John 11:17-27

As Jesus had said, Lazarus was dead, and had been so for four days (see notes on 11:1-6 for the significance of this). Jewish custom allowed for three days of very heavy mourning, fours days of heavy mourning, and then less intense mourning for the remainder of thirty days. Friends and relatives would come to help with the mourning.

Martha ran out to meet Jesus when she heard that Jesus had arrived, but Mary remained behind. In Luke it seems to be Mary who is the more devoted one, but here it is Martha who rushes to be with Him. Martha has a high level of faith. She knows that Jesus would have healed Lazarus if He had been there, but even though this did not happen she still has faith in the Lord.

In response Jesus announces that her brother will rise again. Now Martha held the fairly orthodox Pharisee view that there would be a resurrection on the Last Day, and thought that Jesus was referring to this. Jesus had something more immediate in mind. "I am the resurrection and the life".

Martha was about to learn what Jesus really had in mind. Now we too can be like Martha or the Pharisees. We truly believe in the resurrection, but consign it totally to the Last Day. Now it is absolutely true that the complete fulfilment of the resurrection will occur only at the Last Day, but resurrection power also has a relevance for now. New life in Christ starts the day we are born again, and it starts to have an effect from that day on. When we are born again we become a new creation. Earth is not a waiting room for heaven, the transformation of our lives starts now.

John 11:7-16

It was not that long since Jesus had left Judea, where the Jews had tried to stone Him, hence the disciples' reaction.

Jesus' response seems to mean that since they have Jesus they are walking in the light and can see what is happening. In short, they can trust Him. This has an important lesson for us. There was an obvious danger. Sometimes God may seem to lead us along dangerous paths, but we can always be confident in His leadership. It is those who do not live by His light who will stumble.

Jesus them announces that Lazarus has "fallen asleep". The disciples take this as a good sign, not realising what Jesus really means. Jesus then puts the matter bluntly, Lazarus is dead. We see hear how in control of the situation Jesus was. The disciples thought they knew the real danger (namely the religious leaders), but Jesus knew that the real problem was that Lazarus was dead. He also knew what he was going to do about the situation, namely raise Lazarus from the dead. We need to learn to have a much greater trust in Jesus.

Thomas' remark could be taken as a cynical comment about them all being doomed, or as a sign of commitment to Jesus, being prepared to dies with Him.

John 11:1-6

This is the last miracle recorded by John, and undoubtedly the greatest.

Lazarus is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, though his sisters, Mary and Martha, are (Luke 16:19-31). In chapter 12 John will tell of Mary's anointing of Jesus with perfume. However, v3 indicates that Jesus did know Lazarus. There is a lesson for us in this too. Jesus knows us and loves us personally. And He will act on our behalf, personally, as He did with Lazarus. As we know, Lazarus died, yet Jesus raised him. It seemed as though Jesus had missed out on the chance to help him, but this was not true. In fact He was going to do an even greater miracle than "merely" healing Lazarus, He was going to raise him from the dead! Now this of course applies to all who die in the Lord, at the last day all who have died in the Lord will be raised to new life. Death is not the end. Even if it sometimes seems as though Jesus has forgotten about us. this is never true.

Jesus knew what was going to happen, the out turn of events was not a surprise to Him. The Son and God would be glorified through this. Now some may say that it is rather selfish for God to let Lazarus (and his relatives) go though all this in order for His name to be glorified. But the purpose of God's name being glorified is that we realise just who He is, and the extent of His power and love.

"So when he heard Lazarus was sick .." (TNIV). The NIV says "yet when he heard", implying a sort of callousness on Jesus part. The Greek does not have the word "yet", and the TNIV seems to have corrected this. Even if He had left straight away it would have taken two days to get there, so Lazarus would still have died. In fact he had been dead four days when Jesus got there. The significance of this is that there was a belief that the spirit of the dead hovered over the dead for three days (this is not to say there is any scientific or theological substance to such a belief!), so after four days they would know that Lazarus was well and truly dead, so they would realise the enormity of the miracle that would take place.

John 10:22-42

We now move on to winter and the Festival of Dedication (or Hanukkah). This commemorated the dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in December 165 BC. Jesus was there, and the Jews were impatient for Him to say whether or not He was the Messiah.

The problem was not with Jesus not saying, but with the Jews not listening. This can still be the case today with all of us. Often when we complain that God is not answering the truth is that we are not listening.

The things that Jesus did demonstrated who He was, for He did the Father's works. The Jews did not believe because they did not really belong to God.

Conversely, those who are His sheep do believe and do hear, and do follow Jesus. We are portected by the Father. In 1 Peter 1:4-9 Peter tells us that we are shielded by God's great power. This is especially so in times of trouble. The Father guards and protects us.

The Jews wanted to stone Jesus, but He challenged them as to which of His good works they were objecting to. They retorted that it was because he was a mere man and claiming to be God. Of course, Jesus was not a "mere man", He is fully human, but also fully God.

Jesus answers them according to their own theology, quoting from Psalm 82. The "gods" referred to there are the people who received God's word and should have administered it to the people, but they failed to do so, and died as a result. Since Jesus was sent by the Father He had every right to call Himself the Son of God. At the end He urges them to at least believe in His works, but the Jews persisted in their rebellion.

Jesus then went to the place where John had baptised.Here the people responded with faith. John may also have included this as a further message to those who still followed John the Baptist that the whole point of John's ministry was to point people to Jesus.

John 10:7-21

Jesus now likens Himself to both the gate and the shepherd. He is the gate for the sheep, ie He is the only way to the Father, the only way into the kingdom of God. Jesus may be referring back to Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34, passages which condemn the false prophets and bad shepherds. Or He might be referring to the false messiahs who had lived in Israel.

When we come to Jesus we find pasture, ie we find security and are able to go about our lives. Jesus brings the freedom to live. Cults and other false teachings brings bondage, they enslave people, often with fear. Even in the Christian church teachings can arise that make people slaves to fear. If a teaching does this, then it is not of God. The enemy comes to take away life, Jesus comes to give life. The more we know Him the more we will know true life.

The key feature of Jesus is that He lays down His life for the sheep. We are His, He is not a hired hand who is only doing a job. Jesus is passionately committed to us, He loves us deeply. Therefore we can be confident in His care, knowing that He will not forget about us or abandon us. We need to meditate on the love that Jesus has for us.

Moreover the sheperd knows us and know Him (Jer 31:14). The good news is not about following a code, or believing a creed (though it does matter what we believe), but about knowing God and being known by God. The other sheep probably refers to the Gentiles believers, ie us. Note the centrality of Jesus to all this. Jesus does not call us to a teaching, but to Himself.

The Father loves the Son because of His obedience. Jesus would soon lay down His life for the sheep. This is one of the few passages where it talks about Jesus raising Himself, normally it is the Father who is referred to as raising the Son.

This talk of dying and rising caused confusion amongs the Jews. Some thought He was demon possessed, others could not believe that this was true,

John 10:1-6

Jesus' teaching here is still taking place at the Feast of Tabernacles, verse 21 referring back to the healing of the blind man.

In these first few verses Jesus is saying that the good shepherd enters by the normal route, he would not enter surreptitiously, for there would be no need to do so. He has every right to be there.

Why was Jesus saying this? Presumably the thieves are the current Jewish leaders, and of course Jesus is the good shepherd. It was the Jewish leaders who were using underhand methods. They were secretly plotting against Jesus, and at the climax of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus all sorts of legal conventions were broken. Jesus, on the other hand, acted openly. Later on the apostle Paul would make much of the openness and straightforwardness with which he presented the gospel.

There are two who give approval to the good shepherd. One is the gatekeeper, ie God. He sent Jesus and approved of Him (Matt 3:17). The gatekeeper opens the door for the good shepherd. Second are the sheep. They will recognise the voice of the good shepherd, and will listen only to him. Conversely, they would not follow the voice of a stranger.

There is a principle here that we can apply to ourselves. We should always act in an open and straightforward manner, and shun the use of underhand methods. For if we are acting on God's behalf, then He will open the door for us. Moreover, if we are truly acting on God's behalf, then His sheep will respond to us.

Furthermore, if we here some teacher or teaching and it seems to jar with us, ie there seems to be something not quite right about it, then we should be very cautious. It is easy to think that we must be wrong, not wanting to seem to be rebellious. Now we must be teachable, and all of us have much that we need to learn, but as God's children we also need to be aware that sometimes it will be the Spirit who is warning us.

John 9:35-41

At last the man meets up with Jesus again. The healing was all about blindness, and Jesus uses it to teach on spiritual blindness.

Jesus had heard what had happened to the man, and went to find him, and asks him if he "believes in the Son of Man". The man's expulsion from the synagogue was not the most important matter, his belief or otherwise in Jesus was what really mattered. We very easily become overwhelmed by things that happen to us in day-to-day life. Now these things are not unimportant, but increasing our faith in Jesus is always the most important thing. We should always ask how can our faith in Christ grow.

The man did not really understand what Jesus was saying. Now it may be that he did not understand the concept of "Son of Man", or it may be that he did not recognise that Jesus was the one who healed him, for remember that the man had not seen Jesus before this point. Hence Jesus reply "you have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he" shows that one who healed him and the Son of Man are one and the same.

The man's immediate response is to declare hid belief in Jesus.

Jesus then talks about spiritual blindness. Jesus bring sight to surprising people. It is often not those who are considered "religious", but people looked down upon by society. Conversely, people who are proud of their wisdom or "goodness" can become utterly blind. This latter group included many of the Pharisees. They read the Scriptures, but failed to see the truth.