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John 11:1-6
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Soon I will be speaking at my school’s Christian (so-called) club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, or FCA. After much prayer and consideration, I’m undecided as to whether I will be teaching on the above verses or on the Cost of Discipleship in Luke 14. Due to time constraints, I will most likely be speaking of the latter. However, I do want to take the time to write a post talking about God’s love in death and suffering, and no verses give us a more poignant picture (I think) than these verses.
Firstly we see who it is who is suffering here. Lazarus is suffering, and by extension his sisters as well. Here their brother is dying and wasting away under some unknown disease. It is not a quiet cancer creeping up on him but a violent sudden illness that they don’t know the cure for. They know he is going to die and are so filled with sorrow and anguish they send word to the only man who they think can help their dying beloved brother. They even know that Jesus loves Lazarus. It is no secret to them that Jesus loves Lazarus. So the anguished sisters of this dying man send word to their beloved Messiah, hoping and praying that He would be able to heal Lazarus as He had healed innumerable amounts of people before this.

Secondly (skipping verse 4 for now) we see Christ’s love and reaction to this news. It says in verse that Christ loved all three people who were enduring this suffering. It says that He loved them. The Greek word is ἀγαπάω. That is, agapao. The verb form of agape. This is the same love that is described in various other parts of the Bible of God’s love for His elect. God’s love for Christians. This is the love that sends Christ to die on a tree for our sins. This love is the same divine, incomprehensible, infinite, full, all-powerful, Trinitarian love that God pours out on us to make us alive in Christ (Eph. 2). God loves these people as much as it is possible to be loved. He loves them the same way that He loves us. He does not love them less than us or more than us, rather we are loved in the same way they are. So when we see that Christ loved them, our modern American understanding of love causes us to suppose that Christ will immediately go to heal this man and end all their pain and suffering forever. However, that is not what we see happening. The main word in this entire passage that I am building my point on is the word at the beginning of the 6th verse that is translated as “so”. If your Bible has a word like, “but”, “yet”, or “oddly” you need to throw it away and get another Bible. The word is unquestionably “so” or “therefore”. It implies that there is a cause then an effect that is linked to the cause. I am hungry SO I got some lunch. I am sleepy SO I went to bed. It wouldn’t make sense to say, I am thirsty BUT I got a drink. So we see from verse 5 that Jesus loved them with this all-encompassing, divine, supernatural, infinite love SO He stayed two days later where He was and let Lazarus die. Christ’s staying there flowed out of His love for them. It was an action motivated and driven by His love for them. One would think that love would motivate Him to heal Lazarus, but that’s not what the text says. It wasn’t a dumb decision. It wasn’t like Christ didn’t realize that His staying would’ve let Lazarus die. In fact, Christ could have “teleported” there and healed Lazarus or simply healed Lazarus from where He was as He had done before.

So why was it loving of God to let Lazarus die instead of healing Him? Here our culture would be in a riot. They would scream that a God who lets people suffer and die could not possibly be a loving and all-powerful God. Our American view of love is being made much of. We feel loved when someone strokes our ego and builds us up and glorifies us. When people ask why they love someone, one of the responses is invariably, “Because they make me feel good”. If such a thing is truly love, then I guess God is not loving in this passage. However, our idea of love must be conformed to God’s view of love, and God’s love says that it’s alright for a man to suffer. But why does God allow such suffering in one He loves? Now we will go back to verse 4. “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” To put it plainly then expound a little, God’s love is expressed by His radical, passionate pursuit of His own glory. That’s how God loves us. He loves us by using us to show His glory and by showing us His glory. This may sound strangely selfish and egotistical to some ears, but that’s ok. I’ve heard it said that God is the most selfish being in the Universe. To which I say Amen and that it is NECESSARY for Him to be consumed with His own glory to be loving. In letting Lazarus die, God was able to show forth His glory in resurrecting him. And it was done so that people may believe (v. 42). If God were to acquiesce to the American view of love and tell us to be happy in ourselves or in other people or in a sport or something else, He would hate us because He is the wellspring of joy. He is the fountain of living waters. He is the bread of life. He is the light of the world. He is the source of all happiness and joy and eternal life. He is the most awe-inspiring, beautiful, wonderful, awesome being in that ever was, is, or will be. He is the ONLY thing that can fulfill and satisfy our souls for all of eternity. Everything else is a broken cistern that offers only disappointment and death. And to tell us to go elsewhere for our satisfaction is to tell us to go die out in the desert. In allowing Lazarus to die, God was loving because He exhibited His power and glory in His resurrection and stood by the grave of Lazarus and said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” So Christians, when you undergo suffering (illness, the death of a child, cancer, unemployment, etc) realize and understand that God is both omnipotent and loving by letting you suffer thusly. Because in some way, His glory is being put on display and He is calling you to abandon the broken cisterns of health, family, success, or whatever it may be and find your joy, happiness, and contentment in the King of glory and of grace.