Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he [Lazarus] was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was." John 11:5-6
Continuing our study of Mary of Bethany, we looked at the account in John 11 of her brother Lazarus' death, and her immense disappointment with Jesus. Mary knew Jesus as her rabbi and as the Messiah, but because Jesus had been a regular guest in her family's home, they had also become good friends. When Jesus didn't respond to the plea for help on behalf of her brother, Mary was forced into a theological crisis. She had to wrestle with who God is and what he was doing in this situation. Everything she believed about Jesus was called into question. Not only was Mary dealing with the loss of her brother, she also had to work through her belief that Lazarus' death could have been prevented if only God would have intervened. Many of us have been there.
As C. S. Lewis noted, God is not a tame lion. He is not predictable. Isaiah 55:9 reminds us that his ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Mary and Martha knew Jesus loved them, so naturally they expected him to comply with their urgent request to heal their brother. They had seen him heal many other people, after all. In the same manner, we often expect Jesus to comply with our requests...because he loves us. We must be careful, though, not to ascribe our fallible understanding of love to our expectations of God, and remember that in any given situation, it is God's glory that is the governing principle behind his actions. That truth should give us great comfort, because, in seeking his own glory, he also secures the good of his children. "For Jesus to gain glory, he must pursue his own path, even if it means disappointing his dearest friends. Their call was to trust him - easy to say and hard to do when circumstances unravel as they did [for Mary and Martha]. But trusting is on his terms, not theirs. To be ruled by their suggestions and appeals, or to veer to any course other than his Father's sovereign plan, would deprive them of what they needed most - a clearer view of God." (p. 110) This crisis ultimately intensified the bond between Mary and her Lord, and God was glorified by the growth in her faith.
In this situation, Jesus raised Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days. Those of us who have lost loved ones often live the rest of our lives with an ache that never completely subsides. "But one thing is sure. Whether we are in pain ourselves, or grieving over the sufferings of others, we all live out our theology. Either we will live under a cloud of despair, believing that God has abandoned us, that for a moment we were out of his hands and in the hands of fate or the devil, that we were mistaken when we thought he loved us, that others are more important than we are, or that his power simply doesn't reach this far. Or we will live with hope, even in he midst of pain, knowing that a good and loving God has marked out the race we are running. He has done it for our good and his glory." (pp. 116-117)
~quotes taken from When Life and Beliefs Collide by Carolyn Custis James
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