With God All Things Are Possible
John 11:1-46

When was the last time you said or thought to yourself “If only…”?
If only I had not said or done that…
If only she had not been there…
If only he had never started drinking or using drugs…
If only she had not been in that accident…
If only he had worked a little harder and not failed the exam…
If only she had taken better care of herself…
If only he had not had that stroke…
If only she had not had that heart attack…
If only he had not developed cancer…
If only she had not become so depressed and anxious…
If only a different president had been elected… (Many people thought this during President Trump’s administration, and many people say the same today about the Biden presidency.)
If only Vladimir Putin was not a mad man with delusions of grandeur…

Such wishes give voice to bewilderment, anger, frustration, sadness, and grief. In this morning’s text from John’s gospel there are three such statements. Martha says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (vs. 21). Mary repeats the statement in verse 32. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The Jews give voice to a similar sentiment in verse 37. “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” All three statements are true. If Jesus had arrived before Lazarus died, he certainly could have healed him, but Jesus did not come to Bethany in time.

Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus. “Lord, he whom you love is ill” (vs. 3). They did not explicitly ask Jesus to come or mention that Lazarus was near death. The request was only implied. Jesus, for his part, loved Lazarus and his two sisters (vs. 5). Yet, Jesus stayed two days longer in the place where he was near the Jordan River before setting out for Bethany (vs. 6).

The disciples were probably relieved that Jesus did not set out immediately. When Jesus announced they were ready to go, the disciples said, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going again?" (vs. 8). Bethany was located just a short distance, two miles, from Jerusalem; they could easily be found by the Jewish authorities and put to death. As they set out, Thomas said to his fellow disciples with resignation, “Let us go also, that we may die with him” (vs. 16).

Why did Jesus tarry before going to see the one he loved who was ill? Was he weighing the dangers? Was he afraid of the Jewish authorities? I do not think so. N. T. Wright, a British New Testament scholar, suggests that Jesus spent the two extra days in prayer.

Jesus says in John 9:4 “We must work the works of him who sent me.” During the course of the two days, Jesus was preparing himself to do God’s mighty work. The prayer Jesus spoke before the stone covering Lazarus’ tomb was removed also gives us insight into Jesus’ prayers during that two-day hiatus. After Jesus commanded the stone to be rolled away, Martha said, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (vs. 39). It stood to reason. After four days in the warm climate of Palestine, the body would have decomposed significantly. At the entrance of the tomb Jesus, looking upward, prayed, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me” (vs. 41-42).

Wright, commenting on Jesus’ delay and prayer, writes, “In those two silent days on the other side of the Jordan, before he even told the disciples of the problem, he was praying: praying that though Lazarus would die, he would be preserved from corruption; praying that, when eventually they arrived at Bethany, the body in the tomb would be whole and complete, ready to be summoned back to life. And when the stone rolled away, he knew that his prayer had been answered.” There was no stench.

The raising of Lazarus is the seventh and climactic sign in John’s gospel. Through it the Son of Man, Jesus, was revealed as God on earth in order that the world might believe and trust in him.

Despite the purpose behind Jesus’ delay, the prayer he uttered, and the sign, Mary and Martha and the Jews experienced profound grief. Jesus dealt with Martha, Mary, and the Jews differently because people grieve in different ways.

When Martha spoke her “if only…” statement, she also professed her faith. She said to the Lord, “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him” (vs. 22). Jesus proceeds to speak with her about faith. He begins by saying, “Your brother will rise again” (vs. 23). In response, Martha professes her faith in the resurrection of the dead. She says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (vs. 24). This was a common belief in first-century Judaism. Then Jesus utters one of the most profound statements in the entire gospel. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (vs. 25-26a). We quote Jesus’s words to Martha in the funeral liturgy. Jesus, in his person, was resurrection power and eternal life. Those who trust in him will live again even though they die. Everyone who lives and believes in Jesus will never truly die.

Jesus continues to engage Martha in discussion about her faith with a question. “Do you believe this?” (vs. 26b). Martha, for her part, responds with a profound statement of her own. “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (vs. 27). Martha was grieving, and what she needed was for her faith to be strengthened and encouraged. Jesus helped her to work through her grief.

Mary’s grief was different. After her “If only…” statement, she broke down and wept. The Jews who accompanied Mary were also weeping (vs. 33a). Jesus did not engage her in discussion about her faith. Instead, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved (vs. 33b). Jesus himself began to weep with them as they moved together as a group towards the tomb. Jesus addressed Mary’s grief, by grieving with her.

The crowd needed something different. They needed to hear Jesus’ prayer and see the sign in order for their mourning to be turned into joy. Jesus supplied their need too.

We should follow our Savior’s example. We cannot perform a sign like Jesus, but we can mourn with those who mourn and tell the truth as it is in Jesus. Sometimes people need us to weep with them. Other times folks need to have their faith strengthened and encouraged. It is not helpful to speak of faith when a person is weeping. It is not particularly helpful to weep with people who need their faith strengthened and encouraged.

As we learned last Sunday from John Chapter 9, evil in the form of suffering, sorrow, distress, and calamity is a given in the present evil age. People are born blind. People get sick and die. This life is filled with tragedies, but we are called by God to walk by faith and not by sight. We must not focus on evil. Instead, we must focus on God’s future.

When Martha confronted Jesus with her “if only…” statement, Jesus pointed her towards the future, God’s future. “Your brother will rise again.” As one commentator puts it, “The future has burst into the present in Jesus Christ. The new creation he heralded has come forward from the end of time to the middle of time. Jesus is God’s future in the present: resurrection power and eternal life.”

During the course of our lives there will be many “if only…” moments. Most of us have already experienced suffering, sorrow, distress, and calamity. What are we to do in these evil times? The best thing to do is to run and meet Jesus like Mary and Martha did. When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. When Mary heard, “The Teacher is calling for you,” she got up quickly and went to him. As one commentator writes, “We must tell Jesus our problem. Ask him why he did not come sooner, why he allowed this awful thing to happen.”

If we respond in this way, Jesus will come to our aid. As another commentator puts it, “Jesus will meet your problem with some new part of God’s future that can and will burst into your present time, into the mess and grief, with good news, with hope, with new possibilities.”

The key to sharing God’s new world is faith. This is a prominent theme in John’s gospel. It is crucial that we believe in Jesus: believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, trust that he is the one who can break into our world of pain, and sorrow, and death.

Let us bring all of our “if only…” moments to Jesus so that the resurrection power and eternal life that reside in Him may break into our lives, transforming us from grieving “if only…” people into “With God all things are possible” people, even in the midst of grief.

In the name of the Father the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.