March 24, 2010

John 11:1-16
1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7 Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"
9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." NIV

Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem and at some point He hears this news about Lazarus. Now Jesus has spent the last 2 1/2 years healing the sick and ministering to the lame and fringes of society. Most of those people Jesus did not know. They were faces in a crowd or friends of friends of friends, and Jesus healed them. This time it's personal. Lazarus is a close friend. He has spent time in Lazarus' home. Surely, everything related to the mission of God could be put on hold for a few days. Lazarus and his sisters needed Him.

But Jesus waits. He says to the disciples something that on the surface seems to be a mistake or even a lie, "This sickness will not end in death." But as we see at the end of this passage, Lazarus is announced as dead by Jesus just 2 days later! Was He wrong? Did Jesus miss something? Ok, I know you know the answer to this-- of course not! Jesus knew more than the others- He knew Lazarus was coming back to life! God was doing something huge, but it meant Jesus had to endure an initial loss to receive the ultimate gain.

This causes me to think-- what else am I missing in my following of Jesus? What am I jumping to conclusions about? It is so easy for me to think that I understand who Jesus was/is and what God did 2000 years ago, but I wonder if sometimes my assumptions cause me to miss the real plan of God, at times. The disciples couldn't conceive that Jesus would let someone so close die. They were so worried about the death threats to Jesus (and therefore to them) that they were missing the anticipation of the most remarkable miracle Jesus performed on the earth. Still, you do have to give Thomas credit- he realized Jesus was on His way to die and no one else seemed to realize that truth. But even he missed the point: the hope of resurrection was about to be modeled for them. The ultimate plan of God was about to be revealed!

As we continue on our journey to the cross, don't miss the signs of hope and love along the way. Life gets hard. Bad things happen. But God is still working. Sometimes He delays His answer or His work to accomplish a purpose we don't yet see. But He is showing us why we can be people of hope and not despair, if we keep our eyes and our hearts open.

Don't miss out. Keep looking.