“Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” [John 11:4-7 (NLT)]
Jesus was in Perea on the east side of the Jordan when He learned that Lazarus lay on his sickbed. Why didn’t He immediately return when told that his dear friend was sick? While the timeline is unclear, the messenger probably set out for Jesus as soon as Lazarus took ill. Since it was a day’s journey from Bethany to Perea, Jesus would have heard the news late that first day or early the second. By that time, Lazarus already was dead. With Jewish custom requiring the funeral be within eight hours of death, he probably was buried, as well. Nevertheless, even though Jesus knew that He’d miraculously resurrect the dead man, He seemed strangely unconcerned. Rather than immediately return to comfort Martha and Mary and cut short their time of mourning, Jesus waited around on day two and three and didn’t arrive in Bethany until the fourth day.
Jesus never seemed to do anything by accident and this delay was deliberate. In fact, He told the disciples “For your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe.” [John 11:15] Lazarus wouldn’t be His first miraculous resurrection; what was different about this one? The Midrash, an ancient commentary on Hebrew Scriptures, helps explain Jesus’ delay. Jewish tradition held that the soul hovered around trying to reenter its dead body for three days. It was not until the body started to decompose on the fourth day that the soul finally departed. Rabbi Ben Kaphra wrote: “For three days the spirit hovers about the tomb, if perchance it may return to the body. But when it sees the fashion of the countenance changed, it retires and abandons the body.” [Genesis Rabbah 100:7] Although an extra-Biblical tradition, Ben Kaphra’s words reflect Jewish popular opinion of the day.
Prior to this, Jesus had raised two other people from the dead but those resurrections were within that three-day period the soul supposedly remained near the body. The resurrection of Jairus’s daughter was done privately and immediately after her death. The widow’s son was resurrected within a day of his death during his funeral procession. Having occurred so quickly after death, those previous miracles could be discounted by Jesus’ enemies. Lazarus, however, had been dead four days, his body had started to decompose, and any lingering soul was long gone! Even though Martha warned Jesus of the tomb’s foul odor, He had its stone rolled aside. When the Lord called Lazarus from the burial chamber, the once dead man walked out of his tomb unassisted.
Jesus knew what He was doing when He delayed His return to Bethany. The resurrection of Lazarus occurred in full view of the many people who’d come to mourn with the sisters and well past the time any other explanation for the miracle could be offered. The raising of Lazarus was an in-your-face all-out undeniable miracle. Jesus deliberately staged this scene for “the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”
According to John’s gospel, the resurrection of Lazarus was the deciding factor (the “final straw”) that caused the Jewish leaders to plot Jesus’ death. How ironic that, by giving life to Lazarus, Jesus set in motion the very circumstances that would lead to His own death.
Devotions of the Heart 