Lazarus part 1 - John 11:1-6

I think that I was wrong when I skipped over the death and raising of Lazarus because I thought it was out of order on the time line. I don’t necessarily know where it was supposed to go, and I’m not convinced that it was supposed to happen when the chart says, but for sure I have passed it, so I’m going to circle back around. I realized this error last Thursday but waited to start on it until today because I wanted to be able to dedicate this entire week to it uninterrupted. Again, I didn’t understand the significance or really the importance of this event until recently, but I’ll share the insights that I’ve had.

Jesus and his disciples are apparently still in Perea when Lazarus becomes ill and the IM says, “his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent work to Jesus. Lazarus and his sisters lived in Bethany, which was very close to Jerusalem, and the Savior and His disciples were in Perea, which was at least 2 miles from Bethany.” While in Perea, Jesus receives a message from Mary and Martha saying, “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick,” meaning that Lazarus had fallen ill. If we know that Jesus is at least 25 miles away from Lazarus, then he must have known that it had taken considerable time for the messenger to bring the note from the home to Jesus, and he would know that it would take considerable time to get from Perea to Bethany. Let’s say that it took 2 days for the messenger to get to Jesus and that it would take 2 days for Jesus and company to get to Bethany.

Surely this little family had been sick before and we don’t have any record to them calling for Jesus to heal them ever before, so we can deduce that Lazarus had probably been sick for a while and that the disease had progressed enough to the point where death was looking imminent. This is all leading up to the point that Lazarus was in dire straights when his sisters sent the message and any attempt at keeping him from death would be very time sensitive. While reading the book series “The Kingdom and the Crown” one of the main characters is in the group of people with Jesus in Perea when he receives the message, and everyone gets ready to move out immediately to go to Bethany so that Jesus can heal Lazarus. Jesus’ response to the message is “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” This point is pretty straightforward, but in the book the under current of emotions in the group was anxious, with people pointing out that Jesus wasn’t going to make it to Bethany in time to save Lazarus.

I know that it’s just a book, but the attitudes seem accurate because both Mary and Martha tell Jesus when he finally does get there that their brother would have lived if he had gotten there sooner, so this couldn’t have been a thought that was isolated to just them. There is a major implication with this line of thinking that is significant. First is the thought that Jesus has all power over life and healing until death comes. This implies that Jesus’ power stops when death takes over, indicating that death is more powerful than Jesus. That implication could have huge consequences for anyone who believed it. It would put Jesus firmly in the “prophet” box and not the “deity” box, and that would be fine if Jesus was just a prophet, but He is God. The IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching, “Jesus’ entire ministry was a mark of his divinity. He spoke as God, He acted as God, and performed works which only God Himself can do. His works bear testimony of His divinity.” Jesus has the power over everything in the universe, yet the people didn’t understand that He could command death. I don’t necessarily think that it was because they lacked faith or anything like that, I’m sure their faith was a strong as ours, but this is proof that the understanding just wasn’t there for whatever reason. We have 2,000 years of hind sight and modern revelation, so it’s understandable, though not acceptable for us to look back and think “why didn’t they just trust him?”