Come Out!

Jesus is constantly taking the physical things around us and giving us spiritual lessons. The one with Lazarus is a really important one – especially for his disciples at that time. It was becoming very dangerous for Jesus and his followers because the religious powers in control were very uncomfortable with him and being under Roman rule were anxious to not cause any disturbances that would bring the government down on them. They clearly did not want to identify with Jesus and constantly tried to get rid of him.

In that climate, Jesus received word from Mary and Martha that their brother Lazarus, “the one you love,” was sick. John 11:3 The problem was that Lazarus lived in Bethany, a part of Judea where Jesus was not welcome. To go back there could mean death for all of them. Yet Jesus decides that they will go back. But he waits a couple of days and then says, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” John 11:10 The disciples try one more time to save themselves and Jesus by telling him that Lazarus will get better if he sleeps. They were hoping they wouldn’t need to go.

Now Jesus states it clearly in words the disciples know, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” John 11:15 Why did Lazarus need to die in order for the disciples to believe? Haven’t they been following Jesus and learning from him all along? Haven’t they already decided he was indeed the Christ, the Messiah? What do they need to believe?

When Jesus got there, he comforted first Martha and then Mary. “Your brother will rise again… I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:23, 25 Martha expresses her strong faith, “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was to come into the world.” And even before that, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” John 11:22

Then Jesus shows some of the strongest emotion recorded. He was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” John 11:33 The only other place in Scripture I can recall this kind of emotion was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark says, “he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’” Mark 14:33-34

I wonder if Jesus was thinking about the cross as he approached the tomb of Lazarus. I wonder if his tears and his distress were more than mourning for Lazarus. After all, he knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He had already told the disciples that, though they didn’t understand. I wonder if the “so that you may believe” earlier in this recording was about the tomb of Jesus as well.

I think maybe Jesus wanted the disciples to experience this raising Lazarus from the dead so that a little ways down the road, when he was in the tomb, they would have hope that he could indeed rise from the dead. I wonder if he was giving them something to hold on to – a shred of hope when all seemed lost. A dead man really can walk out of a tomb after several days! You watch and you remember because in a short time, this is what you are going to have to believe to get through those dark days.

I believe that Jesus loved his disciples so much. He didn’t want them to be in the deepest darkest pain of the loss of someone you love. He was trying to make it easier for them. He had talked about it before. Now he was showing them. There is life after death. This death that we dread is not the end of the story.

I wonder what Jesus felt as he “called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” John 11:43. I can only imagine that he was full of joy and maybe even relief. It was the dress rehearsal of the three days in the tomb for him. Maybe it reassured him as well that he could do what he had come to do – die on the cross, suffer death, and rise again! I wonder if when I die, I will hear Jesus voice calling loudly to me, “_____, come out!” I can hardly wait. But, I have a few things to do here first before my time comes.