No Greater Love

Isn’t it interesting that as many times as you read or hear about a Bible story all your life (especially if you grew up in the church), all of a sudden one time you hear the same story and something remarkable jumps out at you that you never realized before?  That’s what happened to me a few weeks ago when I was doing a devotional on Lazarus - the guy Jesus raised from the dead.   I actually have been going through the Bible in a year, and I like to have my YouVersion app read it to me while I’m getting ready each morning.  This particular morning, I learned something that really shook me, to be honest. 

Here’s a quick backstory— Jesus and his disciples were on their way, ministering and at some point came upon a village (which we now know was Bethany), where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. - this is where most of us first learn about Mary & Martha, who were Lazarus’ sisters.  

Luke 10:38:

38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha was known for her hospitality - and because she was so well known for that gifting, it opened the door (pun not intended) for Jesus and his disciples to stay with Mary, Martha and Lazarus as a common place thing anytime they were in that area.  

Martha being willing to use her spiritual gift of hospitality opened the door to the presence of the Lord on a regular basis. 

Then we’re going to go to John . Jesus and the disciples had left Bethany, headed on in their ministry “tour”.  It’s important to note here - they had traveled quite a long way when leaving Bethany this time.  They weren’t just right around the corner. 

And suddenly Jesus’ friend Lazarus became sick.  Mary & Martha sent word to Jesus to come heal their brother. 

1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”

They were probably torn at this point.  They had witnessed many miracles and knew that Jesus could heal Lazarus.  He loved them all, so surely He would come immediately to heal Lazarus.  But if they asked him to come, that would mean putting him potentially in harms way because of the many times people had already tried to arrest or even kill him.  Obviously, they eventually gave in to that desperation we’ve all felt when faced with losing someone we love, and the sisters sent a messenger to find Jesus where they knew he was heading - about a day’s walk from Bethany, where they were.  

4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days. 7 Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”  

8 But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people[b] in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”

9 Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. 10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” 11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”  12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”

16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin,[c] said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”

Things I want us to note in this passage: 

Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  But he didn’t come immediately.  He waited.  

Vs 8 - the disciples tried to warn Jesus - He’d already been threatened, and they knew being so close to Jerusalem again would be dangerous for Jesus.  

And they were right to be worried! Write down these verses to read later:

John 7:25

John 8:37, 8:44 and 8:59

John 10:31 and John 10:39

So of course they were concerned. Here’s why: Bethany, where Lazarus was, was literally only a mile & a half from Jerusalem - the place where Jesus would triumphantly enter on a donkey….and just a few days after that, the place that would nail Him to a cross on trumped up charges so that his blood could pay OUR prices for OUR SINS.  

Now that mile and a half would have been a walk of about 30-40 minutes.  SUPER easy for Roman soldiers, or the Sanhedrin to come and cause problems for Jesus, Lazarus and the disciples. 

Verses 9 & 10: Even though these verses SEEM like they’re random (or at least to me the do), Jesus is using the daylight to show how quickly time is running out for them.  Just another way that Jesus is foretelling his own crucifixion and sacrifice.

Also - note Jesus’s word choices.  He recognized Lazarus was no longer battling this sickness.  He KNEW at this point that Lazarus was gone.  At first he tried to sugar-coat it, it seems, but he wound up having to tell the disciples straight: HE’S DEAD. 

Vs 16.  Thomas and the rest of the disciples knew this was going to be the beginning of the end for Jesus’s earthy ministry, though there’s no way they would have known the extent of Jesus’s sacrifice that was coming. They were resigned to laying down their life with Jesus, because they loved and trusted him that much!

Back to the text:

17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles[d] down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”

25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[e] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” 28 Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to him.

30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him,[f] and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them.

They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

Lazarus came out of the tomb, not as a Zombie or mummy but as a living, breathing human being.  

Then in probably less than 10 days after Lazarus’ resurrection, Jesus Christ was crucified, and ultimately resurrected.  It’s like Lazarus’s sickness, death, burial and resurrection were a dress rehearsal for Jesus’ own death and resurrection. 

After Lazarus was raised from the dead, he returned to the home he shared with his sisters Mary & Martha. (John 12:1-2). 

Before Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins, He again went to Martha’s home.  Martha and Lazarus were both present with the disciples when Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet and wiped them with her hair.  Mary knew what was about to happen to her friend.  She was overcome with love, compassion & gratitude for what Jesus was about to experience on the cross that she went to extravagant lengths to honor Him.  

With the news of what had happened, the chief priests and Pharisees started plotting.  Many had witnessed the miracle of Lazarus walking out to he tomb,(because of the proximity of Bethany to Jerusalem - many mourners walked over to be with the family) and the excitement was spreading.  The religious leaders knew they could not stop it. And this may surprise you, but they decided that not only must Jesus die, but so must Lazarus (John 12:10-11). 

The significance of what God did in restoring Lazarus to life cannot be overstated.  The eyewitnesses to Lazarus coming back to life would never be forgotten.  Of all Jesus’s miracles, this is the one that paved the way for people to understand a greater miracle.  Christ came to fulfill His purpose : to die and rise again to pay for the sins of all humankind.  That’s me, that’s you - even the person who doesn’t yet want it….He did it for them too.

Here’s what struck me: If Jesus hadn’t gone back to raise Lazarus from the dead, he would not have been near the city so that the Jewish leaders could have crucified him. He went KNOWING that he would be close enough to the city that things would be set in motion.

He KNEW before he ever went to help his friends that it would literally cost him his life.  And that it would happen in a matter of days.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  (John 15:13)

Wow… That is so awesome that the Lord Jesus Christ would love someone so much that he lay down his life to go and help him.  But don’t you realize, that’s exactly what he did for you, too? In the very next verse, John 15:14, Jesus tells us:  You are my friends if you do what I command.

Jesus went to Lazarus‘s city, so that Lazarus would not die, and he went to the cross so that you would live.

YOU. Are. A. Friend of God.  And proved his love for you by intentionally laying down his life — for you.

It was love for Lazarus, Mary and Martha that brought Lazarus out of the tomb by the power of a Jesus’s command.  It was love for US that brought Jesus out of the tomb by the same power. 

I don’t know about you, but knowing this little bit of geographical information has only solidified in my heart just how DELIBERATE Jesus’ sacrifice had to be to keep me and you from an eternity separated from the Father.  I know there’s nothing I could ever do to match his sacrifice or to repay him for that, but I’m so thankful that he did it not caring whether it would ever be repaid - or even acknowledged.  Because the truth is, he did it as much for the church girl who never misses a Sunday as he did for the Atheist who won’t even acknowledge him yet.

And that, is a love we won’t find anywhere else.  No greater love…except my Jesus’ love.