When You Look 

Jesus had a friend named Lazarus whose sisters Mary and Martha sent 
him word that their brother Lazarus was ill and they needed Jesus to 
come, ASAP! 

John 11: 4

But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto 
death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God 
may be glorified by means of it.”

Now the disciples asked Jesus not to go into Judea again for only two 
days before the Pharisees tried to stone him in the same location. 

John 11: 9-10

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? 
If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because 
he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, 
he stumbles, because the light is not in him. 

John 11: 11-16

Thus Jesus spoke, and then Jesus said to his disciples, 
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken 
him out of his sleep.” The disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, 
if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had 
spoken of his death, but the disciples thought Jesus 
meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told the disciples 
plainly, “Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that 
I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to 
him.” Thomas called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, 
“Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Have you ever stood on the canyon looking out at its eerie vastness,
wondering how you’re going to survive, let alone walk that canyon?

Have you ever stood at the canyon watching life pass you by and
you felt so very, very, very small?

Standing there all alone with this huge vastness that you are not
familiar with right before your very eyes? Watching the machinery 
before you, watching the one you love lie there and you can do 
nothing but hold their hand and wonder? Where are you God?

John 11: 17-24

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had 
already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near 
Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews 
had come to Martha and Mary to console them 
concerning their brother. When Martha heard that 
Jesus was coming, she went to greet him, while Mary 
sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you 
had been here, my brother would not have died. And 
even now I know that whatever you ask from God, 
God will give you.” Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother 
will rise again.” Martha said to Jesus, I know that he 
will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 

In your life when you are going through tough times do you know or do 
you believe? Do you know that “he will rise again in the resurrection at
the last day” or do you believe one of Jesus strongest statements in the 
Bible?

John 11: 25-26

Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; 
he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 
and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. 
Do you believe this?”

John 11: 27

Martha said to Jesus, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are 
the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the 
world.”

Human nature being human nature, 

John 11: 31-34

When the Jews who were with Mary in the house, 
consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they 
followed Mary, supposing that she was going to the 
tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where 
Jesus was and saw him, fell at Jesus feet, saying to 
him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not 
have died.” When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the 
Jews who came with her also weeping, Jesus was 
deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and Jesus said, 
“Where have you laid him?” They said to Jesus, “Lord,
come and see.”

And what did Jesus do in the midst of the tears and pain he saw and 
felt? John 11: 35, Jesus wept.

John 11: 36-37

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some 
of them said “Could not he who opened the eyes of the 
blind man have kept this man from dying?

Stop a minute and examine this passage, John 11: 4-37,

The disciples asked Jesus not to go where Lazarus was for it was only 
a short time ago that the Pharisees had tried to stone Jesus and Jesus 
said that if we walk in the light we will not fall, we will be safe. But if we 
walk in the dark, we’re going to be in trouble.

Then Jesus stood and listened to human emotion of pain proclaim: 
“YOU KNOW IF YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN HERE, IF YOU WOULD 
HAVE BEEN DOING YOUR JOB MY LOVED ONE, LAZARUS, 
WOULD NOT BE DEAD! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED 
YOU? YOU DIDN’T EVEN MAKE IT TO THE BURIAL!!

As Jesus stood and listened Jesus wept and the Jews believed that 
Jesus really cared but yet some of them still doubted him.

Have you ever stood on the edge of the canyon feeling alone, scared
of the unknown, frightened that you may fall and be alone with no one
to help you get up? Scared of that which is yet to come and wondering 
how much more can I take? Standing there in despair.

John 11: 38-44

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; 
it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, 
“Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead 
man Lazarus, said to Jesus, “Lord, by the this time 
there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. 
Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you would 
believe you would see the glory of God?” So they took 
away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, 
“Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew 
that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on 
account of the people standing by, that they may 
believe that thou didst send me.” When Jesus said this, 
he cried out with a loud voice, “LAZARUS, COME OUT.” 
The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with 
bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said
to them, “Unbind him and let him go.”

Some of the Jews with Mary were enemies of Jesus and they believed
that by the fourth day of death the soul had abandoned thus there was 
no hope left. To set the mind of the flesh is death but to set the mind on 
and to make a commitment to Jesus is life and peace.

To set the mind on the flesh is to look at the stone in the tomb and see 
life like water that is draining out of your sink until it is empty.

When you stand at the canyon and look at the stone do you see a dead
end, it is over, or do you see life? 

“He touched me, oh he touched me, and oh the joy I feel in my soul.
Something happened along the way, he touched me and made me 
whole.”

Romans 8: 6-9

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind 
on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set 
on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s 
law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh 
cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are 
in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

How many of you are carrying the stone that blocked the entrance to
the grave? The stone of guilt, of sin, of carrying someone else’s 
burdens that doesn’t belong to you?

The word today on this the fifth Sunday of Lent is Grace. It is by the
grace of God that we may be set free of the burdens of the sin. As a 
part of the journey to the cross with Jesus we are given a path to 
resurrection with Jesus. We can continue to cling to those things of 
this world or we can make the choice to live in the grace of God and 
be free from that, which binds us as the bandages wound around 
Lazarus. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. 

In today’s scripture lesson there are three lessons for us: First, Jesus
wept with those who are hurting and Second, with Jesus we will be 
raised from the dead, Third, Jesus cares about our healing and 
becoming whole again.

The question is, when you look at the grave do you see the end of life
as we know life in the sin of the flesh, or do you weep in sadness for
irrelevant how much faith you have you are still going to physically 
and emotionally hurt because you have loved another, Jesus wept. 
When you look do you see the end as you stand at the edge of the 
canyon or do you see a better tomorrow; hope for life has not 
ended with Jesus? 

I have attended funerals where I felt sorrow for the one who died but
I was at peace for I knew that there before me laid their shell as the 
rock was removed when they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior.

Remember, God’s daylight last longer than the darkness of death.

Let us pray,

Father, I pray that all who are gathered at this moment 
know Jesus as their Lord and Savior for then and 
only then is one promised eternal life. Life 
that does not end at the grave. 
To God is the glory.
Amen





03/13/05JWM


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