The story of Lazarus is one that everyone is pretty familiar with. I would suspect that even non-Christians have at least a basic understanding of the story. I have known that story for what seems like my entire life, but it was only recently I noticed a verse and allowed the implications of that verse to really shine a new light on the whole story for me. So, we all know that Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus. Jesus is informed that Lazarus is sick and He responds, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). After hearing Jesus say that, I’m sure the disciples assumed that Jesus meant that Lazarus’ illness wasn’t all that serious and that he would soon get over it. Jesus stayed for two more days before telling His disciples it was time to set out for Judea where Lazarus had died.
This is the part that I always wondered about? Why didn’t Jesus set out to see Lazarus the day He found out he was sick? Why wait for two more days until he died to head that way? Why would Jesus wait for a man that was referred to as “the one you love” to die before He started to go to his aid? I knew there had to be a purpose, but I just wasn’t sure what that purpose was. However, just the other day, I noticed something Jesus said that changed everything. Initially, when Jesus told His disciples they needed to go to Judea, they were hesitant, because the people of Judea had tried to stone Him. Jesus told them it was safe because they would be with the light of the world and that they had to go because Lazarus was asleep and He needed to wake him up. Pointing towards the disciples misunderstanding of Jesus’ saying it would not end in death the disciples stated that if he was sleeping he would heal so they should leave him be. So in 11:14, Jesus bluntly tells them that Lazarus was dead, but I never really took notice to what he said afterwards. In John 11:15 Jesus continues, “and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
After reading that verse the entire story started to take on a new meaning for me. I started to realize things that I had never thought of before. I was able to see Jesus in a new light. I was able to see something about His character that I had never even considered before. So what exactly can we learn from the story of Lazarus?
It is never too late for God and God is never too late.
This may be one of the most obvious things you can learn in this lesson. Mary and Martha didn’t send word to Jesus because Lazarus had a cold. They knew the illness was serious. They probably knew that the sickness was going to kill him. The message of Lazarus’ illness reached Jesus two days before he died. So even though Mary and Martha probably didn’t think of Jesus as a last resort, by the time the message reached Him times were pretty desperate, but still Jesus had to wait two more days. By the time Jesus showed up Lazarus had been buried for 4 days and the first thing that Martha says to Him is “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask” (John 11:21-22). Mary, when she goes to see Jesus in verse 32, again tells Jesus “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The other Jews that had gathered to comfort Mary and Martha even remarked “could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37). All these people had heard of Jesus and heard of the people that He had healed. They all knew Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. However, with the exception of Martha, they all felt that it was too late. Sure, Jesus could heal a man, but he missed his chance to do that. However, continuing into the story, it clearly was not too late. Lazarus had been buried for four days, but Jesus was able to raise him from the dead just as though He was waking him from a deep sleep.
God isn’t constrained by time, distance or ability.
We sometimes get caught up in our deadlines and our timelines and think in those final moments there is nothing that anyone can do. You very well may find yourself in a situation where it is too late to ask your friends for help, but it is never too late to call out to God for help. As people, we are caught up within times constraints. We can only accomplish so much in a day and only travel a certain distance in an hour. God isn’t constrained by time, distance or ability. He can accomplish anything in an instant and He doesn’t need to travel to save you. He is already with you. So no matter if your trouble is due in months or mere seconds, you can always call on Jesus. Likewise, if God can accomplish anything at a moment’s notice, if He can raise the dead back to life, if he can defy space and time then you can depend on Him not matter how late it is. Even if it seems disaster has already struck; don’t lose heart, don’t stop praying because God is still more than capable.
Even Jesus had to show restraint
This one really surprised me. I always assumed Jesus knew what needed to be done and so He just did it. Sure, He knew that Lazarus was going to die, but He also knew that He would bring him back to life so no big deal. However, when Jesus tells his disciples “for your sake I am glad I was not there.” Jesus would seem to be saying, “if I had been there I would have healed my friend, but I had to wait for your sake. I had to wait so that you could see the glory of God. I have to let the crowd that has gathered see the glory of God so they can believe.” Jesus could have helped Lazarus sooner and that statement would seem to point to the fact that He wanted to. However, He knew that doing that wasn’t God’s will. He had to obey the will of the Father and therefore He had to restrain himself.
We tend to think that as long as we are doing good deeds, we are fine. However, Jesus’ restraint here shows us something completely different. If Jesus had gone ahead and healed Lazarus it would have been a positive thing. Lazarus would have been healed and no doubt his sisters would have praised Jesus for the healing, but Jesus would have been doing this due to his own grief and not in response to God’s will. Jesus was well aware of God’s will and He even knew that following God’s will would lead to Lazarus’ resurrection, but His love and compassion still caused this to be a struggle. He wanted to go and help His friend. He wanted to be there for Lazarus and take away the pain, but He had to wait, which leads us to the next thing we can learn.
Sometimes we have to wait so others can see the glory of God.
Jesus didn’t wait for two days just because He had things to take care of, and we can clearly see in scripture that it wasn’t because He didn’t care. He waited for the glory of God. He had to wait so that people could see that God was able to raise the dead to life. He had to wait so that the crowd would gather to see His works. He had to wait because He had already healed people and yet people still doubted His power. He had to wait so people would know that Lazarus didn’t just get better, but that Jesus, the Son of God had raised him.
We may think we are doing the right thing but if we act before God calls us, we are doing the work of the enemy.
As Christians, we all have gifts of the spirit. Gifts like: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, giving and mercy. We are given these gifts to use in our ministry to help bring people to Christ, but Satan will attempt to use any means he can to try to distract us from God’s glory. If we use gifts like healing, mercy and giving before God is ready for us then we could cause people to miss God’s glory. God may have put somebody in a tough situation to force them to finally look to Him, when we jump in prematurely; we prevent them from having that moment with God. God may be waiting for a crowd to gather so that many people will see His glory but if we jump in and offer assistance before they have arrived then those people will not get to see God’s actions. God may be waiting so the debt will get so deep that all seems hopeless or for the illness to go so far that the doctors have no answers. Our mercy will cause us to want to act and do something and prevent the pain, but if we do, we take away from the power of God. We will lose the opportunity not only for us to see God move in a huge way, but also for others to see God move in a way that they can’t deny it was Him. We may think we are doing the right thing but if we act before God calls us, we are doing the work of the enemy. We are preventing people from seeing what God wanted them to see.
Even knowing God’s will didn’t take away the pain.
When Jesus arrived in Judea and spoke, Mary and her sister and everyone with her was weeping; it says that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He asked where Lazarus was buried and as Mary led Him there it says “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). This is the shortest verse in many translations of the Bible yet is says so much. Jesus was on His way to see Lazarus. He knew full well that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew that in just a few short moments those tears of sorrow would turn to tears of joy. Yet, seeing the pain that everyone was in caused Him to cry. He wasn’t immune to it. Their weeping moved Him and caused Him to weep for their loss, despite, knowing what was about to happen.
The truth is we know the end goal we just don’t know the finer details.
I think we often get caught in the trap of thinking that if we only knew what God’s plan was, following it would be so much easier for us. We could do away with the heartache and worry because we would have our eyes on the prize. Yet, that wasn’t the case for Jesus. Jesus knew exactly what would be happening. He knew that Lazarus would live again. He knew that Mary’s pain would turn into joy. He knew that God would be glorified by what was about to happen. He knew that hearts would change because of what He was about to do, but He was still troubled. He still grieved. He still wept. We see a similar situation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew why He had to be crucified. He knew that was why He was sent, but He still feared the pain and begged for another way. Knowing the truth didn’t make following through any easier for Jesus, so why do we think it would for us? The truth doesn’t take away the pain of hardships. The pain will always be there. The tears will still happen. The truth is we know the end goal we just don’t know the finer details. We know that Jesus will return. We know that believers will go to heaven to be with God for eternity. We know that we will be free of pain and worry for all eternity. He has also told us that He will provide, protect, and always be with us. We worry and stress about things because it is in our nature not because we aren’t informed enough.
Jesus uses those closest to Him for the hardest task
“Now Jesus Loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He hears that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where he was two more days…” (John 11:5-6)
Did you just read that verse? Doesn’t really seem to make a lot of sense, does it? I mean if I hear that somebody that I love is deathly ill, I am going to go to them as quickly as I can. If somebody that I care about needs help, I’m not going to wait for a couple days before I go to help them. Nevertheless, that is exactly what Jesus did. Not only did He wait for two days, but the Bible says it was because He loved them that He waited. Why would His love cause Him to wait for Lazarus to die and wait for Lazarus’ sisters to start grieving their loss? Well, first we have to understand that Mary, Martha and Lazarus weren’t just friends, they were strong believers. That is why they sent the message to Jesus in the first place and we see even more evidence when Martha tells Jesus “…I know even know that God will give you whatever you ask.” She had no doubts that Jesus was the Messiah. She was grieving, but she wasn’t without hope. They had the faith that could get them through the heartache without breaking it.
God wasn’t doing this to them to test their faith; He was using them for this because of their faith.
Struggles can grow our faith. We learn to rely on God for the things we need and want when things are tough. We tend to spend more time in prayer during the hard times. However, some struggles have an opportunity to reach the hearts of not just the person struggling, but the people around them also. This is what God was doing with this particular struggle. However, He didn’t want to crush someone’s faith. He needed somebody that would be able to focus on God even when Jesus didn’t come right away; somebody that would continue to love God even when they were losing someone that they loved. God wasn’t doing this to them to test their faith; He was using them for this because of their faith. He was using them to show the people around them something amazing about Himself. He was using them to change the hearts and minds of the people around them and millions of millions of people in the future. We see a similar thing in Job. The Bible says Job was “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Satan believed that he could steal Job away from God, because he thought Job’s alliance was due to his perfect life. God knew Job’s heart and so he allowed Satan to take power over everything Job had. God knew that Job wouldn’t lose his faith where others might. God knew that He could use this to show people His power. Perhaps some of those struggles you faced which you thought were so unfair were actually God trying to use you to bring the people around you closer to Him. Maybe He knows your faith will stand strong where others would fail and He wants to use you to bless hundreds maybe even thousands of others.
God always has a plan and a purpose
Throughout all of this, I have shown you that God waiting for Lazarus to die was all part of a plan to show His power. It was for the purpose of bringing glory to Jesus and showing people that He was the Son of God. However, there is one more thing for me to point out. God was told Lazarus was sick and it says that two days later Jesus told the disciples they need to go to Judea because Lazarus was dead. Once Jesus arrives in Judea it says that Lazarus had been buried for four days. I have tried to look up ancient Jewish burial traditions and couldn’t really find anything concrete since the burial traditions aren’t mentioned in the Bible, but general consensus seems to be that it would have been within one day. So keeping all of this in mind and assuming that God announced to His disciples that Lazarus had died on the same day that Lazarus died, which seems reasonable. That means that it took Jesus 5 days to reach Judea from where He was (the day of his death plus the 4 days he was buried). Meaning, if Jesus had left for Judea the day He received the message of Lazarus’ illness, not only would He not have made it before Lazarus died but He would have shown up 3 days after He died. The prophecy spoke of the Messiah dying and being raised from the dead after 3 days. God would not have wanted Lazarus who was clearly not the Messiah to be raised in the same time frame, because, it would only lead to more confusion then there already was.
It is our job to trust He has a plan.
We can’t always understand why God is doing what He is doing. Sometimes it may seem like everything is out of control. It may seem like God isn’t listening to your prayers. Perhaps, you feel as though God is being cold and uncaring towards you, but we have to recognize that God always has a plan. He always has a purpose for the things that He does. Perhaps He doesn’t act in the way you asked Him to because you can’t see the ramifications of those actions, but He does. Maybe He doesn’t do what you are asking Him to do because He has something bigger and grander in mind. Maybe He doesn’t come when you wanted Him because He is waiting for the crowd to gather so that more people can see His glory and come to know Him. It isn’t for us to know all of God’s plan, and even if we did know everything it is doubtful we would ever understand it. It is our job to trust He has a plan. Trust He is working in our best interest. Trust He will work all things to our good. Trust, like Martha did, that even though He didn’t come through the way we originally wanted, He still has the power and the authority to bring the dead to life.
we need to recognize that we all have dead in our lives…No matter what it is, God has the power to raise the dead to life.
The story of Lazarus is a powerful tale and we can learn so much from it. However, we need to recognize that we all have dead in our lives. I’m not talking about people; although, I’m sure we have all lost people in the past. We have areas of our life that are no longer growing. They have become stagnant and at times have even started to dissipate. Maybe it is your marriage, your finances, your dreams, career, or maybe even your faith. No matter what it is, God has the power to raise the dead to life. Do you believe that? Do you trust in that? Do you know that He has a plan for you? It is never too late to call on God and God isn’t too late to raise them back to life.
