Open the Word: Jesus coaches his disciples
Ideas for sermon preparation
- Just as insight came slowly to the blind man of John 9, so this is a story in which Jesus patiently opens the minds of his friends to the significance of who he is. John explains this right at the beginning of the story when he tells us how Jesus stayed away after he heard of Lazarus’ illness. The disciples are unprepared both for the fact that Lazarus dies, and that Jesus is walking knowingly towards his own death. Thomas’ claim that they will die with him is bravado, rising out of lack of understanding. But the point of the incident is ‘so that you may believe’.
- Martha experiences a dramatic shift in understanding during her conversation with Jesus (vv. 17-27). She moves from reproach of Jesus (vv. 21-22) to a wooden rehearsal of her beliefs (v. 24) to a real recognition of who Jesus is (v. 27).
- Mary is a different person, probably closer to Jesus’ heart than any of them, and Jesus treats her differently, even though she begins, as Martha does, with reproach. It is when she kneels at his feet that Jesus is moved to weep. He enters into the human suffering in the situation and moves towards raising Lazarus.
- Again, in what seems like a rather crude addition to his prayer, Jesus explains that he is doing what he is doing in order that the crowd may believe. It’s as if it’s no use talking to them — they will only respond to a show of power.
- Notice how Jesus uses different approaches with different people and groups, in line with their level of understanding. Probably in the community that first received John’s Gospel there were various levels of commitment and understanding, just as there are in our churches today.
- How has God approached us and called us at the level of our understanding during the course of our lives? Who has God used? How has our faith developed under the ‘coaching’ God has provided through others and through our lives’ events? How is God ‘coaching’ us now? Can we give thanks?
- How do we, as a Christian community, seek to meet each other at the level of commitment and understanding where each of us is? What is our provision for newcomers and children? How do we go on ‘coaching’ each other in the faith?
- The story is a reminder that God always answers our prayers — not always when and how we wish, but in God’s own time and for God’s own wonderful purposes.