📖 Wahusika wa Biblia II — Sehemu ya 9: Lazaro — Mtu Aliyekufa Ambaye Yesu Alimwita Arudi Uzimani📖 Bible Characters II — Unit 9: Lazarus — The Dead Man Jesus Called Back to Life

Kuna mtu mmoja katika Injili aliyekufa, akazikwa, akalala kaburini siku nne — kisha akatoka nje akiwa hai kwa sauti moja tu. Jina lake lilikuwa Lazaro, na habari yake ndiyo uthibitisho ulio wazi kuliko yote, kabla ya msalaba, wa Yesu ni nani: Yule aliyesema, "Mimi ndimi huo ufufuo, na uzima." Kwa kumfufua Lazaro, Bwana wa uzima aligeuza msiba wa kifo kuwa ushindi wa ufufuo.There is a man in the Gospels who died, was buried, lay four days in the tomb — and then walked out alive at the sound of a single voice. His name was Lazarus, and his story is the clearest demonstration before the cross of who Jesus is: the One who said, "I am the resurrection and the life." In raising Lazarus, the Lord of life turned the tragedy of death into the triumph of resurrection.

Somo: Lazaro — mtu aliyekufa ambaye Yesu alimwita arudi uzimani, kwa nguvu za Yule aliye "ufufuo, na uzima."Subject: Lazarus — the dead man Jesus called back to life, by the One who is "the resurrection and the life."

Hoja Kuu: Bwana wa uzima hukawia kwa ajili ya utukufu wake, huingia katika huzuni yetu, na hulishinda kaburi.Proposition: The Lord of life delays for His glory, enters our grief, and conquers the grave.

Lazaro aliishi Bethania pamoja na dada zake, Martha na Mariamu, familia iliyompenda Bwana na ambayo Bwana aliipenda. Lazaro alipougua, dada zake walimtumia Yesu habari kwa ujumbe uliojaa imani tulivu: "Bwana, tazama, yeye umpendaye hawezi" (Yohana 11:3). Tutafuata hatua tatu: msiba, jaribu, na ushindi juu ya kifo.Lazarus lived in Bethany with his sisters, Martha and Mary, a family that loved the Lord and whom the Lord loved. When Lazarus fell sick, the sisters sent word to Jesus with a message full of quiet faith: "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick" (John 11:3). We will follow three movements: the tragedy, the trial, and the triumph of death.

I. Msiba wa KifoI. The Tragedy of Death

Hatimaye habari ilirudi kwa maneno matatu rahisi yanayoponda moyo: "Lazaro amekufa" (Yohana 11:14). Kifo karibu siku zote ni jambo la kutisha. Ni cha kutisha mtoto mdogo anapokufa, chipukizi likikatwa kabla halijachanua. Ni cha kutisha asiyeamini anapokufa bila tumaini lolote, akiteleza kuingia milele bila Kristo. Ni cha kutisha ugonjwa wa muda mrefu unapotuondolea rafiki polepole, siku baada ya siku. Nimesimama kando ya majeneza mengi katika miaka yangu ya huduma, na ninaweza kukuambia kwamba mazishi magumu zaidi niliyowahi kuhubiri ni yale ya watu ambao hawakuwa na tumaini. Nimepata misiba mizito mimi mwenyewe. Namkumbuka rafiki mpendwa huko South Dakota, mtu aliyekuwa amebatizwa na aliyekuwa mali ya Bwana, aliyekufa polepole kwa ugonjwa wa damu; niliona kifo kikifanya kazi yake chungu, nami nikahisi uzito kamili wa kile ambacho Biblia inakiita adui wa mwisho. Kifo ni halisi, wala si jambo dogo.The message came back at last in three plain and crushing words: "Lazarus is dead" (John 11:14). Death is almost always terrible. It is terrible when a small child dies, the bud cut off before it can bloom. It is terrible when an unbeliever dies with no hope at all, slipping into eternity without Christ. It is terrible when a lingering illness slowly takes a friend from us, day by day. I have stood beside many a casket in my years of ministry, and I can tell you that the hardest funerals I ever preached were the ones for people who had no hope. I have known crushing losses of my own. I remember a dear friend in South Dakota, a man who had been baptized and belonged to the Lord, who died slowly of a disease of the blood; I watched death do its bitter work, and I felt the full weight of what the Bible calls the last enemy. Death is real, and it is no small thing.

II. Jaribu la KifoII. The Trial of Death

Yesu aliposikia kwamba Lazaro ni mgonjwa, alifanya jambo ambalo hakuna mtu aliyelitarajia. Alikaa siku mbili zaidi pale alipokuwa. Bwana ambaye angeweza kumponya Lazaro kwa neno moja, au hata akiwa mbali, alikawia kwa makusudi mpaka Lazaro akafa. Hili ndilo jaribu la kifo: uchungu wa kungoja wakati Mungu anaonekana kuchelewa na kunyamaza, wakati mbingu zinaonekana kutofanya lolote huku mioyo yetu ikivunjika. Mariamu na Martha lazima walikuwa wakiitazama njia wakimngoja, saa baada ya saa, naye hakuja. Lakini kukawia kwake hakukuwa kupuuza. Alikuwa amekwisha kusema, "Ugonjwa huu si wa mauti, bali ni kwa ajili ya utukufu wa Mungu, ili Mwana wa Mungu atukuzwe kwa huo" (Yohana 11:4). Kile kilichoonekana kama kutojali kilikuwa upendo ukitenda kazi kuelekea utukufu mkuu zaidi kuliko ule ambao uponyaji wa kawaida ungeweza kuonyesha. Mungu anapoonekana kuchelewa, hayuko mbali wala hakai bure; anaandaa udhihirisho wa ndani zaidi wa nguvu zake na wema wake kuliko tungeweza kuomba.When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He did something no one expected. He stayed where He was two more days. The Lord who could have healed Lazarus with a word, or even from a distance, deliberately delayed until Lazarus had died. This is the trial of death: the agony of waiting when God seems slow and silent, when heaven appears to do nothing while our hearts break. Mary and Martha must have watched the road for Him, hour after hour, and He did not come. But His delay was not neglect. He had already said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it" (John 11:4). What looked like indifference was love working toward a far greater glory than a simple healing could ever have shown. When God seems slow, He is not absent and He is not idle; He is preparing a deeper display of His power and His goodness than we could have asked for.

Kwa kweli, Yesu alisema waziwazi, "Nami nafurahi kwa ajili yenu kwa kuwa sikuwako huko, ili mpate kuamini" (Yohana 11:15). Kukawia huko kulikuwa zawadi iliyofungwa ndani ya huzuni, iliyokusudiwa kuongeza imani yao. Na hatimaye alipoamua kwenda Uyahudi, ambako adui zake walikuwa wametaka kumpiga kwa mawe hivi karibuni, alikuwa Tomaso aliyewaambia wenzake, "Twendeni na sisi, tufe pamoja naye" (Yohana 11:16) — mwaminifu hata wakati hakuweza kuelewa kile Bwana alichokuwa akifanya.Indeed, Jesus said plainly, "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe" (John 11:15). The delay was a gift wrapped in grief, meant to deepen their faith. And when He finally resolved to go to Judea, where enemies had lately sought to stone Him, it was Thomas who said to the others, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (John 11:16) — loyal even when he could not understand what the Lord was doing.

III. Ushindi juu ya KifoIII. The Triumph of Death

Hatimaye Yesu alifika, na Martha akampokea akiwa na huzuni yake pamoja na imani yake. Kwake Bwana alinena maneno ambayo yamesomwa kando ya makaburi ya waamini tangu wakati huo:At last Jesus came, and Martha met Him with both her grief and her faith. To her the Lord spoke the words that have been read at the graveside of believers ever since:

Bwana alipomwuliza kama aliamini hayo, Martha alitoa mojawapo ya maungamo makuu ya Injili: "Ndiyo, Bwana, mimi nimesadiki ya kuwa wewe ndiwe Kristo, Mwana wa Mungu, yule ajaye ulimwenguni" (Yohana 11:27). Huzuni haikuwa imeiharibu imani yake; ilikuwa imemsukuma kuingia ndani zaidi ya imani hiyo.When the Lord asked her if she believed this, Martha gave one of the great confessions of the Gospels: "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world" (John 11:27). Grief had not destroyed her faith; it had driven her deeper into it.

Kisha ikaja mojawapo ya nyakati zenye upole mwingi kuliko zote katika Maandiko. Yesu alipomwona Mariamu akilia, na wengine wakilia pamoja naye, aliugua rohoni, akafadhaika, na mstari mfupi kuliko yote katika Biblia unaliandika kwa urahisi: "Yesu akalia machozi" (Yohana 11:35). Alijua kwamba alikuwa karibu kumfufua Lazaro, na bado alilia. Huu ndio moyo wa Bwana wetu: hasimami mbali na huzuni yetu bali anaingia ndani yake kikamilifu, akilia pamoja na wanaolia hata wakati ameshika mikononi mwake nguvu ya ufufuo.Then came one of the most tender moments in all of Scripture. When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the others weeping with her, He groaned in His spirit and was troubled, and the shortest verse in the Bible records it simply: "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). He knew He was about to raise Lazarus, and still He wept. This is the heart of our Lord: He does not stand far off from our sorrow but enters fully into it, weeping with those who weep even as He holds the power of resurrection in His hands.

Kisha akaenda kaburini, akawaambia waliondoe jiwe, akainua macho yake juu, akapaza sauti kwa nguvu:Then He went to the tomb, told them to take away the stone, lifted up His eyes, and cried with a loud voice:

Na yule aliyekufa akatoka, akiwa bado amefungwa sanda. Bwana aliyekuwa ameonyesha nguvu zake juu ya wanadamu, juu ya upepo na mawimbi, juu ya magonjwa na pepo, sasa alivitia taji vyote hivyo kwa nguvu juu ya kaburi lenyewe. Mtu mmoja aliwahi kusema kwamba ilikuwa rehema kwamba alimwita Lazaro kwa jina lake, kwa maana kama angalisema tu "Njoo huku nje!" huenda kila mfu katika historia angalifufuka kwa neno lake. Ndivyo ulivyo mamlaka yake juu ya kifo.And the dead man came out, still bound in his grave-clothes. The Lord who had shown His power over men, over the wind and the waves, over disease and demons, now crowned it all with power over the grave itself. Someone once observed that it was a mercy He called Lazarus by name, for had He simply cried "Come forth!" every dead person in history might have risen at His word. Such is His authority over death.

Angalia jinsi Yesu anavyozungumza juu ya kifo. Mapema alikuwa amewaambia wanafunzi, "Rafiki yetu Lazaro amelala; lakini ninakwenda nipate kumwamsha" (Yohana 11:11). Kwa Bwana wa uzima, kifo cha mwamini si cha mwisho kuliko usingizi. Ni kama mtoto anayelala kwenye kochi jioni na kuamka asubuhi iliyofuata katika kitanda chake mwenyewe — wala haogopi, kwa sababu anajua baba yake alimbeba hadi pale usiku. Ndivyo ilivyo kwa Mkristo: tunafumba macho yetu katika ulimwengu huu na kuyafumbua katika nyumba ya Baba, tukiwa tumebebwa nyumbani na Yule anayetupenda. Kisha angalia kazi ambayo Bwana anawapa walio hai. Anasema juu ya Lazaro aliyefufuka, "Mfungueni, mkamwache aende zake" (Yohana 11:44). Kuna kazi ya kuomboleza inayopaswa kufanywa hata baada ya furaha ya ufufuo kufika; wanaoomboleza wanaongozwa kwa upole kurudi kwenye maisha, kufungua sanda na kujiunga tena na ulimwengu wa walio hai.Notice how Jesus speaks of death. Earlier He had told the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up" (John 11:11). To the Lord of life, the death of a believer is no more final than sleep. It is like a child who falls asleep on the couch in the evening and wakes the next morning in his own bed — and he is not afraid, because he knows his father carried him there in the night. So it is for the Christian: we close our eyes in this world and open them in the Father's house, carried home by the One who loves us. And then notice the task the Lord gives to the living. He says of the risen Lazarus, "Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44). There is grief work to be done even after resurrection joy has come; the grieving are gently led back to life, to unwrap the grave-clothes and re-engage the living world.

Kulikuwa na mtu mmoja, mshiriki wa kanisa la Dkt. Mike McGough, aliyepanga mazishi yake mwenyewe hadi jambo dogo kabisa. Kwa ombi lake, alipolazwa jenezani, Biblia iliyofunguliwa iliwekwa juu ya moyo wake, kidole chake kisicho na uhai kikiwa juu ya maneno ya Yohana 3:16: "Kwa maana jinsi hii Mungu aliupenda ulimwengu, hata akamtoa Mwanawe pekee, ili kila mtu amwaminiye asipotee, bali awe na uzima wa milele." Hata katika kifo bado alikuwa akihubiri tumaini pekee linaloshinda kaburi.There was a man, a member of Dr. Mike McGough's church, who planned his own funeral down to the last detail. At his request, when he lay in the casket, an open Bible was placed over his heart, his lifeless finger resting on the words of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Even in death he was still preaching the only hope that conquers the grave.

Kuna jambo moja zaidi ambalo hatupaswi kulikosa. Lazaro alipotoka kaburini, wengi walioliona waliamini; lakini wengine walikwenda mbio kwa Mafarisayo, na tangu siku hiyo wakuu walifanya shauri la kumwua Yesu (Yohana 11:45-53). Kufufuliwa kwa Lazaro kulianzisha matukio yale yale yaliyoongoza msalabani. Kwa maana halisi, kumpa Lazaro uhai kulimgharimu Bwana uhai wake mwenyewe — kivuli cha ukweli kwamba uzima wetu umenunuliwa kwa kifo chake.There is one more thing we must not miss. When Lazarus came out of the tomb, many who saw it believed; but others ran to the Pharisees, and from that day the rulers plotted to put Jesus to death (John 11:45-53). The raising of Lazarus set in motion the very events that led to the cross. In a real sense, giving life to Lazarus cost the Lord His own life — a foreshadowing of the truth that our life is purchased by His death.

Huu ndio ujumbe mkuu wa Lazaro, na ndilo tumaini ambalo kila kitu kinasimama juu yake. Kristo ana nguvu juu ya kaburi, na Yule anayeweza kushinda kifo anaweza kuondoa hofu yetu yote. Bila ufufuo, maisha hayana maana ya kudumu na kifo kina neno la mwisho. Lakini kwa sababu ya Kristo, kaburi si ukuta tena; limekuwa mlango. Lazaro angekufa tena siku moja, lakini alikuwa ishara inayoelekeza kwenye ufufuo mkuu zaidi usiorudi nyuma kamwe, uliohakikishwa na kaburi tupu la Kristo mwenyewe. Basi unaposimama kando ya kaburi la mtu aliyekuwa mali ya Bwana, ikumbuke sauti iliyomwita Lazaro kutoka gizani, na ukumbuke kwamba sauti ile ile siku moja itawaita wote walio wake. Kwa maana Yeye ndiye ufufuo na uzima, na kila amwaminiye hatakufa kamwe.This is the great message of Lazarus, and it is the hope on which everything rests. Christ has power over the grave, and the One who is able to conquer death is able to remove all our fear. Without the resurrection, life has no lasting meaning and death has the final word. But because of Christ, the tomb is no longer a wall; it has become a doorway. Lazarus would die again one day, but he was a sign pointing to a greater resurrection that never reverses, secured by the empty tomb of Christ Himself. So when you stand at the graveside of one who belonged to the Lord, remember the voice that called Lazarus out of the dark, and remember that the same voice will one day call all His own. For He is the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him shall never die.

Kwa hiyo hatuhuzuniki kama wale wasio na tumaini. Tunalia, kwa maana kifo ni halisi na kufiwa ni uchungu; lakini tunalia kama watu ambao wamesikia sauti iliyo kuu kuliko kaburi, na ambao wanajua kwamba Yule aliyelia kwenye kaburi la rafiki yake siku moja atafuta kila chozi katika macho yetu wenyewe. Hilo ndilo tumaini la Lazaro, na ndilo tumaini la kila aliye mali ya Kristo: kaburi si mwisho wa safari bali ni mlango, na ng'ambo yake anasimama Bwana wa uzima.So we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We weep, for death is real and loss is bitter; but we weep as people who have heard a voice louder than the grave, and who know that the One who wept at the tomb of His friend will one day wipe away every tear from our own eyes. That is the hope of Lazarus, and it is the hope of everyone who belongs to Christ: the grave is not a destination but a door, and beyond it stands the Lord of life.