June 29, 2023
Leaning On the Arms of God
“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” John 11:1-2 (NASB)
As I have grown in my Christian faith, I find myself looking back and wondering how long it took for me to learn certain lessons. The Lord was so willing to teach me so many years back, but I wasn’t listening. I ask myself, “Why?” I now know every time there is something whether it is an emergency or not, I would be better off calling upon the One who knows the answers to my situation. Mary and Martha both ran to Jesus and got the divine intervention that only God can perform. But it didn’t occur on their timetable because God knows when it is time.
“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.” “The public ministry of Jesus is fast drawing to its close; only about three and a half months are left.”[1] Jesus is apparently at the other Bethany beyond the Jordan river. Lazarus, from Bethany, is designated as the village of Martha and Mary to distinguish it from another town called Bethany beyond Jordan. This was added by John in Scripture to avoid confusion as to which Bethany was mentioned. Bethany in today’s passage is about two miles east of Jerusalem on the south-east slope of Olivet and is now called El Azariyeh, after the name of Lazarus. Some interesting things to mention are Lazarus’ name is an abbreviated name for Eleazar (hence Azariyeh), which means “God assists.” The name Bethany means “house of suffering.” In this story we will see the grace of God made evident through divine assistance. Not only is Jesus a good friend of Lazarus, who would normally run to his assistance as any good friend, but this time God Himself would visit Him to show He had the power over death. But Jesus would wait 4 days after he died to visit him again.
“It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” John writes here as one who already is aware the future events being in his past experience. This miracle will be one of the most climatic events of Jesus miracles. This chapter will also be one of the last chapters to see such significant acts, until Jesus’ resurrection. Thus far, “six miracles have already been presented (water into wine [2:1-2], healing of the nobleman’s son [4:46-54], restoring the impotent man [5:1-15], multiplying the loaves and the fishes [6:1-14], walking on the water [6:15-21], and curing the man born blind [9:1-12]. Lazarus’ resurrection is more potent than all those and even more monumental than the raising of the widow’s son in Nain (Luke 7:11-16) because those two resurrections occurred immediately after death. Lazarus was raised 4 days of being in the grave with the process of decomposition already having started (v. 39).”[2]
I read something interesting from Lenski with these passages in mind for practical usage today: “God always sees the end from the beginning, whereas our eyes are holden. An example like this should teach us to trust his purposes and leadings ‘when we cannot see our way.’”[3]
[1] Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The interpretation of St. John’s gospel (p. 778). Augsburg Publishing House.
[2] (MacArthur, John, 1997), 1571.
[3] Ibid.