New Thoughts (07/15/10-07/19/10)
This portion of the record centers around Martha. It remains the briefest of sketches, though, which leaves us to conjecture as to the details that are not given. As I already explored during my preparations, we are told that Mary was still at the house as Martha met Jesus, but we are not given to know why. I have suggested that she remained simply because Martha had not told her Jesus had come. This fits with the later statement that she returned home and told Mary that Jesus had indeed arrived (Jn 11:28).
In this I see a certain degree of self-interest in Martha’s actions. But, it is a healthy sort of self-interest. She needed that moment of private time to deal with her feelings, her anger and frustration with God over the loss of her brother. Indeed, I would go so far as to say she acts with great wisdom. And, I would also note, before proceeding, that she seeks to be sure that Mary has the same opportunity. This is not, then, a selfish act, although it has self-interest. It is, in fact, a display of faith.
Let me explain my thinking here. Martha is certainly upset by the loss of her brother, perhaps more so than we would typically expect, as it comes in the midst of this Messianic hope. For Martha, though, the grief has had to stay somewhat submerged as she still bears the responsibility of her household. Oh, there’s been grieving of a sort, but always that bit of reserve, that tendency to allow daily concerns to blanket the grief. Yet, she knows that grief must be dealt with. The blanket must be pulled back and grief exposed.
She is also quite aware of her anger at the loss of Lazarus. Admittedly, we lose the emotional keys in the discussion she and Jesus have together. We cannot know reliably where the stresses and accents were as she says, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died.” We cannot see her eyes, whether they flash with anger or merely tear up with sorrow. Likewise, we are left to wonder at the implications of her reaction to what Jesus says to her. Is it the futile, look he’s been dead for days, and he won’t be back in my lifetime, sort of an “I know, Jesus,” or is it the rising of hope? Recall that she has expressed the very real faith that she has in Him, “Even now, I know God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” And how has Jesus reacted to that faith? “He shall rise again.” Can it be that she, in faith, senses that this might be more immediate than the last days resurrection she speaks of? Can it be that her faith is strong enough to suppose what she dare not hope?
Honestly, I always see this conversation in a much different light. I see Martha angry with God and with Jesus as His local representative. The stress I hear as I read her greeting is that which says that He should have prevented this. In her anguish, she has found Someone to blame. Now, I want to stress this point a bit, assuming I have the right sense of her emotions at the time: Jesus is not offended. God is not offended. We think it such a terrible thing to express our anger at God when bad things happen to those we love. I tell you this: It’s a far worse thing to convince yourself that you haven’t expressed it, that you’ve hidden it.
Simply put, God wants a people that is honest and open with Him. If we’re upset with Him, mad at Him, far better we tell Him so outright than that we play our games of hypocritical piety. Now, I’ll tell you outright that I am not a fan of grand emotional displays. I am not one to seek out times to air out all the hurts and upsets in a relationship, certainly not for hours on end. I am more inclined to either refuse offense, or, if offended, to let go of it as quickly as I may. Am I more in the right or less? I couldn’t say. I know that this is my nature, though. But, there comes a time when emotion must express itself. There comes a time where the only way to let go of the hurt is to let the one who hurt you know about it. That doesn’t stop being true when it’s God that you have in your sights.
The good news is that if there were ever anybody with whom you could safely pour out all your hurt and anger, it’s Him. God is not offended by your honesty. He will not respond in kind. He has no flesh to rise up in prideful defense. But, I will also say this: Such display is not for public consumption. The one who loves God, even in such times as lead to such anger at Him, recognize that the anger is a matter to be dealt with privately. Just as we are instructed to deal with sin in the church, going privately to that brother, so it is with our hurt towards God. Go privately to your Father. Let your heart be exposed before Him. It already is, after all, so you may as well be honest about it. Really, it will be far more a matter of exposing your heart to yourself, that He may heal it. This is the healing that matters, after all.
This is where I see such marvelous wisdom in Martha. She knows that she is safe in expressing her real feelings to God. And, for the sake of argument, let me suppose that she understands that this one she recognizes to be Messiah, Son of God, and the Prophet like Moses, she also recognizes to be God Incarnate. If not, she knows Him at least to be close enough relationally to God as makes little difference. She also recognizes that what she must, for her own spiritual health, air out with Him is something she must air out in as private a fashion as can be achieved. In this matter, the disciples, who no doubt witness the whole thing, do not count as public witness. They are family and this is a family matter. Due order has been maintained. But, the crowds in from Jerusalem? No. This is not their business. So, she has come alone, to make her peace with God alone. Wise girl, that.
As I wrote earlier, God is not put off by our honesty with Him. Indeed, if we will be honest with Him, we will find that He is inclined to respond to us in ways that heal the hurts with the balm of Truth. Is that not what we see Him doing with Martha here? Consider where her thoughts may be traveling. After all, even with the business at the house, she has had ample time to think on things. So, six days ago she had sent out messengers to Jesus and they had returned two days ago. Yet, Jesus wasn’t with them. It doesn’t take any great skill at math to figure that Jesus got the news four days ago, the very day that Lazarus had died. Our modern thinking would perhaps lead us to conclude that it was already too late, so there was nothing Jesus could have done anyway. But, if the oft-stated supposition holds – that the beliefs of that time said there were three days before the soul had fully departed the body – then that same simple math says that if He had come when He was called, there was the chance. After all, He had raised that widow’s boy from the dead, hadn’t He? But, now it had been four days, and it was too late, and, “If You had been here…”
So, yes, she is more than simply frustrated. She is angry, angry at God. How can we dare to say such a thing! Why, we would never confess anything like that. Yes, but the great men and women of Scripture had no such fear. They knew its bounds, and they occasionally felt God’s rebuke for allowing anger to displace trust, but they did not shy away from speaking their heart. “How long, Oh, Lord?” How can this be an act of a good God? But, as I see in Martha, it is not anger that has overwhelmed all else. It is anger that is mixed up with the love she knows for this Jesus. If there is the pain of disappointment, it is stirred together with hope. In short, this almost accusatory statement she has made to Jesus does not indicate that her faith is not strong. She is not lacking in faith, which she makes clear immediately. Yes, Lord. I’m exceedingly peeved at Your delay and what it has allowed to transpire. Nevertheless, I still know that You are God’s Man. Let’s be clear about this: Martha is not turning away from God and faith. She is just being honest with Him, and this is a habit we could all stand to develop.
Not being privy to their conversation except in this recording of it, we cannot hear whether there was the hint of hopeful request as she finished that “even now I know” part. You know, Jesus, if You asked God, He would do it for You, right? So, maybe You’ll be asking then? If there is that questing sense to her statement of trust, then we ought to hear Jesus’ reply as confirmation. But, then, she ought to have heard it thus as well, unless hope really was crushed within her at that moment.
No, I think we are better to hear her words as simple declaration. I still know You. Yes, I’m upset with You, but I still love You and trust You. I have not lost faith. Then, what Jesus speaks, He speaks as comfort to those who are mourning. “It’s not final, Martha.” Being human, Martha hears His words, but hears them through the filter of human possibility. Four days have passed. To her thinking, that would preclude any immediate application of rising again. So, yes, there is that promise, Jesus, and that’s all well and good. But, the last day? When is that? How long from now? Why, I’ll be just as dead and buried as he before that resurrection comes. It’s true. No doubt about it. He will rise again, but that’s cold comfort to me just now.
We have a similar way of filtering what God is saying. We maybe hear the promise in His words, but we are so used to dealing with life in terms of what we can do about things that we just naturally hear what He is saying in terms of what we think can be done, not what He can do. Does that mean we should be hanging on the words of the Spirit, listening intently for any hint of miraculous intervention? I honestly don’t think so. It does, however, mean that we ought to stop the tendency to look for God to act as we would. I rather hate to use the worn out phrase of not putting God in a box, but it is our tendency, however hard we try not to. We tend to measure His possible responses to our need by our possible responses. God is not, however, bound by our limitations. Neither, I should note, is He particularly bound by our requests. We can, should we be so foolish, attempt to provide Him with our wise counsel in prayer, as we make our needs known to Him, but He is not such a mad god as to bind Himself by our terms. No! He shall answer as befits His own terms: that it shall be for our good. He shall do so even when that which best serves the good purpose He has for us seems so contrary in our view.
Even when the good requires that He wait for sickness to become death, it is done with our good in view, with His love motivating Him. If sickness had not become death, then death would have no opportunity to become life. Yet, we should surely understand that it is not the opportunity to show off that God is setting up here. God does not show off, and I have to think that invitations for Him to come and do so are quite likely offensive to Him, as they would seem to completely mischaracterize His nature.
No! The act we are building up to here is not a matter of showing off what He can do. It’s a matter of building up the foundation of faith in those whom He loves, because He knows what lies ahead, and He knows that they are going to need a very firm foundation indeed.
It is to this end that, when Martha makes that expression of faith yet unshaken, Jesus probes the depth of that faith. You still know I have an in with God, but do you yet see the full picture? Your brother shall rise, Martha, and yes, you have your theology down. That’s great. But, see, it’s not just that I have God’s ear. That last day you speak of? That’s My day. I AM that resurrection to which you look. I AM that life into which he will rise. I AM LIFE! Oh, Martha, lay hold of this: For those who believe in Me, into whom I have breathed the life that I am, death cannot hold. Oh, they may well enter the grave, but it is only for a time. It’s not final. In a very real sense, Martha, he who lives in Me and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this, Martha? Do you believe this?
The sort of belief He is asking after here goes far beyond simply accepting theological truths. I am inclined to take up my favorite example of Romans 8:28 here, but I think I shall instead take up the theme of 1John 4:16. God is love. That’s a marvelous truth that we love to declare at every opportunity, especially when we’re dealing with new believers. No, no, child. God isn’t out to get you. God is love, man! Of course, our comprehension of that has gotten a trifle sloppy with the influence of the culture around us, but it remains true. Of this we are fully certain: He IS Love, in every bit the same way as He IS Life. But, what does this truth do for our perception of events around us?
When troubles come, as they most assuredly will, does this Truth inform our perceptions? After all, God is also our Sovereign King. What He says goes. This, too, we claim to believe. And, yet, we are forever blaming the devil for this, and our own stubbornness for that, and even going so far as to write things off as coincidence. But, if God is in control, and He is love, and He is working all things for the good of us as we are in His purposes, where is the place for coincidence? Where is the devil’s freedom and power to thwart His plan? Where is our capacity to throw Him for a loop? All of that is gone. If it has been allowed to happen to us, then we must know that it is from Love that He has not simply allowed it to be this way, but has caused it to be thus. It may very well be a disciplinary measure designed to turn our attention back to what is right and good and lovely and true. It may actually be something sent to encourage, if we will but encounter it with a heart set on God.
Death of a loved one would not seem to be much by way of an encouragement, would it? Major traffic accidents don’t seem like opportunities when you’re in them. The hard lessons of life do not look beneficial in the moment they are happening. All discipline is unpleasant at the time it is applied. Yet, those trained by it discover that there is a great yield of peace and righteousness brought about by it (Heb 12:11). Why? Because God is Love, and He is working even this discipline for your good. Even this time of sorrow at the death of a dear brother is not sent to wear you down but to build you up.
I said it in the previous study and I shall repeat it here. Our greatest need is to change our perspective, to move from the “why me, Lord?” to the “what are You working towards in this, Lord?” We need to shift from the reactive to the responsive. Enough with the “how could You!” Let us be all about the questions of “what ought I to learn from this trial You have blessed me with?” and, then, “how can I serve You in this circumstance?” The beginning of this shift in thinking lies in not simply believing the Truths of Scripture, but believing the implications of those Truths. If God is Good and He is in control, then what is happening to me is good. The immediate experience of this which is happening may be painful, may produce a sorrowful response in me, but I need to look beyond the immediate. If a Good God who loves me beyond measure is leading me through this, where is it He must be taking me, and how can I work with Him in that?
There is that anecdote I have heard R.C. Sproul use – the tale of two men who accidentally walk off a cliff, or some such. The one man, a believer, but of some less Reformed persuasion, picks himself up and says words to the effect of, “Why did You let me do that, God?” The other, being a staunch believer of the Reformed tradition, says simply, “Well! I’m glad that’s over with.” I am surely telling this tale badly, but the gist of it is there. Is it that God’s attention slipped for a moment, allowing those pesky demons to get at me, or is that He intentionally gave them that momentary access, having set firm boundaries on their activity? I should have to say, though, that both responses fall short. For, even with the proposed response of the Reformed believer, there is no more than acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty. This is a critical thing to grasp, to be sure, but there’s a step to go beyond that. God is not only sovereign, He is utterly purposeful. If He has arranged this event specifically for you, which is the implication of His sovereign and providential rule, then He has done it in order for some good to develop in you. Indeed, we might well breathe in relief that the painful lesson has been completed, but unless we continue to the question of what is to be learned from it, what purpose God had in sending it our way, and having answered those questions, make such change as is called for, we must expect that the lesson will be repeated. If anything, the next lesson will be less possible to misunderstand. As my dear brother is so fond of saying, God is persistent. And He will win.
Now, before I explore the full implications of what Jesus says of Himself in this passage, there is one clause in particular that needs to be sorted out. In verse 26, He says that those who live and believe in Him shall never die. OK, well, such physical evidence as is before us day in and day out certainly seems to suggest that those who lived a life of faith still went to their grave, yes? Every last one of those disciples standing about Him as He said these words died. Lazarus, for all that he was resurrected, still returned to the grave at some point. So, how can Jesus say this?
Well, we find a hint in the statement John makes much earlier in his text: He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not ever see life, only the wrath of God (Jn 3:36). This carries the same paradox but in reverse. The very ones of whom this is said are out and about and walking the earth. Of course they are alive. Honestly, if they weren’t alive, where would be the question of obeying the Son?
The juxtaposition of these two statements should make clear to us that it is not physical, earthly life and death that are in view, but something greater. The very fact of a resurrection indicates something greater. Paul, of course, explores this more fully as he develops the implications of the Gospel Truth. To be resurrected into a body no different than the one I bear now is of limited use. Again, look at Lazarus. He was back for a time, but only for a time. Likewise, all those whom Jesus healed according to His plan and purpose, they still underwent the decay common to all men. Likewise, the evil throughout history have lived out lives not unlike the rest. They have had food and air and drink and shelter often of a quality superior to that of the righteous. They have had, as we say, their threescore and ten just as we. And, they go to the grave just as we. It is only then, though, that the real distinction is made known.
It is only then that the reality of life, the fullness of life can be restored. Isn’t that there in what Jesus says a bit later? “Unless that grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it cannot bear fruit” (Jn 12:24). Unless it dies and is buried, it shall never really live. So, too, apart from the miraculous events described at Jesus’ return, the life of man. Unless it is has been buried, the corruptible flesh gone and done with, then the reality of life cannot fully come. The resurrection body must be of a purer, superior fashioning, to abide the incorruptible life that Jesus speaks of. It is that life, life in its fullness, life unending and spent in the love and presence of God that is in view.
The NET offers this questionable clause as saying that the one who lives and believes, ‘will never die forever.’ The construct is awkward, but the sense is there. Yes, they go to the grave like every other, but it’s not forever. Is this not why Jesus speaks of the death of the saints in terms of sleep? Lazarus is dead (Jn 11:14), yet, this sickness is not unto death (Jn 11:4). It won’t be stopping there, only visiting for a time. Life, the Life Jesus imparts as He chooses, is not set aside by death.
Turning back to the beginning of this statement that Jesus wants to be certain Martha really grasps hold of, it begins with “I am the resurrection and the life.” The full power of that statement is rather lacking when it stands outside its context. But, consider what He is responding to. Martha has expressed her confidence in that resurrection assigned to the last day, what we might consider the end of creation. It is this specific resurrection that Jesus is identifying with. I am that resurrection, the Resurrection. In comparison with the Resurrection, what is about to transpire with Lazarus is nothing. In comparison with the Resurrection, the entire span of earthly life, however long it may last, is nothing. Jesus is not only the Resurrection, the very definition of the last day, He is also the Life into which those who arise are reborn.
Is it any wonder, then, that the Resurrection insists that the one who would truly live must be reborn? The act of resurrection is by and large a rebirth, in that it is a reentry into life. The act of the Resurrection, in that it has brought about the potential for man to be restored to Life in its fullness over against the life we spend dying here on earth, is more than a reentry into life. It is a new entry into a new life.
I am particularly happy with the translation provided in the BBE, where they have stated this response from Jesus as, “I am myself that day and that life.” This makes clear that Jesus is not speaking in any generic sense. He is pointing to Himself as being that specific day. In identifying Himself with the resurrection which is assigned to that last day, He is simultaneously declaring Himself the last day on which the resurrection comes. Let me stop there for a moment. Jesus is declaring Himself the whole purpose of Creation. He is the culmination. He is the point towards which the whole thing has been aiming from the start. It is so entirely fitting. The grand arch of Scripture begins with, “In the beginning God” (Ge 1:1). Our pastor is fond of noting that this is a complete declaration unto itself. The first sentence stops right there. In the beginning: God. Nothing else. Now, we are told by Jesus that, “in the end, God.”
Those who insist that Jesus never said that He was God do so only because they fail to understand the several prerogatives that are assigned to God alone, which Jesus has assigned to Himself. If the purpose of all creation is to glorify God, and Jesus is the whole of Creation’s purpose, then He is at the very least the glory of God. But, we know God will not share His glory with another. This could certainly cause a reasonable man to conclude that this One Who is the glory of God must indeed be God. Were this the sole clause upon which to build the case, I would consider it a pretty shaky case. But, of course, there is far more that Jesus says of Himself that supports the fact that He knew Himself to be not just in agreement with God, but God Himself. It is also clear that those who opposed Him among the Pharisees and Sanhedrin knew that this was what He was indicating of Himself.
However, let me focus on the second I AM of this clause. I AM the Life. I AM that Life, the Life into which the Resurrection births you who believe. This is the Life that cannot die. This is the Life that justifies that spectacular claim He follows on with: Who believes and lives in Me (having partaken of that Life and Resurrection) shall never die. Having entered into Life, death is abolished. Sin is abolished, which is the seed of death. It’s a different life entirely that He speaks of here, one which we may indeed taste of in this life, but one which we cannot truly know until the bridge which is the believer’s grave has been crossed.
Before we think to consider His final question to Martha, let’s think back across some of the other things this I AM has said of Himself. As the Father raises the dead to life, so the Son gives life to whom He chooses (Jn 5:21). Indeed, those whom the Father sends Me (for none can come to me else) I will raise up on the last day (Jn 6:44), for He is the Last Day, as we have just seen. Now, here’s the completion of the thought. This same I AM Who IS the Life (and the Resurrection that permits entry into the Life), is also the Way and the Truth (Jn 14:6). He is the Way, as that verse explains, in that there is no other path to the Father. All roads may lead to heaven, but only One reaches the gate. All others turn off in the end, and lead the traveler away, culled out as a goat among the sheep.
OK, I want to stress the balance shown in these selected verses. None comes to the Son except as the Father draws him, yet none can reach the Father except they come through the Son. The Son is He who gives life as He chooses, but the Father has indicated the choice in sending those to His Son whom He would have come to Him. It’s a team effort, but I must stress that the team is the Triune Godhead. We are, I suppose, active in the process, but hardly in control. The Father draws. We but respond as we must. We may function in such a way as to indicate our active choosing to follow His scent. We may bear the moral responsibility of that choice. But, really, we respond as we must. When He draws, there is no doubt as to the outcome. We will choose to follow. Likewise, when He has caused us to approach the Son, there is no question of the Son rejecting. Life is given to whom the Son chooses to give it, but the Father decides upon whom He shall have mercy. It is one and the same act. The Father has chosen mercy, leading the recipient thereof to the Son who chooses to give Life to this object of the Father’s mercy. Why? Well, we could simply note that Jesus does the work of His Father. Or, we could be more wise, and observe that, “behold, the Lord your God, He is One!”
So, here we have Jesus declaring Himself the purpose and goal of Creation. I AM the path to Life, and that Life to which I will bring you has no end. Then comes the question every one of us, not just Martha, must face and answer. Do you believe this?
It’s simply not enough to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. It’s certainly not enough to know that He is a good man and a great prophet. Frankly, it’s not even enough to know that He is the Messiah God has chosen. For one thing, our conception of what that means may be as far astray as it was for the disciples and the Pharisees. When Martha answers, she affirms that she believes, but she also reveals the limits of that belief, as Peter had in his confession. “I have believed that You are the Christ.” Fine, but who is the Christ? “I have believed that You are the Son of God.” But, do you realize yet that the Son and the Father are One? “I have believed that You are the one who comes into the world.” Here, I must suppose she is thinking of the prophet that Moses had promised would come, to whom the people of Israel ought to heed as they had heeded Moses (and preferably, rather better than they had heeded him.)
But, she has not arrived at the whole of it. She cannot take that final step of, “You are God!” Not yet. She cannot move beyond the facts, if you will, to the implications. Jesus is laying out the implications in what He has just said. He is asking, then, if she lays hold of all that, and in spite of the yes in her answer, the real answer is no. That is exactly why the love Jesus had for this family required Him to wait those two extra days (Jn 11:5-6). His love for them led Him to be certain that the events they would witness this day would suffice to change the answer. When He was done, the answer to ‘do you believe this’ would be much different. The yes that was spoken would be a yes that was known from the depths of both heart and mind.
What of our own case? Do I believe this? Am I able to look beyond the trials and tribulations that are my life and lay hold of that promise? At this present moment, I would say yes. Yet, I know myself well enough to realize that the answer can certainly change. But, I’m learning. I’m being trained. And, while I would not be so foolish as to suppose I have attained to this, I see clear evidence of progress, and this is pleasing to me.
I am also most thoroughly blessed to see how my Lord has timed these studies yet again, that my thoughts might be directly upon the passage that will address the needs of the day. I am thrilled to have this wisdom that my God has imparted by His Word ready and waiting when my beloved wife has need of a word in time. I am blessed all the more to see that her spiritual grounding is in far better shape than I have often supposed. She, too, is learning, and learning from the Master. That she is open to hear correction such as I felt it necessary to deliver, though it runs counter to some of her most deeply felt needs, is actually rather amazing.
So, Lord, for both the preparation in me and the reception in her, I thank You, for I know You have been moving to prepare the way. You are the Way. There can be no other. Therefore, my God, allow that I might draw the lesson I ought from this: that when I am called to speak Truth, it is because You have prepared the ground to receive Truth. I need not be concerned as to the reception hard Truths may receive, for You hold the till and guide it. So again; thank You, and may I walk worthy of this blessing You have given me.
