The God Who Feels Deeply
In John 11:17-37, we encounter one of Scripture's most profound revelations: Jesus Christ as both the source of eternal life and a God who experiences the full depth of human emotion. This passage reveals Jesus not as a distant, unfeeling deity, but as the radiance of God's glory who weeps, rages against injustice, and conquers death with fierce compassion.
The Story of Lazarus
Lazarus of Bethany, brother to Mary and Martha, falls gravely ill. The sisters send urgent word to Jesus: "Lord, he whom you love is ill." Yet Jesus delays two days before traveling to Judea, despite the disciples' warnings that the Jews recently sought to stone him there.
When Jesus finally arrives, Lazarus has been dead four days—a detail emphasized repeatedly to communicate complete, irreversible death. Jewish tradition held that the spirit departed after three days, making resurrection impossible. Lazarus is truly, fully, and finally dead.
Key Timeline
- Lazarus falls ill
- Sisters send for Jesus
- Jesus delays two days
- Lazarus dies
- Jesus arrives after four days
Divine Providence in Tragedy
Jesus declares that Lazarus's illness "does not lead to death" but exists "for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Even tragedies and heartache fall within God's providence—there is purpose and divine presence wrapped in perfect love.
As Puritan theologian Stephen Charnock wrote, God's providence is designed to do good for His people even when we cannot see it. Behind a frowning providence hides a smiling face. Jesus was moved not by the urgency of the sisters' love, but by His own love—a wonderful truth that distinguishes Him from every other god.
The greater miracle was not healing Lazarus from illness, but awakening people from death to life—revealing that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
Death's Finality and Effect
The Finality of Death
Lazarus had been dead four days. His body was in active decomposition. After three days, Jewish tradition held the face became unrecognizable. Life was now humanly impossible—an unrecoverable state.
The Effect of Death
Grief overwhelms Mary and Martha. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died," they say—words that sound like implicit blame. In grief, hurting people hurt people and say hurtful things. Yet even in darkness, Martha reaches for hope.
Three Declarations Against Death
01
A Declaration Challenging Death
"Your brother will rise again." Jesus challenges death's hold with words that foreshadow what He will do. Martha understands this eschatologically—one day, far in the future. Her faith is real but distant.
02
A Declaration of Identity
"I am the resurrection and the life." This is Jesus's fifth "I am" statement in John—an explicit claim of divinity. He is both the power to overcome death AND the source of life itself. Only God has life within Himself.
03
A Declaration of Certainty
"Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." Death doesn't have the last word. Belief—not good works, church attendance, or membership—grants access to eternal life, infinite in quality and quantity.
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
— John 11:25-26
This is not pleonasm—saying the same thing twice. Jesus makes two distinct claims: He is the resurrection (the power to overcome death) and He is life (the source and essence of life). Together, these constitute an unmistakable declaration of divinity.
A God Who Feels Deeply
When Jesus arrives at Bethany and sees Mary crumble at His feet, surrounded by mourners, He is "deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled." The Greek word embrimaomai carries the connotation of an angry horse snorting and stomping—fierce anger and outrage.
This is not uncontrolled rage or sinful anger. Jesus is enraged to His core at death itself—the unnatural, heinous reality that ravages His creation. Death is an injustice against God's holiness. As John Calvin wrote, Jesus approaches the tomb "as a champion who prepares for conflict."
What manifested externally was healing compassion and grace. But internally, fury burned against the enemy—death and Satan, who has the power of death. Jesus's anger was strongly curbed, expended within Himself, its manifestation falling far short of its real intensity.
Jesus Wept
The Shortest Verse
"Jesus wept" (John 11:35). The English doesn't capture it—Jesus burst into tears. He didn't weep from helplessness but from the weight of death's injustice and His love for humanity.
Rage and Compassion
Jesus saves us not only from evils that oppress us, but He feels for us and with us in our oppression. Under the impulse of these feelings, He wrings out our redemption and conquers the foe.
The Jews observed, "See how he loved him." But some questioned: "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" The answer, as we'll see, is a resounding yes.
The Champion Who Conquers Death
The raising of Lazarus is not an isolated marvel but a decisive instance—an open symbol of Jesus's conquest of death and hell. This story prefigures Jesus going to the cross, where He bears the wrath of God that burns within His own breast, so that whoever believes might have life.
The fury and wrath of God must fall on death and sin if God is holy. Yet God in His grace has bided His time so that whoever believes might come out from under death into life. If you reject Him, you remain under death, on which God's fury will one day fall unrestrained.
Jesus marches to the graveside like a champion on our behalf, declaring that death shall not have the last word. He is furious at death because it is an injustice against the holiness of God—and He conquers it for us.
Whoever Believes
The Question for You
"Do you believe this?" Jesus asks Martha. He asks you the same question today.
You don't need good works, church attendance, or perfect behavior. You need belief.
Read that word carefully: whoever believes. If you want to believe, you can believe. And if you believe, you will have life. And if you have life, you will never die because you will be in union with God forevermore through Jesus Christ.
Death grieves us. It is unnatural and heinous. But in His grace, God sent His Son like a champion marching to the graveside to ransom sinners and give them life. May we be a church that revels in the comfort of God's providence and urgently proclaims: whoever believes, come and find life.