What do you do when God shows up too late?
Jesus’ experience with Lazarus in John 11 is one of the more befuddling interactions in the Gospel accounts. Even as a child in Sunday school, I struggled to understand the “why” behind this story.
Early in the chapter, we learn that Lazarus is sick, and that his sisters (Mary and Martha, Jesus’ dinner companions from earlier Gospel accounts) send to Jesus for help. He doesn’t go, though.
He says, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (v. 4). Then Jesus remains where he is with his disciples for two more days.
There’s no clear reason given for Jesus’ lingering, either. John’s Gospel doesn’t give us a window into a mission-critical commitment that caused Jesus’ delay; but after those two days, he yielded to Mary and Martha’s request, and heads toward Judea, telling his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up” (v. 11).
When Jesus arrives there, the body has been dead for four days. When Martha comes to meet him, she says, “If you’d been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask” (vv. 21-22).
Martha sometimes gets a bad reputation as someone who’s overly work-focused, sort of a “busybody-type,” but few characters in the New Testament have Martha’s mix of candor and faith. She’s direct with Jesus about her disappointment, while also expressing hope that he can still intervene.
Jesus tells Martha that the resurrection God’s people had been waiting for (and that Lazarus needed) was not something reserved for “the last day,” because Jesus embodies the resurrection.
When Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life” (v. 25), he’s making clear that what God’s people have anticipated has arrived; and Martha catches it. “I believe you are the Messiah, the son of God, who is to come into the world” (v. 27).
Then Mary joins them. They go the tomb together, and John pens the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept” (v. 35). Then Jesus orders the stone removed, raises Lazarus from the dead, and invites his neighbors to take the grave clothes off of him and let him go.
This is a jaw-dropping, nature-defying, news-making type of miracle; but at first glance, it’s mainly useful for Lazarus’ immediate family and neighbors. So how is this miracle good news for us? As I’ve been studying this passage over the past few weeks, I’ve made some important discoveries about how Jesus’ interaction with Lazarus can provide good news for us:
We expect God to show up right on time: but God sometimes upsets our expectations for reasons that are unclear. Jesus waited two days, seemingly for no good reason. By the time he arrived, death had already set in.
We sometimes assume that our conversation with God needs to be genteel; but God can handle our candor, disappointment and our pain … God even weeps with us. Mary and Martha articulate simultaneous pain and trust, because they know that (even if they don’t get Lazarus back), Jesus can be trusted.
Lastly, Lazarus’ resurrection is important because it is one of the first fruits of Jesus’ renewal of all things. The rest of the New Testament makes clear that Jesus intends to make good on his self-authenticating words to Martha: He intends to give life, not just to Lazarus, but to all things.
It doesn’t always seem like that mission is being fulfilled, though.
When we look at the polarization of our societies, the wars raging around our world, the corruption of power in systems; as we see people dying of preventable diseases, and others going hungry, we can know that even when it feels like Jesus arrives too late, he still shows up: weeping with us and bringing new life.
Jesus does some of his best work in moments that feel too late.
Even in a moment that feels like it contains nothing but death, Jesus can bring new life.
For more stories of God’s way of bringing new life, visit wesleyan.org/news.
Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and contributing editor at The Wesleyan Church’s Education and Clergy Development Division.
