Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014
12pm
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” 11.5
In verse 3, the sisters send a message to Jesus advising of the situation with Lazarus and including a reminder that Lazarus is someone that Jesus loves. That reminder seems strange to me. If the sisters were confident Jesus in fact loved their brother, why would they feel it necessary to remind him? If I were to do that to my wife, it would probably come across a little manipulative or guilt-inducing. If you really love me, then this is what you should do. If I know she loves me, I don’t need to remind her of that in order to motivate her to do something for me. The sisters know that Jesus is busy, so perhaps it’s a lack of confidence in not knowing where they rank in the spectrum of Jesus’ priorities. Whatever was going on in their head, it seems to me that the inclusion of this reminder in their petition would suggest a lack of confidence in what Jesus would do for them.
Nonetheless, we’re reassured of Jesus’ love for Lazarus in verse 5. But that reassurance seems to be inserted for the benefit of the reader who, given what Jesus does next, might question if Jesus does really love Lazarus. Yes, Jesus really does love Lazarus, but things are not going to be predictable. It’s as if Jesus is saying, trust me, this ride is not going to be what you expect. It’s going to be so much better, even when it looks like it’s not going well.
The sisters would have been familiar with the prior works of Jesus as recorded in this book (and surely a lot more than what was recorded). Time after time they would have either seen or heard what their friend was up to. Time after time he had proven himself to them. They therefore should have had sufficient history at this point to know, 1] Jesus does the unexpected, and 2] Jesus doesn’t disappoint, which should have led to the conclusion, 3] Even when it looks like catastrophe, trust that our friend is up to something spectacular.
But it’s so easy to give up and to believe their friend has abandoned them. After all, that’s what our relationships in life seem to endlessly instruct us. Abandonment. Betrayal. It’s hard to trust that this man will be different. But he is different. And despite all of the events that establish that fact, it is still very hard to believe that, in the end, he will not be like the others. And he seems quite aware of that struggle. We’re reminded, amidst the confusion the sisters were going through, that he does in fact love them. And despite not submitting to their expectations (to come running or to heal remotely), he instead far exceeds their expectations in the end.
It’s easy to focus solely on Lazarus in this story and to miss the work that Jesus was doing in the lives of the sisters. Their brother was dying and their struggle with that was no small thing. Fear. Confusion. Frustration. Impatience. Anger. Sadness. Hopelessness. Doubt. In reality, their struggle could have been much worse than their brother’s. We don’t even know if he was conscious throughout his illness.
But here in verse 5 the reader is reminded Jesus did in fact love them. But that love would manifest itself to the glory of God, that the Son would be glorified. Jesus’ love for the sisters. For Lazarus. Would be a love that glorified God.
1Corinthians 10.31
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Their friend’s love was to the glory of God, so that their love would become the glory of God.
1pm