Last year, I enjoyed the experience of visiting the astonishing country of Guyana alongside my wife and her family. I was blessed to walk the streets where she played as a child as well as see other sites that shaped her into the woman she is today. Sites such as schools she attended, local gathering locations where she socialized and rain forests which nurtured her appreciation for God’s creation allowed me access to the backyard of her life journey.
We participated in two tours: the cities of Linden and Georgetown. The tour guide resurrected historical events in a way that made me feel I was there when it happened.
This is the approach I intend to take as we journey through John chapter 11. The location is Judea, Jerusalem. The time is somewhere between AD 27 and 36. John’s record is the only one of the four gospels that tells of this particular story. We will be highlighting several verses but I encourage you to read the chapter in its entirety.
Verses 1-3
“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
Beyond the dust that rises with each step taken on the dirt roads along with the bleating of sheep and goats in the area, there is a thick air of panic, fear and grief. Lazarus, the one whom Jesus enjoyed spending quality time with, is sick with no signs of recovery. His sisters Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus because they believed He would make healing their brother His top priority. After all, He’s healed so many others including lepers. He taught that if you ask it will be given. Now, healing is needed at a friend’s house and the ones asking are those close to Him.
Notice how John includes that Mary ‘anointed the Lord with oil and wiped His feet with her hair’ in verse two and the conjunction “therefore” is included before the request was sent. It makes me wonder: ‘Did they think their service and hospitality to Jesus on so many occasions made them entitled to this healing?’ I wouldn’t think for a moment that, if this were the case, they were wrong. It shows that they were human. Even more, it shows that God was human. How about you and I today? What conjunction comes before we make a bold request from God? Is it because we pay tithes, attend church gatherings, therefore, feed the hungry, etc? I think we each need to be reminded of Lamentations 3:22 which says “Because of God’s goodness we are not consumed.” The surest ground for asking for Divine intervention is on the basis of God’s goodness.
Verses 5-8
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days 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, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
As we continue our tour, the next verses reveal the beauty of our Savior but may present a sensible question. Jesus loved everyone (“For God so loved the world…”), but His love for the Lazarus’ household was grounded in mutual friendship. They enjoyed being in each other’s company. The sensible question is why did He wait two days? Why didn’t He stop what He was doing and rush to Lasarus’ side to relieve the atmosphere of the panic and stress? Well, I think it depends on His mission in the present and the future.
In the present, if He was planning to stay where He was for a longer period of time and decided to shortened it to two more days then it seems like an act of kindness. In the future, perhaps, this delay was just what was needed to help fulfill the task of liberating minds from the lies of Satan and glorifying God (verse 4 tells us this).
Now notice the disciples shock when He said He was returning to the place where the zealous religious people wanted to kill Him; Judea. This shows that His love for others surpassed fear for His own life.
It also shows that although God is able to prevent sickness, He is able to use it in a way that brings lasting healing to the person and honor to His name/reputation.
Verses 38-44
As tempted as I am to attempt to explore each of these verses, I will bring our adventure to a close with verses 43-44. “Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Here is the moment! All else leading to this was working together to establish truth/faith in the person and words of God in the people surrounding Lazarus. You see, looking back and declaring what God did doesn’t benefit us unless we allow His past workings to create within us trust against all odds when we face new difficulties. By this time, the hearts of everyone who thought Jesus would deliver Lazarus were nearly exhausted. Some have even walked away in disbelief. Its now, when no further explanation could be given, when the one way of escape could not be predicted, that Jesus displays that He has the power to conquer death! A showcase of the resurrection to be demonstrated just a short while from now from His own tomb. Here Jesus calls Lazarus to wake up in the same way He will awaken His righteous children from their graves at the grand finale. As Lazarus rose, the grave clothes fell off like an untied bathrobe and the fear of death was broken in the atmosphere that filled Judea. All were blessed with the witness that not only was Jesus able to forgive sin and heal sicknesses; but He was also able to break the chains of death.
As we visit this chapter of John, I pray that we see ourselves in the story but more than that, I pray we see God for who He is!