Hope for Broken Relationships
December 1, 2009 4:30 AM -0600
Manuscript
Outline
Notes
Bibliography
There is an epidemic of broken relationships in our culture today. But Jesus can and will bring healing if only we will work with Him. This is the first installment of the Advent of Hope series.
Thesis: Jesus understands and would repair broken relationships.
Objective: Call people to trust in Jesus to stand by them and help repair broken relationships.
- Relationships are fragile (17-21, 28-32).
- Bad things happen (17; One of the inevitable things of life is that bad things will happen, and those bad things can take a toll on our relationships.).
- We just stay home (“Mary stayed home” (20); In our time of loss and grief, those moments when bad things happen, we can choose to go out and work on the relationship, as Martha did, but too often, we choose like Mary to stay at home, do nothing, and let the relationship disintegrate.).
- We blame others (32; We have an unfortunate tendency to blame people who really had nothing to do with the problem and who actually may be best suited to help.).
- Jesus offers hope (23-27, 33-37)
- He hints at more to come (23; Jesus subtly reminds us that, as long as we are still living, there is time yet. And even after we're not living, there is still hope.).
- He asks us to believe (25-26; Jesus promises that He can fix death, so why not relationships?).
- He understands (35-37; Since Jesus knew Lazarus would be find, he must have been mourning the broken relationship between Mary and Martha, and Himself. His tears show that He understood the pain that they were going through and experienced it, too.).
- Jesus realizes hope (38-44).
- It will be hard for us (39; Just as Jesus ordered others to remove the stone, He orders us to take the first step in restoring a broken relationship, which is generally the hardest part of the entire process.).
- It may not be fun at all (39; More often than not, working to restore a broken relationship will be downright unpleasant work. It will stink.).
- Jesus will heal (41-44; Jesus can and will heal the broken relationships in our lives, if only we will do our part, too!).
Ryrie
- (4) “The resurrection of Lazarus would demonstrate the glory of God even more than restoration from a sick bed.”
- (8-10) “Jesus states that He could safely go back to Judea, where an attempt had been made to stone Him (11:8), as long as He was walking in the light of His Father's will.”
- (11) “Though the disciples understood [fallen asleep] to mean natural sleep, Jesus used it as a metaphor to denote death.”
- (14) “Since Jesus knew Lazarus was dead, He was predicting his restoration to life in v 4.”
- (16) It is possible that Thomas and Matthew were twins. Their names were coupled together in each of the listings of the disciples.
- (17) “Apparently Lazarus died shortly after the messengers left, for it was a day's journey to Jesus beyond the Jordan. He stayed there two days and spent a day journeying back to Bethany (on the E side of the Mount of Olives).”
- (33) Jesus was deeply moved by the sorrow that Lazarus' sickness and death had brought upon Mary and Martha.
- (35) “The Greek word means to weep quietly in contrast to the wailing in verse 33.”
- (35) The shortest verse in the English Bible. 1 Thess. 5:16 is shorter in Greek, though.
- (43) “Only Jesus can call the dead to life; others could remove the stone and grave clothes.”
- (44) The wrapping here would have been cloth bandages, wrapped like a mummy.
- (4) Notice that Jesus says the sickness won't end in death.
- Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
- Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.