John 11.11-22

11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”

12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really trust. Come, let’s go see him.”

16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too — and die with him.”

17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”

Comments

Sometimes it can seem hard to hard to get a feel for what characters in the text are thinking or feeling (and in general we should be careful reading in too much), but other times the interiority of the characters seems to jump right off the page, like I think it does here. It doesn’t take much to sense Jesus’ frustration with his disciples when he has to explain his euphemism to them.

It also doesn’t take much to pick up on how thick-headed they were being or especially the sunny disposition Thomas displayed. The Greek has “die with him,” and it is unclear if Thomas was referring to the dead Lazarus or to Jesus, whom he expects to be dead upon arrival. I say this because translations vary in their effort to point clearly to one or the other, but Thomas’ meaning is the same either way. Jesus is taking them back near Jerusalem, where he was recently almost stoned to death. All the disciples seem quiet reluctant to make this trip or even understand what is going on.

The other feeling evident in this text is the confidence Martha exudes toward Jesus. She doesn’t wait for Jesus to get to her, she meets him outside town and all but asks Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead. She basically says, ‘You could have healed him before and you still can. And, oh look, I’ve met you out here on the way to his tomb. Why don’t we go there right now?’ Martha expresses trust in Jesus – the very thing his group of 12 is still lacking at this point. Once again we see relationship with Jesus upending the prevailing social order. The last become first. Of all the people in this passage, Martha has most reason to be upset (her brother has just died, the others are afraid of what might happen) and the least reason to trust Jesus (he didn’t show up when she sent for him). But she does trust Jesus. In life or death, she knows the Father will listen to the Son and she knows the Son is her friend and so she acts boldy on what she knows because that is what trust (faith) does.

I think for a lot of us, Jesus is still hoping we get to a point where we really trust too.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

John 11.1-10

1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”

4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days. 7 Finally, he said to his disciples,“Let’s go back to Judea.”

8 But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”

9 Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.”

Comments

One of the things we are prone to when reading the Gospels (and all the Bible really) is to focus solely on the primary characters. We focus so much attention on the Twelve (and really only 3 or 4 of those) and the various religious leaders arguing with Jesus, but we also need to pay attention to those with seemingly secondary roles. Here we see that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were dear friends of Jesus, probably closer to him than the Twelve at this point (Jesus makes a point of beginning to call them friends just before his arrest). Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha – so much that he went back to Judea despite the death threats in order to heal Lazarus. In a way, this goes with what we read this week about Jesus’ having sheep we don’t know about.

I think that’s enough to think about for today, this family that had no standing in the burgeoning church leadership structure and were nonetheless dear friends with Jesus. We will see next week that this friendship shows up as amazing trust in Jesus, well beyond anyone else in John so far. But for today, spend some time thinking about Jesus having (some non-work) friends.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.