When I Don't Understand What Jesus Said...

Dear Jesus - Please unstop our ears to hear You as You long to be heard...

John 11 records the story of Lazarus illness, death & resurrection.  Let's take a look and see if we can see ourselves in this story.  I'll omit a few of the verses so keep your eyes on the verse numbers:

John 11 (NKJV)

The Death of Lazarus

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. . ³ Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. ⁷ Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸ The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

¹¹ These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

¹² Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” ¹³ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

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.”

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

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 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.”

Jesus and Death, the Last Enemy

²⁸ And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” ²⁹ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.  

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?”

Lazarus Raised from the Dead

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. 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.”

Our questions are these - and let's ask them of ourselves at the same time:

1. Did Jesus reveal the will of God towards this situation to Martha, Mary and the disciples?  Yes.  Verse 4.  We can say with certainty the disciples heard Him state that, and the message was carried back to Martha and Mary.
2. Did Jesus love Lazarus, Martha, Mary & the disciples?  Yes.  Verse 1 clarifies that towards Lazarus, Verse 2 - which I've omitted - reminds of the love Mary returned to Jesus.  I'm sure you can relate to other verses indicating Jesus' love for the disciples.

Then where did this story 'go off the rails' so to speak?  How is it that verses 8-14 occur?  I mean - if the disciples KNEW what was going to happen, why be concerned about going back to Bethany which was closer to Jerusalem and those who hated Jesus?

Here's where things get a little personal.  In positing to you that in fact, the disciples did NOT understand what Jesus said, I am confessing that I myself frequently do NOT understand what Jesus tells me.  Ouch.  And here is where Martha's story (as well as the disciples' story) becomes my own.  Let's as a few more questions:

1. Did Martha have faith?  Yes. In fact, uncommon faith.  Verses 21, 24 & 27 indicate she - better than the leading religious leaders of her time AND the disciples - possessed an accurate view of the resurrection as well as of who Jesus was.
2. Did Martha's faith cause her to submit her greatest desire to God's will?  Yes.  Verse 22 shows her submitting her faith to Jesus' will.

And yet - verse 39.  Now - if Martha had faith and uncommon faith at that - what is this?  This, my friend, is where the rubber meets the road.  This is the faith required when my senses and my earthly knowledge rise up in front of my eyes and obscure the revealed will of God.  Sure I believe God will be glorified - but how could it possibly happen like this?!  This is gonna stink!  This is not what I expected.  I have nothing in my experience to draw upon for how to deal with this.  The reality of my thoughts condense in the unfortunate truth:  I believe God has made a mistake and I could certainly arrange things better than this.  And here - Jesus with characteristic love and compassion - reminds Martha of her faith in a gently placed question.

Martha is standing in the presence of the God of life and death - He says: Take away the stone.  She says: You have made a MISTAKE!  Can you believe it?!  That is what we do.  We are standing in the presence of the God of all creation - He tells us to do something and we say 'ooooo no.  This is a mistake!'

Beautiful vignette of the love of Jesus.  Does He zap her out of existence right there?  No - He extends tender mercy and patience towards her:   Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”  Praise the Lord - the story continues...

The story proceeds - which speaks to me that Martha's faith is tremulously revived during this traumatic scenario.  And then verse 44 happens.  And we wonder - Why did Jesus have to TELL people to unwrap Lazarus?

The question for me is - does Jesus have to tell ME to unwrap the most precious gift He graciously returns to my heart?  Do I with squeals of delight and excitement watch for what He will do - or do I with fear and trembling balance my faith on the fencepost?  Even worse - do I condemn Him for the mistakes in His judgement and plan?

For me - the answer lies in verse 4.  I must better understand the words of Jesus.  I must have more of His Spirit to discern His guiding, His leading.  I must rest in His revealed Word to me.

Thank You dear Jesus that You DO reveal Your will for my life.  Specifically.  Authentically,  truthfully and literally.  Please cause me to take the time to understand Your words for they are life to me.