Tuesday April 12, 2011

John 11:4-8

"When Jesus heard this he said, 'This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, 'Let us go back to Judea.' The disciples said to him, 'Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?'"

Perhaps someday I should look at a translation of this story closer to the original, because I can't for the life of me read that sentence in this section as anything other than a joke. "So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was." It's the "So" that does it for me. Because it makes the rest in response to the sickness - and that doesn't follow for me.

It reminds me of that old saying I feel like I've been fed a thousand times. 'God always answers prayers. Sometimes He answers them "yes" and more commonly "no" but most of all, He answers, "not now."'

I wonder - was it so it would mirror the three days He lay in the tomb? Or was it so that no one would say that Lazarus was only "mostly dead"? Or was it for Martha and Mary in some way - to allow them to get to the place where they can be, "Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died" full of love and faith and acceptance rather than blame and regret that Jesus had come that second too late. To get them to the place where Martha could say, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day."

I suppose I like to think of the two days of waiting not for Jesus' reputation - which with any good skeptic is really a wash anyway. Even if they smelt the tomb as it opened the fact that Lazarus was Jesus' friend was enough to grant any skeptic an excuse to not believe. Which, I suppose, is what happened with the Pharisees and High Priest who decided, because of this, 'Now we have to kill him.' In that way, I suppose it's like Jesus' first miracle at the Wedding at Canaan. It brought His death much closer with that act of kindness and love, and all for a family friend.

But if the wait was for Martha and Mary, or perhaps so that Jesus could fully empathize with our grief from this side of humanity. So that the only bit He would know from experience wouldn't be the bit where you're tearing off in a combination of denial and bargaining to make a desperate attempt to put it right but also the anger, depression and acceptance - before we finally come to the reunion.

Which reminds me of what I wrote last Easter. The Reunion to Come. It's probably one of my favorite entries.

Because you can't have the Winter's Tale statue scene or the Twelfth Night reunion of the twins or the utter joy of Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday without the two days of death and pain and confusion and uncertainty. Of a false certainty that death can ever have the final victory.

That pain, that time of mourning and separation, is so that we might understand the reunion that awaits us, sweeter than if the union had never been broken. Mourning and death and pain and loss are not an end in themselves, they do not win, they are for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. So that we may know the fully might of God's mercy and love.

Dear Lord, help me to be strong to bear whatever crosses I must carry in this life and to always remember that they too shall pass away. Let all that I endure and all that I cherish in this life bring me closer to You. And bless everyone here and everyone who needs my prayers.