Jesus Let Him Die

I'm speaking of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha that He loved so much. This family who lived about two miles from Jerusalem in the small town of Bethany received the Lord into their lives as if He was their own.

It would seem that Martha was the head of the house and it was she that received Jesus under her roof. (Luke 10:38-42) There are some who think perhaps she was a widow, and her brother Lazarus and younger sister Mary lived with her. If this was so, having the care and responsibility of the household, would also explain why she was so diligent about her domestic affairs.

But Lazarus falls sick. As a beloved friend, all of the Lord's human affections would naturally be concerned for him. Martha and Mary also know this and they send Him word in Jerusalem that their brother was sick … please come.

But Jesus stays where He is and doesn't come. Jesus let's him die.

The complete story can be found in John 11:1-46.

Mary and Martha know the sick can be healed … but they also know there is no remedy for death. All is over for Lazarus if he dies. Nothing remains after death but the judgment of God. They also know that someday there will be a resurrection from the dead. But these two things would be of no value to them right now in the presence of the death of their brother.

They know Jesus can heal, that's why they sent for Him; but the Lord does not heal this time; He doesn't come or even send His Word. He allows the natural evil of death to go on to the end. Death is the end of natural life, but resurrection is the end of death.

Death came before Jesus.

In the presence of death, many times faith is done away with. Sorry, but it's true … it's a fact of life. I don't know where faith goes, it just goes. The faith and hope of neither Mary nor Martha went any farther than … Jesus might have healed … had He been there.

Jesus comes … Martha goes to Jesus and says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Martha then calls Mary who comes and falls down at His feet weeping, her heart melted under the sense of death in the presence of the One who had … life. Mary's weeping is an expression of need and sorrow. Her heart pours out its need at the feet of Jesus, where she had listened many times before.

Mary had sat at Christ's feet before to hear His word, and here we find her there once again needing more this time than just His words. She fell at His feet as one submitting to His will in what was done, and in what was now to be done.

Jesus knowing full well what He was going to do enters into her sorrow when He sees her weeping. He groans in His spirit and was troubled by this death … and also weeps with her.

Christ came to bring life to dead men. This was what He came for.

Martha believed, but she busied her heart with many things. She loved Jesus; she received Him into her house and the Lord loved her. But it was Mary who had listened to Him and fed upon those words of life from Him while Martha served. The good part, the words which she had received from Him would not be taken from her.

The four days of corruption in the grave was no hindrance to God. At the command of Jesus, Lazarus is raised. Death is no more … when Jesus arrives.

But He let him die … Jesus put His loved ones, perhaps the closest friends He had on earth through the pain and sorrow and loss that comes with death … and for what?

He gives two reasons why He delayed so long in going to him.

1.) "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there." If He had been there in time, He would have healed him and prevented his death; but His disciples would have seen nothing more than what they had seen before, consequently their faith would not have grown.

2.) "To the intent that you may believe." Now that He raised Lazarus from the dead, there were many that came to believe on Him who before did not.

In the natural, death has no remedy. Could there be a 3rd reason not mentioned in scripture? Was it to show that the one thing that looks so final … death … at least as far as this life is concerned is not really final?

Because we read in scripture of no one having ever died while Jesus was present, some suppose that death itself had no power around the one who had … life.

That sounds about right to me. "In Him was life … and the life was the light of men."


Comments welcome.