According to Jewish theology, the spirit of a person leaves three days after death. In other words, on day four, the person is really gone, and nothing is left but a stinking corpse.
Jesus purposefully arrived at Lazarus’ tomb four days after his death (John 11:17). After greeting Lazarus’ two sisters, Martha and Mary, and sharing tears of grief with them, he commanded those present, “Remove the stone” (11:39).
Martha objected by saying, “Lord, the smell will be awful. He’s been dead four days” (11:39). However, the one who said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25), told them that if they would obey Him, they would see a demonstration of the glory of God.
With the stone rolled away, Jesus commanded a stinkin’ corpse to come out of the tomb. Lazarus came out of the dark tomb blinkin’ with life.
In Jewish numerology, seven is the complete number. St. John, in his gospel, gives us seven signs that Jesus was the Messiah and is the Son of God. He turned water into wine (2:1-11), healed a public official’s son (4:46-50), healed a paralytic at the Pool of Bethsaida (5:2-9), multiplied loaves and fish to feed 5,000 families (6:1-14), walked on water and stilled a storm (6:16-21), healed a man born blind (9:1-41), and, the ultimate sign, raised Lazarus from the dead (11:17-46).
John was saying that if we are willing to honestly consider the signs, we have no choice but to believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God, sent from the Father to be our Christ. He came to save us from our sin and give the gift of eternal life to all who believe and choose to follow Jesus.
John coupled the seven signs with the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus. Before I list those, remember that the Old Testament name for God was “Yahweh,” which translates into “I am” (Exodus 3:14). After He multiplied the loaves and fish, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (6:35). As His disciples gazed at the great lights of the Jerusalem Temple, He said, “I am the light of the world” (8:12). When the disciples came to a sheepfold, He said, “I am the gate of the sheep” (10:7) and “I am the good shepherd” (10:11 & 14). At Lazarus’ tomb He proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). Jesus’ sixth claim was, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (14:6), and the seventh one was “I am the true vine” (15:10).
Jesus was saying the great “I am,” Yahweh of the Old Testament, had come to humanity as a fellow human being to demonstrate God’s love and bring humanity to salvation. He backed up His claims with undeniable signs of His divinity.
The claim of Jesus that He is God in the flesh is completely outrageous. His statements challenge our natural minds, but what if they are true? If they are true, then God really does love us enough to enter our corrupt and evil world. It means He was willing to get His hands dirty and share with us our human condition of suffering and even death in the hope that we would respond to His love and come to faith.
When Jesus died on the cross, that should have been the end of the matter, but His disciples saw His resurrection, believed in Him, and surrendered their lives to preach a message of hope and salvation. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose in terms of their earthly welfare. They experienced poverty, persecution, beatings, imprisonment, and martyrdom. Yet, to a man they gave themselves for their risen Lord.
The message of the death and resurrection of Jesus is that He has the power to resurrect our stinkin’ lives and give us victory both in this life and over the grave. All who believe in Him become the saints of God and are overcomers. We can overcome the sins and weaknesses that so easily beset us and we can walk in His love. He resurrects us from being children of the dirt to being the eternal children of the eternal God.
We came from the earth, but we belong to a realm beyond the stars. We may be oppressed on every side and have many challenges in life, but the resurrection power of Him who is greater than sin, death, and the devil is alive in us and leads us to victory.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
