What A Friend We Have In Jesus
The miracle described in John 11: 17-27, 38-45 ranks as Jesus' greatest next to his own resurrection and leads us to say without any wavering or wondering, What A Friend We Have In Jesus. March 9, 2008.
There’s an old saying – “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” We’re going to tinker with the last word of that saying today. The last word “indeed” means certainly or surely. We are also going to split it into two words, “in” and “deed,” referring to action and effort. The reason for all this semantic juggling is that we want two easy-to-remember phrases that sum up the activity of our Savior as revealed in the gospel account for this day from John chapter eleven.
To help you get your bearings, this account took place at a time just a few weeks before Jesus died and in a village just two miles from Jerusalem. With all of his suffering staring him in the face, you would think that Jesus would have little or no time to help his friends. Yet, help them he did. In fact, the miracle described here ranks as his greatest next to his own resurrection and leads us to say without any wavering or wondering, What A Friend We Have In Jesus.
He is a friend (one word) - Indeed
This isn’t the only time the Bible writers talk about these friends of Jesus named Mary and Martha. We can construct a reasonably accurate picture of their home from the several accounts in which they are mentioned. For instance, we get the impression that they had a substantial income. They opened their home on more than one occasion for Jesus and his followers. Feeding twelve hungry disciples took a lot of effort, probably more than serving Campbell’s Chunky Soup to hungry football players. Several weeks after the incident reported here, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus hosted the Sabbath supper on the eve of Palm Sunday. On that occasion Mary poured super expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Where did they get the wealth to afford a lavish banquet and expensive perfume? To be honest, we don’t know for sure, but I imagine it’s logical to assume that Lazarus or a husband of one of his sisters earned a decent income.
But Lazarus became ill, deathly ill. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick”(John 11:3). Oddly enough, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days(John 11:6). They needed Jesus, but he did not immediately hustle to their side! Mary and Martha may have wondered why he delayed, but we have the advantage of hindsight which is twenty-twenty. The Bible writer lets us in on Jesus’ plans. He intended to use the illness as an opportunity to display his glorious power, not to boast, but for their good and ours. He waited until their need grew larger so he could display how great a friend he was.
That’s exactly what happened. Lazarus died. Grief and sorrow took over. Mary and Martha needed healing for their hearts. They needed comfort that comes from a true friend. Apparently they had plenty of friends. The Bible writer tells us, “Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother”. But then a very special friend arrived. When Martha heard that he was coming, she rushed out to meet him. After sharing a delightfully reassuring conversation, she called for her sister. All the other folks who had gathered saw Mary zoom out the door. They thought another wave of grief cascaded over her heart, and she was running to the cemetery to cry. Instead, she went to be with Jesus. Both Mary and Martha knew that his presence meant something special. If they could count on anyone in their time of need, it would be Jesus. They believed and confessed, “Lord, you are the Christ, the Son of God”.
In all of Scripture we can scarcely find a more touching scene. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept(John 11:33-35). Isn’t that amazing? When we talk about Jesus we are talking about one who has existed since before time began, the one who created all things, the one who calmed storms and walked on water, the one who at this time in his ministry has so much on his mind with Calvary’s dark hill looming just two miles and a few weeks ahead. It’s hard to imagine him taking time for anything else. He had to prepare himself, train his disciples, and avoid murderous enemies. Yet, he took time to be with Mary and Martha in their time of need. What a friend they had in Jesus – a friend in need!
Several Grace members recently returned from a mission trip. While in Florida we heard of a little girl from a neighboring church who fell out of the tree she was climbing, had a concussion, and was poked by a branch on the ground. A network of Christian friends and relatives bombarded them with caring phone calls and bombarded the throne of heaven with prayers for her. A couple moved from Texas to be near their forty-three year old son in Florida who had suffered a debilitating stroke, and they take turns visiting him every day. There likely are days when we would really like a true friend, especially when feeling all alone – a single person trying to make it in the big city, a student struggling with assignments and tuition costs only partially covered by a part-time job, empty nesters with kids far away, a loved one dies and leaves a gap in our hearts. At times like that it’s nice to have a friend nearby. But what if friends forget about us, move away, or die? Like Mary and Martha, we Christians know that Jesus is our friend, and like them, we want Jesus to hustle to our side and make everything better. But when things don’t change right away, we wonder if he cares. That’s when the Bible accounts like this one assure us that he did not ride on a cloud to a distant galaxy where he is twiddling his thumbs till he decides its time to come back for Judgment Day. No! We have God’s own word on it that Jesus is always with us, always here, in every need, walking beside us. What A Friend We Have In Jesus! He really is a friend (one word) indeed.
He is a friend (two words) - In deed
Doesn’t it just break your heart to hear about a little girl or boy who survives a car crash or house fire but lost his or her parents? We’d like to be a friend in need. But it’s one thing to want to be a friend in need, and it’s another thing to be able to do something about the problem. Amazingly enough, Jesus does not desert us. He knows and cares about every need, and he has the ability to do something about our needs. And here’s the big one! He knows about our greatest need, and has done something about it!
Mary and Martha had suffered a tremendous loss. Certainly they appreciated the help given by friends. No doubt someone took over in the kitchen. Other friends kept the house in order. Maybe another helped them make funeral arrangements. But what could be done for Lazarus? Nothing. He was dead. In thinking about this account again, I get the impression that as much as they trusted in Jesus as their Savior, they didn’t think he could do too much to help either. OK! They knew he cured lepers, restored sight for the blind, healed cripples. They may even have heard about him raising Jairus’ daughter and the young man from way up north in Nain from the dead. But those two weren’t dead very long. Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. The decaying process had already set in. Both Mary and Martha might have been thinking, “Well, Lord, we appreciate your caring heart, but you’re a little late.”
But all the better for this special friend to display his power. He said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me”… sounds like he considered the miracle to be as good as done … but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and face wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus linked his actions with his words. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”. Jesus did what no other friend could do. He turned the worst need into the happiest day of their lives. He turned Lazarus’ death into life. What a friend they had in Jesus! A friend with power to perform any deed and even raise the dead!
We sit here with our hearts pumping and lungs steadily inhaling and exhaling air. It’s hard to imagine that we were once dead. We’d never know that unless God himself confronted us with the honest truth. When we began our physical life in some hospital maternity ward, we were physically alive but spiritually dead, disconnected from God’s love. Our greatest need is to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life and to get rid of the eternal death sentence that hung over our heads. Jesus did that! No matter how low we feel, no matter how frustrated or upset, separation from God’s love is worse. But Jesus is not only next to us holding our hand. He did something about our greatest need. What A Friend We Have In Jesus – a friend (two words) in deed!
About one hundred fifty years ago there was a young man living in Ireland named Joseph Scriven. He had enjoyed a rather prosperous life and had become engaged to be married. On the day before his wedding, his bride-to-be was in boating accident and drowned. Shocked by the tragic news of her death and almost driven to the point of despair, he recalled how they had agreed that in their marriage they would take all of their troubles to the Lord in prayer. He found comfort from the promise of the Lord’s eternal presence and the promise of the Lord’s gift of eternal life and wrote a hymn entitled, “What A Friend We Have In Jesus!” While the hymn focuses on the privilege of prayer, the real joy he had and we have in Jesus as our friend is his ability to do something about our greatest need – and he did! We are going to walk out of our graves as surely as Lazarus did. What A Friend We Have In Jesus! Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on March 9, 2008
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