Sunday's Message: I AM - Jesus in Seven Words (“I am the one who raises the dead to life!” (John 11:1-44))

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes seven statements beginning with the words I am. Each of these “I am” proclamations furthers our understanding of Jesus’ ministry in the world. They also link Jesus to the Old Testament revelation of God. 

In the Old Testament, God revealed His name to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14). Thus, in Judaism, “I AM” is unquestionably understood as a name for God. Whenever Jesus made an “I am” statement in which He claimed attributes of deity, He was identifying Himself as God. 

During seven messages, we’ll consider the following “I am” statements found in John’s gospel:

• June 12 – “I am the bread that gives life!” (John 6:35, 41-51)
• June 19 – “I am the light for the world!” (John 8:12-20)
• June 26 – “I am the gate for the sheep.” (John 10:1-10)
• July 3  – “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11-18)
• July 10  – “I am the one who raises the dead to life!” (John 11:1-44)
• July 17  – “I am the way, the truth, and the life!” (John 14:1-14)
• July 24  – “I am the true vine.” (John 15:1-8)

In this fifth message, we considered the statement, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!” The sermon text and podcast is below:

Well, this morning we’re passing beyond the mid-point in the series we started last month, you know, the one entitled I AM: Jesus in Seven Words. And, of course, this means we’ve already talked about four of the seven times Jesus said “I am...” in the Gospel of John and then followed it with some image that might help folks better understand who he was and what he came to do. And to this point, we’ve already talked about how he said “I am the bread that gives life” [John 6:35b, CEV] and “I am the light for the world” [John 8:12c, CEV] and “I am the gate for the sheep” [John 10:7b, CEV] and last week “I am the good shepherd.” [John 10:14a, CEV] Now that’s where we’ve been. And if you missed one of these messages, you can find all of them on the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Church blog and the addresses of both are in your bulletins.

And so, this morning as we plow ahead, we’re looking at the fifth I AM statement in John, and I’m talking about Jesus saying, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!” [John 11:25b, CEV] Now this comes in the middle of the story about the death and the resurrection of Lazarus. And even though I seriously considered kind of summarizing it, I’m not sure we can really interpret and apply it, if we don’t all hear it. And so I’m going to read the whole thing, as written by the Evangelist John, and trust me, it’s not because I just like to hear my own voice, although the accent does bring back memories. Anyway, this is what John wrote:

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. The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

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

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. But he stayed where he was for two more days. Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

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

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. But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don't have any light.” Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

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

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

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

When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was less than three kilometers from Jerusalem, and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died.

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

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

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. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”

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

After Martha said this, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, “The Teacher is here, and he wants to see you.” As soon as Mary heard this, she got up and went out to Jesus. He was still outside the village where Martha had gone to meet him. Many people had come to comfort Mary, and when they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going out to the tomb to cry. So they followed her.

Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw that Mary and the people with her were crying, he was terribly upset and asked, “Where have you put his body?”

They replied, “Lord, come and you will see.”

Jesus started crying, and the people said, “See how much he loved Lazarus.”

Some of them said, “He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”

Jesus replied, “Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?”

After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up toward heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so the people here would believe you sent me.”

When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.

Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.” [John 11:1-44, CEV]

Now that’s what John wrote. And as we consider the statement, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!” [John 11:25b, CEV], we’re going to do the same kind of thing we’ve done the last four weeks. We’re going to answer three questions: first, what did Jesus mean when he said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!”? [John 11:25b, CEV]; second, how might we respond to the one who said “I am the one who raises the dead to life!”? [John 11:25b, CEV] and third, why is it important to see Jesus as “the one who raises the dead to life”? Now, that’s the plan.

And like I said, it all begins with the first question: What did Jesus mean when he said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!”? [John 11:25b, CEV] And I’ll tell you, when we look at what happened before and after he said it, I think we’re pretty safe in coming to two conclusions: first, that Jesus came to bring life, something we’ve already talked about when we looked at what he had in mind when he said “I am the bread that gives life” [John 6:35b, CEV] and then second, that having this awareness should have changed the way the folks in the story viewed death in general and specially the death of their friend and brother. Now that’s what I think Jesus was getting at when he compared himself to the resurrection.

You see, in the story, there seems to be two reactions to the death of Lazarus. I mean, on one hand, we’ve got everybody who focused on death itself. And right now, I’m talking about the disciples, who went with Jesus even though they expected to die with him in Bethany. And I’m talking about both Martha and Mary, who said almost the exact same thing to Jesus when he finally arrived: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” [John 11:21b, CEV] And I’m also talking about all those Jews who’d come to support Martha and Mary and who were crying and weeping and wailing. You see, that’s what the word in Greek used here means. And so, on one hand, all these people were focused on death, right? 

But we’ve got something very different on the other hand, don’t we? I mean, over there, we’ve got Jesus; and his focus, well, it wasn’t on death at all. Remember, as he was talking to Martha, “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. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?’” [John 11:25-26, CEV] You see, in the face of all this mourning and all this weeping and wailing over a dead man, Jesus was focused on life, and I’m talking about the kind of life that was stronger than death. And I’ll tell you, that’s why I think Jesus did what he did. For example, that explains why Jesus got really mad when he heard Mary and the crowd weeping and wailing, something that’s kind of hard to see when you read the passage in most English translations, but not when you read it in the Greek. You see, while, in the Contemporary English Version, it was translated “he was terribly upset” [John 11:33b, CEV] and a little later, “Jesus was still terribly upset” [John 11:38a, CEV], the Greek word used in both cases referred to the sound a horse makes when he’s really mad. In other words, according to the Greek, when he heard the sound of the weeping and the wailing and when he saw the tomb where they’d put the body, Jesus was so ticked off that he snorted like an angry horse. And I’ll tell you, when you think about it, that really made sense, because Jesus was focused on life, namely the life he came to bring, while the people who surrounded him were all focused on death. And by-the-way, when John wrote that Jesus cried, he used a different Greek word than the one he used to describe what Mary and the Jews were doing, one that’s more like “tearing up” than “weeping and wailing.” You see, for Jesus, he was the one who brought, who embodied a new kind of life that was stronger than death itself. And I believe that’s what he meant when he said “I am the one who raises the dead to life!”? [John 11:25b, CEV] And for me, that’s the answer to our first question.

And as to question number two, how might we respond to the one who said “I am the one who raises the dead to life”? [John 11:25b, CEV], well, I think that comes down to our willingness to make two decisions. I mean, first, I think it involves us recognizing that our focus is often a whole closer to that of the disciples and Mary and all those Jews than it is to Jesus. In other words, I think we’re always tempted to focus on death and all those things that death represents, you know, like loss and separation and finality. Now, I think that’s often what we do, and you know, why shouldn’t we? My gosh, we’re limited, limited by time and space but also by wisdom and understanding. And so it’s not hard to see how death might represent loss and separation and finality to us. And for that reason, I think it’s important for us to be honest with ourselves and to recognize that our thoughts and our emotions, even our sense of God, is constantly being pulled in that direction. You see, for me, that’s the first way we can respond.

And second, along with that, we can make the intentional decision to trust in Jesus Christ. In other words, we can intentionally trust that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said to his disciples, “Lazarus is dead! I am glad I wasn't there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let's go to him.” [John 11:14b-15, CEV] And we can intentionally trust that he meant it when he said to Martha, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?” [John 11:25-26, CEV] And we can intentionally trust that Jesus Christ demonstrated that he really is the resurrection, the source of a kind of life that’s stronger than death, “when he shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The man who had been dead came out.” [John 11:43b-44a, CEV] And I’ll tell you, what Jesus did for him, man, Jesus also does for us. You see, in Greek, faith is the same as trust. And right now, along with recognizing what we’re always tempted to do, we can trust in Jesus Christ. And that’s how we can respond, the answer to the second question.

And finally, question number three, why is it important to see Jesus as the one who raises the dead to life?, well, I think doing that changes us in two pretty profound ways. I mean, for one, I believe it changes the way we live in the present. For example, when we understand what it means to say that Jesus is the resurrection who raises to the dead to life and when we decide to respond by recognizing who we are and by trusting in what Jesus has done, man, I think we’re going to face fewer disappointments, you know, times when we might feel that we’ve gotten the short end of the stick or that God has dealt us a bad hand. I mean, Jesus is the resurrection for crying out loud, he always was and he always will be. In other words, it’s not going to change. And I think that, in and of itself, will give us a little bit more confidence as we go about doing the best we can with what we’ve got, right here and right now. You see, I believe seeing Jesus as the resurrection changes the way we live in the present, and that’s one.

And two, I definitely think trusting in the resurrection that brings life changes the way we view the future, and I’m talking about our future and the future of those around us. I mean, even though it’s alright to face death with some genuine sadness because we’re going to miss being with those whom we love (my gosh, even Jesus shed a tear when standing in front of the tomb of his friend), death just doesn’t have the last word. And even the end of life isn’t about loss and separation and finality. Why? That’s simple; because Jesus said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life.” [John 11:25b, CEV] And then, man, he did it. And that’s why it’s important for us to accept the answer to our third question. 

And so, as we kind of navigate through life and beyond, we know certain things that might help. For example, we know that Jesus offers a kind of life that’s stronger than death on death’s best day. And we know that we can respond by recognizing who we are and trusting in what Christ has done. And we know that’s important to do because it changes the way we live in the present as well as the way we face the future. You see, these are some things that, right now, we know, all because Jesus said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life.” [John 11:25b, CEV]