Behold Jesus the Friend

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

When Jesus received this message, He did not immediately set out for Bethany. Instead, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” He said that the purpose of this illness that had befallen Lazarus was not to terminate his life in this world, but he had been visited with this affliction for the glory of God, that the glory of the Son of God would be made manifest through it.

δοξάζωb: to attribute high status to someone by honoring—‘to honor, to respect.’

12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.

14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Gladness isn’t the usual response to the death of a friend, but Jesus stated that the reason for His gladness had to do with the disciples. Because of Lazarus’ death, and because of what He knew He was going to do, the disciples would see His power made manifest and would be strengthened in their faith in Him. In this way, God would bring good out of the agony of Lazarus’ death.

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

And by now Lazarus was indeed dead. His uneven breathing had become less and less regular and finally stopped. His exhausted sisters’ cry had gone up from that house to the streets around. They prepared Lazarus for burial, putting a white linen gown on him, poignantly called a traveling dress, and wrapped him lovingly with bandages and spices. Then Martha and Mary led a procession out to the grave. Women were customarily first since it was prejudicially believed that since the woman Eve first sinned, death came through her. At the grave there were some memorial speeches. Then the mourners formed sort of a gauntlet and wailed loudly as the sisters walked slowly toward home. By the time our Lord arrived in Bethany, it was the fourth day, the day when the ritual of mourning reached its highest point because the body was decaying, and there was no hope.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

The day before I preached on this passage at St. Andrew’s, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas while heading for a landing here in Central Florida. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. I watched television coverage of the tragedy for hour after hour that day, but the same picture was shown over and over again. It was the image of the spacecraft disintegrating and leaving a trail of smoke in the air. I couldn’t help thinking what a catastrophe this was for the families of the people who had been instantly destroyed, but I also thought that if there were believers among those crew members, just as quickly as they died, they were in heaven. If they were believers, they could not die. Yes, they died biologically, but biological death doesn’t disturb the continuity of living, personal existence for God’s people in the slightest. This is what Jesus said. Once a person believes in Christ, the life of Christ is poured into the soul of that person, and that life is eternal. Everyone who is in Christ has already begun to experience eternal life. We’re never going to die. We may go through the transition of physical death, but that death cannot destroy the life that Christ has given to us.

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Personally, I think that which caused the anger of the Son of God to boil up and overflow in His spirit was that He was in the presence of the ravaging destruction of the greatest enemy of mankind, death. This was His enemy. This was the foe that, in only a few days, He was going to confront head on in the throes of the agony He would experience on the cross, dying to conquer death. Sometimes when I go to a hospital and I see people suffering with cancer, I walk out and I say, “I hate cancer!” The affliction is so great and the pain is so enormous. I think this is the kind of visceral reaction Jesus had when He encountered the sorrow that death had provoked. Jesus entered into the affliction of His people so deeply that He was moved within Himself at the travesty of death.

The Word of God teaches us, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). Jesus was on the verge of perhaps His greatest miracle, but He entered into the feelings of grief and loss of those whom He loved. He wept with them at the tomb of Lazarus.

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Picture the scene. The stone was rolled away. They could see Lazarus’ body, and possibly other bodies. The eager crowd pressed forward. Suddenly they grew quiet. The sisters, who had been weeping, stopped with a sense of expectation. Our Lord’s eyes, which before had been weeping, were now aglow. Suddenly Jesus cried out, “Lazarus, come out!” (v. 43). He did not have to shout, but he wanted everyone to comprehend the drama.

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (v. 44)

As the crowd stared into the bowels of that grave, they saw movement. They saw Lazarus’ body edge off the stone, then stand erect and emerge mummy-like into the sunlight. Mary and Martha feverishly began to unwrap him. Then came joyful carrying on as they wept over him, hugged him, and danced about in their bare feet. The funeral had become a party!

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.