical reasoning then we could really Trust Jesus!
40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Talk about resurrection power!
Notice that Lazarus did not raise himself, he also could not loose himself from the graveclothes but was still bound hand and foot.
Lazarus did not leave his graveclothes in the tomb but someone else had to remove them.
Jesus had brought people back to life before, but this was a little more intense seeing that Lazarus was dead 4 days…… this leaves no questions of doubt weather or not Lazarus had really died.
John 12:1Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, 5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.
It seems that through this amazing miracle there is at least one who has caught a glimpse of the coming days.
This Mary of Bethany, this humble friend of Jesus must have been moved by the Holy Spirit to anoint Him for burial.
We know that anointing a body was nothing new, but it was done after that a body had already died.
What makes this so special is that Jesus was still alive when she did this.
Judas Iscariot has a logical question if you are looking at the world’s point of view.
5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
A penny being about a days wage x 300
Why would someone spend almost a years worth of wages for just one anointing?
If Jesus means as much to you as He did to Mary it would seem a small token of appreciation.
3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
In order for us to understand fully what Mary did here we need to look at another Scripture.
1 Corinthians 11: 14Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
By using her hair to wipe His Feet we see that Mary of Bethany used her glory to give Him glory!
7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
As we know in the Scriptures, the coming days would bring much change in the lives of these close knit friends.
We see as Jesus was taken captive a led away to be crucified.
We have a picture of Calvary drawn unto us in the Gospel.
And we are reminded of what Jesus said beforehand:
John 12: 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
John 12: 32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33This he said, signifying what death he should die.
I believe that the event of His Crucifixion is still drawing men today.
John 19:25Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. 28After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
31The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 36For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
38And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 41Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 42There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
Here we have a couple of men that desired to follow Jesus, both of them secretly, but now they are willing to go to Pilate asking for His Body.
Have you ever really pondered this event?
Have you ever really tried to place yourself in the Disciples shoes?
Here we have a group of friends and followers that have just seen their Leader Crucified.
John 20:1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
We looked at Mary of Bethany, but now here is another Mary, that is, Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene came to anoint the Body of the Lord with spices.
She came looking for a dead body but what she found was an empty tomb.
If Jesus’ dead Body was going to be anointed then they would have to be quicker than this.
Mary Magdalene would not get the chance to anoint Him, in fact the proper anointing had already been taken care of by Mary of Bethany.
2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Not yet understanding what has taken place she runs back to tell Peter and John.
Mary believes that the Body of Jesus has been stolen.
If Jesus would have left it this way and Ascended back to the Father right here then the lying Roman guards would have been able to tell their lie and people accept it, but the event is not over….
3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
I want to emphasize the significance in the wrapped napkin and in the graveclothes left behind.
This was a sign that he would come back. I have heard that in that time when a man of a house would leave the table he would fold his napkin to signal to the servants that he was coming back to the table (because he wasn’t finished yet).
John 14: 1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Not only was this a sign that He was coming back but this also gave evidence that His Body was not stolen……
What thief would take the time to leave the graveclothes behind, much less take the time to wrap the napkin?
8Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
11But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
Mary is in a sad condition…..
Here is one who knows the bondage of satan, and knows the redeeming power of peace found in her friend Jesus.
I believe that Mary Magdalene was at the most sorrowful point in her life.
It seems that when we are at our lowest, I mean really at the point when we realize we are nothing without Him…. .it seems that is when He comes the closest.
14And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
He speaks and the sound of His Voice, is so sweet the birds hush their singing, and the melody that He gave to me within my heart is ringing!
16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
My mind quickly goes here to John chapter 10….
John 10: 3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
It was when He calls her by name that this sheep recognizes her Chief Shepherd!
She came looking for a dead body but found an empty tomb,
She saw in her own reasoning an ordinary gardener, but at the sound of His Voice found a Wonderful, Victorious, Mighty, Risen Saviour!
I believe the disciples could remember back to the Words He spoke before hand to them:
John 6: 35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
John 6: 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 8: 12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 8: 58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 10: 7Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
John 10: 11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 11: 25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
John 14: 6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 15: 1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Paul said …..
Philippians 3: 7But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
John received a good look at the risen Saviour….
Revelation 1: 17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Although it’s cute my friend, it’s not about a colored egg, it’s about an empty tomb.
It’s not about an enchanted bunny, it’s about a supernatural Saviour!
What the Resurrection mean to us?
It means that we have hope my friend, and it means that we serve a Risen Saviour Who holds victory in His Hands and cannot be defeated!
