John 11
Jesus raised others from the dead: Jairus’s daughter, and the widow’s son at Nain. Those were people who sought him out. Lazarus was different. Lazarus was a friend. Jesus had stayed in his home and knew his sisters well. We meet Martha and Mary in Luke: Martha the busy one, Mary the one at his feet.
So when word reaches Jesus that Lazarus is sick, the story takes a turn that stops me every time. John writes, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was” (John 11:5–6, ESV).
“So.” Because he loved them, he waited.
That is hard for us. God will ask us to wait, and the timing is his, not ours. Jesus tells us why he waited: the sickness was “for the glory of God” (v. 4), and he was glad for the disciples’ sake “so that you may believe” (v. 15). When he arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. Jews buried quickly, and day four meant there was no doubt left. Lazarus was dead. And Bethany was only two miles from Jerusalem, so mourners from the city had time to gather.
What struck me today is how Jesus meets each person exactly where they are. Martha rushes out, ever the doer, with a question that is close to a rebuke: if you had been here, he would not have died. Jesus reasons with her. As Tara-Leigh Cobble points out, there is an irony here. Jesus usually spoke of spiritual things and the crowds heard physical ones. Now he speaks of a physical raising, and Martha hears a spiritual one, the resurrection at the last day (v. 24). That was the belief of the Pharisees and many ordinary people. The Sadducees denied any resurrection, which fit well with their focus on wealth and position now. Jesus answers her: “I am the resurrection and the life” (v. 25).
With Mary, Jesus doesn’t reason. He enters her grief. “Jesus wept” (v. 35). God in the flesh, standing at a friend’s grave, knowing what he is about to do, and still weeping with the one who hurts.
Then: take away the stone. A prayer of thanks to the Father. “Lazarus, come out” (v. 43). And the dead man walks out. I can only imagine what the last day will be like, when all creation is raised.
The timing reaches even further. Some in the crowd believed. Others ran to the Pharisees (v. 46). The council met, and Caiaphas declared that one man should die for the people (vv. 49–53). From that day they planned to kill him. Jesus’s act of love and power was the spark that set the final events in motion. It led to the cross at Passover, the Lamb of God slain at the very time the Passover lambs were slain, just as God had planned before the foundation of the world.
We all have things we are waiting on. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus and walk under his lordship, you can trust him in the wait. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The waiting is not God ignoring you. It is part of the good he is working.
What are you waiting on right now, and could the delay be part of how God plans to show his glory?
Have a blessed day, and be a blessing.
