“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.
Brent Askari’s play, The Refugees, begins with an unusual premise. Because of a violent civil war in the United States, an upscale American family become refugees in a Middle Eastern country. When the family’s Arab social worker referred to the American refugees as “you people,” the once suburban housewife’s expression spoke volumes. In her previous Connecticut life, anyone who wasn’t white and upper middle class had been “those people” but the tables have turned and the roles reversed. Instead of being the ones with the money and advantages, her family and others like them are “those people:” a minority, seeking asylum in a new country, unfamiliar with the customs, and unable to read, write, or speak the language. Wearing clothes they once would have sent to Goodwill, they need government assistance to survive. Her once high-priced lawyer husband is now a stock boy whose boss takes advantage of his immigrant status. This family and other American refugees are as unwelcome in the unnamed Arab country as are the refugees at our border.
Years ago, I often cared for my granddaughter while also watching my son’s dog. The grand in her highchair would push her food around the tray while trying to feed herself. Since fine motor skills are lacking in toddlers, a fair amount of whatever she was eating ended up on the floor. Whatever my grand didn’t get in her mouth became a feast for the dog waiting patiently beneath her for the bits and pieces that fell. When she was a bit older, I think she deliberately dropped a few tidbits for her canine friend.
When considering Solomon’s excess and riches, I recalled comedian George Carlin’s “Stuff” routine. First performed for Comic Relief in 1986, Carlin made fun of our obsession with having stuff. Along with being the King of Israel, Solomon was the King of Stuff. Denying himself nothing, along with his elaborate throne of gold and ivory, he displayed 500 ornamental gold shields on the walls of his palace. Rather than silver, all the king’s goblets and eating utensils were made of pure gold. He had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horseman.
God gifted Solomon with great wisdom and people from every nation journeyed to Solomon’s court to hear his wisdom. Although 1 Kings 3 tells us that Solomon wisely determined the identity of the real mother in a dispute between two women who claimed to have given birth to the same infant [3:16-28], one wise answer hardly seems newsworthy enough to make him famous beyond Israel’s borders. Even the king’s prolific writings and vast knowledge of botany and zoology don’t fully explain his renown. In a world without mass media, what caused his reputation to travel some 1,400 miles to Sheba (modern Yemen)? Sheba’s queen was so interested in meeting the king that she and her entourage made a journey which, including her stay in Judah and the return trip, took two to three years. What about Solomon caused her to travel so far to assess the king’s wisdom and wealth for herself?
My son has a beautiful pomegranate tree in his yard but, when he first purchased the property, he didn’t know what it was. Although showy red flowers eventually appeared, it wasn’t until the flowers developed into deep-red globe-shaped fruit that he knew it was a pomegranate. The tree was recognized by its fruit and it is by our fruit that Christ’s followers are recognized.
Devotions of the Heart 