John 11

Chapter 11

This is one of my favorite chapters in the New Testament. Mel Peterson, who lived in our old ward and was with the religion faculty at BYU, gave one of the best talks I have ever heard on the Savior and he based it on this chapter. In this chapter we can see that the 12 apostles and other disciples don't comprehend who he really is yet. At this point, they should understand more, although it will be until the day of pentecost before they really understand.

The key verse is 25 where the Savior says, "I am the resurrection and the life." He holds the power of all life and death and especially his own. He has said previously that he has power to lay his life down and he has power to take it up again. He holds the same power for all of us. When the Savior learns that Lazarus is dead, he stays three more days. He knows that he is going to raise Lazarus from the dead and tells the 12 that he is going to do that. They think he's talking about being asleep and tell the Savior it would be better if he let Lazarus rest. When he says he's ready to go to Lazarus, the 12 don't want him to go because they think he will be killed. Finally, Thomas says, "Let us go also, that we may die with him." This says something about the courage of Thomas.

When the Savior is not yet there, Martha, and then later when he comes to Mary, both reprimand him saying if the Savior had come earlier, he could have healed Lazarus and kept him from dying. In essence, he has let the people who are closest to him down. That is when the Savior flat out says he is the resurrection and the life. He controls those things, but they don't understand.

When the Savior comes near the tomb and sees Mary and Martha and the other Jews weeping, it says that he groans and is troubled, and then he weeps. Why is he troubled and so upset? Not because Lazarus is dead, but because after all he has taught, and after all the miracles he has done, including raising others from the dead, they still don't understand who he is and what he can do. Even when he tells Martha to have the stone taken away from the grave, she hesitates because Lazarus has been in the grave four days and the body will stink.

Then the Savior raises Lazarus from the dead. To show how spiritually dead the Pharisees are, they talk about all of his miracles and how if they don't do something, they will lose their positions. The Romans will come and take their power to control the country away from them.

I think we should always ask ourselves, how much do we believe he is the resurrection and the life and how well do we know that? After all he as done for me, I know that I need to do much more and come to know him better. I know that as we allow the atonement to work in our lives, we come to know and love him more and more. As we come to know how much we really depend on him, we come to appreciate and love him more for all that he does for us, much of which we don't understand or realize.