Jesus the resurrection and the life

 Dilemma at Bethany       v1-3

A dear friend is sick, Lazarus the brother of Martha and Mary.  The home at Bethany, which had become a haven for Jesus and His disciples in His visits to Judea, is now facing serious illness.  It is always a serious matter when sickness besets a home, and we can be sure that God is compassionate towards those who are so suffering.   The family at Bethany were especially close to the Lord’s heart, and this was opportunity for Him to relieve their suffering.  Lazarus is equivalent to the Old Testament Eleazar, which means the “Lord is my helper”-and the family is about to experience His help.  The sisters sent word “He whom thou lovest is sick”.  The love of Christ for His people pervades chapters 11-18, and, indeed, the whole book.

11v3 “He whom thou lovest; 11v5 “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus”; 11v36 “…behold how He loved him”; 13v1 “…having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end”;  13v34 “…a new commandment. I give to you, that ye love one another as I have loved you”; 14 v21 “He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him”; 14v31 “…that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father giveth me commandment, even so do I”; 15v9 “…as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you”; 15 v12 “…this is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you”; 16v27 “…for the Father Himself loveth you because ye have loved me”; 17v26 “…and the love wherewith thou lovest me, may be in them and I in them”.

There is no question of Jesus love for His people, and we ought to note the example.  Mutual love is the essence of Christianity. 

Delay of the Lord      v4-6.

He sends the message not only to His disciples, but also to the sisters, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God; that the Son of man may be glorified thereby.  In chapter 11v40, He refers back to this, “Said I not unto thee that if thou were to believe thou shouldest see the glory of God.”?  If we pay attention to the word “therefore”, we understand the point of the whole chapter better.  Jesus loved each one of them individually, yet He abode two days in the same place. There is no conflict between His love for them and his intentional delays.  We will only learn why He delayed later in v17.  When Jesus arrived at the scene, Lazarus was four days already dead.  It was the belief at the time, that when a human body dies, there remains activity in the body for three and a half days after death.  In order to avoid the thought in the minds of some of resuscitation rather than resurrection, Jesus made sure there was no possibility of resuscitation, that Lazarus was truly dead, and so required resurrection.  Jesus, love for us has more in mind than our immediate needs.  He sees the whole picture.  Paramount in His mind was the glory of God, the faith of His disciples, and the challenge to the unbelieving world.  This had to be beyond the realm of doubt.  This is one of three events in John where Jesus acts in the very same way.  In chapter 2 He delayed action at the wedding at Cana in Galilee; in chapter 7, He delayed attending the feast of tabernacles at the request of His brothers; now in chapter 11 He delays action at the request of His close friends, Martha and Mary and Lazarus.  They wanted him to come immediately. He delayed because their request was purely from human emotion.  He did come, but when it was the right time, and for the right reason.  We must take a lesson from this; we should not expect God to act immediately, or in accordance with our request-“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”-Isaiah 55v8-9.  Jesus would not act immediately for his mother, his brother, and now for His close friends.  We should expect nothing less in our own circumstances.  He will respond but not in our time and not in our way.  The disciples were learning, His presence with them was all about teaching them the ways of God.  We need to take this on board.  Divine love does not consist in giving us what we want, rather it consists in what God knows to be the best for us.