This article is based on a conversation from Episode 143 of the Into the Harvest podcast. Click here to listen to the full conversation.
Lazarus had been dead four days when Jesus arrived.
Every time I read John 11, I forget how long four days is. The story for us happens in forty-plus verses. In a matter of minutes, we find out Lazarus is ill, dead, and then brought back.
But for Mary and Martha, he had been gone for four days.
Have you ever felt alone? Desperate for God to answer and hearing nothing?
The morning after my mother passed away, there was a feeling that the sun shouldn’t rise again. It felt unreasonable to have to survive another day after such sorrow.
Did Mary and Martha feel the same? His death left them in a vulnerable state, adding a security crisis to their grief. When one bad thing happens, it feels like everything else piles on.
They had called for Jesus while Lazarus was still alive. Seeking Jesus in times of crisis is the right response, but what happens when it seems like he doesn’t come? Why does he delay?
He tells his disciples in John 11:15:
And for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe
It’s for them and their belief that they didn’t rush to Bethany. The miracle needed four days of waiting.
Four days. Why four days?
One of the beliefs held during this time was that corruption sets in after three days. By the fourth day, the spirit had left the body. What Jesus is about to do is not just a miracle, but an impossible one.
We can see the hesitation from Martha at the tomb in verse 39:
“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
He’s begun to decay; it’s too late.
Martha had declared so much faith a few moments before. She told Jesus that she knew that even late, Jesus could ask God for whatever and God would give it to him. She seems to have faith that Jesus can do something- but even she can’t comprehend what he’s about to do.
But Jesus has a miracle up His sleeve. It has to be four days so that they may believe. Not just believe that Jesus was a great rabbi, not just that he could work miracles, but they needed to see he was Lord over life and death.
When we are in the midst of our suffering and pain, it’s easy to only see the delay and be discouraged.
“God, where are you in this?” “If you had only been here…”
Lazarus teaches us that the miracle is found in the waiting. He died the brother of Mary and Martha, and four days later he is “the man who had died” (v. 44). His very life testifies to who Jesus is.
We don’t have a record of how the sisters react to his restoration, but I can’t help but think it looks like the leper from Luke 17:15-16
“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.”
How do we act when we are in the midst of the struggle? Martha seeks Jesus before the worst and comes out to meet him when her loss is great. Prepare for the hardships before they are hard, by coming to the Word and building our relationship with the Father. Seek Jesus when the days are sunny, so when storms rage, your eyes know where to go automatically.
Believe when it seems impossible. Jesus let Lazarus die. Mary and Martha’s hope died when the tomb closed. Was Jesus still good when he didn’t meet Martha’s expectations? Our hope isn’t in getting what we want. Our hope is founded in what Jesus has already done for us. I don’t want to sound flippant in this- loss hurts. For four full days, Mary and Martha’s world was shattered. I’ve made funeral plans and picked flowers for a casket. I hold every confidence that Jesus conquered death and the earthly pain Mary, Martha, you and I walked through is only a temporary one.
Once you’ve come to the other side of the struggles take a page from the leper. Loudly praise and fall to your face before the Lord in thanksgiving. The miracles done then and now have a purpose. Sin leads to death. Death is surrounded by stench and weeping and brokenness. The restoration is so others can believe Jesus was sent by God to show God’s glory. Even when the miracle is delayed or doesn’t play out the way we expected: Praise God.
Where are you waiting on God? How can we be praying for you today as you wait?
