Lazarus, Come Forth

There is a detail in John 11 that theologians have written libraries about and that children notice immediately: "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). It is the shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most important. The one who is about to shout Lazarus back from the dead first stands at the tomb and cries. He is not performing grief. He is not going through the motions of sympathy. He is genuinely moved, the word John uses suggests He groaned from deep within, like a wave rising from the ocean floor. The God of the universe weeps at a graveside.

Before we get to the miracle, we need to sit with the sisters. Mary and Martha both say the same thing when they see Jesus: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:21, 32). There is no rebuke in Jesus' response to either of them. He does not say, "You should have trusted Me more." He meets Martha with theology, "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25), and He meets Mary with tears. He is big enough to give you both, and wise enough to know which one you need first.

The scene at the tomb is almost unbearable in its drama. Jesus commands them to roll away the stone. Martha protests, practically, honestly, "Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days" (John 11:39). Four days matters. Jewish tradition held that the soul lingered near the body for three days. After four, there was no hope left by any human measure. Jesus waited until hope was not merely thin but gone. Then He prayed aloud, not for His own sake, He says, but for the crowd's, and He called into the darkness: "Lazarus, come forth." And the dead man walked out.

Notice that Jesus does not go in after Lazarus. He calls, and life obeys His voice. This is the same voice that spoke the world into being in Genesis, the same voice that will one day call every grave to open. If you are in a situation today that has been dead for four days, or four years, Jesus is still standing at the entrance, and He is still calling.