John 11:8

Not surprisingly, the disciples ask him, “Teacher, did not the Jewish authorities try to stone you just recently? Are you seriously going back there?” John 11:8 EFP

It is not often the disciples speak up and question Jesus’ plans. Considering how things turned out for Peter the time he questioned Jesus’ graphic depiction of his fate (Matthew 16:22-23), it makes sense they would be somewhat reticent to do so. But that does not stop them from submitting some queries regarding the sensibility of traveling back to Jerusalem.

They bring up the danger they recently left behind. They specifically mention the stoning he had narrowly avoided during his last visit to the City of David. Their question, “Are you seriously going back?” is almost a rhetorical one. It makes no sense on so many levels! Lazarus’ sickness is not serious, according to his previous statement. It’s a long way back. They are in a safe place right where they are. Jerusalem is a death sentence for Jesus, and perhaps for them as well.

That sounds like me. When God calls me to go with him to a place that does not seem appealing or inviting, I begin to question the wisdom of going in that direction. The fear of rejection. The disdain for ridicule. The risk of verbal, if not physical, abuse. It is not always comfortable to be a witness. But if I am called to love others as Jesus loves me, then that is a call to surrender all. Oh, Lord! I am such a weak Christian. Why did you choose me to lead? I make such a better follower! I am so much more comfortable in the shadows of anonymity. Have mercy on me!

John 11:7

After two days have passed, he tells his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”  John 11:7 EFP

What? Go back to the Jerusalem firestorm? He might as well have said, “Let’s go to Jerusalem so you can see me die.” They have been on the far side of the Jordan for a few days specifically because they had escaped from the maelstrom created by the clash of his ministry with the Jewish powers that be. Certainly Jesus knows the situation in the big city is unstable at best and fatal at worst. They have finally found some sense of calm and relief when Jesus informs them a couple of days beforehand that they would not be returning to Judea, even in the face of his friends’ crisis.

Now the threat is clear and present all over again. Has Jesus not said that there was no reason to go back due to Lazarus’ sickness, just two days ago?  No explanation. No clarification. Jesus simply says, “Let’s go.” Against all conventional wisdom, Jesus says, “Let’s go.”

I must confess I have mixed feelings about those moments when all seems to be going well and things are where they seem to me they ought to be. Then Jesus says, “Let’s go.” Am I ready to go when he says go? Am I ready to leave everything I value behind when the marching orders come through? Will I hesitate when he calls me to follow him into imminent danger for his sake? I pray I will be ready, willing, and able to get up and follow him wherever he leads.

John 11:6

Unexpectedly, when Jesus hears of Lazarus’ sickness, rather than rushing to be with his friend, he remains two more days on the other side of the Jordan.  John 11:6 EFP

Jesus has just received news that his young friend is sick, very sick. The fact Lazarus’ sisters address him as “Lord” when they send the message is telling of their concern and urgency. In response Jesus makes a somewhat cryptic statement to his disciples about the sickness not being a “death” event, rather a moment for God to be glorified.

Then he proceeds to return to life as it was before the news arrived. Jesus and the disciples remain on the other side of the Jordan for two additional days. It doesn’t seem right. I could see them remaining in this somewhat isolated part of the world to find some refuge from the Jerusalem threat. After all, Bethany is but a stone’s throw away from the outskirts of Jerusalem, just beyond the Mount of Olives. Jesus knows the seriousness of the Lazarus’ illness, but he is also aware of the dangers in the city.

Perhaps that’s the whole point of this portion of the narrative. The point is that Jesus knows. He is aware of everything and anything. Nothing catches him by surprise. He is not just one step ahead of the game, he is infinitely ahead, and thus he knows the outcome before the “coming has come out”. I, on the other hand, do not have such a grasp on the future. My need is to learn how to trust God with my situation. The worst that can happen is for me to abandon the faith that I have chosen to claim in His name. Even death, and all that falls within that undesirable outcome and that of adulterated joy, cannot and will not separate me from God. My God reigns!

John 11:5

It should be noted: Jesus loved Mary, and her sister (Martha), and of course, Lazarus.  John 11:5 EFP

What an odd way of mentioning the family.  The order in which the three siblings appear in the Gospel of Luke seems to point to the fact that Martha was most likely the oldest of the family circle of three. Mary may have been in the middle and Lazarus seems to be younger than his two sisters. John goes out of his way to switch the order between the older sisters, while Lazarus is still listed in last place, which could mean he was still a child at the time. There seems to be some intentionality in this reversal which may become apparent as the story progresses.

On the other hand, why does John not even mention Martha’s name? What did she do to merit such an omission? Mary is listed first and Lazarus last, but he at least has his name mentioned. There’s something about Mary, I guess. One thing is certain, Jesus loves the three of them. There is an out-of-ordinary relationship between Jesus and the Bethany Three. Martha the responsible eldest daughter, most likely is the owner of the house where Jesus frequented. Lazarus is the youngest, perhaps much younger than his sisters. But Mary is the middle child, with all the pitfalls of the sibling who falls into this often invisible category. She becomes the problem child and is soon led astray by poor choices. She is rescued at least seven times by the Master and restored to her family. There is history between Jesus and Mary.

Now there seems to be a special status allotted to Mary. Why? Perhaps the words of Jesus immortalized in the Gospel of Matthew 26:13 may shed some light on this anomaly in order. All are loved, but only one of the three has her story told in one way or another in all the Gospels. She loves much, thus she is forgiven much. She is also loved much. She must have won a special place in the heart of Jesus.

Oh that I would also occupy a special place in His heart. Well, He’s gone through a lot of trouble to save me—maybe that alone gets me a special place. I’ll go with that.

John 11:4

When Jesus receives the notice of his friend’s illness, He tells his disciples, “This malaise is not a death sentence. Quite the contrary, it is an opportunity for the glory of God to break through, and for the Son of God be glorified through it.”  John 11:4 EFP

I ask myself, is it the divinity of Jesus or His humanity speaking here? Given his unique nature, I wonder if Jesus utters these words through His eyes of faith or from the divine vantage point that is able to see into the future at will. Either way, it must have surprised the disciples to hear him communicate this thought.

Jesus is known to them as one who responds to the needs of those around him as is needed. He sees a need and he responds. So to see Jesus answer to the obvious plea from the sisters to come heal their brother with a certain amount of detachment must have seemed quite odd. But Jesus knows what’s going on. He knows that nothing happens to one who lives by faith that falls outside the purview of the One who is the object of that faith. So either out of divine certainty or human confidence forged out of an intimate relationship with His heavenly Father, these words carry some serious power!

I often wonder where the confidence has gone in people like me. Where is the boldness? Where is the certainty that God still does the miraculous? I am in search of that power to move mountains and to turn the world upside down. I realize not everyone can spend all their time in search of a closer walk with Jesus, but I have no such excuse. Yet, here I am, still searching for that panacea to my spiritual shortcomings. I want to make a difference for the Son of Man. I want to be a light that highlights my heavenly Father who has done so much for me. No one said the journey would be easy.

John 11:3

Mary and Martha think it would be appropriate to send word to their friend. “Lord,” they say, “the man you love so much is ill.”  John 11:3 EFP

A couple of things pop out at me in this verse. First is the fact they feel compelled to contact Jesus. This leads me to believe they are close. Jesus must have visited their home more than the one time he is mentioned as being there. They had sat at his feet to listen to his words of hope and encouragement. They had experienced his help during the dark days of Mary and her reconciliation back to her family.

Yet, in spite of this closeness, when they send word to their friend they do so in the most formal way. “Lord,” they begin their entreating to him. This must have been their way of communicating the seriousness of their communique. This was not simply a friendly message among friends. “Lord” is a confession, more than simply a moniker of affection. The sisters are pleading with their Lord on behalf of their brother, “the one [Jesus] love[s] much.”

How does your familiarity with Jesus affect the way you communicate with him? I find myself often speaking out loud with God. It flows out of an event, a circumstance, a challenge, or even a reaction to a tragedy being faced by a friend or family member. Not all prayers are moments when the knee must be bent. Sometimes the best prayers are conversations on the road, stuck in traffic, in the middle of a solo cross-country trek in a car. All too often I am guilty of empty and mindless prayers I utter when the ritual is more rooted than the experience of speaking to the Almighty.  I want so much more than the bland. I am sure my Lord does too.

John 11:2

Mary is the same woman who poured expensive and fragrant oil on Jesus’ head and feet not long before today’s development. It is her brother that is ill.  John 11:2 EFP

The picture is beginning to take on some definition. Mary is suddenly thrown into the spotlight, since she is mentioned previously in two significant events in Jesus’ life: A visit by Jesus to the house of Mary and Martha (Luke 10), and the event mentioned in the verse above (Matthew 26). There are some who even identify the woman caught in adultery as this very same Mary (John 8). It is very likely, since that would explain her questionable reputation mentioned in Matthew’s account.

The timing is also coming into view, since both the Matthew and Mark narratives seem to imply an event closer to the end of Jesus’ ministry. Luke’s portrayal, on the other hand, does not seem to associate the event with the final activities of Jesus’ ministry. The important part is that she is mentioned as the woman who poured out expensive oil on Jesus. What is not mentioned is that when she did this deed for Jesus, she was already considered a woman of questionable reputation. Even more startling is that the anointing scenario takes place before the first recorded visit by Jesus to Mary’s and Martha’s house. The chronology is difficult to reconcile, but the facts related to the main players in the drama are not. It is significant enough for John to mention it and to point out Mary is the sister of the man.

This woman with a colorful reputation is now facing a major crisis. Even if she has left her life of vice behind her, that does not inoculate her to the realities that come with living in a sickly world. No one is. What we do and how we react to those moments are most telling and speak most loudly of the mettle of our character and faith. We are about to learn a lot about the faith of these sisters. Their faith in the Master will be tested. Faith without testing is a mere concept. Faith that faces conflict and chaos head-on is a life-changing experience—it is life.

John 11:1

A man in the city of Bethany, named Lazarus, came down with a serious illness. Bethany is the hometown of Mary and her sister Martha. John 11:1 EFP

This the first time in the Gospel of John that we hear the names of Mary and Martha. Yet, John does not bother to say anything about them, or even give the reader information about who they are or why they suddenly appear in the narrative. He must have known people would know who they were. Luke 10 is the only other mention of this family, although only Mary and Martha are mentioned in that story,

The only information given, other than their names and that of the city in which they lived, is the fact that Lazarus, who we assume is the brother of the two women mentioned, is sick. Considering the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were sick in Palestine at the time of Jesus, and the countless blind, lame, injured, deaf, and even dead people Jesus had touched and restored, we do not know why John introduces a completely new story line. A sick man and two sisters. Simple and stark.

Sometimes the greatest stories begin blanketed in the common and mundane. It is not just common people God uses to accomplish uncommon feats, sometimes it is in these most unremarkable moments of normalcy that God breaks in and works an amazing anomaly in the natural flow of life. Sadly, life is a litany of moments of illness, brokenness, tragedy, separation, and even death. These events happen so often we read of them with detachment, and even feast our eyes on them with morbid interest and perhaps a twinge of compassion, only to return to the bliss of our personal and detached world, which we forget is equally subject to the randomness of life. Then the day comes when we are the news…and life ceases to be normal anymore.

John 10:42

Many of those who came to the river believed in Jesus while there. John 10:42 EFP

This is one of those “glass half-empty or half-full” verses. It is heart-warming to reflect on the fact that many of the people that came out to see Jesus while he was by the Jordan River came to the point of faith in Him and accepted Him as the Messiah, the Son of God.

What strikes me today are the ones who did not come to the point of belief. They were obviously in the minority, as you would expect since the people at the river had actually walked over 100 miles to get to the Jordan. There was something that pulled them there. They knew who Jesus was. They had heard him preach. They had seen him perform mighty miracles. So they came. Perhaps they heard him speak and saw him heal some more people while at the river. Then…they went home. No decision to follow. No commitment to become a disciple. Nothing. They just went home and went on with life without Jesus.

It is sad when I think about it. To go through the motions; to invest the time and energy, only to fail to experience faith and reap the benefits of the believer: joy, peace, love, patience, and such. I can spend my entire life surrounded by Jesus, invested in the practice of Jesus-related things, attending Jesus events, even reading Jesus books and singing Jesus songs, only to discover at the end of my life that I never committed to a Jesus relationship. What a waste. I don’t get it, but it is no doubt possible based on the reality of the fact that are millions of Christians who take on the name without any interest in committing to the cost that comes with discipleship.

John 10:41

People find him by the river and comment to themselves, “John the Baptist never performed signs, yet everything he said about this Man is true.” John 10:41 EFP

This verse is a microcosm of the contrast between John and Jesus, two cousins destined before birth for great things of strikingly different hues. It is the testimony of these people who have sought Jesus after his sudden departure from Jerusalem to crystalize it into a succinct statement preserved for us through the inspiration of the apostle John.

John is a cross between spartan and stoic. He lives in the desert, dressed in camel skin and leather. He preaches about repentance and the soon-coming kingdom of God. He proclaims the arrival of the Promised One. He announces judgment and calls people to be baptized and to avoid the condemnation! His preaching is convicting and soul-stirring. But he performs no miracles.

Jesus, on the other hand, is the fulfillment of John’s prophecies. He walks the country and the city announcing the arrival of the kingdom of heaven. He speaks of joy and peace and life. He eats with the common folk—even the outcasts. He attends feasts and weddings. He dresses in a garment soldiers would one day gamble for the right to own. He is the Promised One. He proclaims Good News and invites his hearers to be born again and become citizens of the kingdom of God! His preaching is earth-shaking and life-changing. Miracles follow him wherever he goes.

Jesus would sum it us differently when on another occasion he said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Luke 7:31-34). How little times change.

John 10:40

Jesus leaves Jerusalem and withdraws beyond the Jordan River to the place where John the Baptist used to baptize the masses. He remained there for a season. John 10:40 EFP

Sometimes you just have to get away. Find a quiet place. Escape to a hideout. Take some time to regroup. Jesus had gone face to face with those who would eventually succeed in ending his life. If they had their druthers they would have killed him already. But His time had not come yet.

So rather than remain in the heat of the battle—in mortal combat with the minions of His archenemy, he chooses to return to a place that holds special meaning to him; back when his life was simpler—when his cousin was still living. This is a moment to catch his breath, and to take inventory of the mission he had come to earth to complete. I can’t imagine what that process would be like. I would give anything to listen to his conversations with his Father in heaven. He must have spent much time in prayer and contemplation. There is no mention of his disciples in this passage—did he go alone?

In the hectic pace of my life, there are moments when I simply want to get away. I need to escape to a quiet and solitary place to contemplate, to refocus, to reconnect with God. It is too easy, and I have been there before, to live on autopilot. That is neither healthy nor profitable. Lord, help me listen to your call to find that quiet place, to get away, to slow down, and connect with you.