8. Lessons from Lazarus

John 11:1-6 holds a sentence that can feel almost unfair. “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.” Love comes first, and the delay follows. Chapter 8 of Weaver's book lingers on that tension as Mary and Martha face hardship while Jesus holds back.

Look at what the sisters did. They sent word to Jesus: “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” They didn't list reasons Lazarus deserved help. They appealed to Jesus' love, and John confirms they were right to. Then Jesus answered in terms they couldn't hear yet: “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.” The sisters would not know that until later.

Weaver draws out several lessons, and two are worth sitting with here. First, events do not always unfold in a straight line. We expect the order to be need, prayer, rescue. Here it was need, prayer, silence, then a funeral. Second, a delay can serve a family's good and God's glory at once. Those are not rivals in this story. The waiting that hurt the sisters was also the road to something they would never have asked for. The book also says that what looks like a finish may turn out to be a beginning.

The chapter adds that God's ways are not ours, yet his character holds steady. The Psalms are full of people living inside that tension. Psalm 13 opens with the question “How long, O Lord?” and still ends in trust. Psalm 27:14 tells us to wait for the Lord and be strong. Honest complaint and trust show up in the same prayer, and the Bible allows it. Weaver also includes a reflection from Laura Barker Snow on hearing hard seasons as something God permits in love.

There is a gentle challenge here. We often read Jesus' delay as evidence about his heart. John gives us the opposite reading: love was already in place when the waiting began. The delay did not mean the love had cooled. It means we are not always shown the whole plan.

This does not mean you must pretend the wait is easy. The sisters were not calm observers. Naming what you feel is the first step toward trusting God with it.

A word of care: if your waiting involves grief, illness, abuse or a loss that is too heavy to carry alone, bring it to a pastor, counselor or trusted friend as well as to God.

Chapter 8 follows Mary and Martha into real hardship. Their brother is sick, they send word to Jesus, and then nothing happens the way they hoped. Weaver uses the story to draw out lessons about what a delay does, and two of them are worth sitting with.

Start with the message. “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” Notice what the sisters leave out. They give no instructions and do not say, “Come right now.” They state the need and rest on his love. If you have ever prayed in a few words because you had no more, this is a model.

Now read the verses that stop many readers cold: “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.” John says Jesus loved them, and then says he stayed. Love and delay sit side by side in the same sentence. That is the heart of the chapter. A delay is not proof of indifference. The book holds that a delay can serve a family's good and God's glory at once, and that his ways are not ours even though his character holds steady.

Jesus answers the messengers, “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.” Lazarus will in fact die before Jesus arrives. So those words cannot mean that nothing hard will happen. They point to a bigger end, where death does not get the last word. This fits the book's idea that what looks like a finish may be a beginning. Tomorrow's reading walks into that tomb scene.

Notice also that the two sisters do not handle the delay in the same way. In John 11:20, Martha goes out to meet Jesus while Mary stays seated in the house. They share a brother, a home, and a Lord, and they move through sorrow differently. If you tend to compare yourself with other women, especially in motherhood or ministry, that is a gift. God does not ask your grief to look like hers.

Maybe you are waiting right now. It might be a child who has wandered, a diagnosis, a marriage that is slow to heal, or a calling that has not opened. Waiting stirs up feelings we are tempted to bury because they seem unspiritual. The sisters did not hide theirs. They sent word to Jesus. Honest words are a form of faith. You are telling him the truth because you believe he is listening.

If your waiting is tangled up with grief, depression, or fear that feels too heavy to carry alone, please tell a pastor, a counselor, or a trusted friend. You were not meant to wait by yourself.