While his healing power convinced some he was the Son of God, Jesus’ power also created, even in his best of friends, expectations which demonstrated how selfish people can be even in their relationships with God, how limited people were in their understanding of what Jesus’ life was meant to change.

Sure, with God in my pocket, I should get all I want. Jesus said, “Follow me.” Shouldn’t that mean he will take care of me, keep the bad stuff away and bring on the good life? What’s a God for if not to take care of my problems?

When God Waits

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were good friends with Jesus. Both sisters had hosted Jesus and his disciples in their home. Mary had sat at his feet when he taught and had anointed him with perfume to show her devotion.  When their brother Lazarus fell ill, they sent for Jesus. Why not? They knew his power, they believed in his miracles, they knew that Jesus dearly loved his friend. Certainly, they would call upon him to heal. But for reasons not understood even to the disciples, he waits two days.

When he finally decides to go, the disciples ask with good reason if it’s a good idea now. Not too long ago some religious leaders were ready to kill him. Jesus replies with one of his cryptic statements about how in daylight people can see safely but at night there’s danger of stumbling.

When’s an answer not an answer? When Jesus’ mind runs ahead of the question…

Jesus assures them Lazarus is only sleeping, and “his sickness will not end in death.” All right, all the more reason not to make the trip. Yet, let’s note here that no less than five times the point is made that Lazarus is sick. As any good student knows, when a fact is repeated, pay attention. This is important. Lazarus is not just sick, he’s really sick.

No, Jesus says, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this…This will give you another opportunity to believe in me.

See, this is where God stands on a sacred slippery slope. Maybe we’re not supposed to ask this, but it sure looks like poor Laz is being knocked out so Jesus gets the good press. Narcissistic at the expense of another’s life?

Whereas it will be a sign of his divinity, it will be dearly misunderstood.

Grief Matters

Upon his arrival, Lazarus has been dead four days, and both Martha and Mary separately meet Jesus with identical words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Yes, they’re grieving, and in their pain question if this had to happen. The overtones in their words raise the question, are they blaming him? Are they saying, You are the Son of God and you are not supposed to treat us like this. Martha even adds, “I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Is this a statement of faith, a confidence in who Jesus is despite what she can or cannot see at the moment? Or is it manipulation? 

“Thy will be done,” is not implied when she says, “Lord, if you had been here…” It sounded more like, “Lord, this is the problem, and this is what you need to do.” Apparently, her belief causes her to think God is best served in an advisory capacity.

Jesus consoles her telling her to rely on her faith, “Your brother will rise again.” But her pain will not be moved. “When everyone else rises,” she responds, heartache mixed with pained derision.

Well, give the poor girl a break. She’ll never see her brother in this life. Dumping a deep theological discourse on her at this time is not helpful.

Jesus won’t let up. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.” Assuring her of eternal life and how believers never perish may be holy words when pulled out later, but face it. They don’t change the fact that her brother is dead, gone from her. In short, belief doesn’t necessarily change what we deal with in living, what will be next to slam into our lives.

All Martha can do is hold on to what she can believe in the moment: Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the one sent from God. Whatever that means in the days ahead, she cannot express.

Martha does what she can do. She runs to get her sister Mary and says that Jesus wants to see her. Interestingly, actually that’s not stated in the text. Maybe it can be assumed he did ask for Mary. But this was a big event, Lazarus’ death, and there were people close to Jesus, listening to his every word. Is Martha putting words in Jesus’ mouth? Is she trying to call in some support and triangulate with the sister who sat at his feet listening to him teach? Implied is, “Sister, you talk to him.” 

For Crying Out Loud

But the only words Mary can say are Martha’s same exact words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Seeing her sobbing and hearing the mourners’ cries, “Jesus wept.”

Known as the shortest verse in the Bible, these two words portray how upset Jesus had become. Often this is read as Jesus himself was overcome with grief. Two sisters are lost due to their brother’s death. All three of them very were close to Jesus. It is a nice picture of Jesus crying over his friend’s death. Why? Because it makes Jesus like the rest of humanity. If Jesus cries over a good friend dying, then he’ll sympathize with human grief. When you see his humanity on a level like ours, God seems to understand our lives better.

However, a more accurate translation of the original Greek would be he was very angry and indignant.  It was his anger and exasperation that made Jesus weep. Sometimes there are tears of grief and sadness, but just as often tears come from being so very angry when life comes to such frustration. The Son of God knew the full range of emotions just as any human.

Wait! Grief we get. We’ve been there. Some say anger is a stage of grief. What’s going on here? Was Jesus upset at himself because he waited all that time, didn’t get there to heal his friend as he had healed so many others?

The sisters, disciples, and the crowd all had the same thought: if he could heal so many people, then why didn’t he keep Lazarus from dying in the first place? 

Why did Jesus wait two more days until Lazarus was dead? Keep in the back of your mind Jewish tradition says the soul stays with the physical body for three days. By the fourth day, there was no question Lazarus was absolutely dead, his soul having departed this world. Jesus was not just late, but four-days late. He had plenty of reason to cry.

Still, the story ends well. Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave; call it new birth or new life, and all is good. The big miracle happens. Now we don’t have to cry. Right?

Or is it? To understand this miracle is to understand what was being asked of Jesus and to understand why he raised Lazarus from the dead. What was being asked, why Jesus was so upset, was that people want miracles to fix their problems and make them feel good, do the sensational and satisfy the spectators looking for a show. Miracles aren’t to make lives better but are signposts that point to Jesus’ life revealing who God is.

“Let him go.” Having called out loud and having released Lazarus from death, Jesus called out that Lazarus now was free to live a new kind of life, one which was purposed beyond itself, its needs and desires. Seen in such a person is a glory revealed by who Jesus was as Son of God. It is a new and eternal kind of life.

Minor Epilogue

Many there that day believed when they witnessed this major miracle of Jesus, major not only for Lazarus and his sisters, but also in how it foreshadowed what Jesus would accomplish by his own life. But from now on, Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death.

On that day, Jesus also looked into his own grave.

John 11:1-45

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