Encountering Jesus, Part 3
To All,
Our Gospel reading for this Sunday (John 11:1-45) is the account of Jesus raising His friend Lazarus from the dead. In this account, we see a demonstration of both Jesus’ humanity and His divinity.
When Jesus gets word that His friend Lazarus is ill, He does not rush to see him. He knows what will happen: “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
So Jesus doesn’t go to Bethany until after Lazarus has died. Up to this point, we have seen an indication of Jesus’ divinity. But when He gets there, we see His humanity.
When Lazarus’ sister, Martha, finds out that Jesus is coming, she goes out to meet Him, while her sister, Mary, stays at home. When Martha sees Jesus, her first words to Him are: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Then she says, “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Eventually Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” And Martha confesses her faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
After Martha sends word to her sister, Mary, to come to see Jesus, she arrives and says to Jesus the same words that Martha said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John tells us that Jesus becomes perturbed and asks to be brought to Lazarus’ tomb. At the tomb, Jesus weeps. I can imagine Jesus being affected by the grief of Martha and Mary, and I have wondered whether He asked Himself if indeed He should have waited to come. Here we see Jesus’ humanity.
But it seems that Jesus composes Himself, and prays aloud to the Father after demanding that the stone sealing the tomb be taken away. And after His prayer, Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man, still wrapped in burial cloths, comes out! And then Jesus tells the onlookers, “Untie him and let him go.” After witnessing this, many of those who were there began to believe in Him.
For me, this encounter between Jesus and Martha and Mary and Lazarus, tells us that Jesus knows and understands our grief. It also reminds us that Jesus can lift us up! This encounter also gives us an indication of what we are called to do.
Just by being alive, Lazarus gave witness to the love and power of God in Jesus Christ. In fact, later on in John’s Gospel, the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus because of the people who came to believe in Jesus after Lazarus had been raised (John 12:9-11). May we not fall into the hate that despises the presence and even the existence of those considered “other.”
We are called, just by how we live our lives, to witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ. After being lifted up time and time again by the mercy and grace of God, our perseverance is a testimony to the hope we have in Jesus Christ. And may we do our part to “untie” others from their bonds and set them free.
I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for your time.
In Christ,
Phil, CP
