John 11
COMMENTARY:
: 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. (25 “loved” [agapao] means beloved, to be fond of, to love dearly, to be contented at or with a thing, to have a strong, non-sexual affection and love for a person and their good as understood by God’s moral character, or to take pleasure in.)
DEVOTION: We can misunderstand the word “love” in our world. Many people try to make it a bad thing when it is a good thing. Some would like to say that Jesus was someone who loved other men the wrong way. It is not true.
Some would say that HE loved women the wrong way and they would be wrong again. Too often those who don’t love Jesus say things that would condone their own bad behavior. Some have even written their version of the bible leaving out the verses that condemn this type of false love.
When this verse states that Jesus loved this family it was with a righteous love. The Bible uses the Greek word “agape” for this type of love that means that it is not earned it is just given. It is not a selfish love. It is not a sexual love. It is a love that shows friendship during good times and bad times.
Jesus loved this family and would do whatever HE could to show them HIS love according to the will of the Father. We are to show this type of love to each other as well. Our only limit is that we have to love according to the will of the Father. Our way of knowing what this means is to pass our love over to the Holy Spirit through prayer and HE will give us what we should do in any given situation. When we go through the Holy Spirit, HE will reveal to us what we should do that would bring glory to the Father.
CHALLENGE: When Jesus resurrected Lazarus it brought glory to both the Father and the Son. Our works should do the same!
: 16 Then said Tomas, which is called Didymus, to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with HIM. (4827 “fellow disciples” [summathetes] means fellow-pupil, a disciple of the same teacher as one’s self, fellow-follower, those who were disciples even as he was, or co-learner.)
DEVOTION: This is the first time we hear Thomas make a comment regarding an event as his time as a disciple. We have his name listed when the disciples are named earlier. We have him going on a mission trip with the other disciples. So he is a man called of Jesus to be one of HIS twelve disciples.
He has observed all the miracles of Jesus. He has observed all that was happening between Jesus and the religious leaders. He has been involved in the discussions between the disciples.
Now we have his statement regarding going to Judea again after the Jews had threatened to kill Jesus the next chance they were given. He seems to be set on a negative course even before his comments to Christ after HIS resurrection.
He made another negative statement to Jesus in chapter fourteen regarding not knowing the way that Jesus was going.
Here in this verse he has just learned that Jesus was going to Judea to deal with Lazarus. What was his thought? He thought they were going to all be killed by the religious leaders. He just seemed to have a negative personality.
Are there people in our churches that have a negative attitude like Thomas? No matter what is proposed they find the negative statement that could cause others to be discouraged.
Remember that this is Jesus HIMSELF leading them to Bethany. He was following the right leader. He was doing the right ministry. Yet he found a reason to be negative.
If Jesus is leading we should get out of HIS way and let HIM lead no matter what. Negative is not always wrong but it can be if it shows lack of faith in what God is able to do through your church or mission group.
CHALLENGE: Trust in the LORD to lead in the right direction.
: 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. (1690 “groaned” [embrimaomai] means to charge with earnest admonition, sternly to charge, threatened to enjoin, murmur against, feel strongly, be deeply moved, or have an intense feeling of concern.)
DEVOTION: It is thought that Jesus was righteously angry. What was he angry about? It seems that he was angry that sin causes death. HE was fighting Satan. HE was also fighting the people who were faking their weeping over Lazarus.
Jesus was close to this family. HE had people HE was concerned about here in this world. This was a family that HE cared about. HE had a love for them, like HE had for the rest of the world. HE died so that there can be a resurrection for those who believe. They will go to heaven because of HIS death on the cross.
HE told Martha that HE is the resurrection and the life. She believed in HIM. She knew that Lazarus would be raised in the last days. HE told her that it could be sooner.
HE went to the grave and told them to remove the stone. HE called Lazarus out of the grave by name. IF HE hadn’t used his name the whole graveyard could have been emptied.
Does it make us righteously angry that Satan is winning some of our family members to continue to be on his side? Are we disturbed that people are dying around us and going to Hell for eternity? Jesus didn’t like it. HE did something about it.
Are we willing to do something about it? We have people in this world that are of great concern to us. There is our family. There are friends. In my case there are churches that I help that I am concerned about their growth and witness in the LORD. There are family members of those who receive the devotionals that I have a concern over and pray for their salvation.
We have people who are concerned about us. Do we have people we would and do weep over?
Jesus wants us to be involved with the people around us. HE was involved. HE was deeply involved. HE knew that God’s name was going to be glorified through the raising of Lazarus from the dead. God will be glorified if we are involved in the lives of people around us in a meaningful way. HE wanted us to realize that HE has the power to raise people from the dead. This includes those who are spiritually dead.
We serve a powerful Savior. We serve a loving Savior. We are his representatives in this world. How are we doing? Do we care enough to weep?
CHALLENGE: Have a prayer list of those who need to become followers of Christ and pray daily for their salvation. I have such a prayer list and especially pray for two men: Darwin and Tony. There were two other men on the list that have made a commitment to the LORD since being on my list. These are men whose wife was saved but they were not.
: 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. (5117 “place” [topos] means room, spot, possibility, an area of space, opportunity, station, power, occasion for acting, or temple.)
DEVOTION: Jesus had brought Lazarus back from the dead. It was one of the greatest miraculous sign of HIS power. This caused many to believe in HIM. HIS following in Jerusalem was growing faster than the Sanhedrin could spread lies about HIM.
They called a special meeting to deal with this issue. They were afraid that if HE became more powerful the Romans would take away their position of influence over the area. They were also afraid that the Romans would destroy the Temple.
Fear was gripping them to the point where they could only think of one thing to do and that was to kill Jesus. The high priest spoke up to give them a solution. One man had to die for them to keep their power. In fact he stated that it was the best way to handle the situation.
From that day on that was all they thought about. They were continually gathering to make plans. Of course, Judas met with them on one of those gatherings. What joy they expressed when he showed up.
Today we find that churches think that they need to do something to cause their churches never go out of existence. They put money aside for a rainy day instead of trusting the LORD to raise new funds for each ministry they have that honors the LORD.
There are boards that get together for the removal of a pastor they think is reaching out to the wrong people or spending too much money on things they don’t think is important but that is reaching people for the LORD. Another idea they can come up with is to stop supporting missionaries and just use the money at home to keep their church going. The possibilities are endless when it comes to protecting their church from going out of existence. The problem boards need to let the LORD decide how long a church should exist.
CHALLENGE: Human plotting never hurts the plans of God. Leaders need to yield to the LORD at all times. Remember the challenges to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3.
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