Lazarus

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill .So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” John 11:1-4

This family was especially close to Jesus. He visited in their home and enjoyed their hospitality and friendship at times when he needed to withdraw from the hostility of the world and the press of admirers. This was an intimate friendship, with Lazarus and with his sisters, Martha and Mary.

Lazarus became ill while Jesus and His disciples were staying some distance away, so the sisters sent word to their friend and Lord, Jesus, assuming he would make haste to come to the bedside of “him whom you love.” That did not happen. Nothing takes our Lord by surprise, so He was expecting the message.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” John 11:5-10

“Walks in the day” refers to walking in the light of the Father’s will. Jesus was reassuring His disciples that His safety depends upon His keeping to the Father’s plan, not the threats of men, who walk “in the night,” out of God’s will.

After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,  and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:11-16

Jesus let his dear friend die! He was frankly glad Lazarus had died, because it gave Him opportunity to demonstrate His identity as the Creator of Life. What He was about to do would not only solidify the faith of His friends and disciples, but would show His power to the masses as well. Lazarus’ body wasn’t only dead, but had been in the tomb four days and was beginning to deteriorate by this time. Martha, the detail-oriented fuss-budget sister met Jesus, lamenting that he had not come before Lazarus died. Even so, she expressed faith that Jesus could receive whatever He asked of the Father. He assured her that He had power within Himself to resurrect.

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,  and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” John 11:17-27

Martha may have been a worry-wart about details of life, but she had no doubt about Who and What her friend Jesus was, and what He was capable of doing. She easily addressed Him as Lord, meaning deity. She and Mary, her studious sister, had the same belief about Jesus, that had He been present, their brother would still be alive. Jesus, seeing the grief of His dear friends, was overwhelmed Himself and wept with them. Some of the onlookers thought He was in despair and supposed it was about failure to keep his friend from dying.

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”  And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” John 11:28-37

Notice, the Jews had not forgotten about the blind man's healing. They could never forget it.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”  Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” John 11:38-44

This was not a “near-death experience” or a coma. Lazarus' body was in the tomb, dead for four days, wrapped in death strips and already smelling of death, but not beyond the power of God the Son. This was Jesus’ greatest demonstration of His authority over all life. To make the issue absolutely clear that His power came from the Father Who sent Him, He publicly prayed that this event would enable the belief of those who were witnessing it. Then, contrary to a recent movie portrayal of Jesus inside the tomb, caressing Lazarus’ body and speaking softly to him….He stood at the door of the tomb and shouted:  

“Lazarus, come out.”

It was a command. Lazarus’ re-invigorated body obeyed. Our Lord commanded that the death strips be removed to set the man free. This was not the resurrection that Martha referred to in verse 24. That will be a resurrection of all believers, into our eternal bodies, never to die again. This was resuscitation. Lazarus’ soul and spirit were breathed back into the same body that had been sick and died. That body would die again, at the appointed time. No human was resurrected before Jesus, the firstfruit, would be resurrected to ascend back to His eternal glory. That resurrection of all believers will occur at a future time, known only to God. We anticipate it as the rapture of the Church.

We’ll see some more about Lazarus in the upcoming chapter, letting us understand that he returned to life as usual. I can see no indication that he became a motivational speaker. There is nothing recorded in the New Testament about what he saw or heard or experienced in the days he’d been out of his body. I don’t think God the Holy Spirit was negligent in not making this a huge story about “the other side.” That is not the issue in this account. The man, Lazarus, is not the issue. The omnipotence of the Son of God is the issue, and that point was not missed by the enemies who wanted Him dead. It was made only too clear to them when that man whose body had been unmistakably dead arose and walked out of his tomb at the command of the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.

The name Lazarus means “God is our help.” This man who was Jesus’ close, personal friend (phileo-“whom You love,” verse 3) must have been pleased and honored to have been the object of such a magnificent work by the Son of God. It was the 7^th of the great signs that Jesus gave to verify His identity. It was the most astounding, the most convincing, and the most enraging to the Jews whose determination to kill Him became their all-consuming objective. What an irony, that they thought they would kill the creator of life.

Verses 45 - Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 

46 - but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

The pressure was building. This hostile situation would soon reach crisis level with the Jews. They had some serious plans to devise. Our Lord knew exactly what He was facing, and exactly when.