Remembrance 2026
Passage John 11
Speaker Ben Tanner
Service Sunday Service
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11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.
Ben is going to come and talk to us.
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have d. When I'll start again. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? He asked.
Come and see, Lord, they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.
It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days. Then Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they took away the stone.
Then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go.
Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. And thank you, Jennifer, so much for reading that for us.
Let me add my welcome to that of Neil. It is good to be with you. My name's Ben and I get to be the vicar here. But on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. But of course, the tears didn't, did they?
On 8 May in 1945, throughout Europe, the guns felt silent once more. And yet the pain lives on, even to this day. On 14 June 1982, the Falklands was no longer a battleground. And yet people live with the pain and hurt of that day. 15th of December 2011, or October 2014, in Iraq or Afghanistan, war finished.
But pain didn't, did it? And so I guess I've got to ask A really serious question this Remembrance Sunday and that's this. What are we going to do with our tears? This week I've taken two funerals and the question has occurred to me again, what do we do with our tears? Jesus here in our passage is at a funeral.
We didn't read the bit before this, but actually what we're going to see is that Jesus understands what it's like to be you. And Jesus will make all things new. In the bit before this, Jesus says that he's going to this funeral, but he's going to this funeral in order to resurrect the person that's there. Now I know that might sound far fetched, it might sound like a strange thing, but remember this is Jesus who claims to be God. Like we would expect him to make big and bold claims.
In fact, we would expect him to do unusual things, wouldn't we? And he says, I'm going to go and I'm going to wake Lazarus up as if he's just asleep. And then he turns up and we read. When Jesus saw his friend Mary weeping and the Jews who come along with her also weeping, I wonder what you expect would happen next. Imagine you're Jesus for a moment.
You're there and you're going to go and wake up this person. You might expect it to be like that really rather patronising TV advert from a few years ago. Calm down, dear. It's all going to be okay. That's not what Jesus does.
What does Jesus do? We're told he's deeply moved in spirit. That word that is translated from Greek is deeply moved. It's the word that you get when you've lost something really precious and there's a part of you that is angry and sad. Do you ever get that when you're angry and sad?
It's an experience that as humans we come across a lot. I remember a few years ago when my children were toddlers, an anonymous middle child of mine used to get very attached to particular objects. I remember once she found a stick and had a bit of ribbon that was tied to it and claimed this as her stick. And it was really important to her and she cared about it a lot. The problem of course, was that that didn't really stand out from the rest of the detritus that you end up having as parents of toddlers.
And so at the end of the day it got kind of gathered together and put into the bin. And of course the next day, what happened as this toddler experienced loss, there was anger and there was tears. Now, if that's true of a toddler, how much more is that true of us when we lose something really important? Maybe it's that bit of homework that you've worked really, really hard on, and then your brother or sister destroys it and. And you're angry and you're sad.
Maybe it's that relationship that meant so much to you and it's no more and you're angry or you're sad. Maybe on Remembrance Sunday, it's a person who is not here and you're angry and you're sad. And what Jesus does is he approaches death even knowing that he's going to do something about it. As he validates that response. Do you see?
Where have you laid him? He asks. Come and see, Lord, they reply, jesus wept. If your response to the pain and the brokenness of the world is to weep, Jesus validates that response. He says it's okay to weep.
In fact, if what Jesus claims to be true is true, then we've got a God in heaven who actually knows what it's like to find tears in his eyes of the brokenness of the world around us. I wonder if that changes our view of God. But he doesn't just cry. He does something about it. We're told that Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.
Why is he deeply moved again? Well, I remember back when I had a toddler who was very attached to things. I remember that feeling of approaching the bin. You see, I knew what it would take to make things right. I knew it would take ferreting past yesterday's meal and down through the dirty nap.
I won't go on, don't worry.
But why is Jesus deeply moved in this passage? He's deeply moved because he knows what it will take to make things right. See, the way that this book of the Bible is written is this is almost a reflection. Later on, there's going to be another man who's in a tomb with a stone rolled across. Later on in the book, there's going to be another time when people say, where is he laid?
There's going to be another question about what they do about the stone. There's going to be another time when a dead person walks out. In fact, the end of the passage goes on to hint that the very next part of the Bible is people talking about how they're going to kill Jesus. In other words, Jesus knows that for Lazarus to come out of the tomb, he's going to have to go into it. The crazy thing, if what Jesus says is True is that we've got a God who knows what it's like to shed tears, but has also done everything that's needed so that one day we won't have to.
Jesus went into the tomb in order that he could say Lazarus, come out. Some of the Bible commentators, people who write stuff about Bibles, they're not known for being very funny, but they try to make a joke. They say, wouldn't it be funny if Jesus forgot to say Lazarus? Everybody would have come out. And actually, the truth of the Bible is that one day Jesus will forget to say Lazarus.
The truth of the Bible is that he says one day he will call forth everybody, including those who died in World War I and those graves that are next to the Somme, including those who died In World War II, in Afghanistan, in Iraq and in conflicts throughout the world. One day he will say, come out and we will meet with Him. And if we know him and love him, he will take the very hands that were crucified on a cross and he will wipe every tear from our eye. That's the promise he makes. Today is about remembering those who gave their life for our freedom, honouring them and praying for peace.
But tomorrow, can I invite you, if you want to know more about that peace that is on offer, there are cards at the back. You should have been given one. It says 321 on it. I On Baslow Road, where we are having our act of remembrance, just down the road, there's an opportunity to ask any questions. Because the truth is that on 11th November 1918, the guns fell silent.
On 8th May 1945, the guns fell silent. But could it be one day that there is a day when the tears will fall silent too? I believe there is, and I'd love to share that with you. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, God of peace, we live in a world that makes us cry.
Thank you that you validate that response. Help us to find peace in the one who went to the grave, so that we don't have to. Amen.
We're going to sing who, O Lord, Could Save Themselves? So please stand as you're able to.
