Gooding, David: 14 - On the Road with Jesus

Now we must make some speed, for first I want simply to make some remarks about the final, uh, chapter in the four chapters that comprise the third journey, and then to pass on. The fourth great answer to the original problem posed at the beginning of chapter seven is given in chapter ten. And for that purpose, our Lord uses the metaphor of sheep and shepherd. Now, in the first two, that is seven and eight, it's a question of men being called upon to use their moral judgment. In chapter nine, it is a question of man receiving the gift of sight to see that Jesus is the Son of God. That's something more and in addition to moral judgment. Now we come to a metaphor drawn from sheep and shepherd. And sheep are not known for their moral judgment, of course, are they? What ho? That isn't their strong point, shall say, or necessarily their spiritual insight. If we'd been told that we need the gift of spiritual sight to see that Jesus is the Son of God, what is there more to be said about the whole question? Why do we need another long section to add something more? In other words, what will the metaphor of sheep and shepherd tell us about the process of coming to know that Jesus is the true shepherd of the sheep? So that's, uh, question, uh, number one. How do sheep, we can put it this way if we will, how do sheep come to see who is the true shepherd? By what process do they come to see it and know it? Now let us notice the background to this chapter. I stress again, the background is that of the Jews. Our Lord is talking to Jews at this moment, not particularly to Gentiles, so presently he mentions them. So let us notice that in chapter ten there are three parts to this metaphor. It is an extended metaphor. Chapter ten, verses one to six. where our Lord talks about the fold, and one particular kind of fold. This would be the fold erected in the center, or at least on the outskirts of a village or town. And at the, uh, weekend or on holidays or some such other time, the she- shepherds would bring in their sheep from the hills, and they would lodge them in this communal fold. So the sheep belonging to several different shepherds would be put in the same fold. And while the shepherd went off to paint the town red over the weekend, they would leave a doorkeeper at the door to guard the sheep and to try to see that no thief entered to steal the sheep in the absence of their owners. When the shepherd came back, then of course he would come to the doorkeeper to claim his sheep, and he would lead them out and take them away up the hills. That is the first part of the metaphor. Second part of the metaphor, from verse seven to eighteen, it talks about the fold, but now, uh, not the fold in the middle of the town, but the little fold that a shepherd would make up the mountains as he took the sheep out to freedom, up to the grass on the mountains, you'll see. There he would build not such an elaborate fold, uh, uh, almost a complete circle of brick or stone with a gap in. That was for security's sake, so that if a little sheep was going after the green grass and turning around beside a rock, encountered a bear or a lion, it might run for its dear life and get in this fold. Or at nighttime, it would come and get in the fold, and the shepherd himself would lie down in the door. There would be no official doorkeeper, no need for one. In this tiny fold up the mountain, the shepherd himself would be the door, as he slept in the door to save, uh, the sheep from any intruder. And in this kind of fold, you'll notice the Lord's phrase, uh, I am the door, if, if, if by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out. And that doesn't mean he'll be saved one day and lost the next or anything like that, be in salvation today and gone tomorrow. No, the metaphor is of the fold. Up the mountain, the sheep would be free. That's why he was taken up the mountain to go out and get the grass, but if there's any danger, to come back and seek protection in the fold. He should go in and out, liberty, but at the same time, security. That is a marvelous thing for sheep, isn't it? To have both. And then there is the final section of the metaphor from verse twenty two to forty two, which will raise the whole question is how do you become one of Christ's sheep? You will see. So let's deal briefly with the first part. We dealt with it before, eh, where our Lord is now saying that the doorkeeper of the great fold, the fold was Judaism. The doorkeeper was John the Baptist. How do the sheep know? How does anybody know that Jesus is the true shepherd of the sheep? We remind ourselves that under the metaphor of being the shepherd, our Lord is really talking of himself as king. We'll see the kings were regarded as shepherds and should be shepherds. That is their function, to be shepherds. Shepherd kings. The greatest of all their kings, David, was the shepherd king, wasn't he? Taken as a shepherd boy to be shepherd of Israel, king of Israel, you'll see. And, uh, therefore, in claiming to be the true shepherd, our Lord was claiming to be the king, Messiah, the anointed king. How would anybody know, whether he's sheep inside or anybody else outside, that he is the true shepherd of the sheep? And the answer is that the doorkeeper positioned for the purpose witnessed to him, that is John the Baptist. Fulfiller himself of Isaiah forty. John Baptist witnessed to the Lord, as we know from the earlier chapters of this gospel. So that's number one. Those that came before me who didn't come through the doorkeeper John the Baptist, there had been many such claiming to be messiahs of one kind and another, had got a following of some sort, but had perished at the hands of the Romans, do see. They were but thieves and robbers, says Christ. But now notice at this level that there is here, uh, uh, are two things that have to happen. When a particular shepherd came to the doorkeeper in the city fold, the doorkeeper, seeing his credentials, would open the door, but then it was not for the doorkeeper to cry in among the sheep, all Zechariah's sheep come out, please. No, the doorkeeper opened the door, and then the shepherd himself stood in the door, and he called his sheep, and he called them by name, and they recognized his voice, did his sheep, and they came out, you'll see. And so our blessed Lord is pointing out that, uh, while the doorkeeper opened, the sheep recognized the shepherd because they heard his voice and knew the voice, and that's why they followed him. Hence all our arguments that Jesus is God incarnate. They who had been worshippers of God and believers in the Father, when they heard God's Son, recognized the voice. They were gods because they were believers in God. Now God had given them to Christ, that is, God had given these people to Christ so that these people not only believed in God, but they believed also in Christ. In the same way as they would believe in God, so they go- now believed in Christ. Yeah. And the next thing in the metaphor is this, that a shepherd, having called his sheep, will call them out and lead them out to take them up the hills to the lovely green pasture. And our Lord remarks upon it. He says, when he calls them out, he puts his sheep forth, and then he goes before them. He doesn't drive them. He goes in front of them and leads them out. And this, as we now begin to perceive, has a deeper meaning than at first sight might have been apparent. We saw the references all the way through to Christ's going away. It is beginning to dawn on us what that going away will mean. It will not only mean his ascending to heaven and pouring out the spirit, his going away means he will be hung up on a cross. And it will mean that anybody that confesses him will eventually, like the blind man, be put out of the synagogue. Be put out of Judaism. Ah. We are thinking then in historical terms of what actually happened, the Marthas and Marys, the blind man, and a good many more, who were Jews believing in God, part of the Jewish fold, were eventually, of course, excommunicated, thrown out. Ah, but the Lord is explaining that the true shepherd, he was witnessed to by the doorkeeper. He then calls the sheep, they recognize his voice, and when he puts them forth, he goes in front. If the world hates you, he is about to say in succeeding chapters, you will know it hated me before it hated you. He doesn't drive us, he leads us. So that's the first paragraph then. Come to the second. How do sheep recognize who is the true shepherd? Well, I scarce need to, um, uh, say much about this at all. You have so many times preached upon it yourself. He is not a thief coming to destroy the sheep. He is not a hireling doing the job for what he gets out of it. Because only a hireling, if he's called upon to risk his life for the sheep, will run off. He is the true shepherd, knowing his sheep personally, but in this supremely the sheep know him. He lays down his life for them. Thus they get to know him. And we're back to this matter of his lifting up. Why would you entrust your soul, your whole eternity to Jesus Christ, my brother, my sister? How do you know he's the true shepherd? What makes you follow him through thick and thin. Where comes your confidence? Well, in addition to your many thoughts and thinkings and fulfilled scripture and divine illumination, then supremely this. When the wolf and the lion came, you say, this shepherd by pity was led to stand between us and the foe and willingly die in our stead. You trust him because he died for you. Sheep, timid things that they are, are looking for security. And they're looking for love. And they're looking for this combination so difficult to come by in the world. You can have security, but you can't have freedom, or you can have freedom and you can't have security. He gives both. He gives the security to go out and get the green. He gives the freedom to go out and get the green. He gives the security when danger is near. In knowing him, then we know the Father. It is not that the Father is some stern being, and we are rescued by his merciful Son. It is in giving his life for the sheep, Christ is expressing the very heart of God to us. And we know God. Like a baby, how does it know who his mother is? Why, from birth it rests upon her by contact and hears the thumping of her heart. And instinctively the babe knows. Ah, what it is to have the shepherd enclose you to his breast and to hear the very heartbeat of God. In the shepherd who gave his life willingly and has taken it again to give us eternal security. That's how you know. Well, finally, how do you become one of Christ's sheep? You'll see. That is a very big question. And we are told, uh, that the Jews came around, verse twenty four onwards, and they said, how long dost thou hold us in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus said, I told you, and you believe not. I've already told you. They were sometimes a little dim. Tell us plainly, they said, whether you're the Christ or not. He said, I told you. But you don't believe. That's your trouble. You won't believe. And that's why it appears to you that I haven't told you plainly. I've told you, but you don't believe. And then he added something very serious, verse twenty six: You believe not because you are not of my sheep. That's why you don't believe. My sheep, says he, hear my voice, and they, I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, which has given them unto me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. At which point they took up stones to stone him. My sheep then know me and enjoy the tremendous security. You don't believe because you're not my sheep. And some would conclude from that, that that's his, that gives the reason for God from all eternity chose some to be his sheep and chose others not to be his sheep. And the ones that weren't his sheep, they never will believe because they can't believe, and they were never intended to believe. Actually, God didn't want them to believe. And this is, so they say, is our Lord telling them straight, the reason why you don't believe is you're not my sheep, and he might as well have said you never will be either. But that isn't so, is it? Can't be so. Because now they pick up stones to stone him, you'll see. Now let's watch the thought flow. Blessed word, thought flow. Let's watch the thought flow as it now proceeds in the conversation, you'll see. Um, they took up stones to stone him. Wait a minute, says Christ. I have shown you many good works. Oh, notice the care with which he phrased himself. Not many wor- not just many works I showed you, but many good works I showed you. From the Father, for which of those works, those good works, do you stone me? No, he said, we're not stoning you for any good work. Oh no. What for then? Well, because you, being a man, make yourself equal with God. That's a downright blasphemy. Oh, said our Lord. Oh, you, I see it's a theological difficulty you have, is it? Because I said I'm the Son of God, and you think that's blasphemy. Well, gentlemen, just put those stones down a minute. I could help you there. You'll see, it isn't the difficulty you think, actually. Because if you remember a psalm, the Psalm eighty six, there God called people gods simply because the word of God came to them. You know, in the Old Testament, says Christ, sometimes ordinary men are called gods, aren't they? Well, they hadn't read Psalm eighty six recently, you see, but he he he was polite and suggested they had, uh, you see, and that's how it is. Of course, he called them gods. I said, you are gods. Read the Psalm yourself. Gods with a small g, of course. What was our Lord doing? He wasn't founding the doctrine of his deity on this verse. He was arguing with people who objected to saying that he was the son of God, and that for a man to be called God was necessarily and immediately obviously blasphemous. He says, it isn't, is it, gentlemen? For God himself calls certain human beings in the Old Testament gods, so that can't be blasphemy, can it? Oh. Well then, says our Lord, now if he called them gods to whom the word of God merely came, how would it necessarily be a blasphemy that I, whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, unique in my relationship to God compared with those men, how would it be a blast for me to, for me to say I am the Son of God? You may still have a difficulty, but it's not an impossible difficulty, even in the light of your own scripture, is it, you Jewish monotheists? You know, they hadn't thought of that. So they left the stones down a minute or two. So what does our Lord say now? Does he say, well, ah, but anyway, what's the sense of my standing here arguing with you? I mean to say, you're not my sheep, so you never will understand, and you never will believe, and I'm wasting my breath. You're not elect, so there's nothing could be done about it. You're not my sheep, full stop, goodbye. No, he doesn't. He says, I tell you, gentlemen, what you could do. Now you see it isn't an ultimate, uh, complete and absolute theological difficulty, the fact that I'm saying I'm the Son of God, even on the basis of the Old Testament. Then look, says he, now, and he added, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do them, though you believe not me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. Marvelous, isn't it? Do you remember these weren't his sheep? They daren't trust him. You'll see. So he says, well now, you don't believe me, do you? Because you're not my sheep. But there's something you could do. You could get to know me. How would you do that? Well, he says, you don't believe me yet, do you? So don't try that just at once. Start somewhere easier. Start believing my works. You just said a minute ago, didn't you, they were good works? When I said, I've shown you many good works from the Father, for which of those do you stone me? You said, we didn't stone you for any. So they were good works then. You can see that. Well, start there, gentlemen. Believe them. And by starting to believe my works, you'll move on to the implication. How was I able to do such works? And then you will begin to know and come to understand that I am in the Father, says he, and the Father is in me. Yes, you see, they weren't his sheep yet. They could become his sheep. They could get to know him. And I like it because it speaks to my heart, what mercy and grace is this, you'll see. All sheep have the faculty of getting to know shepherds, don't they? There aren't some sheep born without the faculty. They all have the faculty of getting to know shepherds, you'll see. Yeah, it's Reggie here, for instance, and he goes up the mountain and out the countryside, you see, and pours a hill full of sheep. Ah, now Reggie is the most attractive of men and the kindness of heart. He wouldn't twist anybody's arm to do anything. Do you see? He's an exceedingly kindly man, do you see? So he stops the car and looks over the fence and starts to call these sheep, and they come near and they look at Reggie. You know how sheep look at you? They're not gonna come yet. Yeah, come on, sheep. I love you, sheep. Not they, you see, because they're not his sheep yet. I wouldn't trust him. If the shepherd came, oh, they know him, they'd run after him immediately. So what does Reggie do? Plucks a nice juicy bit of grass, do you see, and standing back a bit, he throws it to our sheep and withdraws. And the sheep has a look at him, it looks a bit at the grass, and then when Reggie's gone far enough away, it grabs the sh- the grass, do you see? Ah, says that was nice. And then, uh, Reggie does it again, you see, he throws it down again, see? And the sheep looks at that and says, that's grass, you know, I have to admit that's good grass. Uh, so it begins by believing the grass. That's jolly good grass, you see. And little by little, he gets it so it comes right near, and it begins to lose its fear. And then presently he'll run to Reggie whenever he comes to hope to get some more grass, and thus comes to know him. And oh, how shall I describe the magnificent grace of God eternal? To see him as he is, in light, unapproachable. We couldn't face him, but we should be shriveled to a cinder. He knows all our fears and all our complexes and all our guilt. How should we not fear the thrice holy incarnate Lord Jesus Christ? And therefore, in his mercy, he throws down his works. He says, you taste them. Start there, gentlemen, and himself withdraws so that we might come and examine his works and see how marvelous they are, and beginning to trust his works, might begin to come and trust him. Magnificent, isn't it? Isn't that how you became one of his sheep? And all the condescension of God, that thus he would come to seek and to save and to get the confidence of that which is lost. But there we must leave it, for I have ten minutes more, and I suddenly remembered this afternoon that I have been remiss in my duties in recent, uh, weeks, that I have not set any homework. But now that summertime has come and you have plenty of time to do the homework, you see, I have thought it would be a good thing if I gave you some homework. So you have been given two sheets, and I would like you, if you will, to headed Major Elements in the Gospel of John, chapters eleven to twenty one. Can we look at that for a moment? We have, you see, by this time come to the end of chapter ten. There are twenty one chapters in the gospel, and so we are not even halfway through. On the surface, however, the final chapters from eleven to twenty one, no less than eleven chapters, are devoted to the fourth and the final. The journey of our Lord to Jerusalem that he made on the occasion of the famous Passover. And true to the pattern, he goes to Jerusalem, and then in the final chapter, chapter twenty one, he departs into Galilee. One bit of evidence that chapter twenty one is an original part of the gospel. The pattern for all the journeys is to Jerusalem and then back again, and in chapter twenty one, he goes back to Galilee. You'll see. Why this tremendous emphasis, though? Eleven whole chapters given over to the fourth and final journey. After all, the second journey was done in two chapters, five and six. Why all these eleven chapters? Well, for obvious reasons, surely. It is in this final journey that he came officially to Jerusalem as king. Chapter twenty seven— chapter twelve. as he came to Jerusalem, the crowds were coming with him. Others went out of the city. They took their palm branches. They cried, Hosanna is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And our Lord Jesus, finding an ass, deliberately took it and mounted it, deliberately fulfilling Zechariah nine and verse nine, Behold, fear not, daughter of Zion, thy king cometh. This was the official coming of Israel's king to his capital city, Jerusalem. Hence the importance of the coming. The other visits had been important, but none, of course, so important as this. Number one reason. Secondly, it was to be on this visit when he was to fulfill Passover in its profoundest sense. He was to be the Lamb of God that should bear the wrath of God to take away the sin of the world. And so when we get to chapter nineteen, the account of the crucifixion, we shall hear the Passover regulation cited. No bone of him was broken, as it is written, for of the Passover lamb it was said, no bone must be broken. He's going to die as the great Passover lamb. Hence the importance of this fourth visit, you'll see. There is another reason why this fourth visit is so long and so important. That it is on this fourth visit particularly that our Lord was to join battle with the prince of this world. This was the occasion of that unique and cosmic struggle between the prince of this world on the one hand and the true king of Israel on the other, the battle of the kings. Never a bigger battle was fought or ever will be fought. It is now in this, in this gospel that you begin to hear for the first time of the prince of this world. The prince of this world comes, says Christ, and I'm about to do battle with him. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men unto me. Hence the supreme importance then, of this fourth visit. But there being eleven chapters, just let me ask you to look at the first sheet that you have. You will notice that there are three great movements within this one journey to Jerusalem and back. There is what I have called a prelude to the Passover. First of all, Jesus comes to Bethany, he raises Lazarus, and then he departs. That is recorded in chapter uh eleven. He departed to Ephraim. But that visit to Bethany and the raising of Lazarus to dead doesn't stand by itself. It is followed by chapter twelve and when the king came to Jerusalem, when Passover was near, and because the crowd had heard that he had raised Lazarus from the dead, they came to meet him. A multitude stood in the temple, and they heard the gossip that this Jesus had raised a man at Bethany, and they said, will he come to the temple? And when he actually came, the crowd went out in their thousands to see him because they'd heard of the miracle that he did. So the raising of Lazarus is linked in thought flow and function with the coming to Jerusalem as king. So we notice the phrase, if you've got your Bible open, chapter eleven verse fifty five. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and the crowds went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves. And they said, what do you think, that he won't come to the feast? Because if he came, the Pharisees had given order and the high priest that he should be betrayed, and then he would be executed. What will he do then? Will he come or won't he come? So he comes to Jerusalem, then chapter twelve verse thirty six, these things spake Jesus, and he departed. So chapter eleven, he comes to Bethany, raises Lazarus, and departs. And chapter twelve, he comes before the Passover, comes as king, and then... two departures then in the prelude. Notice how then verse, uh, chapter thirteen verse one begins. Now before the feast of the Passover. Did you see that? We had the Passover mentioned at the end of chapter eleven as being near. Now we get a little nearer still, but chapter thirteen, verse one. Now before the feast of the Passover, he comes to the upper room and teaches his apostles two great lessons on holiness. And you may care to study those to see what parallels you see between the two great lessons on holiness, the ones in chapter thirteen to fourteen, after which he says, arise, let us go hence, and the other lessons contained in chapters fifteen to sixteen. end. And ask yourself, what lessons are they on holiness? You will observe that even from the summary, they sort of, um, present a symmetry, don't they? Did you see that? Lesson under A, A, lessons on holiness one, the enacted parable of the foot washing, the double cleansing by water, then the exposure of Judas' treachery, then the great long passage on the necessity for Christ's going. Then he says, rise, let's go. When the lessons resume, it's a parable of the vine, and the first thing he says about it is the necessity of the cleansing of the branches. Then he proceeds to expose the world's hatred, and a long, long passage then on the necessity for his going. Lessons on holiness. Then the final great movement, look at chapter seventeen, verse one. These things spake Jesus, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee. The hour has finally come. I have finished the work, says he, that thou has given me to do. And presently, when you read the account of the crucifixion, you will find the idea explicitly related, knowing that all things were now finished, and knowing that one scripture remained as yet unfulfilled, he says, I thirst, so that the Roman soldiers would fulfill the scripture that in his thirst they gave him vinegar to drink, and when he tasted the vinegar and all was finished, he bowed his head and cried with a loud voice, it is finished. Three great movements of thought, you will see. Part of the homework is that you should, if you have the time, look at those three movements and ask yourself how the contents within each movement are related to each other. Now, to help you a little bit at that end, give me five minutes more and ask you to to look at the second sheet that you have been given. This looks a confusion when first you see it. The fact that they're legible is due, of course, uh, to Barbara's cleverness again. What I have done on this sheet is to map out for you our Lord's movements. He was on a journey, after all, do you see? So I just divided it up according to the stages in his journey. In chapters eleven: one to twelve: fifty. Column one, one A: Jesus stays where he was. That's what the text says, doesn't it? The sister sent him a letter saying, him who thou lovest is sick, hoping that he would come to Bethany and heal Lazarus before he died, but Jesus stayed where he was. Two days. Column one, one B. Then he says to his disciples, let us go into Judea again. So here starts the movement to Judea. They say, it's dangerous, Lord, you're not going there again. The last time you went, they sought to kill you. You're not going there again, are you? And he made reply to them why he must go. Column two, he comes to the outskirts of the village, not to the village itself. We learn that later when it says that when Mary went out to him, he was still on the outside and hadn't come yet into the village. He was where Martha met him. So Martha goes out to the outskirts of the village and has her conversation with the Lord Jesus, Two B— two A. Two B, she comes back and tells Mary, the teacher has come and calls for you, and Mary went out to the outskirts of the village to speak to the Lord Jesus and wasn't able to say very much because of her overwhelming grief. So then he said, where have you laid him? Column three, verse A. He came to the tomb. Explicitly said so in the text. Jesus, groaning in spirit, comes to the tomb. And when he raised Lazarus, the council met and decided that to stop belief in him proceeding further, they would have to kill him. And so he departed. Now come to, uh, uh, four A. The Passover was near, and six days before the Passover, he comes a second time to Bethany, and they made him a supper. And then at ten, uh, uh, column four B. he comes to Jerusalem on the ass as king. Oh, look at, uh, five A. He comes to his hour. That's not me making that up, that's what the text says. Now is the hour come. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause I came unto this hour. Or a dramatic point in history, if there ever was one, when the Son of God came to his hour. It was a very disturbing moment when he came, groaning within himself, to Lazarus' tomb to see what death had done to Lazarus. But what a moment it was when Christ from all eternity came at last here incarnate to his hour, when he must fall in the- into the ground himself and die and be buried. He came to his hour. Now then, five B, he departed. Though he'd done many signs, they didn't believe. Dulce. And then finally, you'll get an analysis of why Israel didn't believe, and the purpose of Christ's coming. I ask you for a little homework, that you might study your script, your text, of course, but you might care to use these, um, this little arrangement here of those first, um, two chapters. And I have suggested in the big sheet that you might find help in following up the suggestion that in these two chapters you have attitudes to death and resurrection. Yes? First of all, Mary and Martha's attitude to death when their dear brother died, and our Lord's attitude to Lazarus' death. When he heard he was sick, he didn't hurry to heal him. He let him die. He stayed in the same place where he was. And he actually said to his disciples, now Lazarus has fallen asleep. They said he'll be doing good now then. No, he said he's dead. And I was glad I wasn't there. Oh wow. Glad he wasn't there? How could he be glad he wasn't there? Interesting, isn't it, when he actually got there and he saw Mary weeping and the Jews weeping, then he groaned in spirit and was troubled. How would you explain that? On the one side he was glad, on the other side he was grieved. Attitudes to death. Attitudes to death, of course, and resurrection. For in chapters eleven, uh, chapter he he comes, he allows Lazarus to die, comes to raise him from the dead and prove that he is the resurrection and of the life, that first thing. And in chapter twelve, he comes to the hour when he must die himself. And when he comes to die, notice his attitude to death. He was troubled and said, Father, what shall I say? Save me from this hour. After this cause I came to this hour. Attitudes to death. That is going to be very important when we come to think about it, so I throw out the suggestion that in these chapters you should hunt to see how many different attitudes to death you can find. There is dear old Martha, marvelous woman Martha, wasn't she? Coo. She was no sort of wallflower, was Martha, I told say. Gentle wallflower. Pooh. When the Lord had allowed Mary to sit at his feet and left Martha to do all the serving, the Martha came and had a word with the Lord and told him how he better change things and get it right the next time, and so forth and so on. Good soul, wasn't she? But now, in the face of death, oh, what a magnificent woman. She comes out to the Lord and says, Lord, uh, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask, God will give it to you. Magnificent woman. Yes, our Lord said, that is so, my dear. Your brother shall rise again. Well, actually, I know that, Lord, she said. I know he'll rise again at the last day. She's a good Pharisee, wasn't she? That's a rather a long way off, you know. I mean to say, Lord, if you'd have been here, he wouldn't have died so quick, would he? But anyway, I know that, you'll see. And Jesus said, but I tell you, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life, and he that believes on me, even though he die, yet shall he live. You believe that, Martha? Yes, she says, I believe it. Oh, that's the place to do theology by a grave, isn't it? Don't say, look, this is not the time to talk theology. Yes, it is. It's one thing to believe, say we believe in the Lord Jesus as the resurrection and the life, sitting in a comfortable hall like this. Ah, the time to assert your faith is when the Lord has allowed your loved one to die, and you stand before a grave and dare to proclaim it. Yes, Lord, I do. Believe! Then you'll need your doctrine. If your faith is going to stand the test. Yeah. Marvel, marvelous. And then out came Mary. Well, she wasn't quite the theologian for all us sitting at the Lord's feet, I do say. She had a different approach to things, you see. And whatever she intended to say, she was psychologically made that way, that when the Lord came, she saw the Lord, she got out as far as saying, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died, and she couldn't manage anymore. She collapsed on the ground in a flood of tears. And what did our Lord say? Now, Mary, Mary, now look, if only you were really believe what you should believe, Mary. No, no, no. All the theology is good with Martha, but with Mary, as our Lord saw her grieve, then it moved him, and he wept along with Mary. Different attitudes to death, and I merely mentioned them as, uh, as, uh, things you could look at as you come through these chapters. Do you see, uh, two more interesting things. The priests met in their council and said, we must stop this man. If we let him go further, everybody will believe on him. So we must stop that. We must put him to death. And a little later, our Lord is saying, do you know how I will, uh, captivate the whole world and draw all men to me? How's that then? By dying. Nice, isn't it? They made out that they were determined to stop people believing, so they put him to death. It turned out that it was by dying that he would draw all men to him. All sorts of comparisons and contrasts nestles in these chapters, don't they? I leave you with one of them, and that is the one in chapter three, uh, uh, the column three B. when at last Jesus came to the tomb. He said, take away the stone, and Martha, practical as ever, she said, but Lord, he'd been dead four days. By this time he stinks. The stench of a human body buried four days. And, uh, column four A, he came to Bethany, and Mary anointed his body, unbeknownst. It was for his burial, and the fragrance of the ointment of that burial filled the house. Oh, what a contrast, isn't it? The stench of Lazarus' dead and decomposing body and the fragrance of our Lord's body, anointed for the burial. What will you make out of that? And all those other similarities and contrasts that nestle in these two chapters of scripture. We needn't decide it now, need we, because you have many hours out in the deck chairs, on the lawn, and, uh, by the seaside to study it in detail, and thank you for your presence.