March 24, 2021
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 When 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days… John 11:3-6
Anyone, who has ever lost, knows that even when death is inevitable, we don’t desire or expect it, we simply come to accept that it is this loved one time, and prayer for their comfort and peace as well as our own. Death remains a great mystery even today. No matter how much we can explain and determine why one’s body has no life left within it, we cannot understand what happens to consciousness. We are left with our faith in such times to help us through, to help our hearts makes sense of loss, and to give us a hope of knowing our loved one once more.
Death is a part of life, everyone will get there, but none are ever truly ready. The hope we find in death, is that death is not the end, but we believe in a resurrection. And because our Lord has overcome death, through him, we believe we shall overcome as well.
Here, in the gospel of John we see a third gospel account of Jesus raising someone from the dead back to life. The others include the raising of the widow’s son in Luke 7, and Jairus daughter in Mark 5 & Luke 8. However, in this account, we don’t see Jesus raising to life because he has compassion on the loved one’s. Instead, in this account Jesus is a loved one. Jesus is acquainted with Martha, Mary, and their now deceased brother Lazarus. They all have spent time together, and they were considered disciples of Jesus.
How could Jesus let one of his own disciples perish before everything he came to do had been accomplished? There are two things within the text, that I believe help us to understand Jesus hesitation to go to Bethany, or to raise Lazarus from afar. After all if Jesus is God, he need not be present for Lazarus to be raised, he could have said the word, and it would happen. Yet, part of what make our faith is Jesus so great, is our belief that he is present with us, even now. For we believe the scriptures, that were two or more are gathered, there He will be in their midst.
In verse 4 Jesus says: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” - and after saying this he decided to stay where he was for another 2 days.
Scholars believe that based on the end of John 10, that Jesus at this point was somewhere in the vicinity of Peoria some 20 miles away from Bethany. Turning, and going to Bethany even at the moment of receiving word, chances are that Lazarus was already dead. However, he stays for two more days before going back.
We know what transpires when Jesus does arrive. Martha weeps and wails that if only Jesus had been there, their brother would not have died. Jesus sees Mary with professional mourners surrounding her, and he weeps himself. Truth is, we all would rather has something or someone keep us from suffering rather than help us through our suffering. However, the power of God is found in knowing that even while we suffer we can bring our troubles before God, and in God’s mercy, grace, and love, we will know relief even if it is in God’s timing, and not our own.
May we always seek to know God’s timing, knowing in His infinite love and grace, God does hear our prayers and brings us comfort, forever.
Grace & Peace,
Sam