S149P4 – Stories of life and death: Lazarus
Jn. 11:11-16
After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
I think we all can agree that the Lord has nothing to prove to anyone. He bears no burden to substantiate his deity or his authority, and this goes for all the persons of God. We have seen the dramatic scenes in movies or television shows, or we have lived the dramatic scenes ourselves, where an individual calls out to God to show himself if He is real. If we read the scriptures, we will see that the proof of his existence is already there for all to see. [Rom. 1:18-20] Yet, God in his graciousness sometimes obliges. In his own time and for his own purposes, He very well might move. That is what we see here. Even though the disciples had not made the explicit request, God wanted to show them some kind of proof.
We can speculate regarding what exactly it was Jesus wanted the disciples to believe by this resurrection. Of course, some things are obvious. If the disciples had any doubts about the miraculous powers by which Christ operated, this would show the potential limits of that power. If they doubted whether He was the Son of God, this would show them proof of that as well. Considering the precise miracle He performed here, I think Jesus was aiming to show something much more specific about himself. If He could raise Lazarus from the dead, then He certainly had power over death. That is something the disciples would have to believe if they were to believe what Christ told them about himself [Mt. 16:21-23] and what they would see of him with their own eyes. [Jn. 20-21]
The story of Lazarus is about many things. It is about a man, a friend so loved by the Lord that He would resurrect him. It is about a testimony to the world of who Messiah is. I think the weightest implication of this event is the fact that the Lord has power over death. We must have faith in his resurrection, so we must have faith in this power first. Otherwise, without the proof of Christ’s resurrection power, we cannot possibly believe that our promised resurrection will come. [1 Cor. 15] The life, death, and return to life of Lazarus is a foreshadowing proof of the Lord’s resurrection power. Father, thank You for every small and large way by which You prove your truth to us.