Overview:
John 11
Most people do everything in their power to ignore or deny the finality of death. Due to modern advances in science, some people can spend years without being exposed to death’s harsh reality. But no one can live a full lifetime of escape and denial. Eventually, we are forced to face the inevitable. When struck with the loneliness brought on by death, we need help. Fortunately, there is One who both understands our grief and gives us the power to endure.
Message Summary:
In this sobering yet hopeful message, Chuck Swindoll confronts the one reality that “spares none”: death. Quoting author Joseph Bailey, Swindoll describes life as a “parenthesis” enclosed by the impenetrable brackets of birth and death. Despite scientific advancements that have changed the “conveyance” from wagons to Cadillacs, death remains an unyielding mystery that frustrates humanity.
Swindoll uses the narrative of John 11—the death of Lazarus—to explore the raw emotions of grief. He outlines four common, yet ultimately ineffective, human reactions to death: we try to keep it funny with jokes, keep it at a distance by hiring professionals, make it beautiful with flowers and music, or simply leave it fearful.
The sermon contrasts these human avoidances with Jesus’s direct confrontation of death. Swindoll highlights the “Divine Delay,” noting that while Jesus stayed away for two days allowing Lazarus to die, His delay was not a mistake but a sovereign setup for a greater miracle. When Jesus finally arrives, He does not offer empty platitudes; He weeps with His friends, displays anger at the tragedy of death, and proves His power by commanding Lazarus to “come out”. Swindoll concludes that for the believer, death is not an end but a transition. The question is not if we will live eternally—for everyone will—but where we will spend that eternity.
Message Key Facts:
- The Inescapable Parenthesis: Swindoll cites Joseph Bailey’s analogy that “birth and death enclose a man in a sort of parenthesis of the present,” noting that death is the one changeless reality in a changing world.
- Four Ways We Avoid Death: Swindoll identifies four coping mechanisms society uses to handle the harshness of death:
- Keep it Funny: Using humor, jokes, and bumper stickers (e.g., “Don’t take life so seriously…”) to lighten the mood.
- Keep it at a Distance: Avoiding looking at dead things or paying professionals to handle the body so we don’t have to touch it.
- Make it Beautiful: Using flowers, organ music, and cosmetic embalming to mask the “tasteless, horrid, and raw” nature of death.
- Leave it Fearful: Succumbing to the panic and chill that comes with a terminal diagnosis or a brush with death.
- Resuscitation vs. Resurrection: Swindoll makes a theological distinction between Lazarus and Jesus. Lazarus was resuscitated—brought back to life in his old body, still wrapped in grave clothes, and needing the stone removed to exit. Jesus was resurrected—possessing a new body that could pass through stones and doors.
- The Apple Tree Illustration: To address fears about how God can resurrect bodies that have decomposed or been destroyed, Swindoll shares a story about the exhumation of Roger Williams. An apple tree root had grown through his coffin and absorbed his body. Swindoll argues that if a tree can transmute a body into fruit, the God who created matter out of nothing has no difficulty reassembling a person for resurrection.
- The “Divine Delay”: Jesus deliberately waited two extra days after hearing Lazarus was sick. Swindoll teaches that God is “never late, though he often deliberately delays,” and this delay is never an indication of cruelty or a mistake.
- John Donne’s Defiance: The sermon concludes with the 17th-century poet John Donne’s famous challenge: “Death be not proud… One short sleep past we wake eternally, and death shall be no more”.
Message References:
- John 11:1–44: The primary text, recounting the sickness and death of Lazarus, the grief of Mary and Martha, and the miracle at the tomb.
- John 11:21 & 32: The identical accusation thrown at Jesus by both Martha and Mary: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”.
- John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” Swindoll notes this shows that grieving is appropriate and that Jesus felt the deep pain of the loss.
- John 11:25–26: Jesus’s declaration to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live”.
- John 11:39: Martha’s practical objection to opening the tomb: “Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days”.
