In the third of our meditations this week about those Jesus raised from the dead, we visit Bethany, the home of three of Jesus’s close friends, i.e. sisters, Mary and Martha, and their brother, Lazarus. Tragedy strikes this lovely group, when Lazarus dies.

The raising of Lazarus
John chapter 11 verses 1-44

This incident speaks powerfully of death and resurrection. It teaches us that JESUS HEARS, verse 4, when we call out to Him in times of need. When we do so, we find that JESUS LOVES each one of us, without partiality, verse 5.

It would not have been enough for this family to know that JESUS HEARD and LOVED THEM; they also needed His presence alongside them. Ultimately, however, JESUS CAME, verse 17; albeit, not at the time they wanted Him to be there. They had faith to believe that Jesus could heal Lazarus but belief in resurrection was a step too for them. Indeed, even His own disciples, Thomas in particular, could only predict His death if he were to visit Bethany, verse 16.

In spite of the lack of belief and the prospect of suffering, Jesus went to the grave of Lazarus, verse 24. When He saw the ravages of Satan and sin on God’s creature and creation, we read, JESUS WEPT. verse 35! He, no doubt, ‘lived’ Calvary on this occasion. He knew He must suffer and die on the cross to release mankind from sin and Satan’s power. He was, indeed, ‘a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’, Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3. However, He also ‘lived’ the resurrection. JESUS CRIED with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth!’, verse 43. He was bound with grave clothes and JESUS SAID, ‘Loose him and let him go’. New life in Christ gives us a new walk,

This event gives credibility to Jesus’s words, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live’, verse 25.