Flashback Episode — Discussing Death: John 11:1-44

When reading the gospels, sometimes Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John surprise me about the events they chose to include in each of their respective gospels. While Matthew, Mark, and Luke all share many similar stories, John takes a different approach with his gospel, and he shares many unique events that the other gospels for some reason or another, chose not to include.

Of all the events that John includes that the other three gospels excluded, the event I am most surprised about is the resurrection of Lazarus. For some reason, only John’s gospel included it, and I can only speculate that one of the primary reasons the other three gospel writers didn’t include it was because it was such a well known event that it would have been redundant for those in the first century who were well aware of what happened.

However, when reading about Lazarus’ resurrection, an interesting secondary theme appears, and this theme is both subtle and powerful. Let’s read excerpts from John’s gospel and draw out this theme together. Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 11, and we will read it using the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 1, John opens this event by telling us that:

^1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord’s head and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

⁴ When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won’t end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”

The first clue to this secondary theme in this event is that Jesus says that Lazarus’ sickness won’t end in death. Instead, it will bring glory to God and His Son.

I’m sure that when the disciples and messengers heard Jesus’ response, they were relieved, but what happens next is startling. Continuing in verse 5, we read:

⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. ⁶ But he stayed where he was for two more days.

In my mind, the two verses we just read don’t add up. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, but He stayed where He was for two more days. In my mind, it doesn’t seem like love to stay away from your friends who are hurting – especially since John doesn’t give us a reason why.

After the two-day delay, we pick back up reading in verse 7:

⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”

When reading this portion of the event, part of me wonders if the disciples thought Jesus wouldn’t go back to Judah to see His friends. After two days with no movement in that direction, the consensus among the disciples may have been that no direct intervention was necessary for Lazarus’ benefit.

But Jesus answers them in the next verses by saying:

⁹ [Jesus answered,] “Aren’t there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won’t stumble. ¹⁰ But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don’t have any light.” ¹¹ Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

¹² They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! ¹⁵ I am glad that I wasn’t there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin,” said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let’s go, so we can die with him.”

I find it interesting that Jesus begins by saying that Lazarus’ sickness won’t end in death, but here just two days later, Jesus now talks about Lazarus sleeping. However, when the disciples don’t catch the metaphor, Jesus has to plainly tell them: “Lazarus is dead!” (v. 14)

Here is the second clue into our secondary theme hidden in this passage. Jesus seems to talk about death on two separate levels – or He has a bigger picture in mind when discussing death. To learn which it is, let’s continue reading, but let’s jump down in the story to Martha’s conversation with Jesus.

Picking back up in verse 20, we read:

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask.”

²³ Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again!”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know that he will be raised to life on the last day, when all the dead are raised.”

²⁵ Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. ²⁶ And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord!” she replied. “I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

The subtle, but not so subtle, theme that Martha picks up on is that Jesus had promised through the messengers that Lazarus’ sickness wouldn’t end in death, but since her brother had died, Jesus must be talking from an eternal perspective. In her conversation with Jesus, Martha demonstrates amazing faith – and she points us to the biggest picture we can imagine that can only be seen through looking at eternity.

But in this conversation, Jesus still sounds like he is still talking about death on two different levels. First He tells Martha that her brother would live again, but then He starts talking about those who have faith in Him dying but not really “dying”. The fact that Jesus says He is the one who raises the dead back to life, but those who believe in Him will never really die is a contradiction – if we understand Jesus to only be talking about death on one level.

This must then mean that Jesus has two different perspectives or angles on death that He refers to in this passage and conversation. Earlier, Jesus tried describing death like a sleep, but He wasn’t successful using this metaphor with the disciples. Jesus then tells Martha that her brother will live again, but she only understands this statement from the big-picture, future resurrection that God’s people will experience.

In each case, dying is dying, but in the first case, the death is equivalent to a sleep that only Jesus can break. In the second case, the death is final. Martha had her perspective correct when she understood Jesus’ promise that Lazarus would ultimately be alive in heaven with God at the end of time, but she missed the immediate promise of Jesus’ words that Lazarus’ death was simply a sleep that he needed Jesus to wake him from.

Lazarus was dead. He wasn’t in a coma or simply unconscious. The way bodies were prepared for burial in that culture would have killed an unconscious person. After four days in the tomb, everyone was certain that Lazarus was truly dead. No one present had any doubts to the contrary.

We can understand the perspective of those present in this passage when they talk about Jesus on the way to the tomb. The crowd says in verse 37, “He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” and Martha pushes back against the idea of opening the tomb in verse 39 by telling Jesus, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”

When we think about death, the secondary theme of this passage is that until the resurrection happens on the last day, everyone who dies with their faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus will simply sleep waiting for Him to awaken them. These people technically will never die because they have a future life waiting for them with God.

But those who have died who have rejected God, Jesus, or chosen to believe in something or someone other than Jesus will die, and they will face a death in the future that does not have a resurrection promised.

While the primary theme of this passage relates to Jesus being the Life-Giver and being someone who is worthy of our faith, the secondary theme of this passage tells us that death in this life is more like a sleep, and that after we take our last breath, the next sound we hear will be Jesus waking us up.

With this said, here are the challenges I will leave you with as we close out this podcast episode:

As I always challenge you to do in one way or another, intentionally choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. Choose to live your life in a way that pleases Him, because when death-sleep comes, it won’t matter whether we stay in the ground until resurrection or whether we immediately go to Heaven. The only thing that will have mattered is how we stood with God at the moment of our last breath.

As always, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn the truth God wants to teach you. While death is a sad subject for many, God wants to draw your attention to the future life He has promised each of us.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!