In this lecture, Don Carson discusses John 11, focusing on Jesus’s delayed response to Lazarus’s illness and subsequent death. Carson highlights the irony in this account, illustrating how Jesus’s actions reveal his sovereignty over death and his role as the resurrection and the life, ultimately pointing to his future sacrifice. Carson reflects on the broader implications of Jesus’s death and resurrection, underscoring the fulfillment of God’s plan for salvation.
He teaches the following:
Why understanding Jesus’s claim as the resurrection and the life requires seeing it in the context of unfolding irony
How Jesus demonstrated his love by delaying his response to Lazarus’s death
The narrative framework highlights Jesus’s love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
The mixed responses to Jesus’s actions from the Jewish audience
The fulfillment of Caiaphas’s prophecy reveals that Jesus’s death is also for the scattered children of God
Jesus’s resurrection power has an ongoing impact, both in individual lives and in future resurrection on the last day
The Gospel Coalition