“Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
With these seven words, tension infuses the story.
Jesus had escaped an attempted stoning and arrest in Jerusalem and had retreated to an inconspicuous place with his disciples. His whereabouts appear to have been known by his friends, the sisters from Bethany, Martha and Mary. When their brother, Lazarus, fell ill, the sisters sent a message to their friend Jesus, letting him know of the situation.
It’s interesting to note that the language of the message is vague. No names are used, no locations given. Only the simple statement, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
“He whom you love.” What intimacy these words hold, what tenderness. No further explanation was needed for Jesus to understand. Lazarus was ill. His friends needed him. They were in Bethany, near Jerusalem, where the authorities were waiting for an opportunity to arrest and kill Jesus. If Jesus was to go to his friends, he would have to leave his place of retreat and risk being caught. Was it worth the risk?
Jesus’ initial decision to not go to his friends seems to imply that the risk was too great. The sisters seemed to understand this as well. Notice that they did not ask Jesus to come to them. They simply informed him of Lazarus’ illness. There seems to be no indication that they expected Jesus to join them. When Jesus stayed in the place where he was, perhaps no one was surprised. Perhaps his disciples were relieved.
Imagine then their confusion when, two days later, Jesus announced that they would go after all. They tried to dissuade him. Why now, Lord? Don’t you think it’s too dangerous? Lazarus will be all right without you. But Jesus knew what they didn’t. He knew that Lazarus was dead. How did he know? Was this a mark of his divinity, that he would have knowledge of events without being told of them? If so, why had he needed the message from the sisters? Did he not also know that Lazarus was sick in the first place? The story does not answer these questions for us, and so the mystery builds.
Why did Jesus wait until his friend had died – his friend, the one whom he loved – before going to him? If he was willing to take the risk of being seen in public, then why did he not go earlier when he could have comforted Lazarus, could have said goodbye, or even could have healed him? The answer Jesus gives is meant for the reader as much as for the disciples: “…so that you may believe.”
Martha was the first to greet Jesus as he approached the home of his friends. With so many people in the house, Martha left and met Jesus along the way. Was she hoping to protect him by meeting him privately? Was she hoping to avoid the chaos and disruption that his presence might cause in her village?
How Martha’s words must have pierced Jesus’ heart. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Did Jesus have the same thought? Had he wrestled with his decision to delay his coming? Did he already know what he would do, or did he, in his humanity, know only the moment in front of him?
Even in her grief, Martha spoke with the faith, courage, and resolve held by women throughout time – matriarchs, caregivers, mothers and sisters. She grieved her loss, and she grieved that which might have been, and in the same breath she said, “But even now…”
But even now, Jesus, I believe. Even now, Jesus, I know you are favored by God. Even now, Jesus, I know you are able. In this darkest moment when hope is too late, even now, Jesus. Even now.
In response to this humble, broken, powerful faith, Jesus spoke words of hope and life. He responded to Martha’s faith with a promise of life. Not a faraway life, not a distant dream of resurrection at the end of time, but a glorious revealing of resurrection standing in front of her, of life that she could see and touch. A future hope and a present reality; a future reality and a present hope. Martha, do you believe this?
Martha responded to Jesus with one of the most significant statements uttered in all of the Gospels. “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” Even now, with her brother in the grave, with her friend in danger, with her world turned upside-down – even now, Martha believed.
After Martha’s stunning confession of Jesus as the Messiah, she makes one last effort to protect Jesus by discreetly telling Mary that he was waiting for her. Mary does not appear to have the same sense of discretion as she bolted from the house to find Jesus, causing the gathered crowd of mourners to notice and follow her. We can imagine Martha’s frustration at such seeming carelessness.
The sisters are presented differently in the story. Whereas Martha had held a firm resolve and confidence even in her grief, the picture painted of Mary is one of a distraught and emotionally vulnerable woman who is overwhelmed by her sorrow. In their own ways, both women sought the presence of Jesus. And Jesus responded to each woman according to her need.
Mary greeted Jesus with the same plaintive cry as her sister – “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But, unlike Martha, Mary cannot continue. Instead, at the feet of Jesus, she weeps.
Mary’s weeping seems to be pivotal in the story. Her weeping, along with that of the Jews who were mourning with her, evoked two simultaneous emotional responses from Jesus. As he witnessed the depth of Mary’s grief, he was “greatly disturbed in spirit” and “deeply moved”. While the entire story is full of emotion and tension, this is the first time that we see Jesus demonstrate an emotional response. After the tension of his own endangerment, the weariness of travel, the loss of Lazarus, and the sadness of Martha, Jesus reached his own emotional breaking point when he witnessed the overwhelming, unbearable grief of his friend, Mary.
Jesus did not say anything to Mary. Perhaps, as is so often true in times of immense grief, words were simply inadequate. Instead, as Mary knelt weeping on the ground, Jesus asked those around him where Lazarus had been buried. In a haunting echo of the words that defined Jesus’ ministry, the people replied, “Lord, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
Upon arriving at Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus proceeded to speak with boldness and clarity. Any hesitation to act on behalf of his friends was now gone. Jesus acts decisively and with a clear mission. Was it Mary’s grief that brought him such clarity? Was it the people’s response, seemingly benign yet filled with meaning, to “come and see” – the closing bookend to Jesus’ ministry? Or did Jesus know all along what he would do when he reached his friend’s grave?
Perhaps it was Martha’s understanding of Jesus as both God and man that allowed her to live with such seamless integration of the spiritual and the physical. Moments earlier, she had confessed her belief in Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Messiah. Now standing at her brother’s grave, she gently reminds the Messiah about the stench of death. Jesus meets her concern evenly by reminding her about the glory of God. This is all the reminder that Martha needed, she who “even now” believed Jesus, and so the stone was taken away.
As the tomb stood open before them, Jesus offers a curious prayer. We might notice that Jesus does not ask for anything in his prayer. He does not pray that God would do anything. He simply thanks his Father for having heard him. He then quickly adds that he knows his Father always hears him – but he said it anyway for the sake of the crowd. What is it that Jesus thanks the Father for “having heard”? Is he referring to a previous prayer? Is he referring to the disturbance in his spirit? To his weeping? The story does not tell us.
What is clear from Jesus’ prayer, though, is that he wants those in the crowd to know who he is. He wants them to believe. This is significant! Jesus was already wanted dead by the authorities. He had already retreated to a low profile in order to stay alive. Now, face to face with the grave, he is ready to step into his identity with boldness, come what may. In a moment that marks the climax of the book of John, Jesus “cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ [and] The dead man came out…”
Lazarus’ resurrection tipped the scale of Jesus’ life. In this moment, Jesus acted decisively to give his friend life, knowing that by doing so he would garner the attention of the people and the hatred of the rulers. His life was already on the line. The resurrection of Lazarus, performed in front of a crowd just two miles from Jerusalem, sealed his fate. Jesus knowingly sacrificed his own life to save his friend’s.
“Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” - Jesus
