AFTER JESUS RAISES HIS FRIEND LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD -- Friday of the First Week of Lent

As we move through Lent thinking about Jesus’ life in the last weeks before He was betrayed by Judas and captured by the Temple guards on orders from the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, it is important to focus on important events that led up to that moment.

And as we continue to accompany Jesus during this Lenten season as He turns His face towards Jerusalem, it is important to think about why that was a dangerous goal. There is no doubt that the reactions of the people of Judea, the Galilee and the other regions Jesus visited were noted by the men in power both politically and religiously. People believed he was a prophet and by the time he came into Jerusalem, He was proclaimed the Messiah and King of the Jews by the multitude that had gathered to celebrate the Passover. There were many reasons for this that were directly related not only to what He taught, but to the healing, deliverance and miracles extant in His ministry.

When we spend time reading about Jesus’ life and ministry in the New Testament, the narrations about healing and deliverance are memorable. When we are open to the Lord, the Holy Spirit illuminates the wonder of those acts and the miracles Jesus performed, like the Feeding of the Five Thousand. We can imagine Jesus talking to the multitudes, sharing the parables we know so well and teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. The miracles and the acts of healing and deliverance that Jesus wrought were signs of God’s presence. They made it clear to the people who met Him and heard about Him that He was a powerful man of God.

Nevertheless, the most amazing signs of God’s presence were when Jesus brought people back to life. The Bible tells us that Jesus brought three people back to life — the young son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-18), the 12 year old girl who was the daughter Jairus, a synagogue leader in the Galilee (Mark 5:35-43), and Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany who were all good friends of Jesus (John 11:1-5).

When Jesus brought the children back from the dead, he was identified as a prophet by the Jewish people. In the Books of 1 and 2 Kings in the Hebrew Bible, it reports that the prophets Elijah and Elisha each raised a boy from the dead, too (1 Kings 17:17-22) and (2 Kings 4:32-35). These signs made it evident to people in their era that each of the prophets was righteous and very close to God. Nevertheless, the death of Lazarus and the fact that Jesus raised him from the dead was a bit different.

First of all, Jesus was across the Jordan in the place where John had baptized, and He was told that His friend Lazarus was ill. The expectation of those who told Him was that He would come and heal Lazarus. Instead, Jesus stayed away where He was and Lazarus died. At the time that Jesus announced the decision to stay away, and was challenged about it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (John 1:4b)

Then, after two days Jesus announced that it was time to go back to Judea. His disciples challenged Him saying, “ . . . a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” (John 11:8) Jesus’ disciples made it clear that they felt Jesus was in danger if he went back to Bethany in Judea. The reasons for this are addressed in the narration in John 10:22-42 that relates some of the turmoil that Jesus encountered in the Temple and in other regions outside of Jerusalem.

Next, as opposed to restoring the children to life right after they died, Jesus did not return to Bethany until Lazarus’ body had been in the tomb for four days. Those who knew him had been mourning for four days, and his sisters were bereft. When Jesus reached the mourners, He cried, too, and the people there saw the level of emotion He felt because of the death of His friend. Then Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb, and he came out.

This was very different and much more public than the raising of the children. Bethany was on the way to one of the gates of Jerusalem, and everyone who traveled that road and who had heard about Lazarus’ return to life would have been able to find out for themselves if it was true.

For people in leadership who did not want to believe that Jesus was who He said He was, the fact of the risen Lazarus living up the road from one of Jerusalem's gates would have been an affront.So even though Jesus' life was already threatened, and He was in grave danger even before He returned to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead, He was in even more danger afterward.

The above is a bit of what I have been thinking as I have spent time with the Lord today. If you have any comments or questions . . or want to share what you have been thinking as you move through the days of Lent, please let me know!

Meanwhile, may the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.