John 11: 1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When 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.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”
9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”
There are is an interesting passage here in John 11. John refers to Lazarus was sick and Jesus does not seem to be very concerned at this news. In fact one thing that he does say is that this will not end in death. We know from reading further ahead in the story that Lazarus does indeed die, however we know that Jesus raises him again to life. We can take heart that Jesus knows the end of the story. I think it is very encouraging that we can know that Jesus knows the end of our story too.
Jesus explains that the reason for this entire episode is for Lazarus’s death to glorify God. This is reminiscent of the man who was at the water for 38 years and Jesus said that neither of his parents nor the man himself had sinned but that God would be glorified.
We cannot explain all things. I heard a good description this weekend. A boy was on the beach trying to pour water he scooped up from the ocean into a small hole he had dug. It was of course impossible. And the revelation was that if we try to pour all the knowledge of God into our small brains, it is just as impossible.