John 11:1-44
The Death of Lazarus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 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, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After 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.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When 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.22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 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.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When 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.
32 When 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.”
33 When 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.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, 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.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I 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.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
The death of Lazarus was the death of a brother, a relative, and a friend...Jesus was on His way to see Lazarus, but He was delayed for two days...On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days...Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother...When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home....Mary and Martha loved their brother and were sad and grieving...“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if You had been here, my brother would not have died...But I know that even now God will give You whatever You ask.”...Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”...Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”...Jesus said to her, “I AM the resurrection and the life....The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die...Do you believe this?”...“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”...
Lazarus has passed, and Mary and Martha are grieving...The world can be troubled and sad place...And Jesus wept for His friend...Jesus tells Mary that He is the resurrection and the life...He comforted both Mary and her sister...And specifically Mary said that she believed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who came down to earth for us...Believing in Him is comforting even when we are grieving and sad and a brother has died...He understands, how they feel...
I have noticed when I have something like this happens to me, I react in different ways...In my grief, I want my regular routine to come back, and to get back quickly...Now this may not be the Christian thing to do, but that is how I react to grief...I usually do not want to speak to anyone...I have a lot of thoughts about the loved one...I also have questions, and the questions are unanswerable for me and others, so I realize I am questioning God...Why did this death have to happen?...Why didn't You prevent it?...Why not wait until Lazarus was even older?...If I were there, with Mary, I would have wanted to know why Jesus delayed the two days and why did He let His friend die...I would have many more questions for Jesus, had I been with Mary...We know He could have saved His friend, because He later does...And during His time speaking to Mary and then to Martha, we feel the grief of those who loved Lazarus, and so does Jesus...And we read, Jesus weeps...When He weeps someone says, “See how He loved him!”...We can almost feel the compassion and LOVE Jesus has for His friend, and the sisters...(And Jesus does tell us why He delayed the two days before coming to Lazarus' aid...He is going to show the glory of God by raising Him)...And I must ask myself one question, if I knew all the answers and all these things to and about my questions to God, would Lazarus still be alive?...I sincerely doubt it, because it is God that is Provident and not me...God must reveal these things to us, and only at Godspeed and in His time...But the questions continue...A void has come...Where is God now?...These feelings seem unreal and numbing...This grieving time somehow becomes a process, and not here today and gone in two to three days...What happened to my old routine?...
Jesus told Mary, “I AM the resurrection and the life...The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die.”...Then He ask her if she believed this...In saying that He is the resurrection and the life, we must include death and this sad, horrible sting of sadness and missing the one Mary and Martha loves...Why death has to be included in the resurrection and the life, is that for a resurrection to happen, one must die...Jesus adds that those who believe in Him will live...There must be a life and a death to have a resurrection, like the brother Lazarus will have...There also must be an afterlife because Jesus says that there is, if we believe in Him...
In reading the story about Mary and Martha's brother, I feel the compassion in Jesus...He wept for His good friend...He wants to comfort the sisters and those attending around this grievous moment...Jesus knows that life is fragile and precious...Jesus is teaching us about life...After all, He is the Great Teacher...In St. John's story of the brother Lazarus, in my opinion, the disciple is telling us just how precious life is...Lazarus has lost his life and died, yet Jesus will somehow save it, and this man will somehow live again...By raising Lazarus Jesus not only shows us God's glory, but He shows us the preciousness of life...Raising him does show the glory of God...But also their brother now lives again...Jesus has resurrected him...Glory and compassion has brought back a friend and brother...Life is precious for each of us...The life of a brother is precious, has meaning, and was raised out of compassion and LOVE...A brother has been raised...