Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-april-11-2025
John 11:17-44
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
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 and believes 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.”
Our NIV Bible divides the story of the raising of Lazarus the two days’ readings, but it seems as though we should think about the whole story together. So I’ve left off the first part of the story, the part in which Jesus gets the news that Lazarus is seriously ill.
There are obviously some important ideas to take note of in those first 16 verses. We’re told that Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were beloved friends of Jesus. We’re told that Thomas — who would go down in history as “doubting Thomas” — was the one disciple who urged the others to return to Judea with Jesus, in spite of the threat of bodily harm from the Jewish authorities. We were also told in those first 16 verses that Jesus intentionally stayed away from Bethany until after Lazarus had died, because he intended his raising of Lazarus to foster faith in his followers.
But as important as that early part of this story might be, it seems to me that it’s the later parts that communicate the most important ideas – the ideas that are the real ‘So what’ of the story. And those ideas are important for those of us who follow Jesus to think about from time to time. So that’s why we’re focusing on the last half of the story in today’s Reflection.
The first of these very important ideas arises from the conversation Jesus has with Martha when he arrives at Bethany. Overcome with feelings of grief and loss, Martha expresses to Jesus her belief (or maybe ‘complaint’ would be a better word) that if Jesus had come sooner, Lazarus would not have died. That’s no doubt correct, but it seems clear from what Jesus said at the beginning of the story that he intended all along to resuscitate Lazarus. So that’s why it was necessary for him to stay away until after Lazarus had died and been buried. (I use the word ‘resuscitate’ in this case because Lazarus would later die again; ‘resurrection’ is a permanent state.)
It must have been very difficult for Jesus to witness the agony of this friends at their brother’s death, knowing that he really could have prevented the tragic death of their brother. I suppose we could say that Martha and Mary were among the first to suffer for the gospel.
Anybody who has participated in these reflections for very long will probably remember what we’ve said many times in the past: that the miracles Jesus performed are intended to represent signs or previews of the coming kingdom of God. So by raising Lazarus, Jesus was giving a sign that when that heavenly kingdom is brought to fulfillment, the dead will be raised to new life. So according to our understanding, the resuscitation of Lazarus was a preview of the resurrection that is a reality of the kingdom of God.
(In the Jewish world of that time, it was thought that a person couldn’t be counted as absolutely, fully dead until they’d been dead for three days. So staying away until the fourth day had a specific significance.)
In his conversation with the grieving Martha, Jesus identifies himself as “the resurrection and the life.” And in response to Jesus’ identifying himself that way, Martha affirms her belief that he is in fact the Messiah. That makes her the second person in the Gospel of John to recognize that fact. The first, you might remember, was the Samaritan woman at the well near Sychar. Isn’t it interesting that in the gospel of John it’s female disciples who are portrayed as ‘getting’ Jesus’ true nature first.
Which brings us to the other woman in this story, Martha’s sister Mary. If you remember, in the gospel of Luke, Mary is said to have sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha was busy providing hospitality. Now, in her heartbreak at the death of her brother, Mary throws herself at his feet. They don’t have the kind of deep theological conversation that Jesus had with Martha. Instead, they just go to the tomb together in shared grief. There’s a sense that Mary’s form of discipleship is less about understanding doctrines and more about personal relationship with Jesus.
The other part of this passage that seems to demand some reflection is the famous ‘shortest verse of the Bible’ – verse 35, “Jesus wept.” Clearly, some of those standing around that day found it strange that Jesus would be so emotional. If he could restore sight to the blind, they reasoned, why didn’t he just get here earlier and prevent the death in the first place? It’s a fair question, and one lots of readers of this text have puzzled over in the 2,000 years since.
It seems to me that even though Jesus knew Lazarus would be dead by the time he got there, and it was no surprise, Jesus was experiencing something for the first time. Lazarus was apparently one of Jesus’ closest friends, and when he was confronted by the grief of the two sisters and the others, Jesus may have experienced genuine human grief ‘from the inside’ for the first time. It’s one thing to understand the concept of grief, but something different to experience that human emotion.
And seeing the grief on the faces of his dear friends, Jesus might have found his heart broken by the pain that death causes humankind. This was God in human form. He had been a participant in the creation, when all things were declared ‘very good.’ But now he was seeing first-hand that because of the scourge of death, things in that creation are not all good.
We usually think of Jesus as coming into the world and “experiencing death” from the cross. But this story from the final days of his earthly life makes it plain that he also experienced the pain of death at the graveside, as well, at the side of bereaved loved ones. And like so many of us in those moments of grief and loss, Jesus wept.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you that you were willing to come into the world and deal with the best and worst of human life with us, including the grief and loss at the death of loved ones. And we thank you also that by your death and resurrection, you broke the power of death over us, and became ‘the resurrection and the life’ for us. Amen.
Have a great weekend, and may you worship God joyfully on Sunday!
Henry
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