Unexpected - Week 1 - Jake Fry

A household story about a broken washing machine introduces a meditation on expectation, delay, and divine purpose. An unexpected technician, a disassembled washer left in a basement, and months of waiting frame a larger claim: God’s timing often contradicts human expectation so that something greater can follow. The Lazarus account in John 11 becomes the central lens. Mary and Martha send for help, expecting immediate healing; Jesus delays deliberately, saying the sickness will not end in death so that God may be glorified. That delay, described as an act of love, reframes waiting from evidence of distance to evidence of divine intention.

The sermon unpacks the Hebrew word kavah—literally “to bind together”—to show that waiting builds strength like cords twisted tighter over time. Waiting, though painful, produces a resilience granted by God rather than manufactured by self-reliance. In the midst of delay, death becomes final for Lazarus, and grief erupts; both sisters speak honest disappointment, yet Martha also utters “even now,” a fragile trust that holds sorrow and faith side by side. Jesus responds by claiming identity—“I am the resurrection and the life”—weeps with the mourners, and then calls Lazarus out of the tomb. The scene demonstrates that God enters sorrow, shares the ache of a broken world, and exerts authority over death itself.

The gospel appears as both diagnosis and cure: human beings stand powerless before sin and death, wrapped like burial cloth, but God’s purpose and grace rescue and call to new life. Miracles in Jesus’ ministry point beyond temporary relief to an ultimate triumph over death—an assurance that even when deliverance comes later than hoped, it serves a larger, redemptive end. Practical application emphasizes honest lament, sustained trust, and the conviction that delay does not equal abandonment. The unexpected timing of God can yield unimaginable outcomes—resurrection, renewed strength, and the promise that even when suffering lingers, God’s sustaining love remains active until final restoration.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God's delay can be loving Waiting does not always signal absence; sometimes delay is the means by which deeper purposes are accomplished. When Jesus stays instead of rushing, the delay prepares a stage for a greater revelation of God’s character and power. Trusting a loving intention in seasons of silence reshapes complaint into patient expectancy and opens space for unexpected good. [39:38]
• 2. Waiting for God strengthens faith The Hebrew kavah pictures waiting as cords twisted together, producing greater tensile strength over time. Waiting trains dependence, not as passive endurance but as active hope that draws life and resolve from God. Strength born in the liminal seasons sustains long after the crisis passes and refines trust into rooted assurance. [42:14]
• 3. Hold grief and hope together Honest lament and persistent faith can coexist; Martha models grieving candor alongside the fragile phrase “even now.” Carrying disappointment to God allows sorrow to be named without extinguishing confidence in God’s future work. This posture invites God into the brokenness rather than forcing premature answers. [47:00]
• 4. Death submits to Jesus' authority The tomb scene shows that Jesus, as resurrection and life, confronts the finality of death and calls life forth. Resurrection here functions as both tangible restoration and foreshadowing of ultimate victory over sin and decay. Belief in that authority reorients present loss toward an inevitable renewal beyond temporal endings. [54:13]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [31:52] - Washing machine expectation and surprise
• [35:00] - Series launch: "Unexpected"
• [36:41] - Lazarus falls sick; friends send word
• [38:06] - Jesus delays on purpose
• [42:14] - Waiting builds strength (kavah)
• [43:30] - Lazarus dies; Martha's honest faith
• [50:31] - Jesus weeps with the sorrowing
• [54:13] - Stone rolled; Lazarus called forth
• [57:31] - Gospel: death destroyed, life revealed
• [65:23] - Application: hope in unexpected timing

Bible reading: John 11:1-44 (ESV)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Observation questions

1. What was the specific reason Jesus gave for not going to Lazarus immediately when he first heard he was sick? [38:06]
2. How did Martha express both her disappointment and her faith when she first met Jesus outside the village? [44:01]
3. What was the significance of Lazarus being in the tomb for four days, and what was Martha’s concern about rolling the stone away? [53:25]
4. What was Jesus’s emotional response when he saw Mary and the others weeping? [50:31]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus stated that he delayed his journey because he loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. How does this delay, motivated by love, challenge common human assumptions about what love and care look like in a time of crisis?
2. Martha’s statement, “even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you,” [47:00] was made after her brother had died. What does this fragile trust, held alongside deep disappointment, reveal about the nature of faith?
3. Jesus wept even though he knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. What does this moment of shared sorrow tell us about God’s relationship to our own pain and the brokenness of the world? [51:23]
4. The miracle of raising Lazarus was a temporary restoration, as Lazarus eventually died again. How does this fact point toward a greater, more permanent hope that Jesus offers?

Application questions

1. When have you experienced a “delay” in an answer to prayer that felt like abandonment? How can the truth that God’s timing is often an act of his love [39:38] reshape how you view that waiting season now?
2. The Hebrew word kavah describes a waiting that binds us together with God, building strength. [42:14] What are some practical ways to “wait actively” on God during a difficult period, rather than just passively enduring it?
3. Martha modeled bringing her raw disappointment directly to Jesus while still holding onto a thread of hope. [46:13] What is something you feel disappointed about right now that you need to be honest with God about, while also saying “even now, I trust you”?
4. The story shows that Jesus enters our sorrow and weeps with us. [52:33] How does knowing that your pain pains God change the way you carry your grief? Who in your life might need to hear that God is not distant from their suffering?
5. The miracle was far greater than the healing Mary and Martha originally asked for. [55:29] When has God answered a prayer in a way that was completely different, and perhaps better, than what you had originally asked for?
6. The promise is that death does not have the final word for those who believe. [56:49] How can this ultimate hope provide strength and perspective for the smaller “deaths” and losses we experience in our daily lives?