I have enjoyed turning my Bible reading time into a Bible study time. Not just reading the Bible but exploring it. I have been going into depth using the Five W's I learned a long time ago in grade school to find out Who, What, Where, When and Why. It has really made my favorite Gospel come alive for me. In this Chapter the Where is east of Jerusalem, across the Jordan River to where John used to baptize (followed by a trip to Bethany closer to Jerusalem) and the When is between the months of December (feast of dedication) and April (Passover). What happened in this chapter? The delay of Jesus, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and the handing down of a death sentence by the High Priest Caiaphas. However, my favorite W's are the Who and the Why because that's where everything gets really interesting!
The Who of John chapter 11 includes two of my favorite women in the Bible: Martha and Mary. I love the account in Luke 10:38-42, where Martha is doing all the household chores by herself and asks Jesus to send Mary, who is just sitting at His feet listening, to help her. It gives you a pretty good sense of these two women and what their priorities were. The order in which the names Martha, Mary and Lazarus are listed tells us that Martha was the oldest and Lazarus the youngest. No husbands are mentioned for the two women, which was unusual in a time when most girls were married by the time they were 16. They may have been widowed or perhaps have belonged to a sect of Jews that dedicated itself to serving the poor and did not marry. Regardless, this was a household where Jesus had been made welcome before and they are obviously His friends (v. 5). Jesus had good memories of their home in Bethany.
But this time in my reading I concentrated on Lazarus. My first question was why no words are recorded from Lazarus? His sister's conversations are noted but not his. The house is said to belong to Martha (Luke 10: 38) not Lazarus. Why was he treated like a minor character, below his sisters when usually men were mentioned first? And then I began to challenge the picture I had in my mind of Lazarus. What if he wasn't a young man as I pictured him, but a young boy instead? When I started researching, I found I wasn't the only one who wondered if that was the case. No one can say for sure but when I start looking at this passage in the Bible and start seeing Martha as the oldest (responsible for the other two), Mary as her much younger sister and Lazarus as a young boy of 12 or 13, things begin to make more sense. Martha's worry over him and extreme distress at his death is more like a mother figure than a sister. Mary's grief and shock are rather excessive for a grown man's death and more in keeping with the grief she would feel for a more vulnerable younger brother. The fact that he is never recorded talking or making decisions fits with him being a young teenager for me as well.
And if this is true, then the fact that "Jesus wept" (v.35) is all the more poignant for me.
Was Jesus remembering the lively antics of a young boy, full of life and joy? Was He remembering the hero worship He would have undoubtedly received from a young boy being raised in a house hold of women? There are many reasons why Jesus might have wept that day. I was in a Bible Study recently where we discussed a lot of them, but I hadn't considered this aspect of the situation before. Again it brings the picture into focus a little bit more.
However, the awesome picture of what happens next is unchanged regardless of how old Lazarus was. In my mind's eye I can see the grieving sisters, and the hushed and wondering crowd. I can hear the grating sound as the heavy stone is moved out of the way. I can picture Jesus standing in front of the tomb praying to His Father in Heaven with His eyes raised to the sky. I can almost feel the electricity in the air when the Son of God calls out in a loud voice to the dead "Come Forth!" I can imagine the silence that fell on all of Creation that day as everything waited to see if the impossible command would be obeyed. And then, when the dead emerged from the darkness with his grave wrappings still around him, I can imagine the cries of joy and wonder from his sisters, the gasps of amazement from the crowd.
What a day that must have been! This miracle was magnificent proof of the Power of the Son of God! But it marked a turning point in the Messiah's journey here on this earth. For among the many who had come to support the sisters in their grief and had been witness to the miracle, there were some spies sent to see if Jesus would come to the aid of His friends. These spies hurried back to the Sanhedrin and told what they had seen.
Now the true reason of Why these Jewish leaders are so hostile towards Jesus is revealed (v.48). They feared the Romans would revoke the Sanhedrin's favored status and perhaps destroy their whole nation. The Roman rule would be threatened by a miracle working Messiah! From this day forward, they no longer plotted to capture Jesus, they planned on how they could Kill Him!
This miracle marks a turning point for us as well. Here in these verses, Jesus declares and demonstrates His power over death! We no longer have to fear dying. Jesus has given us the assurance that if we believe on Him and accept the gift of His sacrifice on the cross for our sins, we will have a life beyond the grave. Only our physical bodies will be gone, our souls (everything that makes us who we are) will live on with Him. We will receive new bodies that do not wear out and can't be harmed.
Jesus says to us all...
"I am the Resurrection and the Life!"