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Reading:          John 11:1-44

Text:                John 11:9-10 "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

We have so many labour saving devices today but we always seem to be short on time. There are so many different things to get done and yet there never seems to be enough time to do it all.

We do too have an inbuilt tendency to imagine that the circumstances in which we have to live are unusually difficult and that no-one before us has ever had to face such pressures. And yet when we turn to the pages of Scripture we find that others before us had to reckon with similar issues.

This evening we will look at how our Lord handled some of these pressures.

This time the question that Jesus asked His disciples was really much more like a statement of fact. Jesus asks His question but does so fully expecting His disciples to concur with Him. In so speaking Jesus was inviting His disciples to start to take into account a truth that they already knew – what they needed to do now was to understand and appreciate the significance of what they already knew!

"Are there not twelve hours in the day?"

What was it that prompted Jesus to state the obvious as He does here? Well, as ever, Bible texts come with their own specific contexts. So we must look at the immediate context of these words.

The opening verses of the chapter set the scene for us.

A certain man was ill. Now, illness or sickness was something that Jesus frequently encountered as He went about His ministry. In all four of the gospel records we read about Him not only meeting with those who were sick but we read of Him alleviating their sufferings and bringing healing. Consequently we are used to thinking about Jesus as a healer of the sick. And yet there is something special here.

The word translated ill or sick in Jn.11 is used 14 times in the four gospels – 4 of those occurrences are found in the opening 6 verses of Jn.11 (see vv.1, 2, 3, 6). John is flagging up for us that there is something special here. We are not given any details about just what this sickness was so we are to look for the specialness there, rather the specialness will reside in what the opportunities the illness affords Jesus.

The sick individual is carefully identified – he is named, his town is named and his family is named. These folk were evidently well known to the early church – we are dealing with real people and real places.

Lazarus was the man who was ill and his sisters are so concerned that they send a message to Jesus about the situation. There were times in the NT when people came to Jesus whom He had never met before or when requests were made to Him about absent folk He didn't know but such was not the case this time. These were people that Jesus knew and knew well. We are told:

v.5 "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus."

And this love was evident not merely to the family but others recognised it as well:

Cf. v.36 "So the Jews said, “See how he (Jesus) loved him (Lazarus)!”

The message that Martha and Mary send to Jesus is confidently founded upon this truth, that Jesus loves them – listen to the message they sent to Him:

v.3 "Lord, he whom you love is ill."

As John records their message how simple it is! There are no histrionics, no passionate pleas and in fact we are struck by the fact that no request of any sort is actually made at all. There is no request for healing nor is there any request for Jesus to come – though surely both lie behind the sending of the message. What we have is a calm placing of a situation before the Lord with such a confidence in Him – because of His love for them – that He will do what is right and good.

Is there a lesson for us here? When our friends are unwell we naturally and rightly want to pray for them but perhaps we would do well not to immediately try to tell the Lord what He should do or what we want Him to do. Our own thinking can be so short-sighted at times and we can behave as though physical and material well-being are the only things that matter. If that is the chief way in which we react are we any different from those with no faith who will nevertheless turn to prayer in their crises? Surely, the Christian has a different perspective and a different set of values! A speedy return to health of a sick friend may not be the very best thing that God has in mind and surely we should be praying for the best and not the second-best!

Now, I'm not saying that praying for our sick friends that they might get better is wrong but I am suggesting that we should we should be aware of a yet more important factor – the glory of God! Jesus most certainly was!! What in fact Jesus will do in this particular situation will secure the good of all those involved and in a way that a simple, dare I say it, an ordinary healing, might not!

The messenger passes on his message to Jesus and Jesus responds. But is His response a message sent back to the family or a declaration for those standing around Him? Whatever the answer to that question might be Jesus clearly declared that the final outcome of events would not be in Lazarus' death but in the glory of God. Jesus is not saying that Lazarus will not experience death – though that is probably how all His hearers interpreted His words - but that death won't be the final outcome.

John tells us how Jesus, having heard the news about Lazarus' illness, reacted. John leaves us in absolutely no doubt as to Jesus' commitment to the whole family and explains Jesus behaviour in terms of an expression of His love for the family.

That reaction was to do nothing! He stayed just where He was for a further two days!! He didn't issue a command that Lazarus might be healed – though He had performed healings at distance before – not does He set off quickly to rejoin Bethany and help a sick friend. He stays just where He was.

How easy it would have to misinterpret Jesus' behaviour at this time!

It would have been possible to call into question His assessment of the whole situation – how easy it would have been to argue that He failed to realise the gravity of the sickness – His knowledge and wisdom proved insufficient on this occasion.

It would have been easy to call into question His love for Lazarus and the sisters – after all He makes no attempt to go to comfort them but stays on two more days – the implication is clearly that He could have gone had He wanted to.

Maybe if Jesus was lacking knowledge and compassion He also had limited resources of power and didn't want to waste these in healing a sick man who would likely get better anyway.

How easy it would have been to call Jesus into question!

We can be tempted to think like that when we try to force Him to conform to our own ideas of what is necessary and when. How impatient we can so often be as we look for instant solutions to our own problems and difficulties!

Jesus delays not because He isn't concerned, not because He is powerless or lacking in knowledge – He delays because He loves! He loves the little family group and would work in their best interests and that determines the choices He makes. At the same time He loves His Father and knows that His chief goal is to glorify the Father and so He chooses the best way to do so in this case.

So after two days He turns to His disciples who are with Him and declares His intention to return to Judea – He knows now that Lazarus has in fact died and He would return to act. (We are not told how Jesus acquired this knowledge though it would not appear to depend upon human messengers as the knowledge is not shared by others, it is Jesus who informs His disciples of what has happened.)

It is now the time for Jesus' disciples to express their own concern. They remember that it was only so very recently that the Jews in Judea were seeking to kill Jesus and does He now really intend to head off back there again?!

It is clear that the disciples love the Lord Jesus and have a genuine concern for His well-being. It is clear too that they have totally failed to understand that He had come to die and that the time would come when He would lay down His life. All they want to do is to secure His safety.

Jesus on the other hand knows that He is totally safe! He is about His Father's business and as long as He is doing that nothing untoward can happen to Him. Yes, He knows that He has come into the world to die but He knows that that will not happen until the right moment – He will lay down His life and none shall take it from Him. He is extraordinarily in control and at peace.

His answer to His disciples' anxiety about returning to Judea contains our text: "Are there not twelve hours in the day?"

Of course everyone knew there were 12 hours in the day. And everyone knew that no-one could do anything to alter that fact! So if God has called for work to be carried out while it is day then such work can be carried out! Jesus knew He had work to do and that, while it was day, none would or would stop Him!

Let me remind you of what Jesus had already declared on this subject:

Jn.4:34 "Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work."

Lk.13:32-33 "And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following,"

Jn.9:4 "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work."

Having explained to His followers that none can stop Him fulfilling the plan and purpose of God Jesus then clearly explains the reason for returning to Judea – it is to see Lazarus whom the disciples still think is simply ill. Jesus explains that Lazarus is not sick any longer – he has died.

There is another lovely little indication of just how much Jesus loves His own:

v.15 "and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

Had Jesus been present with Lazarus and not acted then He feared that this would have caused distress to His followers. Even though the distress so caused would have been of only a very short duration – 4 days at most! – He did not delight in inflicting any suffering upon His own.

How harshly we can treat our Lord at times when we imagine Him to be cold, heartless or indifferent when He does not do things the way we think they ought to be done!

The Lord is still working for the best of all His people in this episode and is about to encourage the faith of His followers in a hitherto undemonstrated fashion. Yes, He had previously raised a number of individuals from the dead but never like this!

With the other resurrections, remarkable as they must be recognised to be, they all took place very soon after death but the situation of Lazarus was very different – he had been dead four days and in the hot climate of the ME would have putrefaction had begun:

v.39 "Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”"

Furthermore, according to early rabbinic folklore, the transition from life to death actually begins three days after death when the soul is believed to hover over the grave hoping to be restored to the body. That time was now past and Jesus exercises His power!

What better way to encourage faith in Himself than to demonstrate in such a dramatic, remarkable and thoroughly useful manner in raising Lazarus from the dead!

This particular miracle served in fact for more than the restoration of life to Lazarus, for strengthening the faith of Mary, Martha and His disciples; it served also for bringing many other Jews to belief in Jesus – we see that in the next chapter in a passage that highlights the hardness of the human heart set in its opposition to God's Saviour:

Jn.12:10-11 "So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus."

Once again as we contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ we have many reasons for esteeming Him and for recognising His lovely greatness. Believer, you have a Saviour who is worthy of your honour, adoration and obedient service!

Also in Him you find an example to follow. He knew that He had work to do and that He had to accomplish it all before His end could come. The pressures from others and their hostility might be very real but they simply could not stop Him. We too need not live our lives in fear – there are 12 hours in the day and none can change that for us either! We are not to allow pressures coming from whatever source to deflect us from accomplishing the Lord's purposes in our lives – and He has revealed that to us in the Bible – panic, knee-jerk reactions and an improper insistence on the immediate solution are not to dominate us.

David Livingstone wrote: "I am immortal till my work is accomplished and although I see few results, future missionaries will see conversions following every sermon."

A few years later, Alexander Mackay, following in Livingstone's footsteps wrote in his diary on the occasion of his 25^th birthday "Bless the Lord, O my soul, for all His goodness. Man is immortal till his work is done. Use me in Thy service alone, blessed Saviour."

May we find a similar response in our own hearts.

Amen.