1 Samuel 26:1-28:25, John 11:1-54, Psalms 117:1-2, Proverbs 15:22-23
Today is the 20th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and it is awesome to be here with you today as we gather in the place that we gather, around the Global Campfire. And we come here to do what we do every day, take the next step forward together. And that next step forward for a while now has led us back into the book of first Samuel, which is what we will continue to do today. In yesterday’s reading David spared King Saul’s life because King Saul had come to use the bathroom in a cave that David was hiding in but he spared his life and the king went back in repentance. And, so, let’s see how that plays out. First Samuel chapters 26, 27 and 28 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the Gospel of John, we have the story of the raising of Lazarus today, a very very famous story and the life of Jesus and a really interesting if not peculiar your story until we take a closer look. So, let's…let’s start at the end so…because we…we just read this. So, we know Lazarus rises from the dead after he had been in the tomb for four days but let’s start looking at this after that. So, people from the village and people from the nearby towns and villages are there in the village and they see this happen and according to the gospel of John, many believe in him, as you can imagine. Like if you’re standing there at the tomb and a dead person rises to life you’re probably going to consider something or another, if not outright believe that God has sent this person, at a minimum, and that maybe this is the Messiah, maybe this is God incarnate. But not everybody who saw it believed. Some went back and reported to the Pharisees in Jerusalem what was going on, which caused a counsel to come together where ultimately, they decide that Jesus must die. So, in response to God raising a fellow Hebrew from the dead He must die, because if he doesn’t stop all these signs, then everybody’s going to believe in him and that’s going to destroy life as they know it. Their tenuous relationship with the Romans will be undone and the Romans will squash the Hebrews and outlaw the Hebrew culture, which is exactly the opposite of what they are trying to hold together. Now let’s go back into the story. We know from the Gospels that that Martha and Mary and Lazarus are friends of Jesus and that He sees them and spends time with them. And, so, when Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that their friend Lazarus is sick it takes a minute for that word to get to Jesus because they couldn’t pick up the phone. Like, there were no cell towers around to text anybody anything or post anything to social media, so they had to send word. And Jesus wasn’t exactly nearby, because we already know that the Jewish elite, the religious leaders are plotting to kill Jesus. And we’ve watched Jesus get into skirmishes where people are trying to stone him and it’s happening on a regular basis at this point. And, so, Jesus now has to withdraw away from the Jewish people, away from His own people because there’s all kinds of stuff brewing and He’s not safe to just move around anymore. And, so, word gets to Jesus where He is and He tells His disciples that Lazarus is sick. And they don’t want to leave. Like, you can tell right in the Gospel of John like they’re not excited to go back to Judea. They’re not excited to get back around the Jewish people who want to kill them, but eventually Jesus tells them, let’s go back to Judea again. And they said, and I quote from the Gospel of John, “Rabbi just now the Jews tried to stone You and You’re going there again?” And, so, we get a glimpse into what the holdup is. But ultimately, Jesus tells them he’s going to wake Lazarus up. And they’re like, well if he’s asleep he’s gonna get better and he tells him Lazarus is dead and I’m going back. And, so, one of His disciples, Thomas says, let’s go to that we may die with him, right? So, we can see that they knew and felt they were in danger because people were plotting to kill them. And, so, we can see before and after this event, the raising of Lazarus, people wanted to kill them. But Jesus returns. And by the way, Bethany, where this happens is on the Mount of Olives. It is literally just a couple of miles from Jerusalem. Would’ve been just a couple of miles away from the temple. So, it’s not as if Jesus was visiting some far-flung backwater village where Lazarus lived but He didn’t want to go there because the Jews wanted to kill him. He was going right back into the thick of it. And then the story turns quite personal because He’s on the path walking back to Bethany. Word moves ahead of Him that the Teacher is coming into the village. Martha jumps up and runs to find Him and she sees Him, and she falls down before Him and the words that fall from her lips are so human, so identifiable, so like us. “Jesus, if you had just been here, He wouldn’t have died.” Oh…now were in the story because that’s all of us. How many hundreds if not thousands of times have, we not had that sentiment if not those exact words? If You had just shown up. If You had just been here that wouldn’t have happened. If you would have just been here this wouldn’t be happening to me. And Jesus talks to her about Lazarus rising. And she’s like she knows he’s gonna rise at the last day. And Jesus is speaking to her about believing, believing Him back. In fact, He says, “I am the resurrection and the life, the one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.” And it’s as if Martha doesn't…it’s just not quite registering. She’s like, yup…yes Lord, I believe you’re the Messiah. And then after this scene we see Martha going back to her sister Mary and saying that the Teacher’s looking for you. And, so, Mary comes and she runs out to Jesus, and she does the same thing. “If you had just been here, this wouldn’t have happened.” And, so, Jesus is standing there and there are villagers…villagers around and there’s Mary and Martha and they’re weeping bitter tears of suffering and loss and the people around are crying and it is just such a rich human moment of loss, and it’s in that moment that we have the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Jesus, wept along with them. Which is interesting because He wept along with them even though He knew what was going to happen in like a few minutes. And He asked where Lazarus was laid and they lead Him to the tomb and then He asks for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb, which is like a precursor to the resurrection of Jesus Himself. But He’s asking them…for them to roll away the stone. And Martha comes and she’s like, he…stinks though. Like, Jesus he’s been in there like four days. So, if we roll away the stone he stinks. And the Gospel of John tells us Jesus, sort of state of mind. He was deeply moved in His spirit and troubled. And again, it’s like, what is that all about? He knows what’s about to happen. Even going back to the original Greek here we find that anger is a part of what Jesus is feeling. What is He mad about? What is He troubled over? We get glimpses when He asks for the stone to be rolled away and Martha comes to tell Him that her brother is dead and decaying. And then Jesus says, and I quote, “didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” And, so, maybe that’s part of what’s troubling Jesus. Just didn’t have to be that way, all of the tears and suffering and loss, all of the grief and pain, all of the injustice, all of the ways of mankind. It was never supposed to be like that. And it didn’t have to be that way if they would just believe. He had been on earth moving around the countryside, revealing the kingdom of heaven, healing the brokenhearted, setting the captive free, restoring sight to the blind, opening up deaf ears and speaking of the kingdom, revealing that there is another way to do this human thing, a better way, a way that it was intended to be. All you have to do is believe. And in response so many are conspiring to kill him. And now He is among His friends, saying believe, just believe. So, they roll away the stone and Jesus calls Lazarus forth. And Lazarus appears in the entrance to the cave and the shock and awe of that moment must have been iconic to say the least. In response to Lazarus appearing in the open…opening of the grave alive and still bound up in his grave clothes…well I quote from John, “many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in Him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.” So, in the face of this we look at Jesus and we who believe, we believe in Jesus, but we look at this scene and go, what else would the Lord have needed to do? Like he had shown and revealed what the power of the kingdom was, to heal what is broken and restore what has been taken and lost. He has told them that the way that they’re living is backward to the way that we were intended and created to live, that there was a better way, a better way, a way we were made. And some believed and others plotted to kill him. So, when you hear this story do you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe it? Because this story encapsulates our own story and the story of our faith. That which has died can live, even though it has died. So, think about it. Like, let’s bring this really near to ourselves. What has died in you? What has died in you because it was beaten to death by life, or it was broken by betrayal or you gave your heart and it didn’t work out and so you lost your heart? Here’s where it gets really personal. Could what has died in you live again even though it has died? What if we began to hear the echoes of Jesus, “and I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” The thing is, like our faith doesn’t work without resurrection in it. If Jesus died on a cross and did not rise…I mean, that was the linchpin, that was the thing that completely transformed the apostle, Paul. And we have not gotten into Paul’s letters yet. We will. But Paul or Saul was a Pharisee. He would’ve been in on this kind of conversation if they happened at the same time. Like, he would’ve been there saying, this guy has to die because Paul was persecuting the people who believed until he met the resurrected Christ, which changed everything. The story of our faith is from death to life. What has died can live even though it has a died. And, so, let’s give some thought to the things that have died within us and truly consider, do we believe that even we are moving from death to life?
Song:
Lord I was dead, buried deep
These weary bones were fast asleep
I heard Your voice calling me
This heart of stone began to beat
Up from my past
Up from the grave
I’ll never be the same
Oh I’ll never be the same
My testimony
From death to life
You fill me up with holy fire
My testimony
Out of the dust
You raise me up like Lazarus
Like Lazarus
You lift my head, open my eyes
It’s like seeing for the first time
Into my lungs You breathe new life
You say my name, I come alive
Up from my past
Up from the grave
I’ll never be the same
Oh I’ll never be the same
My testimony
From death to life
You fill me up with holy fire
My testimony
Out of the dust
You raise me up like Lazarus
Like Lazarus
New heart
New soul
New eyes
I’ve been resurrected
New start
New bones
New life
I’ve been resurrected
I’ve been resurrected
I’ve been resurrected
My testimony
From death to life
You fill me up with holy fire
My testimony
Out of the dust
You raise me up like Lazarus
Like Lazarus