The One Who Conquers Death Part 1 - The Decision to Go to Lazarus - John 11:1-16

0:51And one of the last exhortations that we saw in John chapter 10 comes in verse 37. If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them, though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father. So we come to this monumental miracle right after Jesus has had this confrontation at the Feast of Dedication there in In Jerusalem, in the temple, with the Jewish leadership. They're going to want to stone him, kill him. And yet, here he departs, and then this last sign occurs outside of his own resurrection. This is the seventh sign in the book of John.

1:56And the big picture here in John chapter 11 is we're going to walk through, and you're to read this chapter knowing what's going to happen. Okay, we're not to read this as some novel with the at the end, okay, it reaches a climax, it does climax to the end for sure, but we know that ahead of time. The interesting thing about John chapter 11 is not the dramatic conclusion so much as knowing the dramatic conclusion ahead of time and knowing this individual who has the power over death and knows he has the power over death and knows what he's going to do.

2:41The interesting thing about John 11 is watching how he operates through the narrative and what it is he's after as he goes through. And so that's why I want to come to know this one. He is the one who conquers death. He knows he's going to conquer death. And what we want to do as we go through this, we want to come to know him more intimately, more deeply, because ultimately, this is the one that we're all going to answer to. He's going to call us forth from the grave. We will hear his voice. Today, we're going to look at the first 16 verses, where the focus is primarily on the disciples. And then, verses 17 through 27, we'll look at in the next week, is all about Martha, really, his interaction with Martha. And then following that, verses 28 through 37, the emphasis is upon Mary. And then in verses 38 through 44, the emphasis is upon Lazarus. And then, in verses 45 through 53, the emphasis is upon the Jews. And as we go through this, we see an increasing faith of some.

4:10And we also see the solidifying rebellion of others. You've heard me say it before, and you've heard this expression. The same sun that softens the wax can harden the clay. And that's what we see happening in John chapter 11. Well, let me read to you verses 1 through 16, and then we'll come back and walk through the narrative. Now, a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sister sent word to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard this, he said, This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. This he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I might awaken him out of his sleep. The disciples then said, Said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him. Therefore, Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, so that we may die with him.

6:30Well, in these first 16 verses, we see the decision to go to Lazarus. Well, we can see the main characters. They're introduced to us in the first three verses. We can see them there. Who are they? Look at them. Verse 1. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus, Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. So a prominent family, a couple miles from Jerusalem, and to Jesus, a very special family. Look at their plight. Verse 2: It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So Mary, you can see, must be very well known. This is an interesting little detail here. Notice that John identifies Mary by what she did even before he narrates the Event in chapter 12. So Mary is already well known, almost as if she doesn't need an introduction. She's very well known, very unusual. But her brother is sick, Lazarus.

7:50And this is their plight. Our brother is sick, close to death, and they need Christ. They send him, send word to him. And that's their appeal. You see this in verse 3? So the sisters sent word to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. That is, he whom you love is fading fast. And that's all they say. Look back. Notice they don't even ask him to come. I'm sure they understood that after what had happened up there at the Feast of Dedication, that there would be certain danger for Jesus to make such a trip. But it's clear that they wanted his help. That's why they sent word to let him know. But you remember what happens in John chapter 2 when they run out of wine at the wedding? What does his mother do? Comes up to him, says they have no wine.

8:55That's all she says, right? And then she says to his servants, Whatever he says to you, you do it. You have something similar here. They just announce: the one you love is sick. Their appeal was sufficient. And it's interesting that they anticipate a response from Jesus, not because of the manner of their approach, but because of Jesus' love for Lazarus. It'll be like, say, for instance, Pat Johnson, our beloved music minister here, thank you for your ministry. But just suppose for a second that one of his kids was in a bad accident and ended up in the emergency room. Now, I pray that that'll never happen. But let's just suppose for a moment that this is the case, and one of his children is in the emergency room. And I get word: do I need to go up to Pat and say, Oh, Patrick Henry Johnson III, the most glorious professor of history, and at the majestic Glenn College, you are unparalleled, unprecedented, and you deserve the highest marks on rate, my professor.

10:31I humbly ask you to come visit your child in the hospital. You think that's even necessary? No, all I got to do is, Pat, someone you love is hurt. That's it, right? Well, that's exactly what they do. They don't come in all this manner of flower and speech. They know the heart of Christ. They know the one he loves, and they come before him simply: the one you love is fading fast and needs you. That's all.

11:11Their appeal was sufficient. They appealed to Jesus on the basis of his love. Their appeal is exemplary for us, right? And Jesus' response is staggering. And it also triggers a sequence of events that will set his crucifixion in motion. And so, what I want to do is we look at Jesus' response to this appeal, I want us to just simply walk through these 16 verses this morning. And as I do, I want to highlight six characteristics of this individual who has power to conquer death.

12:00You know, ultimately, we need to know this one because he is the one that's going to call you out of the grave. And he is the one that you need to know. He is the one you need to properly respond to. And ultimately, as we go through this, I want your faith in him to grow. I want you to be part of that category, having looked and seen and heard what happens here, that you will be like that category of people that has an increase in your faith, that the light softens, not to be part of that category where the light hardens.

12:52And so that's what we want to do this morning. And by God's grace, we shall do it. And we look to him to make himself known to us. So those are the main characters. Now, let's just start stepping through the narrative. And I want you to see Jesus' response to their appeal in verses 4 through 6. Jesus' response to their appeal. Look at this in verse 4. But when Jesus heard this, he said, probably to the messengers, this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.

13:30Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Now, by the way, Jesus responded to this appeal. We can note very quickly three characteristics about Jesus, about this one who conquers death. First of all, in verse 4, we see that human misery is an opportunity for God's glory. He sees human misery as an opportunity for God's glory. Look back.

14:09The sickness is not to end in death. That is, the terminus point for this sickness is not going to end in death, but it's going to end in God's glory. Remember what happened in John chapter 9, right? The disciples asked, you know, who is, you know, what is this guy that's blind from birth? Is it because he sinned, or maybe his parents sinned? And Jesus said, no, it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. And we must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day, because night is coming when no one can work.

14:49So here he is looking at this death situation, and even the curse of death is an opportunity. God's glory. And so this is what's going to be put on display, right? By resurrecting Lazarus, the glory of Jesus' goodness was going to be undeniably displayed. Jesus' godness is going to be put on display. God is going to unmistakably demonstrate that he was with Jesus. And so the misery brought about by our human fallenness and the curse on our fallenness is an occasion for the Christ of Scripture to be glorified, to step out into our world and demonstrate God's glory.

15:56It's important to note that God's glory does not consist in sparing those He loves of life's difficulties, right? Life's difficulties come upon all, right? We don't serve Him because He shelters us from life's difficulties. You remember Job, right? The whole attack by the devils. Yeah, I'll tell you why Job serves you is because you shield him from all of life's difficulties. No, not at all. Life's difficulties come to all of us. Human weakness, human failure, and human. Suffering comes to all, and his glory doesn't consist of sparing those he loves of difficult circumstances, but he does see our situation as an opportunity for God's glory. It's the first characteristic we can see. Second characteristic we can note from these verses is that love compels him to act. Love compels him to act.

17:01Back at verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha. Interesting, agape is a word there. Tense, committed, deep-seated, unconditional, settled love. And notice it's on who? Who's the first name you come to there? Martha, right? We've already been introduced to Mary, and it's just, I love this touch in John's Gospel. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. And I think to some degree, you remember the gospel record almost paints a negative picture of Martha, right? You remember in Luke chapter 10, verse 38? Now, as they were traveling along, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. So it's clearly Martha's home, you know, right? She's probably the older one. She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his word. Words. But Martha, she's being a good host, right? Hostess, was distracted with all of her preparation. She came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me. But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. And that is the synoptic, the Gospels record, really, in portrayal of Martha. And then John comes on to saying, He goes, Yeah, there's one thing you need to know about this whole thing.

18:41Jesus loved Martha. Jesus loved Martha. You see, Jesus loves to glorify God and serve those He loves. He is compelled to act. He loved Martha. He loved her sister. He loved Lazarus. And this is what compels him to act, God's glory and those he loves. Third characteristic we can see from these verses about this one who has power over death is that he operates on his own timetable. Look back at verse 6. So when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed for two days longer in the place where he was. Why? Does not Say, but he certainly operates on his own timetable. This is what the Lord of the universe does.

19:40But these three characteristics are very instructive, aren't they, for how we should pray and how we should expect an answer. Well, in verses four through six, we see Jesus' response to the sister's appeal. But next, we'll see Jesus' decision to go in verses 7 through 10. So look at verse 7. Start seeing Jesus' decision to go. Then after this, he said to the disciples, Let's go to Judea again. So if you put the days in sequence here, day one is about a day's journey, or a good part of a day's journey, from Bethany to where Jesus was staying. And so day one, the messengers set out to travel to get word to Jesus. Lazarus dies as they set out. Day two and day three, Jesus waits. Meanwhile, you have all the grieving. You have that the burial has taken place. You have all the grieving and all the friends coming to Bethany to comfort Mary, Martha, family. And then day four, Jesus sets out and travels to Bethany. And so he arrives day four.

20:57But look back and notice the disciples' reluctance. There's a real threat here. Verse 8, the disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and you are going there again. Just now. You had just been up there at the Feast of Dedication. So this event doesn't take, doesn't happen too long after they picked up stones or carried stones into the temple to stone him. And he's saying, you're going back up there again? They understood the hostile intent. You know, look back at verse 31 in chapter 10. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. And they were right that there's danger because look at chapter 11, verse 53. So from that day on, they planned together to kill him. So whatever happens there, you've got the Jews in 53, there's a real threat to Jesus' safety, and they're legitimately concerned. So then notice that Jesus then goes on to instruct his disciples. Look at verse 9. Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

22:28So the analogy is very similar. Simple. Jesus is saying, look, there's basically 12 hours of working, basically 12 working hours in a day. And if a person walks to his destination during daylight hours, he can see the road because the sun's out. He does not trip and he does not get hurt because there's light on the path. But if, however, a person walks about at night or in the unreasonable hour of darkness, he is likely to trip. He is likely to fall. He is likely to get hurt because there's no light to guide his feet.

23:09Very simple analogy. Daytime is fixed by God, period. Okay? I don't care what happens on planet Earth. A day does not finish before it ends. A day does not finish before it ends because God said it. God is the one responsible. No matter what happens, none of us can cut a day short. A day will run its course because God has established it. And likewise, Jesus is saying that God has established a period, a time for him to be upon the earth, to do the work that God had given him to do, and nothing was going to cut it short.

23:52Remember in John 9, we just read it. We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day. Because night is coming when no one can work. And Jesus certainly knew his earthly ministry was coming to an end. In fact, just a matter of weeks at this point, night was coming. And yet, his time had not yet come. His day would certainly run its course, and no power on earth could change it, not even the evil intentions of the religious leaders in Jerusalem.

24:31You see, he knew that his safety was not in his circumstances, but in doing the works that God had called him to do. Jesus had no fear of his life being cut off before the time, and neither should those who accompany him. And that's what he's saying. Look, daytime is fixed by God. It's still day. It may be getting late, but I'll tell you what, it's still day. We must work. Don't be afraid. Go with me.

25:07You know, God has given us all time, a set amount of time. And it's not going to be cut short. But know this, it's not going to be extended. And that's why we must work the works of him. As long as it is day, as long as we have breath, as long as we have this moment. We are to be diligent. We are to be good stewards of it, because time that is wasted is time that is gone.

25:41Therefore, we must work the works he has given us to do. We must attend to the duties of our calling, to the duties of our station, and know this for certain: that it is safer in the center of God's will, even if you're in harm's way, than you are outside of it. And that's what Jesus knows. In fact, we could draw a fourth characteristic of the one who conquers death: he knows that there is safety in God's will. He knows that there is safety in God's will.

26:22Going on. So we saw verses 7 through 10, Jesus' decision to go. Now, in verses 11 through 13, we're going to watch see his purpose in going. Jesus is going to reveal to us his purpose in going. Look back at verse 11. Now, keep in mind, this is the guy all along. He knows he has power over death. He is going to conquer death. He knows that. Now he's going to tell us why he's going. Verse 11, this he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go. So that I may waken him out of his sleep. The disciples then said to him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So, here's the way the disciples are thinking about it: okay, Lazarus is only asleep, therefore, well, if he's asleep, he's going to get better. No need for us to go up to Jerusalem, right?

27:31John, verse 13, inserts another one of his parenthetical comments, just to clarify things. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but he very clearly sowed that. Why do I come? So that I may awaken him out of his sleep. And this is the fifth characteristic that I'd like to draw to your attention of this one who conquers death. He knows that he possesses power over death. Jesus knows that he possesses power over death. And wow, what power he does have. You know, I have these bad dreams that reoccur, and they all kind of run, they're a little similar. Maybe you've had these dreams where you're in the situation that you're totally unprepared. For. Well, that happens to me, and it goes something like this. I find myself in the midst of a large congregation, and all of a sudden I'm called to preach.

28:43And so I don't, I wasn't expecting it, don't have any notes, but aha, I think, okay, I'll choose this text and I'll preach from that text. And then somehow, from the time I get from the chair to the pulpit, I've lost my Bible. So I don't even have that. And so then I look out on the congregation, and all of a sudden, I see John MacArthur sitting right down here in the front. I see my other seminary professors. I see reformers from all the ages sitting back there waiting for me. And then there's Steve Lawson. Those of you who know Steve Lawson, one of the characteristics about him is he goes everywhere in a suit. I mean, it doesn't matter if he's playing tennis. He's going to be out there in a suit. And if you ask him why, I'm an ambassador of Christ, right? And somehow, between the chair and the pulpit, I end up in just my swimming suit.

29:44And I don't know how that happens. And then I've got to, and I can start reading the faces of the people in the room. And it's like, you know, see some of the great reformers, you know, there's Luther, you know, if this is where the Reformation takes us, we should really go back to Rome. You know, and I get this. You ever, you know, you've probably never had a dream like that. And it's about that time. I'm up there dripping wet. I don't have anything. And all of a sudden, I just start moaning. Oh, woe is me. And I really struggle and anguish. And then my wife reaches over there, Tom, wake up.

30:22You're sleeping. You're having a bad dream. And all of a sudden, oh, yeah, and then, of course, I come to it. It's kind of slow. Oh, I guess I have time to pick a text. I guess I have time to. Oh, wait, this whole thing's a dream. Okay, great. But Nancy sitting there has the power to wake me up as if I'm, you know, out of sleep. And this is the power that Jesus claims to have over death. To him, death is nothing more than a person relative to us would be sleeping, and we can go over and shake a person and wake him up, right? Well, that's how Jesus sees his own power over death. Oh, yeah, I'll wake this person up. I go to wake him, and he knows he possesses such power over death. This isn't about Jesus' self-discovery. Oh, wow, I'm going to see how good all this power I have. Wow, I can even do that. No, he's not surprising himself, he knows his power. And he's trying to do something with that.

31:40Revolutionary thought. To Jesus, death is nothing more than sleep. You remember in John chapter 5, Jesus said, Look, the Father doesn't judge anyone, he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And the very, in just a verse before that, he says, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he wishes. So he's saying, look, resurrection power is my. He's already said that in John chapter 5. And then in John chapter 6, he says, This is the will of him who sent me, that of all he has given to me, I lose nothing, but I raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. He's like, I have resurrection power. And I want you to know that.

32:39That's what he's doing in here. He came to raise the dead, both spiritually and ultimately physically. This is the voice you will hear calling you forth from the grave. The most spectacular event or miracle. Is yet to come when we see all of humanity come forth from the grave and stand before him. You will see him, you will hear him, and his smile will put a crown of glory on your being that will never fade through all eternity. And just the slightest little frown will cover you with an everlasting shame that all eternity cannot get rid of. This is the one who has the power over death. This is the one who will call you out. This is the voice you will hear. You need to know him and you need to believe in him.

33:52He doesn't do this for his own sake, but for our sakes and for his disciples' sake. So we looked at the decision for him to go in verses 7 through 10. We looked for the purpose in his going in verses 11 through 13. Now I want you to see Jesus' excitement about going. He gets excited to go. Look at verse 14 and 15. So Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. He obviously displays here a supernatural. Natural knowledge.

34:32But then he says these words in verse 15: And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let's go to him. Now, that's an odd statement to make at a time like this, right? I am glad. Literally, I am rejoicing. That's what he's saying. I am rejoicing. Now, why would Jesus be rejoicing at a time like this? But look back carefully and notice what he did not say. He did not say, I am rejoicing because Lazarus is dead. No, that's not what he's saying. He says, I am rejoicing because I was not there.

35:18Almost as if to say, if I was there, I would have been compelled to act upon the request. But I was not there. And I am glad I was not there. And you know why I'm glad I was not there? For your sakes. He's speaking to his disciples. He's not talking about Mary and Martha or Lazarus. He says, for your sakes, disciples, you who have left everything to follow me, for your sakes, I am rejoicing that I was not there.

35:50And he gives the reasons, so that, so that you may believe. What is Jesus excited about? He is excited that the faith of his disciples is about to increase. That's what excites him. It's seeing you and I come to a greater knowledge of who he is and a greater confidence that he is who he says he is and all that that means and applies to our lives. That's how humanity does well, is when we understand who he is and believe that is when humanity thrives.

36:36That is the abundant life. And you know what? He loves to see our faith increase. And you know what he does? He leads us in paths so that our faith in him will deepen and blossom. That's what he's doing with his disciples. He knows the path to abundant life. He's the good shepherd. And this brings us to the sixth characteristic of the one who conquers death. He loves to see our faith in him increase. He absolutely loves to see our faith in him increase. And this is what gets him excited.

37:27Now, this characteristic is very comforting. Isn't it? It's also a little frightening, isn't it? He leads us in paths that will strengthen our faith in him. He leads us in paths that we will understand that he is a great savior. Well, guess what? To understand that he is a great savior, guess what we must understand? That we need to be saved. And sometimes that can be hard going. He wants us to come to know that he is the perfect and complete provider.

38:06But you know, to really understand that God is a provider, sometimes we have to be in want, right? And sometimes that can be painful. He wants us to know that he is the defender. But guess what? To be a defender, to come to know him as a defender, you're going to have to need to be defended. And sometimes that can be a painful process. Sometimes you'll feel like you're going right up to Jerusalem, right into the belly of the beast, right to be taken on, taken down. And Jesus is marching right up, saying, Yeah, come on. Don't worry, I'm with you. We're going to go through this.

38:45And you know why he leads us there? Because he's excited about our faith maturing in him. These disciples were people who had already believed in him, but they're going to come to believe in him more. You know, J.C. Ryle says something here that I think is very appropriate about the whole problem of evil. He says, This, we have here in the simplest and best account of the permission of evil and suffering. God could prevent it. God does not love to make his creatures suffer. But God sees that there are lessons which mankind could not learn unless evil was permitted. Therefore, God permits it. The suffering of some tends to the good of many. He that believeth shall not make haste. We shall see at the last day that all was well done. Even the delays and the long intervals which puzzle us in God's dealings are wisely ordered and working for good.

40:00You know, whatever his delays are in our lives, we can be sure of this: that he doesn't sleep, he cares very much, and he deeply loves those who turn to him. Well, this is the one, as I said earlier, is going to call you forth from the grave. He has power to conquer. Death, and not just anyone's death, but your death. You will behold him. You need to know what he's like. You need to know, number one, he sees human misery as an opportunity for God's glory.

40:50Love, number two, love compels him to act. Number three, he operates on his own timetable. Number four, he knows that there is safety in doing God's will. Number five, he knows that he possesses power over death. And number six, he loves to see our faith in him increase. Now, so often we tend to forget this, don't we? And many times our prayers are directed at relieving our circumstances rather than prompting or asking him to provide greater faith.

41:35So, how do we respond to all this? I mean, what if you don't fully believe all these characteristics of him? What if you maybe you believe in part and that kind of thing? Maybe you're not convinced fully of the above. What should your response be? Well, I don't think Thomas has. Had a firm grasp on any of these truths either. I think he probably believed a lot of them in part. He knew Jesus. But look at how Thomas responds. It's unusual for Thomas to say something. And here it is in verse 16. Therefore, Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, so that we may die with him.

42:25Thomas didn't have Jesus all figured out, but he knew enough about Jesus to follow him, to trust him. And what you have here is John is giving us a real picture of Thomas's love. Sometimes Thomas gets, oh, he's doubting, he's doubting, he's doubting, right? Sure, he has his issues there. But don't miss the deep love that Thomas had for Jesus right here. Thomas was convinced they would probably die, but he chose to go with Jesus anyway.

43:02He preferred death with Jesus rather than life without him. That's the kind of trust that Thomas had. Sheer loyalty. And John honored Thomas here. And you see, this individual, just if you fast-forward years after Pentecost, this one who was afraid became a gospel-proclaiming poet. Powerhouse. And as church tradition says, he went farther east than anyone, and sometimes he went alone into some very dangerous places proclaiming Christ. Such is the work. Well, as you bring all this together and we look at Thomas's example, Thomas obviously came to believe Jesus was sent by God. That he knew. And as being sent by God, everything he says is true. Certainly the miracles attested that Jesus was sent from God. Everything that he said was true. He is the Messiah. He is that. He is certainly of God. He is God Himself. And this He testifies of Himself. And so Thomas just settles a trust and says, I'll follow Him.

44:28I'd rather die with Him than live apart from Him. And even in those areas where we don't have it all figured out, don't have Christ all figured out, it should not lighten or lessen our trust in Him, for He is revealed enough. He is good. He has promised to take care. He is from God. He knows how to take care. And He gets excited. When our faith grows and deepens in him, let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we witness this testimony about your Son walking among us, we definitely know he came from you.

45:20The power, he did things that only you could authorize. We know that you were with him. We know that he testified that he is Christ. He is not just the one you anointed to rule the Jewish nation, but all humanity. And what a delight and what a beauty he is. Father, help us to understand him more, to trust him more, to trust you more by trusting in the one you sent to us. Father, may our hearts be turned to you. May you increase our faith.