ELDER: According to John 11:1-6 [NLTse]
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.”
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.
Sermon, Part 1
How would you feel if your best friend didn’t come when you needed him or her most? I can imagine that’s how Lazarus, Martha, and Mary must have felt when Jesus delayed after they sent word to Him.
Notice the details that set up the dynamics of the passage: That is, verse 6 says that Jesus delayed two days before leaving for Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany; and verse 17 – that we’ll get to in a moment – makes clear that by the time Jesus arrived that Lazarus had already been dead for four days. So, even if Jesus had left immediately Lazarus would have been dead by the time He got there. Now, Jesus did delay. But even if He hadn’t there was no way Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying.
So what Martha and Mary and the mourners are upset with Him about is not that His delay kept Him from saving Lazarus, but the fact that He delayed! “Why didn’t You come right away, Lord? Don’t you love me? Don’t You love us? If you truly loved us and Lazarus, Lord, wouldn’t you have come right away?”
But let’s hear Martha and Mary’s actual questions, and from them themselves. Our reading continues from verses 17-32…
ELDER: 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 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. 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.”
Sermon, Part 2
Let’s begin with Martha’s confession of faith in verse 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.” Martha knows Who Jesus is. So her questions for Jesus are not just for Jesus, are they? Since there’s no way He could have made it to Bethany in time to save Lazarus Martha’s questions are clearly for God, too. “God, if Jesus had been able to be here in time, my brother would not have died. He did delay, Father. Yet even if He’d left right away He wouldn’t have been able to make it. Why? Why did Jesus have to be so far away? Why did Lazarus have to die so quickly? Don’t You love me, Lord? Don’t You love us, Lord? Why?”
Sound familiar? Has God ever been too late, as far as you’re concerned? You or your loved one has already received the bad news, or the situation’s already dead and in the grave? Or maybe it seems that our Father’s dragging His feet right now with something you or a loved one is waiting for?
Why the delay, Lord? Why are you making us wait?
Sometimes God makes us wait to increase our faith. Turn with me to Matthew 8:26-27…
A heavy storm has come up as the disciples’ are crossing the Sea of Galilee. Their boat is being swamped and they are sure they are done for, but Jesus is asleep in the back. The cry out, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” And He replies, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” And then He gets up and rebukes the winds and the waves. And it is completely calm…
The disciples were amazed and they asked each other, “Who is this man? Even the winds and waves obey Him!”
This happened immediately after they’ve seen Jesus heal leprosy, heal Peter’s mother-in-law, cast out demons, and now quiet a violent storm! Let’s face it, big, razzle-dazzle miracles don’t build our faith. No, it tends to be that time in-between – when we’ve sent word to Jesus but He hasn’t arrived yet – when our faith grows.
A couple chapters later in Matthew 14 we see this played out. The disciples are in a boat again. And there’s another storm. But this time Jesus is not with them, but is walking towards them over top of the storm-swells and crashing waves!
At Jesus’ invitation, Peter has climbed over the side and walked a bit on the waves himself! But he’s only been able to do so by keeping his focus on Jesus, and suddenly he loses his focus. Perhaps it was a big wave or some other reason. But now Peter’s gone under and trying to catch a breath and keep afloat in the midst of the crashing sea. And he cries out, “Save me, Lord!” And, of course, Jesus does, and gets Peter back into the boat. And once Jesus has gotten into the boat Himself, Matthew tells us that all of the disciples worshiped Him, saying, “You are the Son of God!”
Notice the difference! No longer are they asking, “Who is this man?” No. As they’ve watched Him and lived with Him and waited and waited and waited for Him, their faith has grown. Now they know, “You are the Son of God!”
The blind see; the dead are brought to life again; what couldn’t or shouldn’t be able to happen happens! Sometimes God delays and makes us wait in order to increase our faith… He also will sometimes delay and make us wait in order to develop our relationship with Him.
Across the revelation of the Bible, but especially in the Gospels and the New Testament, God is described as a heavenly father, not a vending machine into which we put a prayer and our answer or whatever we wanted comes out. And like every good parent, He doesn’t give His children everything we want when we want it.
It’s helped my relationship with God to refer to Him as Father rather than Lord because the title “Lord” nurtures in me the sense that He is in control (which, of course, He is) and, can and should do anything I ask. But calling Him “Father” reminds me that although He can do anything I ask, that He also knows best what I and His other children need…
So, God sometimes uses our times of waiting to grow our relationship with Him. He also sometimes makes us wait to give us more stories to tell.
The story of Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace probably wouldn’t have made it into the Scriptures if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego simply overpowered the guards and high-jacked a chariot. And somehow, “Daniel and the Long, Drawn-Out Court Battle” or “Daniel In the City Jail” just doesn’t have the same impact as “Daniel in the Lions’ Den”!
I don’t know about you but I’m not impressed with the TV evangelists and their guests who talk about their health and wealth: “God loves you and has a wonderful Porsche for your life.” I’m impressed with testimonies of believers going through absolute defeat and yet coming out with victory! (Maybe not with health and wealth, but coming out with the assurance of Jesus’ presence every step of the way. To me, that’s a testimony of resurrection power!)
Sometimes God ignores our human deadlines to give us opportunities to experience Him in ways we never would otherwise, and so that we can have stories of His faithfulness to share with others in their times of waiting, as well…
Psalm 27 ends singing, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” And Psalm 37:7 calls us to, “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” James 5:7-8 say, “Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.” Micah 7:7 says, “As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.” And Lamentations 3:25-26, which says, “The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.”
Let your waiting increase your faith. Let your waiting grow your relationship with our Father. Let your waiting provide opportunities to experience the Lord in unique ways that you can in turn share with others. Wait, and don’t give up waiting, upon the LORD…