City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”11 Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.”12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead;15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”16 Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 And even now I know that whatever you ask from 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, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he 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, he who is coming into the world.” 28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 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. 32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; 34 and he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;

John 11:1-45

Commentary

There is a lot here, so I want to focus on four verses:

3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

John 11:1-6

In these four verses one cannot miss the fact that Jesus loved Lazarus (v. 4, 5), and Jesus loved Martha and Mary (v. 5). John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is making sure we get it: Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. And, yet, Martha and Mary and Lazarus were suffering, Lazarus because he was deathly ill and Martha and Mary because they were his sisters and they loved Lazarus. So, when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 

Wow. There is no missing that hard transition. It is like a speed bump in the road. It doesn’t matter how slowly you go over it, your front end is still going to bounce on the other side of it. John is making a point: Even though Jesus loves us, He sometimes allows us to suffer.

But in His mercy, the Lord tells us why: “so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” (v. 4). In other words, there is something more important in the grand scheme of things than us not suffering, and that something is anything that points others to Jesus, what Jesus calls the Son of God being “glorified.”

In the remainder of John 11, John explains how Jesus was glorified in the suffering of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Had Jesus healed Lazarus while he was sick, People might have explained it away. People got sick and recover, sometimes abruptly. But by waiting two days, Jesus ensured it was clear to everyone Lazarus was dead, dead, dead. Dead as a doornail. Wrapped in grave clothes and in the tomb for four days. There would be no denying Lazarus was beyond any natural explanation for a recovery.

And for their suffering over a few days, many of the Jews believed in Jesus (v. 45), and Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and John, would have a story they could tell for the rest of their lives about the man who claimed to be Savior of the world and proved it by bringing a dead man back to life.

Application

No one likes suffering. Even Jesus asked the Father if there was any way He could the crucifixion to allow Him to avoid it (Matthew 26:39, 42).  But when it was clear that was the way forward to bring glory to God, Jesus chose it. 

This is not suffering for suffering’s sake. The medieval flagellants and hair-shirt-wearers got that wrong. It is is suffering for a greater good, which makes sense. It is a reminder that though, as Donald Miller says, from our perspective life is a play in which we are in every scene, we are not star of the show. The star of the show is Jesus, and that makes the price of admission always a bargain.

Prayer

Lord, give me grace to suffer when suffering means bringing glory to You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.