Muchacho Polaco

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

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014
8am

“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.” 11.4

My immediate conclusion from hearing this would have been, “oh great, Lazarus isn’t going to die” and it reminds me of chapter 9 of John.

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” 9.1-4

So Jesus is saying that Lazarus will not die from his illness, and like the blind man in chapter 9, the purpose of the illness is to glorify God.

Jesus knows the events that are going to happen and he knows that Lazarus is going to die. But he says that this illness is, “not to death”, which can only be taken to mean that it will not ultimately end in death. Nonetheless, this must have been particularly confusing to his disciples when Jesus tells them Lazarus is dead (v14). Huh? But didn’t you say Lazarus’ illness does not lead to death? It would have all been very confusing had I been in that audience. Was Jesus mistaken? What is he going to do? How do I reconcile those two statements:

1. Lazarus’ illness does not lead to death
2. Lazarus has died

I’d like to think that after having witnessed 6 prior miracles (water into wine, healing a royal official’s son, healing a paralytic, feeding 5000 people, walking on water, and healing a man that was born blind) I would have thought, “well, this is going to be another miraculous event!” But I doubt that would have been my reaction then any more than it would be today. My immediate impulse would probably tend toward disappointment.

9am

Monday, April 21s, 2014
9am

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.” 11.1

Lazarus
Lazarus is the Latin form of Eleazar which means “God is my help”.
Lazaros in ancient Greek, Lazarus is late latin.
There are two people named Lazarus in the bible. Mary and Martha’s brother here in John 11, and the poor man with Abraham in Luke 16.
There is a medical term called the Lazarus syndrome where people, who have been declared dead, seem to spontaneously come back to life. There are a number of recorded instances of this phenomena here.

Bethany
Bethany wiki
Simon the Leper is also from Bethany.
Bethany is called al-Eizariya (arabic) today, which means, Place of Lazarus.
the etymology and meaning of Bethany are disputed, with various proposals.
Bethany is located on the southeast slope of the mt of olives
Bethany was approximately 2 miles/3.2 km from Jerusalem

There are very little details regarding the nature of the illness. We don’t know how long Lazarus was ill. We don’t know the symptoms. It’s possible his illness was very aggressive given the time frame between the petition to Jesus for help and his death.

“It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.” 11.2

Mary anoints the feet of Jesus in John 12. This is the only instance in the Bible I can think of where someone is described by an event that occurs future to the present text. There are two recorded occurrences of Jesus being anointed with perfume (and tears). Mary in this text, and an unnamed (sinful) woman in Luke 7.

Mary’s role in verse 2 seems to be a reference for the identity of her brother Lazarus. This is the first (and only) introduction of Lazarus in the bible, but Mary and Martha are also recorded in Luke 10 from an event earlier in the life of Jesus. Perhaps Mary (and Martha?) were better known than their brother up until this point. I would imagine Lazarus would have been much better known himself after he was raised from the dead.

“So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.'” 11.3

It is upon this verse that some people believe Lazarus was the other of the Gospel which has traditionally been attributed to John.

John 13.23
“One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side…”

John 19.26
“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

John 21.20-24
“Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.”

The challenge to the proposal that Lazarus was the ‘beloved disciple” and the one that wrote the Book of John is that the ‘beloved disciple’ was one of the 12 at the Last Supper. Lazarus was not one of those 12 and therefore it seems reasonable to conclude he was not the author. Nonetheless, Lazarus does seem the recipient of the special designation “he whom you love”. It would suggest a history between Jesus and Lazarus which has not been recorded.

It’s interesting that the sisters include that description (he whom you love) in their petition to Jesus. It’s almost as if they are reminding Jesus of the special relationship he has with their family and with Lazarus in particular. The reminder seems also to carry an implication. If you do in fact love our brother…then you’ll get here immediately and heal this sickness.

stop: 10am