Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Dead dead
John 12:10,11
But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
There is a debate going on right now in the newspapers in Guyana about the place of Guyanese Creolese as a valid language to be used in education and society generally. Here is not the place for that debate, however, there is something from Guyanese Creolese that really captures what we are meditating on today.
Creolese, like many other native languages and dialects, has a capacity to convey more than the spoken words to the mind of its users when they hear it. In Creolese we could say, for example, – “kill he dead” – and that is quite acceptable, while in English we understand that if we ‘killed him’ he would be dead, no need for the redundancy. But to us, “a kill he dead” says so much more, the snake is not just dead, the hearers are assured that there is really no need for fear, and the killer is also seen as a real hero.
So, we come to today’s title, Dead dead, this, of course, is Creolese again. ‘Dead dead’ means that you are giving the assurance that the one which is declared dead is not “playing possum” but is really and truly dead. Dead never to be feared, dead never to get up again.
In the passage we are focusing on today, John 12:9-11, the Jewish religious leaders had a problem, Lazarus had died, he was buried, but now here he was running around his house in Bethany attracting people and changing the fractious balance of power between Jesus and the High Priest that was already threatening to undermine the fragile relations between the Jews and the Roman empire.
Their solution was to ensure that this time, Lazarus was dead dead, as Guyanese would put it.
The death of Lazarus was always a problem. When Jesus received the news of the death of Lazarus He said to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” John 11:11. The confusion was obvious, the disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. John 11:12,13.
Jesus knew that He was walking into a death trap, but He also knew that His hour had come. Here is the dialogue that makes this clear for us. “Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” Jesus answered, “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 one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” John 11:7-10.
The death of Lazarus came close to the events that lead to the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus, conscious of His coming death and resurrection, sought to teach His disciples and others close to Him about what was going to happen in a few short days. “Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” John 11:14,15.
Most of this teaching though is captured by the Apostle John in his recounting of the conversations between Jesus and Lazarus’ sisters.
“Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”” John 11:23-27.
The parallels between the resuscitation of Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus are stark at this point. Unexpected as they both were, they both involved the removal of the stone at the entrance and the abandonment of grave clothes.
In the case of Lazarus, Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” John 11:39. In the case of Jesus, “they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.” Luke 24:2. In the case of Lazarus, “he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”” John 11:44. In the case of Jesus, “Simon Peter came, … and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. John 20:6,7.
The Jewish leaders ware having none of this with Lazarus. They were going to kill him dead dead. They were going to put an end to this Jesus movement once and for all. Of course, Lazarus eventually died again, but not at the hand of those who wanted to fly in the face of God. Like Lazarus, death is coming for us too. But we should die in God’s timing for our lives. Having, like Lazarus, served Him and caused others to seek Him on account of the new life we have in Him.
“Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.” John 12:9.
Think on these things:
- Can you say, with confidence, that you are experiencing new life in Jesus?
- Since you didn’t actually go into a grave like Lazarus, what characterised your old life and what now characterises your new life in Jesus?
- Is this new life obvious to those around and does it attract others to Jesus?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we, having new life in Christ, will attract others to Him.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
