Where is your Bethany?
John 12 :1-11
With Peter Veysie
George Methodist Church
Sunday 3rd April 2022
8am and 10am
Jesus is coming to the end of his ministry and the time is short. He must have been enduring deep pain and spiritual battles as he knew what was coming. Many of the religious leaders were out to get him and he needed a safe place to go where he could retreat and find peace. I want to ask the question today that if Jesus needed a Bethany then so do we and so the question is : Where is your Bethany? My home(restored now) is my Bethany and also wherever Debbie is I am always happy wherever she is. We are married tomorrow for 35 years and I still seek her out in a day!!! In a world where there are challenges,bad news,crisis and just stuff that really gets us down we need a Bethany but as we will see it’s not just a place to chill and let your hair down but a place to be ministered to filled with the Word and really be cared for by others but also to be filled up so that we can care and be a Bethany for others. Aaron and Zet from the drakensberg boys choir.
Jesus Needed Bethany!
How did Jesus take care of himself?
Jesus knew that His spirit and his life needed to get away, to rest and refresh Himself. The place that Jesus loved was Bethany.
The book The Jesus Manifesto is written by Leonard Sweet (one of my mentors)and Frank Viola and they make eight points about what our Bethany should be.
1. Bethany a place where Jesus was welcomed.
“Martha welcomed Him into her house.”
Luke 10:38
Jesus was placed as the special person in the home. No one else shares that position. He is the most important person in the house. Jesus doesn’t have to share space with anyone. He is the most important person.
Jesus doesn’t want to be a guest in our church who just drops in once in awhile. Jesus must be the master in our church. Leonard Sweet says…
“Receiving Christ also means receiving His entire ministry. Some churches receive the Lord’s preaching or teaching ministry, but reject His healing ministry. Some welcome the power of His resurrection, but reject the fellowship of His suffering. Some accept His ministry of caring for the poor and oppressed, but reject His ministry of reaching the lost with the gospel, edifying the believers, and bringing His body into fullness.
To receive Christ in a piecemeal fashion is to receive Him on our own terms. We have to receive Him on His terms. Receiving Him also means receiving all who belong to Him.”
2. Bethany is the place where women and men are His disciples.
[Martha] had a sister who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
Luke 10:39
Mary is seated with the disciples, Martha working in the kitchen. Mary is crossing two boundaries:
She is sitting in the men’s place,
She is sitting just as if she was a disciple.
Every first century rabbi had disciples, but Jesus is the only teacher in antiquity to include women in His circle of followers.
Mary is taking time to listen to Jesus. Here Jesus is talking about the one thing that is necessary: to love Christ. How many of us, are so busy with doing things at church, cleaning, preparing and serving meals, mission trips, etc, etc. that we don’t have time to just listen?
Sweet says “The greatest priority in life is to know the Lord. Upon knowing Him, we will be drawn to love and serve Him.”
3. Bethany the place where Jesus is loved and befriended.
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” … 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.”
John 11:3, 11
Bethany is the place where Jesus Christ loves His own, and they know it. It is also a place of friendship. Some of the last words Jesus spoke to His disciples (last words are usually important) are recorded in John 15:15…
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
It is possible to serve without loving, but Jesus is the greatest Lover in the universe. It is love and friendship that He desires and delights in most.
4. Bethany is the place of death and resurrection
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 around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
John 11:43-44
Lazarus had died, and there is grief and confusion all around Jesus.
What does Jesus do? He weeps with them! Jesus knew Lazarus death was temporary, but He shares the feelings of His friends. Jesus waits for four days before He brings Him life.
Here in Bethany there is crisis and suffering. Death is hopeless, but Jesus puts death beyond hopelessness. We will experience death, hopelessness, crisis, but Jesus brings us beyond all of this death and suffering. When Paul was suffering, Jesus told him “my grace is sufficient.” Jesus’ grace sometimes takes more time than we want to wait, but we have His promise that He will give us the grace that we need (in His time).
5. Bethany is the place of liberty from bondage.
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.”
John 11:44
Jesus commands Lazarus “Come OUT’. Then Jesus commands those there to take off the grave cloths. Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus did not unbind Lazarus, He told the crowd to do it.
Leonard Sweet points our that we discover two things here:
First Bethany is the place God’s people are set free from all bondages: bondage to religion, to legalism, to sin, to the world, to serving God in the flesh, and every other kind of bondage. If we know anything about Jesus at all, we know this: He’s the most liberated person in the universe. And He liberates all who turn to Him in faith.
Second, we are the Lord’s colleagues in setting others free. God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. It was as if the Lord were saying, “I freed him from the powers of death. Now you free him from the clothes of death. I want you to co-labor with Me in bringing freedom to others. Since I have set you free, you are now My agents to set others free.”
Such is the nature of the resurrection life.
6. Bethany is the place where the supreme worth of Jesus is recognized.
“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
John 12:3
A feast has been prepared for Jesus, it is in the home of Simon the leper. Jesus is given the seat of honor at the head of the table. There is fellowship, feasting and joy. Mark 14 and Matthew 26 tell the same story. Simon is there, Lazarus is there. Cleansed lepers and resurrected friends are all sitting around a table where Christ is head: eating, laughing, telling stories, playing.
This is a family feasting in the presence of Jesus Christ. Does this sound like how our lives are here in our church or in our homes?
Mary has a sealed flask of precious perfume. It’s nard from India, extremely expensive. She opens it and pours the perfume upon Jesus’ head as though he were a king. The precious perfume runs down to His feet where Mary anoints them. Mary is using what is thought to be her family inheritances. It is said the perfume represented a years wages. Mary is demonstrating extravagant worship. She is showing her loyalty, her love, and devotion. Can you imagine the wonderful fragrance of this oil and how it goes into every part of the house? In Bethany Jesus is valued.
7. Bethany is a place where Jesus is ministered to and given strength so that he can minister to others.
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Mark 11:11
On Sunday morning Jesus entered the city on a colt, a humble King. When night came he returned to Bethany.
On Monday morning he headed back into the city. During His trip we have the story of the withered fig tree. Jesus cursed the tree because it wasn’t giving fruit it was keeping it for itself. The lesson for us is to use what we have and not store it away.
That night Jesus returned to Bethany. Jesus could have stayed in the city, instead He walked back and forth to Bethany.
Why??? Because the people of Bethany fed Him, cared for Him, loved Him until He was satisfied. Interestingly Bethany means “house of figs.”
Leonard Sweet writes…
“A prophet may be without honor in his own country, but Jesus found a home in Bethany. Does Jesus find a home here?
8. Bethany is a place of ascension.
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
Luke 24:50-52
We have already seen death and resurrection in Bethany, now we witness ascension. After His resurrection Jesus ascended into the heavenly realm. He ascended from Bethany. Jesus is now the absolute head over all things. Paul tells us that we too, ascended with Christ and are now seated with Him in heavenly places. Jesus shared all things with the people of Bethany.
Christians aren’t saved from all troubles nor do they escape every problem. But we have been given Christ, and this allows us to rise above the problems.
Is Christ the Master of our House?
Sweet and Viola end with the following challenge:
In Bethany, Jesus Christ is given His rightful place as absolute, exclusive head. He is not simply a welcome guest. He is the Master of the house. And that house is not just a lodging for Him; it becomes His home.
The church is the Bethany for Jesus Christ, where is our Bethany? As a church do we honor Jesus and receive all to our church and enable them to cope with the trials, temptations and strife of life?
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