Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, is right upon us, beginning tomorrow. Several days before Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, which we remember on Palm Sunday, He performed perhaps His greatest miracle. In our Scripture for today, we read of this miracle and learn some very important spiritual truths.
Just prior to the opening of our Scripture passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus’ good friend Lazarus had become ill. Lazarus’ two sisters, Mary and Martha, were also good friends of Jesus. They sent Him word that their brother was quite ill, beseeching Him to come (John 11:1-7). Surprisingly, Jesus delayed leaving to go to Bethany, the hometown of these friends. When He finally arrived, it was several days later, and Lazarus had already died and been buried. This is where our passage for today picks up.
When the sisters Mary and Martha heard that Jesus, whom they had asked to come about a week earlier, had finally arrived, we can imagine some of the disappointment they must have felt (vs. 20-21). Sometimes we pray to God for some desperate need, and we find only silence. Does Jesus care, we might wonder? Why doesn’t He come and help?! When Martha came to Jesus she very plainly told Him that if He had been there, as she had asked Him, her brother wouldn’t have died. We often think the same thing - if God had answered my prayer, some terrible things wouldn’t have happened. However, just like Mary and Martha, we don’t see the whole picture.
It is here, in the middle of the sisters' grief over their brother’s death, that Jesus gives one of His most precious promises for all believers - “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (vs. 25-26). Jesus has power over life and death. He, alone, can raise the dead, not just at the Last Day, but bring life at any time. He who is life can restore life.
Jesus asked the sisters where they had buried their brother Lazarus. As the group walked to the grave site, Jesus heard the sorrowful and sad comments made. This caused Him to groan and then to cry (vs. 33-36). Why did He cry? Many people believe that He wept because He was sad over Lazarus’ death, and that He loved this small family. Yes, most certainly Jesus loved them. However, I don’t believe Jesus wept because of sorrow. Jesus knew what He was going to do. That was the reason why He delayed coming to begin with. I believe it was because Jesus was grieving for a fallen world, entangled in sin, sin which since the time of Adam has caused sickness, sorrow, and death. Jesus was a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3).
When they arrived at the grave, Jesus told them to roll the stone away from the grave entrance. The terrain of that part of the world had a lot of very rocky hills and cliffs, and many people would bury their loved ones in small caves dug out of these rocky cliffs, and a large stone or rock placed in front. The Jews did not embalm a dead body. They would wrap them in strips of linen cloth, and anoint with spices and perfume. However, after four days, the body would long since have started to decompose (vs. 39). Jesus, though, instructed the sisters to believe, just as He does to us today (vs. 40).
Jesus gave a brief prayer to the Father (vs. 41-42). He knew that the Father heard His prayer. When we’ve accepted Jesus as Savior we can be assured that He hears us, too, and will work all things for good. Jesus then called out to Lazarus to come forth out of the grave (vs. 43), and as we know, that is exactly what happened. Lazarus, after four days of death, came forth from the grave alive again. This was a command from the Creator. He is the Resurrection and the Life. If Jesus had not called Lazarus by name specifically, every other dead body would have risen!
The Savior did not look at the situation through the eyes of natural man, but through the eyes of faith. Death fled when He looked past the natural and operated in the spiritual. The Lord Jesus looked death square in the face without fear. Death and grief did not win the day here. They don’t have the last word. Jesus does. When Jesus enters a hopeless situation, like a man being dead for four days and already decomposing, He fills it with hope. Jesus turns tragedy into triumph, and death into resurrection. Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior? If not, do not wait another day!
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