Why Did Jesus Let Lazarus Die?
What John 11 Reveals About Godâs Love
Godâs apparent delay is never evidence of His absence or lack of love; His love often works through suffering to reveal His glory and deepen faith.
Someone you love is sick.
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Â It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3Â Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, âLord, behold, he whom You love is sick.â
âJohn 11:1-3 NKJV
The story begins by establishing that Jesus loved Lazarus, while simultaneously introducing Lazarus to the reader. (For more on Mary and Martha, see Luke 10:38-42; see footnotes)
4Â When Jesus heard that, He said, âThis sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.â
âJohn 11:4 NKJV
No need to continue reading the story; we already know that the sickness is not fatal. Or perhaps more accurately, this will not end in death but in God being glorified through it. We will address this in more detail later on. A question worth pondering is what level of discomfort are you willing to face to bring glory to God? I know, I know, it makes me uncomfortable also. It would be great for God to be glorified in our lives of ease and unparalleled success. But if suffering is required for God to be glorified and for many to receive eternal salvation, how much discomfort are you willing to bear?
I promise Jesus loves them.
5Â Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Â So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7Â Then after this He said to the disciples, âLet us go to Judea again.â
âJohn 11:5-7 NKJV
I find Johnâs desire to clarify that Jesus loves Lazarus, and Martha and Mary almost funny. I imagine John writing this story and thinking, this does not look good. It looks like Jesus doesnât care. The way the story progresses makes it seem like Jesus does not, in fact, love Lazarus or his sisters. So John adds the comment in verse 5 to clarify that Jesus does, in fact, love Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. This comment seems almost funny, except for the fact that I find myself continually being reminded that God does, in fact, love me, that He has not forgotten me, that He is not angry or disappointed in me, that He has a plan. It is a good plan, even if it does not feel like it in the moment.
Godâs love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love. The fact that He loves us, and we love Him is no guarantee that we will be sheltered from the problems and pains of life. After all, the Father loves His Son: and yet the Father permitted His beloved Son to drink the cup of sorrow and experience the shame and pain of the Cross. We must never think that love and suffering are incompatible. Certainly they unite in Jesus Christ.
âWarren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 334.
God's apparent delay is never evidence of His absence or lack of love.
8Â The disciples said to Him, âRabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?â
âJohn 11:8 NKJV
Bethany was close to Jerusalem, and last time Jesus was in Jerusalem, it did not go well, with the Jews threatening to stone or arrest Jesus (John 10:31-39).
(see footnote âThe Jews in the Gospel of Johnâ)
9Â Jesus answered, âAre there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10Â But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.â
âJohn 11:9-10 NKJV
(See John 8:12; 9:4-5 and footnotes)
11Â These things He said, and after that He said to them, âOur friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.â
12Â Then His disciples said, âLord, if he sleeps he will get well.â 13Â However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
âJohn 11:11-12 NKJV
Jesus tells His disciples that Lazarus is sleeping and that He is going to wake him up, and the disciples share some wisdom with Jesus. The disciples were already concerned about the trip, and once they found out Lazarus was sleeping, they felt compelled to explain to Jesus that people who were sick and sleeping usually woke up feeling better. The disciples probably breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they had averted a potentially disastrous trip, not realizing that Jesus was talking about death.
(For more New Testament references to death as sleep, see Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. For more on the topic of death as sleep, see my footnotes)
14Â Then Jesus said to them plainly, âLazarus is dead. 15Â And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.â
âJohn 11:14-15 NKJV
Well, that escalated quickly. The disciples must have gone from feeling hopeful that Lazarus would heal on his own to feeling hopeless, realizing that Lazarus was already dead. If Lazarus is dead, then why bother going there? It is sad and all, but nothing can be done now. Perhaps the disciples were sad but also briefly relieved, thinking they would not need to go to Bethany after all.
Jesusâ words seem harsh and indifferent to the suffering of others. How can He say he is glad for the sake of His disciples that he was not there? Did not the disciples already believe enough? How would Lazarusâ death possibly help grow anyoneâs faith? Verses like John 11:6,15 make Jesus sound uncaring. Is Jesus so caught up with His mission and His Fatherâs plan that He is indifferent to our suffering? Have you ever felt this way? Even if you werenât willing to say it out loud?
16Â Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, âLet us also go, that we may die with Him.â
âJohn 11:16 NKJV
I am not sure if Thomas was the only human realist in the group or merely the only one willing to voice his thoughts regarding their current course of action.
How easy it is for our human limitations and problems to crowd out the sense of divine presence in our lives. To his credit, Thomas was willing to follow Jesus to death.
17Â So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18Â Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19Â And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
âJohn 11:17-19 NKJV
We are not given a clear timeline of how long it took Jesus to arrive, but we know that by the time He arrives, Lazarus has been dead and in the tomb for four days. There is no doubt that Lazarus is dead. Also, the reader is clearly told how close Bethany is to Jerusalem; this explains the fear of the disciples in going there as well as the presence of the Jews. In this instance, the Jews got there before Jesus and appeared to be doing a better job at comforting the grieving sisters than Jesus, who is arriving at least four days too late.
20Â Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21Â Now Martha said to Jesus, âLord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22Â But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.â
âJohn 11:20-22 NKJV
Martha goes to meet Jesus as soon as she hears that He is coming. Martha tells Jesus what we have all been thinking. If Jesus had been there, her brother would not have died. We could reword her comments to: If Jesus had cared, her brother would not have died, since we have examples of Jesus healing people who were not physically present with Him (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10; John 4:46-54; Matthew 15:21-28). I could understand Martha being bitter about Jesusâ failure to save her brother. If Martha began to doubt Jesusâ love or power, I would not be surprised, but she still believes that God will answer Jesusâ prayer. Even as she mourns, Marthaâs faith remains strong.
I have witnessed many walk away from God after God allowed a loved one to die. Or because God did not answer a prayer fast enough, or the way He was expected to answer. Here we have a beautiful example of a person who knew Jesus, who loved Jesus, and who trusted Him even when He apparently failed her and her family.
God's apparent delay is never evidence of His absence or lack of love.
23Â Jesus said to her, âYour brother will rise again.â
24Â Martha said to Him, âI know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.â
âJohn 11:23-24 NKJV
Jesus comforts Martha with the promise of resurrection. Martha is not surprised by this. Martha has a solid theological understanding of the resurrection of the dead at the last day (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; John 5:28-29; Daniel 12:2-3).
Jesus is the resurrection
25Â Jesus said to her, âI am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26Â And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?â
27Â She said to Him, âYes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.â
âJohn 11:25-27 NKJV
Sometimes people joke that Jesus is the answer to all the questions ever asked in church. But there is a significant amount of truth to that. Jesus is the personification of everything we believe and all that we need. Jesus is the answer to all our needs. Jesus clarifies to Martha that He is the resurrection as well as the life. We are not immortal; we do not have life in and of ourselves; we receive life from Jesus. Jesus is the resurrection and the life; death to Him is just like sleep to us. There is no reason to panic. With Jesus, we never have to be concerned about death.
Even though Jesus was late and her brother is dead, Martha believed the words of Jesus. She believed He was the Christ, the Son of God who came to the world.
28Â And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, âThe Teacher has come and is calling for you.â 29Â As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30Â Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31Â Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, âShe is going to the tomb to weep there.â
âJohn 11:28-31 NKJV
Apparently, proclaiming her faith out loud boosted her faith, and Martha went to call Mary. When Mary realizes that Jesus is there, she quickly gets up to go to Him. Jesus had not yet come into town, and as the Jews saw Mary leaving, they assumed she was going to weep at the tomb and follow her. Though Martha was being secretive, Maryâs encounter with Jesus would be accompanied by a group of witnesses.
32Â Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, âLord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.â
33Â Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34Â And He said, âWhere have you laid him?â
They said to Him, âLord, come and see.â
âJohn 11:32-34 NKJV
Jesus has to deal with the emotional impact of Maryâs broken heart, just like He did with Martha. I imagine it would be difficult to deal with the grief of the sisters of a friend I loved. Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and to have Mary and Martha at different times run to Him, fall at His feet, and share how, if only He had come sooner, if only He had been there, they would not have had to experience the worst pain of their lives.
I believe that Martha and Mary not only had to deal with the pain of losing their brother and probably the source of income for their home, their legal guardian (someone who would go to court for them), and their beloved brother, but they also had to deal with the nagging question of why Jesus didnât get there sooner.
Why had Jesus allowed this to happen?
Didnât Jesus love them?
Didnât Jesus love Lazarus?
Didnât Jesus have the power to heal the sick, even from a distance?
Knowing Jesus personally, believing in Him with all their heart, and witnessing their brother getting worse and dying must have been incredibly difficult. Mourning for four days after Lazarusâ burial must have been the worst experience of their lives. And now Jesus shows up. How should they react? How did Jesus feel witnessing all this suffering?
35Â Jesus wept.
36Â Then the Jews said, âSee how He loved him!â
37Â And some of them said, âCould not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?â
âJohn 11:35-37 NKJV
Jesus wept. This is one of the shortest verses in the Bible; anyone can easily memorize it. I encourage you to dedicate John 11:35 to memory. Whenever you wonder where God is, if He cares, why He has not shown up the way you wanted and expected Him to, remember this verse. God is not distant and indifferent to our sufferings. God suffers with us.
The story recorded in John 11 makes it clear that Jesus was glad for the disciplesâ sake that He was not there for Lazarus, that they may believe (John 11:15), but the biblical text is also very clear that this broke Jesusâ heart. Hear me out. I would argue that Jesus suffers even more than we do. Because Jesus is more loving and more compassionate than we could ever be, when we hurt, He hurts even more. When we suffer, He suffers more. Jesus was willing to die to save us.
Whenever you are tempted to doubt Godâs love, take a look at the cross and see how far He was willing to go for you.
The Jews who had followed Mary witnessed Jesus weeping and understood this for what it was: evidence of Jesusâ love for Lazarus. Now the Jews ask among themselves a question we often ask ourselves. Could not the same God who did the miracles we read about in the Bible have helped us in our time of need? One possibility for Lazarusâ death was that Jesus did not really love him. Now that the Jews see that Jesus indeed loved Lazarus, the other option is that maybe Jesus lacked the power to heal Lazarus.
How do we react when God does not answer our prayers the way we expect Him to? Do we doubt His love or His power?
In the story of Lazarus, Jesus tells us that this will be for the glory of God and that He will be glorified through it. This can make God seem distant and uncaring if read by itself. This is why context is so important. Though Lazarusâ death will indeed bring glory to God, it is equally true that Jesus wept. I would argue that Jesus suffered more than anyone else there because Jesus has a greater capacity to love and experience compassion without any trace of selfishness. Jesus can be 100% aware of the plan, know that it will work, know that it will be good, and still suffer with the emotional toll of the plan.
Doing the right thing, doing Godâs will, and doing things for the honor and glory of God do not make it easy. The right thing is not always the easy thing; oftentimes it is much harder to do the right thing. The loving thing to do is not necessarily to pander to your immediate emotions, but to understand the will of God and submit to it for the greater good. This is not easy, and most of us fail at it. We fail because we are weak and selfish. We fail because we donât know God. We fail because we prefer comfort to mission. We prefer distraction to spiritual growth. We place our selfish desires above Godâs will.
We prefer for our brother to live today rather than for our community to witness the power and true identity of Jesus four days later. We choose our comfort today over a life-transforming, soul-winning witness of the power and character of God tomorrow.
I strongly believe that God guides our lives in the way we would want to be guided if we could see things from His perspective. We may not like it now; He doesnât either. We cry, and He weeps with us. But we have to believe that His plans are better than our plans and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that we serve a mighty and loving God who desires what is best for all.
God's apparent delay is never evidence of His absence or lack of love. Jesus let Lazarus die not because He didn't care, but because He loved them enough to accomplish something greater.
Look at the cross and know that God loves you. Understand that the struggle youâre currently facing may bring a blessing to you or someone else in the future. Trust in Godâs love, power, and plan. Turn to God in faith as you face lifeâs trials.
âI have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.â
âJohn 16:33 ESV
Footnotes/further reading:
Lazarus is not mentioned in the Bible before John 11, and afterward he is only mentioned in John 12. Also, Maryâs anointing of Jesus wonât happen until John 12, but John assumes that his readers would already be familiar with the story of Mary anointing Jesus (Mark 14:3-9; Matthew 26:6-13; John 12:1-8).
It is likely that other disciples felt equally hopeless and discouraged about the outcome of their journey. Good thing we never feel this way, right? We would never feel discouraged about what Jesus is calling us to do. We would never grow weary in doing good. (Galatians 6:9) My point is that it can be easy for us to judge the disciples when we behave similarly. Myself included. How often does ministry seem doomed to fail? What is the frequency with which you have become discouraged in trying to help others and make a positive impact in the lives of those around you?
âThe Jewsâ in the Gospel of John
Is John antisemitic?
The short answer is no.
Jesus could have commented on how odd it was for his disciples to claim that the Jews sought to stone Him, had they forgotten that they were also Jews?
In general, we must remember that virtually all of the primary personalities introduced in the Gospel, with the major exception of Pilate, are Jews. The stern polemic in chaps. 5â11, therefore, as I have argued at length in the commentary, is not basically a battle waged against all Jews by outsiders but a battle by Jews against an institutional Judaism that had rigidly defined its borders to exclude Jesus, as the Messiah, and his followers.
In John this institutional Judaism is basically pictured as composed of the high priest(s) and the legalistic Pharisees.
[âŚ]
The use of the term âJewsâ here, as in most of the Gospel, belies immediately an adversarial thrust to these persons. While there is an affirmation at 4:22 that salvation is from the Jews, the major use of the term âJewsâ in this Gospel seems to be connected with officials of the temple and synagogue. They are portrayed by the writer as the opponents of Jesus. This adversarial use of the term âJewsâ could easily reflect the experience of the evangelist and the Christian community in terms of hostility from institutional Judaism as represented by the synagogue. The temple of course had already been destroyed (a.d. 70) by the time of the writing of this Gospel.
âGerald L. Borchert, John 1â11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 71,126.
This response seems odd to me, but it does tie in thematically with Jesusâ teachings in the Gospel of John. Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12; 9:5), and He must do the works of Him who sent Him while it is day. (John 9:4) I see the references, but I still need to study this further. My current understanding of this is that Jesusâ time had not yet come, so it was safe for them to travel to Bethany.
The following comparisons demonstrate the suitability of sleep as a figure by which to represent death:
Sleep is a state of unconsciousness. âThe dead know not any thingâ (Eccl. 9:5, 6).
Sleep is rest from all outward activities of life. âThere is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the graveâ (Eccl. 9:10).
Sleep renders conscious thought impossible. âHis breath goeth forth ⌠his thoughts perishâ (Ps. 146:4).
Sleep continues until one is awakened. âSo man lieth down ⌠till the heavens be no moreâ (Job 14:12).
Sleep prevents association in the activities of those who are awake. âNeither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is doneâ (Eccl. 9:6).
Sleep renders inoperative the emotions of the soul. âTheir love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perishedâ (Eccl. 9:6).
Sleep comes normally and inevitably to all. âThe living know that they shall dieâ (Eccl. 9:5).
Sleep causes all praise of God to cease. âThe dead praise not the Lordâ (Ps. 115:17; cf. Isa. 38:18).
âFrancis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 1013.
In the Scriptures it is used to intimate that death will not be final: that there will be an awaking out of this sleep, or a resurrection. It is a beautiful and tender expression, removing all that is dreadful in death, and filling the mind with the idea of calm repose after a life of toil, with a reference to a future resurrection in increased vigour and renovated powers. In this sense it is applied in the Scriptures usually to the saints, 1 Corinthians 11:30; 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 5:10; Matthew 9:24.
âAlbert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: Luke & John, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884â1885), 297.
Martha recited the standard Old Testament view of the resurrection,
âKenneth O. Gangel, John, vol. 4, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 216.
When we read the entire Bible (both New and Old Testaments), we see a consistent view of what happens when we die. For a deeper dive, see my post What Happens When We Die? and Saul and the Witch of Endor: What Really Happened in 1 Samuel 28?
A more accurate picture of God
Some may wonder. Maybe Jesus is just a body possessed by a generous portion of the spark of life from the unmoved mover. Maybe Jesus is just an avatar for the timeless God who experiences all of time simultaneously as the present and therefore is unable to relate to our emotions and our linear experience of time. Maybe He was a physical representation of almighty God who feels no emotion. Some may have those views of God, and great philosophical arguments for such views (see Hellenization of Christianity). But I am interested in the picture of God that the Bible paints. The biblical text paints a beautiful picture of Jesus weeping with those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. The God of the Bible is a personal God who cares deeply about us.
You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
âPsalm 56:8 NKJV
