Read
John
11
Here’s the cast for today’s drama:
Jesus
12
disciples (Thomas gets a speaking part)
Mary
and Martha who are sisters
Lazarus (Brother to Mary and Martha
and on his last leg)
People coming and going and believing
in Jesus
Some unnamed messengers
A crowd in Bethany (Much like those in
previous chapters). These folks don’t
show up until later.
Jesus and his disciples were at the
Jordan where John the Baptizer began his ministry. They were taking a break from Jerusalem and
Judea. There was a growing contingent of
Jews there that wanted Jesus out of the way.
Killing him would be an acceptable option.
There were also those coming to Jesus
at the Jordan who were seeking the truth and they found him and they believed,
but the atmosphere at the Jordan was a little more relaxed than in
Jerusalem. Still, Jesus was moving
closer to the cross.
News came that Lazarus, a friend to
Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha, had fallen sick. It surely must have been serious for the
sisters to send word to Jesus. If you
had a runny nose or allergies, that might not be newsworthy. I’m thinking it was COVID-1 or COVID-2, but
that’s just speculation.
We don’t know if the messengers were
masked or not, but Jesus knew exactly what was happening. He announced this sickness will not end in
death.
Upon hearing the news of Lazarus’s
illness, Jesus decided to stay at the Jordan for two more days. This is just
speculation again, but I think that the disciples had booked the Jordan-side
resort through AirBnB and had paid for the full week and it was nonrefundable.
We know that’s not the case. Jesus said that this sickness came up Lazarus
so that the Son of Man could glorify God through what he would do. It would also be the tipping point in the
plot to kill Jesus.
As often was the case, the disciples
seemed clueless.
After the two days, Jesus told his
disciples that they were headed to Judea.
That brought the relaxed time at the Jordan to an end. Was their Master getting Sometimers
Disease? Did he not remember that just a
very short time agon they were ready to stone him in Jerusalem?
Then Jesus gave them another light and
darkness, day and night quip to think on.
Maybe it was to give them something to talk about on the walk to
Bethany.
Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will
not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they
stumble, for they have no light.”
Here’s the quiz that goes back to chapter
one and we revisit time and again.
If you are walking with Jesus, you
will not stumble. When your shepherd is
the Good
Shepherd, you are in good company.
The disciples still didn’t get the big
picture. Jesus had to be very blunt with
them, they did not pick up on he is sleeping analogy.
Lazarus is dead.
Had the disciples been paying
attention, they might have remembered Jesus saying that this sickness would not
end in death. So here was their
dichotomy.
· Either Jesus finally got one wrong, or…
· There was more to come. Something unbelievable.
Evidently
while they were questioning their Master’s judgment in returning to the region
where people stood ready to kill Jesus, they had some short-term memory loss. There is no recorded discussion about the
sickness that was upon Lazarus not ending in death.
They should have been able to connect
the dots for the man who turned water
into wine, fed
a multitude with a couple fish and a little bread, walked
on water, and opened
the eyes of a man born blind.
They should have been expecting great
things ahead of them; instead, they seemed certain that certain death awaited
them.
Thomas, who is known most for doubting
that Jesus had been raised from the dead—that
comes later too, here commits to his own death out of loyalty to
Jesus. It has a little machismo to
it. Today is a
good day to die.
I could put this into Marine Corps jargon: Come on you %$#&, do you want to live
forever?
This is Charge of
the Light Brigade stuff, with Thomas shouting Half a league onward. It was much farther than a mile and a half to
Bethany, but the cavalier spirit in the face of death was obvious.
Jesus knew what he would do in
Bethany. The disciples didn’t pick up on
what he had told them. Perhaps Jesus
didn’t want them advertising what he would do in advance.
Whatever the reasons, the disciples
followed into what Thomas portrayed as certain death.
Then Thomas (also
known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we
may die with him.”
The disciples could not see the next
miracle. Perhaps it was beyond what they
thought even their Master could do. The
man’s dead and they couldn’t leave him out overnight, so he is probably already
in the tomb. This would be a good time
to send flowers.
But Jesus was going to Bethany and so
too were his disciples.
Thomas seems to be forever saddled
with the moniker of Doubting Thomas, but here I would like to dub him Loyal
Thomas. The only thing that Thomas
could see ahead of him was death; yet he followed his Master.
He followed his Master.
He followed.
How many times do we find ourselves in
Thomas’s shoes? How many times do we
face situations where we
can’t see a good outcome? We can’t
see what
God will do for us.
We are called to have faith. There was faith in the loyalty of
Thomas. He didn’t know what was ahead
and it
looked like death, but he would follow
his Master.
So here is what we should chew on for
a time.
When following Jesus appears to be
unprofitable, will we follow anyway?
When following him appears to be
costly, will we follow anyway?
When following Jesus might cost us
everything, will we follow anyway?
Things in this out of control world
might get worse. They might get much
worse for those called Christian. Will
you follow him anyway?
Follow him. Trust him.
Live for him. Die for him if that is what faith requires.
Follow him even if it costs you
everything for your place with him for eternity
has already been prepared.
Now while we still have some breathing
room is the time to prepare ourselves to follow him even if it costs
us everything.
Amen.
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