This last week, the sermon revolved around the Gospel of John, Chapter 11, and the life and death and life of Lazarus. Who was this Lazarus guy, anyway? In the first few verses we see there is a connection between Jesus, Lazarus and his sister Mary. Mary, previous to this time, was the woman who fell at Jesus’ feet and used ridiculously expensive perfume to wash His feet with. This was such a significant event that it made its way into the Gospels as well. Now this Mary (Mary was a real common name back then, so lots of women had the name) was the sister of Lazarus. Lazarus and Jesus were either close friends, or just friends, but Jesus did know who he was, and was close to the family.
So when Mary runs to Jesus to tell Him that Lazarus is sick and ready to die, why does He hang out for two days before leaving? Remember, He couldn’t take a train, or a bus to get to Lazarus. He had to walk, or ride a horse/donkey/mule. It would be like an EMT staff getting a call about a man having a heart attack, and waiting a few hours before sending out the ambulance. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially since Lazarus was a good friend.
Here’s another question: Did Jesus have to physically be next to/around/touching Lazarus to heal him? I don’t think so. If you remember, Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant without even moving (Matthew 8). He just said the word, and the servant was healed. Also, think about the lady who was healed from just touching the tassels on Jesus’ clothes. If we look at these two examples more closely, it was the faith of the Centurion and the woman that aided in their respective healings. The Roman soldier was said to have the greatest faith that Jesus had ever seen. Mary, on the other hand, sent a messenger to Jesus, and told Him about Lazarus dying. According to the Gospel, she didn’t ask for healing, just informed Jesus on the situation. After all the stuff that Mary had probably seen Jesus do, wouldn’t you ask for Him to heal your brother?
So Jesus says that it will all be all right in the end, and God will be glorified through the situation. It seemed that Jesus wanted to use the death of Lazarus for something great: showing that He had the authority to raise the dead, and thus showing His authority that was given to Him by God. What’s also interesting is that they had to travel through
I could write more on this subject, but we want to focus on why Jesus waited to go see Lazarus. Plainly, it was to display the Glory of God for all to see. Remember, Jesus claimed in this chapter that He is the resurrection and the life. Everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish, even though their bodies die. He is the way, the Truth, and the life after death.
