Leader Guide 3-23-08 / John 11:1-44

Small Group Leaders Guide
March 23, 2008
Easter

Getting Started:
1. Do you think people will eat and drink after final resurrection?

• Luke 24:41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

Going Deeper:
2. Read John 11:17. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Why did Jesus wait so long?

• According to verses 4-15, Jesus waited so that He could manifest God’s glory and so the disciples would believe.

3. In this passage, both Mary and Martha start with the very same question for Jesus. Why do you think the rest of their conversations went different directions?

4. In John 11:35, it says that Jesus wept. Nowhere in the New Testament does it mention that Jesus laughed or smiled. However, many times we read that he was troubled, angered, distressed, etc. Why do you think that is?

• Jesus is sometimes called the “Suffering Servant” based on what Isaiah prophesied about Him.
• Isaiah 53:1-12 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

5. Read John 11:45. How come “many” Jews believed and not “all?” Isn’t a miracle like this one convincing enough? What other Bible passages describe unbelief after great signs?

6. Is it important for a Christian to believe in the resurrection? Why or why not? Would you say that the teaching about resurrection is central to your faith or more peripheral?

• 1Corinthians 15:12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

7. What ever happened to Lazarus? Did he die again later?

• Tradition has it that Lazarus ended up in France with his two sisters and became the first Bishop of Marseilles. According to this tradition, he was martyred under the reign of Domitian.
• Another tradition says that he was the Bishop of Kition in Cypress.

8. Is there a difference between “A” resurrection and “The” resurrection? If so, what is the difference?

• “The” resurrection can be defined as a rising from the dead into a new kind of life not subject to sickness, aging, deterioration, or death.
• “A” resurrection, such as that performed on Lazarus can be defined as a raising from the dead into the restoration of the life once had before death. This kind of resurrection does not necessarily rule out sickness, aging, and another future death.

Putting it into practice:
1) What part of your life needs to be resurrected? A relationship, job, family member, your commitment to Christ? Pray about this in your groups.

Quote Of The Week:
Many think the Christian religion has run its course and that the gloom of Good Friday is now settling over the long history of the church. But they are wrong. The reality of the Resurrection cannot so easily be undone. In truth, it is the world of unbelievers that remains on notice of judgment.
--Carl F. H. Henry