John 11:1-44 - Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead

1. Christ has just fled from Jerusalem and was preaching and teaching across the Jordan, around where John the Baptist had been baptizing.
2. It is after this time of flight that we come to the story of Lazarus, as Christ is preaching and teaching and displaying his power, with John 10:42 telling us that many came to believe in him.
   1. Christ receives word that Lazarus is ill and does something that may seem odd to us: he waits. Rather than acting quickly to save Lazarus from death, He claims that the sickness is intended for the glorification of not only God the father but of God's son.
   2. So Christ waits until the appropriate time, and then embarks upon a sudden return to Judea, his disciples concerned with his safety after they were run out by threat of stoning last time.
   3. Christ arrives at the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, to find Lazarus already entombed for 4 days and takes the opportunity to teach a bit on the nature of His power and authority.
   4. Famously, Jesus weeps over Lazarus, not just as a man who loved a friend, but as the creator God through which Lazarus was made, weeping over the effects of sin on what He had made good.
   5. This weeping is not followed with despair, but instead with Christ miraculously resurrecting Lazarus from his tomb.
3. We are not to have limited faith in the means of our lord
   1. Luke 7 shows us the centurion believing that Christ can heal by his word from afar, by His authority.
   2. Contrast this with Martha's statement that "Lazarus may have been saved" if Christ had been there.
   3. If Martha places requirements and restrictions upon Christ's power over something like this, how much more will she do this on the greater works of Christ?
      1. We have an opportunity to demonstrate our faith in Christ in small things and not restrict our view of His power and influence. This will work to deepen our affections and loyalty to the Lord.
      2. These affections will help us in refraining from cheapening Christ's salvific work. His work on the cross was not penultimate, but final and lacking nothing from our efforts.
4. Christ makes a point of his own ability to resurrect \Reference: [https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/geb/john-11.html, verse 25\]
   1. Christ responds to Martha with a profound statement of his authority and power, claiming authority over the penal evils of death.
   2. Christ is pointing out His ability to resurrect without asking of the father, reflecting what we have heard Christ claim about himself before.
      1. We have John 5:19-21 where Christ ends by saying "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will"
      2. Or Mark 2:10, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-he said to the paralytic-'I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.'"
   3. The Son has the full authority to give us life and to forgive us from the penalty of sin.

Demonstrated here when Christ raises Lazarus from the dead, with the ultimate demonstration revealed in Christ's own resurrection from the grave and triumph over death.