Context: After the Jewish leaders sought to seize and stone Jesus for claiming to be God, He and His disciples left the region of Judea beyond the Jordan river to avoid them. Jesus’ final Passover and week before being crucified was right around the corner. The town of Bethany was a small town almost two miles east of Jerusalem (Jn. 11:18).
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with
and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the , that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” —JOHN 11:1-4, NKJV
Oil gets produced in crushing. It clearly seems that John wanted readers to connect the events of Lazarus’ death and Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil. He made sure we understood that she was “that Mary” the one who was also found sitting at His feet and hearing His word (Lk. 10:39). For those who love God, the crushing we experience in this season will become the oil we pour out in worship on Him in the next.
This sickness is not unto death. Jesus tells His disciples and the messengers sent to tell Him of Lazarus’ sickness that death would not be the final outcome of this sickness, rather it would result in the glory of the Son of God. This verse also makes it plain that sickness in a believer is not incompatible with the Lord’s love for them. It would seem at first glance that Jesus either didn’t understand the severity of Lazarus’ sickness or that He was giving them false hope, but this was not the case. We tend to expect Jesus to fulfill His promises in the way that makes the most sense to us.
5 Now Jesus
Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He two more days in the place where He was. —JOHN 11:5-6, NKJV
Love knows when. John also makes it clear that Jesus loved His friends, and because of His love for them, He delayed from coming right away. Sometimes the greater expression of love is knowing when to come and when to wait. When to give and when to withold. When to run after them and when to let them go (i.e. the father of the prodigal).
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the
of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” —JOHN 11:7-10, NKJV
The only true safety is found in walking in the will of God. The disciples understood that going back to Judea at this time was basically a death sentence, thus Jesus tells them this little proverb about the hours in the day to show them that it’s far better to obey the will of God [which represents the day] while they can see what it is, then to stumble in disobedience and ignorance. Walking in the light of trusting the will of God is far better than walking through the night without Him.
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus
, but I go that I may wake him up.” 12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is . 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may . Nevertheless let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” —JOHN 11:11-16, NKJV
Faith that pulls resurrection into our story. Jesus said He was glad for their sakes that He was not there when Lazarus was dead, so that He could give them an opportunity to believe. Knowing that He Himself would soon be crucified and buried, He was preparing them and teaching them to hope in Him for resurrection. Does our faith trust His word in the delay when the promise doesn’t look like what we thought it should? What does genuine faith look like in these moments?
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb
days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was in the house. —JOHN 11:17-20, NKJV
Martha ran while Mary sat. Four days would have been an ample amount of time to demonstrate that Lazarus was indeed dead. By all ordinary accounts, Jesus was late. We have yet another contrast here between Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42).
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “
the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” —JOHN 11:21-27, NKJV
Martha responds with her head. Like many of us, she attempts to cope with this difficult loss by trying to make sense of it all to understand what should have been done differently. This is not exactly a bad thing, but sometimes we can be so quick to cover up our pain with pristine and polished responses instead of allowing the pain to produce genuine faith in us (1 Pet. 1:6-9; Jas.1:2-3).
28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” —JOHN 11:28-31, NKJV
Mary responds with her heart. Mary comes with the same complaint as Martha, “Lord, if You had been here…” yet Jesus responded to her plea differently than with Martha. What was the difference? Tears. Sometimes tears are the only thing that can wash the blindness out of our eyes. I’m not merely speaking of an exaggerated emotional response because many were there mourning with them, but there was something about Mary’s tears that caused Jesus to groan and weep with her.
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His
, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her , and the Jews who came with her weeping, He in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus . 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. —JOHN 11:32-38, NKJV
Jesus weeps with us. He is not only the light at the end of our tunnel, He is the God who weeps with us in the tunnel. He does not ignore suffering, He paid for it through His own suffering. He is well acquainted with our griefs, and though He knows resurrection is only a few moments away, He still gets down in the dirt with us and weeps (Isa. 53). O that we would know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10).
39 Jesus said, “Take away the
.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would you would see the glory of God?” —JOHN 11:39-40, NKJV
Take away the stone. Jesus has His own ways of meeting our needs. He knows right where we are, what we are going through, and what we need. At some time, all of us will have to get up and roll a stone out of the way. We will need to take some specific action that demonstrates our faith. Mary’s faith looked like tears, but Martha’s faith looked like taking away the stone that went against all her practicality and reasoning. Jesus asked them to do what they could do, so that He could do what they couldn’t do. What stone is He asking you to take away today? What do you need to surrender? What do you need to give? Who do you need to forgive?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 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.” —JOHN 11:41-44, NKJV