John 11:4-6 -- 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.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Today's journey brings us to John 11:4-6 which gives us Jesus' reaction to the news Mary and Martha send about he whom Jesus loved (Lazarus). It's not how we'd expect and not how you'd want Him to respond if it were your family member dying, I'm sure.
Jesus does not panic or rush off to Bethany. He instead makes clear this sickness doesn't lead to death and it all is for the glory of God and so He as the Son of God may be glorified as well.
If you recall back in John chapter nine when they came across the man blind from birth, the disciples wanted to know who sinned, the parents or the man somehow. Jesus states neither sinned, the man's life of blindness was so the works of God might be displayed. The man also finds Jesus as Lord and Savior through it all as well!
All too often we find these things in God's Word a bit uncomfortable and skim/skip over them, as it doesn't line up with the world's broad path view of Jesus/Christianity. One where Jesus is the great loving genie of health, prosperity, and non-stop good things only, if you just believe hard enough, have enough faith, or set your mind to it.
Jesus tells us and shows multiple times in the Gospels, He only does the will of Father God and He only follows the timing of Father God. We see heavy suffering and persecution of the church and the disciples throughout the New Testament. Sometimes there are far deeper things God is working towards, than what we see on the surface. So the tough question then....is sickness, suffering, and death surface level? When put against eternity, yes, it is.
Some will say that's harsh, or even want to argue the point, but if you read God's Word, in context, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, you begin to see the whole of things and not just the cherry-picked, out of context, verses most professed Christians desire to hear.
If you're still reading, then here's what really jumped out at me today. After Jesus' unworried reaction to the news Lazarus was dying verse five make something extremely clear.
Jesus LOVED Martha, her sister and Lazarus.
When Mary and Martha wrote in verse three "he whom you love is sick", the word love they used was phileo, which is a friend/brotherly love.
When we find out Jesus isn't concerned with the sickness we're then immediately told He LOVED all three of them. The word love used in verse five to describe Jesus' love for, not just this family, but each of them individually is agapao, which is used in the Greek New Testament along with agape, to describe the selfless love of God.
Here is a note from Vine's Expository Dictionary on the Greek word agapao:
"In respect of agapao as used of God, it expresses the deep and constant "love" and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects, producing and fostering a reverential "love" in them towards the Giver, and a practical "love" towards those who are partakers of the same, and a desire to help others to seek the Giver."
Jesus didn't just love them as friends or as family, He loved them with a deep constant, eternal love found only in God. He deeply unselfishly loved Lazarus. He deeply unselfishly loved Martha. He deeply unselfishly loved Mary. His delayed response to their need had no bearing on His love for them.
Christian, if you can't wrap your head around suffering, sickness, and death being in the same room with Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, that's something that must be faced.
Yes, God is healer and provider. I have seen things with my own eyes that are unexplainable. I personally have experienced healing in my own life, totally unexplainable, my finger was broken, then it wasn't after someone prayed over it. So many other things I can't list them all here.
So, this is not me trying to stomp out all those powerful, wonderful Words of God, which are about healing, or His provision, or anything else. This is simply a wakeup call to anyone who says they are a Christian, you CANNOT separate God and His Word into pieces, then lift up the parts you like, while pushing aside the ones that you don't.
Beloved, don't tie God's love for you to your current circumstances. If His love depended upon circumstances, feelings, and emotions, then he'd be an ever changing, unkowable, and honestly worthless and weak god (yes lower case "g"). That is not the God I know. That is not the Jesus I hear and follow. Don't let it be yours either!
Yes, He loves us with a love we cannot fathom, but that love goes far beyond anything we can wrap our finite understanding around. Don't skip over or run from tough things in God's Word, run to Him, talk to Him, dive into His Word to let Him speak to you and show you more! Get to know Him, then you'll see things take on a different perspective.
Don't take my word or thoughts on any of this. Please I beg you to get into the Bible yourself. Be the Berean, hear this and go to God's Word to see for yourself!
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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