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1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4 When he heard this, Jesus 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 11:1-4
This, the seventh miracle in John's Gospel, is without a doubt, the greatest of the miracles of the Lord Jesus. Similar to the healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda in John 5, and the opening of the eyes of the man born blind in John 9, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, results in people believing the Lord Jesus as the Messiah.
Mary, Martha and Lazarus were very good friends of the Lord Jesus. Mary and Martha's brother, Lazarus, was really sick. So sick, he could die. And, these two women send a message to the Lord Jesus: "Lord, the one you love is sick." You will remember that He had traveled back to the northeast, about a two-day journey from Jerusalem.
In v.2, the sister of Lazarus, Mary, is going to, in the next chapter, anoint the Lord with her hair. The Apostle John is reaching forward to use a remarkable moment in the life of this woman who’s going to love Jesus in a unique way. This is John's way of pointing us to one of the two main themes in this story.
This is what our pain does for us, if we let it. Our pain modulates our hearts in such a way that we begin to see how big God's heart is for us. Not many think this way, but we must. I'm convinced, most theological shallowness that we see in modern day christianity is due to the fact that we do not value pain appropriately.
Our pain potentially puts us in a posture to grow in our understanding of God's love. And, His love postures us to give glory to God. When we encounter unwanted pain, when life does not go the way we think or want, He is positioning us to go deeper with Him. Love is not a minor theme in this story, it is huge in this story. And, our understanding of God's love for us is crucial for the depth that God wants to forge into our souls.
When the message from these two sisters reached the Lord Jesus, 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." Now, Lazarus was already dead when the message reached the Lord Jesus, and it took two days for the messenger to get to the Lord Jesus. So when He returned to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days. This is why He said, "This sickness will not end in death."
The answer of the Lord Jesus smacks in the face of the claim by many that sickness is never the will of God for the believer. They say, "it is wrong for the believer to be sick. The sickness is due to lack of faith, some hidden sin or judgment from God." No, trouble is one half of our deepening, and its absence is undermining to our heart's ability to see God.
Notice the end of v.4, "No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it." This sickness was not a sign of some sin in Lazarus' life, or a lack of faith on the part of Mary and Martha or Lazarus. It was allowed to spotlight the glory of God. That is not saying, of course, that there is no such thing as sickness that results from sin. Other passages indicate that some sickness does result from sin. But we must never take the position that all illness is a sign of unbelief and a lack of faith. This response is not biblical.
The unwanted pains of this life will not make sense if we have ourselves at the center of our world. If we are our treasure, we will miss the brilliance of God. On the other hand, if God is our treasure, we will grow in His wisdom. We will understand what love is because we understand His glory. And, His glory will increasingly show up at the center of our lives.
Our problem is with our trust of God. Does He really have our best in mind? And, this trust is crucially linked to our definition of love and glory. Love is not the removal of pain. It’s not the removal of death. We were made for the glory of God, not just the removal of pain. If we walk through life thinking that minimizing pain is the essence of love, God will be foreign to us. The glory of God in the Lord Jesus is the only thing that can satisfy our souls. We were made for this. Sometimes God must take away our health for us to see this.
BYM Praise/Prayer Update
