Jesus has a close relationship with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and has had a strong impact on their lives. But when Lazarus gets sick, and Jesus delays coming, his sisters mourn his death as they lay him in the tomb. Martha is first to greet Jesus as he arrives and looks forward to the future resurrection, but Jesus says believe. Mary is upset, she has lost her brother and says in John 11:32 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus simply says in John 11:34 “Where have you laid him?” Then, Jesus asks them to do act, he says in John 11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Sometimes it seems that God is too late. Sometimes he asks what seems to be too much of us. But faith in God requires action and Jesus says to us as in John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” If you believe, take action as he is leading you. Jesus isn’t asking us to do something he wouldn’t, he gave his own life to open the way for our salvation.
Lord, If You Had Been Here
Where Have You Laid Him?
John 11:28–37
When Jesus was told about that Lazarus was sick, he responded immediately in
John 11:4 And when he heard it, Jesus said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
but he didn’t react. Instead, “he remained in the place where he was two days” in John 11:6. We are often moved by the feelings of others and, if you can hear this without me seeming too unfeeling, we can easily be driven by the drama of the moment. Jesus finished what he was doing and in
John 11:17 So when he arrived, Jesus found he had already been four days in the tomb.
Martha was first to go to him in John 11:20 though this is seldom mentioned because later Martha is busy serving while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet. But it is Martha that is first to say in
John 11:27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
and now Martha summons Mary in
John 11:28 And when she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary privately, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
and when she comes to Jesus, it isn’t with the faith we might think. Mary rebukes Jesus for not coming sooner as if he is too late and says in
John 11:32 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.”
Jesus simply responds “Where have you laid him?” in John 11:34 but there are others also that are also questioning why Jesus didn’t do something. They are also saying Jesus is too late in
John 11:37 But some of them said, “Was not this man who opened the eyes of the blind able to do something so that this man also would not have died?”
Take Away the Stone
John 11:38–44
Jesus had said from the moment he heard about Lazarus sickness that this would be for the glory of God. When he met Martha, he told her about the resurrection and she believed. But now, standing at the tomb, she doubts in
John 11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, “Lord, he is stinking already, because it has been four days.”
Jesus encourages her to act on her faith and not respond to her fear in
John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
Jesus first gave thanks and spoke personally, quietly, to the father in
John 11:41–42 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes above and said, “Father, I give thanks to you that you hear me. 42 And I know that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
and then, in a loud voice for everyone to hear, he said “Lazarus come out!” in John 11:43 and Lazarus came.
One Man Should Die for the People
John 11:45–57
Lazarus rose from the dead after four days. You would think everyone would be celebrating this miracle and many did in
John 11:45 Then many of the Jews who had come with Mary and saw the things which he did believed in him.
but there were others that somehow thought they should report this thing as if something wrong had happened in
John 11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The Jewish leaders were not interested in the life of Lazarus being restored, they are afraid people will follow Jesus. And if people follow him, their place in the Roman hierarchy will be jeopardized in
John 11:48 If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
They don’t understand that they have been taken by the devil. Jesus had been tempted in
Luke 4:6–7 And the devil said to him, “I will give you all this domain and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I want. 7 So if you will worship before me, all this will be yours.”
yet Jesus turned away and would not. But these leaders of Israel were afraid they would lose what they had been given. Then in
John 11:49–50 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas (who was high priest in that year), said to them, “You do not know anything at all! 50 Nor do you consider that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and the whole nation not perish.”
Just as they didn’t see their subservience to the kingdom of the devil, the world system, they also didn’t see God’s plan in
1 Corinthians 2:7–8 but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew. For if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Jesus came to Bethany
John 12:1–11
Study Verses
- John 11:28–37 Where Have You Laid Him?
- John 11:38–44 Take Away the Stone
- John 11:45–57 One Man Should Die for the People
Today’s Reading
- John 11:17-57
- John 12:1-11