There are many people for whom I feel sympathy in this story. First, there are the Jews. This group of people had travelled the two miles from Jerusalem to Bethany, to pay their respects to a family, and to a person, who Jesus never intended to let stay dead. They could have been saved the trouble.

     Next, there are the disciples. In v. 16, we find out that they are scared for their lives. Just in the last chapter, Jesus had been in Jerusalem, upset some of the Jewish leaders, and had been this close to getting stoned. The disciples are certain that by returning to this area they are risking their lives. Thomas, in fact, the one with such a reputation for doubting, bravely says, “Let us go and die with him”. This whole situation puts them in danger, not even including the loss of a possible friend.

     And there’s Jesus. If the disciples are in danger, Jesus is doubly so. He’s the one at the center of the controversy. He’s also a person who has lost his friend, a person Scripture tells us he had an especially strong relationship with. He’s so distraught over the way that death causes heartache that he cries quietly to himself when he arrives.

     Then, there are the sisters. Mary and Martha, two very important people in early Christianity, are sad over the loss of their brother. Any of us who have lost someone very close to us knows how painful that is. At the beginning of the chapter, we learn that when Lazarus started to lean toward death, the sisters sent a message to Jesus, either to let him know about his friend or in the hopes that Jesus would heal their sick brother, as Jesus seemed to do for everyone else. But, Jesus didn’t make it in time, and they’ve buried their brother. Not only have they buried Lazarus, but he has been dead for 4 days. This is important; it’s like how after a traumatic event we’re in shock for a period of time before it really sets in. In the Jewish culture at that time, they believed that the soul would hover over the body for three days, but on the fourth day, when evidence of decomposition started showing, the soul would give up hope and leave for good. By the 4^th day, Martha and Mary finally have to accept their brother’s death.

     But out of all these people, I’m pretty sure the person that I feel the worst for is Lazarus. Jesus could have saved him from death. In fact, Jesus didn’t even have to show up to heal him. Once he received that letter from Martha and Mary he could have prayed and healed him. But he didn’t! In fact, v.6 tells us that after hearing Lazarus was on his death-bed he intentionally waited 2 more days before leaving for Bethany! Lazarus believes in Jesus as God’s son, he trusts in Jesus and Jesus literally leaves him to die. If I were Lazarus, that would not only make me angry; it would also make me question the goodness of God.

     But that leaves me with a piercing question: How could the God I know have done that to someone he loved?

     This story really does make me step back and pause. There’s not many ways to make sense of what seems like Jesus’ cruelty. Some argue that when Jesus received the letter from the sisters, Jesus knew that Lazarus had already died, which is possible since the sisters say when they arrive that Lazarus had been dead for 4 days, and Jesus had only waited two. The point being here that Jesus didn’t cause any extra suffering by delaying his arrival, because by the time he found out about it, Lazarus was already dead. This is certainly a possibility, though not a Scriptural fact. But that doesn’t change the fact that Jesus allowed unnecessary suffering. If Jesus knew that he himself was going to die, wasn’t it possible for him to know way in advance that Lazarus was going to die? And at any rate, he could have decreased the amount of time those who cared about Lazarus were suffering and mourning by not intentionally holding back for two days. It’s just something that doesn’t seem to match up with the way that I think about God. If I take this to today’s time, it seems to suggest that there are some bad things that happen that God could stop, but chooses not to. And even though Jesus does raise Lazarus from the dead, and that truly is a great thing, it still doesn’t change the fact that he let him die.

     And that’s where we could leave off. It would be tempting to stand back after that and let it contribute to our habit of blaming God. But, in fact, that wouldn’t be a very fair reading of the Scripture. In fact, there’s a whole other side to the story.

    Because what we haven’t considered is what happened after Lazarus is brought back to life. V.45 is pretty happy. It tells us that after this miracle, some people came to believe in Jesus as God. V.46, on the other hand, is not. Because it tells us that some of the Jews present went back to Jerusalem and began to complain to the leaders there about the dangerousness of Jesus. The rest of the chapter after that explains how it was as a result of Lazarus’ raising that some of the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. V.53: From that day on, they planned to put him to death. It was the miracle of Lazarus that made the chief priests decide to arrest Jesus.

     And I’m going to venture a guess and say that Jesus knew it. Jesus says that the reason he wants to go and heal Lazarus personally, rather than from far away, is so that it can strengthen or birth people’s faith in him. But the result of this miracle was Jesus’ own death.

     Now, this doesn’t clear up the questions we may have about why Jesus allowed the suffering and pain. I don’t think I’ll have those answers for quite some time, like when I go to heaven, if then. I don’t think I’ll have the answers about why God allows so much evil in the world around us right now; even if it’s because of free will, God still chose to give that to us, and sometimes it’s a hard sell to make me convinced that that was the right move.

     What I can know is that God is right there with us through it. Not only did Jesus let Lazarus die. Not only did Jesus weep at the sadness of his friends and loved ones, and mourn right along with them. Jesus himself encountered a death that could have been easily avoided. Even though he asked quite a price from Lazarus, to die and be brought back to life so that others might believe, he asked an even higher price of himself. For, he also submitted to death so that others might truly live. He didn’t ask anything of Lazarus that he didn’t also do himself, to an infinitely greater degree.

     And I think it was probably the fact that Jesus faithfully submitted to being raised to eternal life that enabled him to bring Lazarus back to physical life. That’s what enabled him to shout with a loud voice, “Lazarus, Come Out!!!” and enabled his voice to invoke a powerful new reality, the calling of life out of death.

     As I imagine all this in my mind, I always want to laugh thinking about Lazarus walking out of that tomb, or maybe hopping out like a bunny with his legs tied together, covered in all those grave-clothes. It must have been a pretty funny sight. But once I get beyond that, I’m struck by the fact that Jesus’ voice had to get through quite a lot of stuff to be heard; A dead brain, a stopped heart, and all those grave-clothes.

     Thank God Jesus’ voice still works. Because sometimes I have quite a bit of stuff piled up around me that would make it very difficult for any lesser God’s voice to get through. Sometimes I walk around as if I’m brain-dead. I don’t use my head to think of what God calls me to do in a particular situation. I don’t use my mind to think of God’s goodness or love or protection thus far. Instead, I use my brain to think of the anxieties, of the pressures.

     I occasionally have a stopped heart too. A heart stopped to the needs of God’s people. A heart stopped to the sacrificial side of being a Christian, a heart stopped to not only tolerating my enemies, but seeing them as God’s beloved and actively loving them too.

     And I know for a fact that I wrap myself up in the things of death. And I doubt that I’m the only one. It’s so tempting to be a workaholic, to increase our busyness just because we enjoy the feeling of being busy. It’s so much easier to refuse to give ourselves time to reflect on our lives because we’re afraid of what we might find. And we certainly don’t want God to see it! Anger is a companion that can keep us long company, even if it eats away at the relationships God has called for us to have. The same is true of old grudges, of course.  Cynicism saves us the trouble of suffering through the pain of having to hope for redemption. Refusing to trust others, the urge to be self-reliant instead of dependent on the divine, keep us from moving outside of ourselves. Only allowing superficial relationships, because we are certainly not ready for what people or God will think if they see all of who I am. Self-pity, guilt that we won’t even let God’s grace remove, fear, being afraid of being happy, compartmentalizing God away from other areas in our lives, as if there is such a thing, pride, addictions, affairs, deceit. All of it, it just covers us up, suffocates us, leads us down the path of emotional, mental, spiritual disease and death.

     I thank my God that Jesus still calls, “Lindsay, come out!!!”. “You whom I love, come out!!!”. Come out of all the things that only kill your soul. I’m thankful for a God with a powerful voice, and for Jesus, who died so that I didn’t have to be swallowed by that kind of death. Because of his sacrifice, he has a voice strong enough to speak words of life to even the deadest of us all. Come out!! He says. Thanks be to God. Amen.