This is, we would say, one of the last miracles
In John’s Gospel before Jesus’ arrest and His Passion,
The raising of His friend Lazarus from the dead.

There’s a lot in this passage.
Every time I go on retreat,
I take a silent retreat every year,

I spend at least one time praying
With this passage because there’s so much here,
And there’s a lot that God, I think,
Wants to communicate to us in this.

So first take Martha and Mary and Lazarus, okay?
They’re a family in Bethany who Jesus is very close with.
And we hear in the Gospel that Jesus loved them very much.

And when He finds out that Lazarus is sick,
He doesn’t go right away,
Which is kind of interesting.

He loved them so much—
Why would He not leave right away
To take care of Lazarus?

Why does He wait two days for Lazarus to die?

Anyway, there’s something about that
That I think God will want to say to us.

Sometimes God leads us into pain, into suffering,
Because there’s something He wants to bring out of it.

Now I can’t give you the answer—
It’s something you’ve got to go through on your own.

But Jesus waits behind
When you want Him to come and fix your problem right away.
He lets you die, okay?

But you all know that our Lord is never
Going to let us remain dead—He’s going to raise us.

Martha and Mary, okay, they’re the sisters
Who are still living when their brother has died.

Remember that scene earlier in the Gospel
When Jesus goes to visit them:
Martha’s busy in the kitchen preparing the meal or whatever,
Mary’s relaxing at the feet of Jesus, listening.

We see this on display—
They have two different personalities,
The sisters, Martha and Mary.

Maybe Martha’s more active,
Mary’s more contemplative, if you will.

Mary is sitting at home now,
In kind of the dark, mourning the loss of her brother.
She hears Jesus coming, but she stays—she stays put.

Martha, this active, strong woman, goes out and meets Jesus
As He’s making His way to the house.

And you can almost imagine when Martha says,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,”
She wouldn’t just say that somewhat neutrally—
She’s kind of yelling at Him, like, “How dare you?
Where were you? Come on.”

So Martha’s got that comfort with the Lord,
Which I think is very profound.

It’s a comfort I think Christ wants all of us
To have with Him—that we challenge Him
When He leads us into the suffering of death.

We’re not just going to sit by passively
And take it, but we’re going to say,
“Lord, what’s going on here?
I’ve prayed for this and nothing’s happening.”

So when Martha and Jesus are having their interaction,
Jesus doesn’t dismiss her, but they have this beautiful exchange:
“Do you believe that I can do this?”

And Martha then is able to say, “Yes, Lord, I believe
That he will rise on the third day.”

Then Jesus says, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

So this kind of wrestling with the Lord
Allows Jesus to articulate further part of His identity,
Which is that He is the Resurrection and the Life.

To say, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,”
Implies that there’s got to be a dying and a death.

So this is something we all have to go through in our life—
A dying and a death.
But Jesus is there to raise us up.

So there’s a lot more, but just the last point
I’ll bring up is Jesus weeping, okay,
Which is quite profound.

Jesus weeps after He hears—when He goes to them
And He says, “Okay, where have you laid Lazarus?”
The response is, “Come and see. Come and see.”

Now if you go back earlier in the Gospel according to John,
That’s the same phrase that Jesus tells the Apostles—
Peter and Andrew, James and John—
When they want to follow Him.

So they approach Jesus and they say,
“Hey, Lord, where are you staying?”
And He says, “Come and see.”

And they come and stay with Him that night,
And they fall in love with Jesus and they become Apostles.

“Lord, where are you staying?”
“Come and see.”
“Where is Lazarus laid?”
“Come and see.”

So it’s almost like the tables have turned on Jesus.
These people are the ones telling Jesus,
“Hey, come and see where we’re staying.”

And Jesus is so struck by that faith that He weeps.

Obviously He weeps because He’s sad about Lazarus’ death
And the whole town weeping.

But I think that back and forth between Jesus—
“Come and see”—
He said that to us at one time in our life,
When we’re kind of growing in our faith.

Now it’s our turn to say to Jesus,
“Hey, Lord, come and see my life.
I want you to experience what I’m going through.”

All these things will make us committed disciples
And help bring about the Kingdom of God.

Amen.