Day 25
“Where’s Lucky?” my dad asked. Lucky was our darling black lab mix and everyone in the family loved him, but he was most definitely Daddy’s dog. Once Lucky found and killed a field mouse and left it on the sidewalk out back. My dad praised that dog incessantly for protecting our family from those dangerous vermin. After that, we regularly found dead field mice on the back porch steps! No one had seen Lucky in a while, and couldn’t even remember when we saw him last. However it was Saturday evening and there was always so much to do to prepare for Sunday mornings - Saturdays were when Mama shampooed my hair and rolled it in tight rollers while we watched Hee Haw on the television.
Daddy looked concerned, walked out to his truck and backed out of the driveway and up the street. Construction of Interstate 75 had recently been completed and vehicles were finally, after two years of constant work, driving on the 8 new lanes from Chattanooga through Atlanta. I-75 passed right by the end of our street. The first year, road workers had to use dynamite to prepare the site and would regularly walk down our street, knocking on doors to make sure that all children and pets were inside and safe. Since there were no longer dynamite blasts to worry about, the neighborhood kids, and our pets, roamed free once again.
When Daddy returned, he was crying hard. I’d never seen my father cry before that evening. My brother and I ran to the door to see what the matter could be, shocked by our dad’s emotional response. He wouldn’t let us get past him, but we could see a big gray bin and the tip of Lucky’s head poking out. Lucky was dead, hit by a car or truck on the new interstate highway. But the biggest and saddest shock was seeing my father grieve for that sweet dog.
Today’s reading jumps over the part of Lazarus’ story when Jesus interacts with Martha and reveals that “He is the resurrection and the life.” (v 26) We’ll dig into that on Sunday’s Feast Day when we focus on the I AM statements of Jesus. For today, I want us to pay attention to the emotions that the sisters and then Jesus displayed as they lamented Lazarus’ death.
Read John 11:28-44
The raising of Lazarus is Jesus’ 7th sign. It constitutes the final and ultimate messianic “sign” of Jesus in this Gospel. Interestingly, this spectacular miracle is only recorded by John and anticipates Jesus’ own resurrection, revealing Jesus as “the resurrection and the life.” (v 25) The raising of Lazarus also serves as the final event that triggers the Jewish leaders’ resolve to have Jesus arrested and tried for blasphemy.
Jesus Weeps From His Great Love
When they hear that Jesus is outside of town, Martha jumps up and runs to him. Still holding out hope, she states faithfully, “Even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (v 22) She’s grieving, and she has hope. And so Jesus meets her in her hope.
Mary, on the other hand, stays at home. Perhaps we detect some anger at Jesus on Mary’s part. She can’t even face him. “Why weren’t you here when we needed you? Why didn’t you come? Why didn’t you heal him from a distance?” But, notice also that, when he calls her, she comes immediately. And she comes as she is. She comes weeping and worshiping. She wails and she falls on her face before Jesus and pours out the thought that has been coursing through her mind, “Lord, If you had been here, my brother would not have died!” (v 32) And so Jesus meets her in her sorrow.
He asks where the tomb is and on the way begins to cry. By the time He gets to the tomb that is closed by a large cut stone, Jesus is weeping. The crowds notice immediately and begin to whisper to one another, “See how he loved him!” (v 36) In this vignette of Jesus weeping openly before the tomb of his dear friend, we see the amazingly complex and righteous emotional life of our Lord. On the one hand, he plainly tells the disciples earlier, “Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe.” (vv 14-15) He’s glad that he waited. And then, when he gets there, he weeps. More than that, he is deeply moved, literally, he’s indignant. He’s angry. He is troubled; literally, he stirs himself up. Jesus is indignant at sin and death and the way that it ravages those he loves.
Jesus then asks for the stone to be rolled away, even amidst Martha’s reasonable concerns about the shameful smell that would be sure to waft forth from Lazarus’ decaying body. We then get to listen in on a conversation Jesus has with His Father God: “Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.’ After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unwrap him and let him go.’” (vv 41-44)
The writer of Hebrews sums up the breadth of Jesus’ emotions and the purpose for His sufferings this way:
“During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Hebrews 5:7-9
The Source of eternal salvation for all who obey him! Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. And he loves you. And because he loves you, he may wait to deliver you from your current pain. He may take you through unimaginable suffering and loss. And when he does, because he loves you, he will draw so very close. He will receive your questions, confusion, tears and cries of, “Where were you?”
And someday, because He loves us, He will raise the dead. He will wipe away every tear. He will right every wrong, heal every hurt, comfort every sorrow. Whether we are like Martha who ran to him in her grief and confessed “I believe you are the Christ” or like Mary who delayed, but came when called, falling on her feet and worshiping through tears. Or whether today we are like Lazarus, dead in our sins, without hope and without God in the world. The Darling of Heaven, Jesus is standing at our tomb, calling our name and shouting, “Come forth.”
Big Picture Questions for Today:
Why did Jesus wait to heal Lazarus? Is there any significance of the four days He waited?
How did Martha show great faith when she first saw Jesus?
Pray and thank Jesus for calling your name while you were dead in your sins, without hope and without God in this world.
Finally, listen to Glorious Day, written and performed by Kristian Stanfill and Passion, paying close attention to the chorus lyrics:
“You called my name
Then I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day”
