Jesus is the Light in Your Darkness

Today’s passage is John 11:1-16.  I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

John 11:1-4 (NIV)
¹  Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
²  This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.
³  So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
⁴  When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

On verses 1-4:  Once again we see Jesus’ view on sickness.  Jesus saw sickness as an opportunity for God to display His power and an opportunity for God to be glorified through how people deal with the sickness.  Likewise, when you see problems in your life, train yourself to see them with Jesus’ eyes.  See your problems not as gravestones marking your death, but as stepping stones to something greater.

John 11:5-6 (NIV)
⁵  Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
⁶  Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

On verses 5-6:  How could Jesus truly love Martha, Mary and their dying brother Lazarus if Jesus, upon hearing that Lazarus was sick, decides to delay his visit by two days?  It’s because Jesus was writing a greater story with the life of Lazarus and the life of his family than they could fathom: instead of healing the sick, Jesus planned to raise the dead.

When God allows pain in our lives, it is not because He is not there or doesn’t care.  Much the opposite, it is because God is writing a greater story with your life, greater than anything you could have imagined or invented for yourself.  God loves you so much that He lets you play a part in a greater story that He is writing.

John 11:7-10 (NIV)
⁷  Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
⁸  “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”
⁹  Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light.
¹⁰  It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”

On verses 7-10:  Jesus tells his disciples that together with them he would like to go back to Judea to see Lazarus (v7). The disciples question Jesus’ decision because Judea was the very place where people tried to stone Jesus a short while ago (v8).  The disciples probably didn’t question Jesus purely out of concern for Jesus.  For deep down the disciples probably feared, “If we go back with Jesus to Judea, we might get stoned too.”  Jesus reassures them that as long as they have the light (i.e. Himself) with them, they will be fine (v9-10).

What can we learn from this?  When you have Jesus with you, you can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil, because you have the light with you.  You have Jesus.  As Psalm 139:11-12 suggests, there is no darkness that is too dark for Jesus to light your way.

John 11:11-15 (NIV)
¹¹  After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
¹²  His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
¹³  Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
¹⁴  So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
¹⁵  and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

On verses 11-15:  I am impacted by Jesus’ last sentence in verse 15: “But let us go to him” (v15).  Dead Lazarus had no way of going to living Jesus, so living Jesus went to dead Lazarus.  Likewise, when we were dead in our sins, when we had no way of going to God, God came to us.

In God’s eyes man-made religions are so silly: they’re all about dead people trying to reach God who is life, thinking that by doing some good deeds they can go from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive.  It doesn’t work that way.  Only God can raise the dead, and that’s why Jesus came for you and me: to do for us what we could never do ourselves, which is to raise us back to life.  As C.S. Lewis once famously wrote, Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good.  He came to make dead people alive.

John 11:16 (NIV)
¹⁶  Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

On verse 16:  Historically Thomas is known for being the doubter among the disciples.  Yet here Thomas is the only disciple who verbally expresses his faith and commitment to Jesus in a time when everyone else was full of fear.  Quite possibly fearing the worst if he went with Jesus, Thomas still says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

This shows me the fluidity of faith.  Sometimes our faith is strong.  Sometimes our faith is weak.  But praise God that, though our faith can sometimes go up and down, God never changes.  God is always strong, always faithful and we can always depend on Him to hang on to us even when we’re struggling to hang on to Him.

Jesus, in my spiritual deadness I had no way of going to You, but You came to me and reached for me.   Thank You that even when I am faithless You remain faithful.  You hang onto me even when I struggle to hang onto You.  Thank You that every challenge and problem I face today is an opportunity for You to show Your glory.  Because of You, I can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil, for You are with me.   In Jesus’ name, AMEN!