John 11:14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles[a] away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.[d] And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” (emphasis mine)
This has always been a confusing story to me. Why would Jesus deliberately take His time? Why did He tarry when He could have prevented Lazarus' death? Just so that people could believe? Belief was more important than saving someone's life, and was worth the emotional roller coaster? It is comforting that Christ was troubled and wept. He enters into our sorrow. Four days. I would have been pretty upset at Jesus by then if He were a close friend and I knew and believed in what He could do. People who lose loved ones even now get mad at God. We know He could have prevented it and very often does for other people.
Some suffer in order to increase their faith. The fact that Lazarus was dead for four days, longer than any other person who had been raised from the dead is significant too. Christ shows that there is no amount of time that is too long to be raised again. Four days is too long for a mother to wait. A whole earthly lifetime is too long to wait to be rejoined with a loved one. Much too long. And Jesus wept for this fact.
I remember the cloth over Jamie's (as well as my son Isaac's) face, and I can't wait, but God defiantly makes us anyway, till it is removed and his body is set free from its confines at Holy Archangel's Ephraimite Greek Orthodox Monastery. Aionia Mneme, Kyrie Eleison. Memory Eternal, Lord have mercy.
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