Theme

New life, new hope

Questions

• We all go through painful times in life. In times like that, have you ever felt let down by a friend?
• Jesus loves Martha, Mary and Lazarus so much that when Lazarus takes ill, they don’t even need to say his name (v.3). But Jesus delays going to see Lazarus. John makes it clear that Jesus loved this family (v.5-6), but that he chose to delay.
  • Why do you think John has to explicitly say that Jesus loves Martha and her family?
  • Does Jesus’ delaying going to see them bother you? Why/why not?
  • Do we expect God’s love to be shown in particular ways? When he does something different to what we expect do we question his actions (or even his love)?
• Before Jesus even reaches Bethany Martha has word that he is on his way (v.20-22) and goes out to meet him.
  • Look at what she says to Jesus (v.21-22). How do you think she is feeling? [notice that when her sister Mary meets Jesus, says the same thing, v.32]
  • In what ways does Martha’s response to Jesus show both faith and doubt?
• Lots of people came to comfort Mary & Martha (v.18-19), probably with words similar to the words Jesus uses when he meets Martha (v.23).
  • Look at Martha’s response to Jesus (v.24) – she believes that Lazarus will rise again at a time in the future. Do you think Martha finds comfort in her belief that Lazarus will rise again?
  • Is hope for the future enough to give us comfort in present circumstances? Why/why not?
• Look at verse 25.
  • What is Jesus saying about himself?
  • What is Jesus saying about those who believe in him?
• After Jesus calls himself the resurrection and the life he asks Martha a question: do you believe this? (v.26)
  • Look at Martha’s answer in v.27. Why do you think she is able to answer Jesus this way, despite her grief and pain? [Remember, her brother Lazarus is still dead, and at this point she doesn’t know that Jesus will raise him].
  • Her response comes from knowing and loving Jesus, not from what he has done for her or her family. Is it tempting to base our faith in Jesus on his action (answered prayer, etc.) rather than on who he is? How can we declare faith in Jesus for who he is?
• Believing is a key idea in John’s gospel. Look at John 20:30-31 – this is the reason John gives for writing his account of Jesus’ life
  • What is the connection between belief and life in these verses?
  • How do you think believing that Jesus is the Christ leads to life? What does this mean?
• Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, but he will still die again (in fact, almost straight away people are plotting to kill him (John 12:10-11)), what do you think it means for Jesus to be the resurrection for Lazarus (is it about living life again, or something else)? [Look back at John 5:21-25 and John 6:47-51 for some ideas]