John 11:1-43
The Death of Lazarus
1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When 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.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
This is one of the most well known miracles of Jesus. It has all the more meaning because these were good friends and supporters of Jesus. He and his disciples often stayed with them when they were in the area. But this fact did not alter Jesus’ focus. In fact, it may have allowed him to do what he did. This story shows graphically what I’ve been talking about regarding the twofold purpose of Jesus’ miracles. They were not primarily to show compassion, or to help those who needed it. They were to glorify God, and to help people believe. If Jesus’ main motive were compassion, he would have gone to his friends as soon as he heard the news. But he waited till Lazarus was dead, and put his friends through days of grief so that, ultimately, God would be glorified and those who saw the miracle would believe.
7Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”
9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”
11After 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.”
12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
I’ve said before that I think Thomas gets a bad rap for wanting proof of the resurrection. This quote shows real courage on his part. I said earlier that Jesus’ friendship with Mary and Martha may have allowed him to wait till Lazarus died to go and see them. He knew that they trusted him, and he tested their trust. This is a classic case of God not giving someone a burden that he knows they cannot bear. He knew that Mary and Martha would continue to love and trust him, even after he allowed Lazarus to die. If he had not had that trust in them, he might have felt compelled to go and heal Lazarus earlier. But their faith made way for a greater miracle. Do we have that kind of faith? Can God trust us to wait on him and let him work in his time, so that he will receive the most glory?
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When 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. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
When Jesus finally arrived too late to keep Lazarus from dying, Mary could have reacted out of anger, frustration and grief. Many of us might have said something like, “Where were you? Why did you wait so long? You could have prevented this! Don’t you care about us?” That would have been an understandable human reaction under the circumstances. Have you ever been angry with God because he allowed something bad to happen? I have. But Mary didn’t react that way. Her faith was proved strong in difficult times.
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
We can see from this conversation that Martha believed, like the Pharisees, in the resurrection of the body. Though what she was about to witness was not really resurrection, but revival, as Lazarus would eventually die again, Martha’s belief that God could raise the dead showed that she had faith that Jesus could do this. But the most important thing Martha said was her testimony of who Jesus is. She believed he was the Messiah, and because of that, nothing was impossible for him.
28And 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.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When 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.
32When 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.”
33When 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.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
It appears from this passage that Martha’s faith was greater than Mary’s or the other mourners. Jesus did not have a conversation about resurrection and belief with them, only with Martha. John, as Jesus’ friend, shows the human side of Jesus here. Jesus wept. He wasn’t weeping over the death of his friend. He knew what he was going to do. I think he was touched by the grief of those he loved. When I am at a funeral, I tend to be more affected by the grief of others than by the loss itself. I think that’s what brought Jesus’ emotions to the surface. Even though Jesus delayed his arrival, and did not prevent the death of Lazarus, that doesn’t mean he didn’t care. He did care, but he had a higher purpose which Mary and Martha did not yet understand. The same is true for us. When God delays, or doesn’t heal the person we think he should, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care. It means he has a higher purpose that we don’t yet see.
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus, 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.”
40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
Martha’s objection is amusing to me. She had shown the greatest faith among them, and what does she object to? The stink! How often do we limit God’s power because of a silly concern over our comfort?
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I 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.”
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
To show the power and glory of God, and so that those who saw it would believe, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It would be easy think that Jesus showed favoritism to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus because they were close. But compassion for their loss, and his, was never his primary motive, as we’ve seen. Mary and Martha’s faith and confidence in Jesus, and their love for him gave Jesus the opportunity to do something great in their lives. They got to see the glory of God. Whatever that means, I want to live in such a way that I get to see the glory of God.