The religious leaders in Jerusalem where plotting to kill Jesus, so he left and spent some time on the other side of the Jordan river.
Click here for an online Bible John 11:1-16
Jesus received word that his friend Lazarus was ill. Mary and Martha knew that Jesus could heal him, so they sent the message about Lazarus to Jesus. Jesus announced that the sickness would not end in death, but that God would be glorified. Then he delayed leaving for two days. Then Jesus told them that Lazarus had died. They didn’t quite understand.
Why do you suppose that Jesus waited to leave? Remember Jesus’ purpose. His purpose is not to end sickness and suffering. He is seeking believers. He said to his disciples it was good that he was not with Lazarus so that they could believe. His purpose was the glory of God.
We often view God through our lives rather than living our lives in light of God’s revelation. From the sisters’ perspective, the most important thing in their lives was the healing of Lazarus. From Jesus’ perspective, the most important thing was God’s glory. The challenge for me is too live my life for His glory. I have to learn to think according to His word and make choices according to His word.
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6 comments:
Amen, Pastor Cliff. Amen.
I'm a literal person - if it states it in the Bible then I don't go looking for hidden meaning I believe the exact words as truth.
So when Jesus started talking about walking by light at night in verses 9 & 10 - I always figured He meant it literally. And I pictured the people walking along in the pitch black with Jesus glowing their way along the path through the night.
But today I'm wondering if they really didn't leave in the evening, but instead He was just speaking in parables since He is the light of the world?
I wondered the same thing Bobbie. I looked up the verses in the NIVr (sometimes I need the kid's version) and it makes it a little clearer:
Jesus answered, "Aren't there 12 hours of daylight? A person who walks during the day won't trip and fall. He can see because of this world's light. But when he walks at night, he'll trip and fall. He has no light."
However it still seems like a peculiar response to "Why do want to go back there?" I wonder if he says this because he's still trying to convince the disciples that he IS god and can do god-sized stuff so there's no need to be afraid of people that want to hurt him.
In others words, maybe what's he saying is people have limited vision, but I do not. I can see everything no matter the situation or circumstance (and I know that my time has not yet come so there's no need to fear going back there).
Just a thought...
I am not 100% clear on the meaning of this either. I do know that no matter what was going on Jesus was about his Father's business. His whole purpose revolved around glorifying God. He would go anywhere and do anything to accomplish this. I do believe he waited for Lazarus to actually die so that people knew beyond a doubt he was dead. That way when Jesus gets there he is not making a man well again, he is raising him from the dead and making him alive. "Awesome"
The raising of Lazarus was arguably the most profound public miracle in the earthly ministry of Jesus. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back with the scholars who killed Jesus as a direct result of what he did for Lazarus. Surprisingly however this "friend" whom "Jesus loved" seems to virtually disappear from scripture soon after this. However this is hardly the response that one would expect after being given this one-of-a-kind gift from God.
LazarusComeForth.com is a Bible-only based study that seeks to encourage Bible students to heed the admonition to “prove all things” and think through the profound implications of what this unique gift from God would have meant to this “friend” of Jesus just in case anyone is interested.
Remember in the last chapter Jesus spoke of having authority over life and death! Here he proves it for the sake of the Disciples. What did that doubting thomas say? Let us go with him that we may die with him. You see there disbelief. I believe Jesus was saying I can not be killed, but I will lay down my life for my disciples and for us. When we look at the cross we need to see that Jesus died the death we were suppose to die. And in like manner we need to take authority over I lives and choose whether or not to live or die. As Paul says to die would be for his own goodness but he chose to live for the good of those around him.
As for the light at night the closest thing I'm getting resembling your idea of walking in the night is the creation story. Read it very closely and you will note that there are two types of lights and two types of days. It is quite possible that Jesus could be referring to these former lights. Notice also that Jesus says that the light is not in him (meaning those who do not walk by the holy spirit and not Him or us). The night represents the evil of this world... I think by now as much evil has been portrayed in the movies and on t.v. we have good understanding of some of the darkness. We can find our way about these evil and demonic pressures by trusting and following the Holy Spirit.
The big picture for me is that Jesus does not always respond in our timing. But is constantly waiting for us to come up higher. He is drawing us to Him. With each miracle He performs He says you think you believed all that there is... will you ain't seen nothing yet bubba :) It must of been something really special to walk that closely to the source of all light as the disciples, but it must be even more special for us today to walk not by sight but in ever increasing faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Love,
EJ
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