![]() That’ll mess with your theology.ĭon’t miss Jesus interchanges the glory of the Father with the glory of the Son. Keep that in mind – this sickness, and even his death was to put the glory of God on display. Notice also, this is just like the healing of the blind man, whose life of misery was so that the glory of God could be put on display. Instead, we read these enigmatic words in verse 5, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” Okay, we’re fine with that – Jesus says, this sickness won’t end in death – okay then, just say the word. Or maybe He’d just do another healing from a distance thing – like with the nobleman’s son back in John chapter 4. You would expect Jesus to jump on the fastest camel around and hightail it to Bethany. But, they do appeal to His love for Lazarus as reason to believe Jesus might do something about the illness. Notice, they don’t ask Him to come – perhaps they recognize it would be dangerous for Him to do so. Lazarus is sick, so the sisters sent word to Jesus – Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick. We read the additional detail Mary was the one who anointed Jesus with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair. Bethany, by the way, is a little less than two miles from Jerusalem – an important point – less than two miles from the city where they had recently tried to take Jesus’ life. That’s the story where Martha is busy preparing a meal while Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was the brother of Mary and Martha who we first meet in Luke 10 when Jesus visited their home. Lazarus is only mentioned in chapters 11 and 12 of John. But, John tells us there was a certain man, Lazarus of Bethany, who was sick. Jesus is teaching, still performing miracles, many were believing in Him. It’s now only a few weeks, maybe days, until the events of the Passion Week begin to unfold, beginning with the Triumphal Entry in chapter 12, which we looked at last week. ![]() Jesus eluded their grasp, and He and His disciples made their way across the Jordan, to the area where John the Baptist first baptized. The last time Jesus was in Jerusalem, He claimed to be one with the Father, which really irritated the religious leaders, so they tried to stone Him. Let’s begin with that first point – the Death of Lazarus. Those verses set the stage for an amazing miracle. Let’s start with verses 1-16, which sets the stage for us. it stretches all the way through verse 44, so we have a lot to cover. And by the way, I’d be happy to sell you copies of this picture for ten bucks each. That’s why it’s here – so that seeing this last miracle recorded by John in the book – you will be impressed with Jesus – more, you will believe He is the Christ, the Son of God. I want you to visit the site with me and be amazed with Jesus. Well, regardless of the actual site of that empty tomb, I want to talk about this familiar story on Easter Sunday: the story of raising Lazarus from the dead. He stopped long enough to let me take this picture, but then said, “Scott, it’s well known a Muslim, realizing rich Americans would pay to see Lazarus’ tomb, found a cave in the area of Bethany, posted a sign, and he would be happy to take your money.” I wanted to stop, but our guide, my roommate, just laughed. At one point, as we were driving from Jericho to Jerusalem in the area of Bethany, we saw a sign, which supposedly marked the cave where Lazarus was buried, at least for four days. There were many interesting facts about this tomb pointing to the possibility it was His place of burial, to include that there are no DNA remains – since Jesus was raised from the dead and His body was not left to decay. We don’t actually know if it was the tomb where Jesus was buried, but it was certainly one just like it. We stayed in the Jerusalem Hotel, right across the street from what is thought to be Golgotha, the place of the skull, the mount of crucifixion. ![]() We visited what is thought to be the Garden of Gethsemane, containing olive trees over 2,000 years old. We ate at a restaurant atop the Mount of Olives, where we had a great view of the Kidron Valley, the Temple Mount and the Eastern Gate. We saw the Pool of Siloam, where He healed the man blind from birth. We saw the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the man lame for 38 years. ![]() We visited Jerusalem, where we walked the famed via Dolorosa. A short drive and we saw the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. We visited Capernaum, the base of His Galilean ministry. We drove through Nazareth, where He was raised. We visited Bethlehem, the place of Jesus’ birth. He drove us around, showing us the sights. We met one of my college roommates who had planted a church in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem. I’ll never forget our first trip, back in 2005. Tana and I have been privileged in recent years to visit Israel. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |