📖 Injili ya Yohana — Sehemu ya 8: Ufufuo na Uzima📖 The Gospel of John — Unit 8: The Resurrection and the Life

Utangulizi — Mfu AnayetembeaIntroduction — Dead Man Walking

Mojawapo ya hofu za siri ambazo sote tunazibeba ni hofu ya kifo. Tunafanya utani juu yake na kuisukuma mbali na mawazo yetu, lakini ndani kabisa sote tunakiogopa, na swali zito kuliko yote ambalo dini yoyote lazima ilijibu ni swali la kifo. Bila ufufuo, maisha hayana maana ya kudumu; tunaishi miaka yetu michache mifupi kisha yamekwisha. Katika Yohana 11 tunafika kwenye ishara kuu kuliko zote — kuu kuliko kugeuza maji kuwa divai, kuu kuliko kuwalisha watu elfu tano, kuu kuliko kufumbua macho ya vipofu. Mtu mmoja aitwaye Lazaro alikuwa amekufa na kuzikwa siku nne kamili wakati Yesu alipomwita atoke kaburini akiwa hai. Hapa Bwana wetu anaonyesha kwamba ana mamlaka juu ya kaburi lenyewe, na Yeye awezaye kushinda kifo anaweza kuondoa kila hofu. Hebu tupitie habari hii katika hatua nne: msiba, jaribu, machozi, na ushindi juu ya kifo.One of the secret dreads we all carry is the fear of death. We make jokes about it and push it out of our minds, but down deep we all fear it, and the deepest question any religion must answer is the question of death. Without a resurrection, life has no lasting meaning; we live our few short years and then it is over. In John 11 we come to the greatest of all the signs — greater than turning water to wine, greater than feeding the five thousand, greater than opening blind eyes. A man named Lazarus had been dead and buried four full days when Jesus called him out of the tomb alive. Here our Lord shows that He holds power over the grave itself, and the One who can conquer death can take away every fear. Let us walk through the account in four movements: the tragedy, the trial, the tears, and the triumph over death.

I. Msiba wa KifoI. The Tragedy of Death

Lazaro wa Bethania aliugua. Alikuwa wa familia iliyompenda Bwana na ambayo Bwana aliipenda, kwa hiyo dada zake walituma ujumbe rahisi kuliko yote: "Bwana, yeye umpendaye hawezi." Bila shaka walitarajia hilo lingetosha. Lakini Lazaro alikufa, na kwa nyumba ile hasara hiyo ilikuwa msiba — mtu katika ujana wa maisha yake, mwenye kila kitu mbele yake, ghafla ametoweka. Kifo karibu siku zote kiko hivyo. Mtoto mdogo anapokufa tunasema chipukizi kimekatwa kabla hakijachanua. Kifo ni msiba kwa asiyeamini, ambaye inaonekana hakuna tumaini la kumpa kando ya kaburi; ni msiba katika kudhoofika polepole kwa ugonjwa wa muda mrefu; na ni msiba hata tunapokuwa na hakika kwamba tutamwona mtu huyo tena, kwa sababu hasara ni halisi na kutokuwepo kwake kunauma. Sisemi juu ya jambo hili nikiwa mbali nalo. Pamoja na mke wangu wa kwanza nilikuwa na karibu miaka miwili ya kuagana, na bado pengine lilikuwa jambo gumu kuliko yote niliyowahi kukabili — ingawa Bwana kwa wema wake baadaye alinipa Ana wangu. Na kifo cha kwanza nilichowahi kukijua kilikuwa cha mpwa wangu mchanga, mjukuu wa kwanza katika familia yetu, aliyekufa kabla hajatimiza miaka miwili; bado nakumbuka mikono ya mama yangu ikinizunguka na kilio chake, "Kwa nini Mungu alimwacha mtoto wetu afe?" Sikuwa na jibu wakati ule, wala sina sasa jibu ambalo moyo unaweza kulishika kikamilifu. Kifo ni adui halisi, na Maandiko kamwe hayatuombi tujifanye kwamba si hivyo.Lazarus of Bethany fell sick. He belonged to a family that loved the Lord and whom the Lord loved, so the sisters sent the simplest of messages: "Lord, the one You love is sick." They surely expected that would be enough. But Lazarus died, and for that household the loss was a tragedy — a man in the prime of life, with everything before him, suddenly gone. Death is almost always like that. When a small child dies we say the bud was cut off before it could bloom. Death is a tragedy for the unbeliever, for whom there seems no hope to offer at the graveside; it is a tragedy in the slow wasting of a lingering illness; and it is a tragedy even when we are sure we will see the person again, because the loss is real and the absence aches. I do not speak of this from a distance. With my first wife I had nearly two years to say goodbye, and it was still perhaps the hardest thing I have ever faced — though the Lord in His kindness later gave me my Ana. And the first death I ever knew was a baby niece, the first grandchild in our family, who died when she was not yet two; I still remember my mother's arms around me and her cry, "Why did God let our baby die?" I had no answer then, and I have none now that the heart can fully hold. Death is a real enemy, and Scripture never asks us to pretend otherwise.

II. Jaribu la KifoII. The Trial of Death

Habari zilipofika kwamba Lazaro alikuwa mgonjwa, Yesu alifanya jambo lisilotarajiwa: alikaa mahali alipokuwa siku mbili zaidi. Maneno yake ya kwanza hayakuwa "Na tuharakishe" bali "Ugonjwa huu si wa mauti, bali ni kwa ajili ya utukufu wa Mungu, ili Mwana wa Mungu atukuzwe kwa huo" (Yohana 11:4). Lazaro alikufa ndani ya mapenzi ya Mungu ya kuruhusu, akiruhusiwa kwa kusudi ambalo hakuna hata mmoja wao aliyeweza kuliona bado. Wanafunzi hawakuelewa kuchelewa huko; Martha hakuelewa; Mariamu hakuelewa. Na hilo ndilo jaribu la kifo, na la kila hali ngumu ambayo Mungu anairuhusu: kwamba tunaombwa kumwamini Mungu gizani, kabla sababu haijaonyeshwa. Paulo aliomba mara tatu ili mwiba wake uondolewe, na jibu la Mungu halikuwa "ndiyo" bali "Neema yangu yakutosha." Ni pale tu imani inapojaribiwa ndipo imani inapokua.When word came that Lazarus was sick, Jesus did the unexpected thing: He stayed where He was two more days. His first words were not "Let us hurry" but "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). Lazarus died within the permissive will of God, allowed for a purpose none of them could yet see. The disciples did not understand the delay; Martha did not understand; Mary did not understand. And there is the trial of death, and of every hard providence: that we are asked to trust God in the dark, before the reason is shown. Paul prayed three times for his thorn to be removed, and God's answer was not "yes" but "My grace is sufficient for you." It is only when faith is tested that faith grows.

III. Machozi ya KifoIII. The Tears of Death

Yesu alipokaribia Bethania, hewa ilijaa vilio. Martha, dada mwenye shughuli nyingi na wa kivitendo zaidi, alitoka mbio kwanza; Mariamu, ambaye huzuni yake ilikuwa ya utulivu zaidi na ya faragha, alikuja tu alipoitwa, akaanguka miguuni pake. Kuwazunguka waliomboleza waombolezaji waliokuja kuhuzunika pamoja na familia. Na kisha yanakuja maneno yanayounda mstari mfupi kuliko yote katika Biblia na mmoja wa yenye maana tele kuliko yote: "Yesu akalia machozi" (Yohana 11:35). Alijua kwamba ndani ya saa moja Lazaro angetoka akitembea katika kaburi lile, na bado alilia — si kwa ajili ya Lazaro, bali kwa ajili ya walio hai, kwa ajili ya huzuni ya wale aliowapenda na kwa ajili ya ulimwengu ulio chini ya kivuli cha kaburi. Hakusimama juu ya huzuni yao; aliingia ndani yake. "Lieni pamoja nao waliao," Paulo anatuambia (Warumi 12:15), na hapa Bwana Mwenyewe anatuonyesha jinsi gani. Ilikuwa vyema kwangu, katika misiba yangu mwenyewe, kuona watu wengine wakilia pamoja nami, hata mchungaji akitokwa na machozi. Mungu wetu si mgeni kwa huzuni yetu; amesimama ndani yake na kulia.When Jesus drew near Bethany, the air was full of weeping. Martha, the busier and more practical sister, hurried out first; Mary, whose grief was quieter and more private, came only when she was called, and fell at His feet. Around them wailed the mourners who had come to grieve with the family. And then come the two words that are the shortest verse in all the Bible and among the fullest: "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). He knew that within the hour Lazarus would walk out of that tomb, and still He wept — not for Lazarus, but for the living, for the grief of those He loved and for a world under the shadow of the grave. He did not stand above their sorrow; He entered it. "Weep with those who weep," Paul tells us (Romans 12:15), and here the Lord Himself shows us how. It was good for me, in my own losses, to see other people weep with me, even a pastor with tears. Our God is not a stranger to our grief; He has stood in it and cried.

IV. Ushindi juu ya KifoIV. The Triumph over Death

Sasa linakuja badiliko. Dada wote wawili walikuwa wamemlaki wakiwa na uchungu ule ule: "Bwana, kama ungalikuwapo hapa, ndugu yangu hangalikufa." Kwa Martha alisema, "Ndugu yako atafufuka," naye akajibu kwa tumaini la mbali la siku ya mwisho ambalo kila mwamini analo: "Najua ya kuwa atafufuka katika ufufuo siku ya mwisho." Lakini Yesu aliuvuta ufufuo kutoka wakati ujao wa mbali na kuuleta katika wakati wa sasa, ndani ya Nafsi, ndani Yake Mwenyewe: "Mimi ndimi huo ufufuo na uzima; yeye aniaminiye mimi, ajapokufa, atakuwa anaishi; naye kila aishiye na kuniamini hatakufa kabisa hata milele. Je! Unayasadiki hayo?" (Yohana 11:25–26). Ufufuo si kwanza tukio wala fundisho; ni Kristo Mwenyewe. Kuwa naye ni kuwa na uzima ambao kifo hakiwezi kuukomesha.Now comes the turn. Both sisters had met Him with the same ache: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." To Martha He said, "Your brother will rise again," and she answered with the distant, last-day hope every believer holds: "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." But Jesus drew the resurrection out of the far future and into the present, into a Person, into Himself: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25–26). Resurrection is not first an event or a doctrine; it is Christ Himself. To have Him is to have life that death cannot end.

Kisha akaenda kaburini. "Liondoeni jiwe," alisema, na Martha, siku zote wa kivitendo, akapinga: "Bwana, ananuka sasa; kwa maana ni siku ya nne leo." Yesu akajibu, "Mimi sikukuambia ya kwamba ukiamini utauona utukufu wa Mungu?" Basi wakaliondoa jiwe, naye akapaza sauti kwa nguvu, "Lazaro, njoo huku nje!" (Yohana 11:43). Imesemwa kwamba ilikuwa rehema kwamba alimwita Lazaro kwa jina, la sivyo kila mfu katika kila kaburi angeweza kutoka akitembea kwa kusikia sauti ile. Lazaro akatoka, amefungwa mikono na miguu kwa sanda — na kila shaka ilizikwa wakati ule ule. Yesu alikifananisha kifo na usingizi: kama mtoto aliyechoka anavyolala kwenye kochi na kuamka kitandani mwake mwenyewe kwa sababu baba yake alimbeba hadi huko, ndivyo mwamini analala usingizi wa kifo na kuamka, akiwa amebebwa na Baba, salama mahali panapofaa. Hofu inayoandama kila moyo wa mwanadamu inavunjwa mlangoni pa kaburi tupu.Then He went to the grave. "Take away the stone," He said, and Martha, ever practical, protested: "Lord, by this time he stinks, for he has been dead four days." Jesus answered, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" So they rolled the stone away, and He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" (John 11:43). It has been said it was a mercy He called Lazarus by name, or every dead person in every grave might have come walking out at the sound of that voice. Out came Lazarus, bound hand and foot in his grave clothes — and every doubt was buried in that moment. Jesus likened death to a sleep: as a tired child falls asleep on the couch and wakes in his own bed because his father carried him there, so the believer falls asleep in death and wakes, carried by the Father, safe in the right place. The fear that haunts every human heart is broken at the mouth of an empty tomb.

Jambo moja zaidi: kwa familia iliyokuwa ikiomboleza Yesu aliwapa kazi. "Mfungueni, mkamwache aende zake" (Yohana 11:44). Bwana alimfufua Lazaro, lakini aliwaacha watu wazifungue sanda na kumkaribisha tena katika maisha. Bado anafanya kazi kwa namna hiyo. Kristo peke yake ndiye awezaye kutoa uzima; lakini kwetu Yeye husema kuhusu kila mmoja wetu, "Mfungueni, mkamwache aende zake" — wasaidieni waliohuishwa karibuni kutoka katika vifungo vya maisha yao ya zamani, wafundisheni, watieni moyo, tembeeni pamoja nao. Je, umemwamini Yeye aliye Ufufuo na Uzima? Basi kaburi limepoteza utisho wake, nawe uko huru kulia pamoja nao waliao na, Yeye atakapowafufua, kuwafungua na kuwaacha waende zao. Kaburi si ukuta tena bali ni mlango, na sauti ile ile iliyowahi kupaza, "Lazaro, njoo huku nje," siku moja itamwita kila mwamini atoke kwa jina lake.One thing more: to the grieving family Jesus gave a task. "Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44). The Lord raised Lazarus, but He let the people unwind the grave clothes and welcome him back into life. He still works that way. Christ alone can give the life; but to us He says of one another, "Loose him, and let him go" — help the newly alive out of the bindings of the past, teach them, encourage them, walk with them. Have you trusted the One who is the Resurrection and the Life? Then the grave has lost its terror, and you are free to weep with those who weep and, when He raises them, to loose them and let them go. The grave is no longer a wall but a doorway, and the same voice that once cried, "Lazarus, come forth," will one day call every believer out by name.

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