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Faith involves compliance to the word of Jesus

Text: John 11 : 17-44

FAITH INVOLVES COMPLIANCE TO THE WORD OF JESUS

Would Martha and Mary comply with what Jesus said to them? Would the women order the stone that sealed the tomb of Lazarus to be taken away? The ball was in their court!

If they did not take away that stone, they would have demonstrated that their faith was shallow and most limited! If they did order their servants to take away the stone, they must cope with the problem of ridicule from their neighbours and friends who were with them. Worse, the Jews were also present there! Jesus would not remove the stone from the tomb! He could have done that without any difficulty. The two sisters must decide whether they could believe in what Jesus had said about His being the Resurrection and the Life!

Martha and Mary complied! They would exercise their faith in Jesus! They had expressed faith in Him! Why should they yield to the doubts that gnawed at their souls? The order was given to the servants to move the stone from the tomb of Lazarus.

“Then they took away the stone from the place
where the dead man was lying.”
John 11:41a

What would Jesus do next? Martha and Mary must have held their breath, as they awaited the next move. It was Jesus’ turn to respond.

A SIMPLE PRAYER

Jesus had always said that He did His Father’ will. He had always claimed that His Father was always with Him, backing Him up in everything He did! He had appealed time and again to His works as evidence of His Father’s close involvement in His life and ministry. Who could forget what Jesus had declared so boldly on past occasions?

“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works,
that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me,
and I in Him.”
John 10:37-38

Jesus was now going to demonstrate and prove beyond the shadow of doubt that He was all that He claimed to be! Every eye was fixed on Jesus. All ears were alert to what He would say next. John noted the simple prayer Jesus uttered.

“And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said,
‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
And I know that You always hear Me,
but because of the people who are standing by I said this,
that they may believe that You sent Me.'”
John 11:41-42

This prayer was said in public. It was so simple a prayer that you could mistake it for a conversation. To those who had the privilege of hearing Jesus pray on other occasions, this would not come as a surprise. Jesus always spoke to His Father in this simple manner.

Simplicity does not necessarily mean lack of depth. It could mean that there was a profound relationship between Jesus and His Father! There was such a sense of closeness that must have sounded impossible or even impertinent to those who did not understand who Jesus really was. Now all had a wondrous opportunity to know and believe in Jesus as the Son of God.

Even in the simple prayer that Jesus uttered, great truths were taught. Three great truths were emphasized. We may highlight them as follows:-

1. God was to be addressed as “Father”.

2. He would always hear every prayer offered to Him. He was a prayer-answering God.

3. He had sent Jesus, His only-begotten Son into the world. His will was that all might believe in Him whom He had sent!

These truths were not new to the Disciples or to the crowds that had gathered to watch this developing drama! Jesus was merely reiterating what He had taught on previous occasions.

A GREAT DISPLAY OF POWER

A simple prayer, but it was accompanied by great power! There must have been a great hush as Jesus completed His prayer to His Father. What happened next would forever be indelibly imprinted on the minds of all who were there at the tomb of Lazarus. John noted this event most carefully.

“Now when He had said these things,
He cried with a loud voice,
‘Lazarus, come forth!’ “
John 11:43

The voice of Jesus must have sounded even louder in the hushed silence that must have prevailed at the tomb of Lazarus. Could a Person just speak to the dead and expect the deceased to respond? How could that be possible?

Even as these thoughts ran across the minds of the crowd, something happened that would have scared the bravest of the brave! But to the faithful Disciples of Jesus, this was another event that confirmed their faith in Jesus.

“And he who had died came out bound hand and foot
with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.”
John 11:44a

No one moved a muscle! Everyone was astonished! Lazarus had been raised from the dead. He moved with some difficulty of course, for he was bound hand and foot. He was wrapped up like a mummy! No one rushed to Lazarus to welcome him back to life! Jesus had to remind Martha and Mary to give orders to “Loose him, and let him go.” (John 11:44b). Who was this Jesus, but the Christ, the Son of the Living God!