THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.
Listen to me, now, my darling children, while I relate a wonderful miracle, called “The Raising of Lazarus.” I have already told you of many instances in which our Saviour restored the sick to health, the blind or deaf to sight or hearing. I have related one case—that of the daughter of Jairus—where He restored a child to life; but I am now going to describe how our Lord brought back to life a man who had been four days dead.
In the little city of Bethany, in Judæa, lived a family which we are told that Jesus loved. This family consisted of two sisters and a brother, and their names were Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now Lazarus fell sick, and his sisters sent to tell Jesus of this. The message they sent was simply, “Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick.” They made no request, but probably they thought that the kind and good Lord who had done so many works of mercy for others, would come and heal their brother.
When Jesus received this message, He was in the country beyond the river Jordan, about thirty miles from Bethany, which is near Jerusalem. He had retired to a distance from the latter city, because the priests and Pharisees had succeeded in stirring up a portion of the populace against Him. His reply to the messengers was as follows:—“This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” These seemed like words of comfort for the anxious sisters; yet they saw their brother get worse hour after hour. The Saviour came not; and at length their brother died.
And where was Jesus at the time? After receiving the message, He “abode two days still in the place where He was.” But this delay does not appear to have arisen from any hesitation to return to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. He said to His disciples, at the end of the two days, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe: nevertheless, let us go unto him.”
These words appear to signify that our Saviour was glad He had not been with Lazarus when he was ill, because then He should have cured him, and the miracle would not have been so wonderful as it would be now—not so likely to increase the faith of those who beheld it. Therefore He rejoiced that He should have to raise Lazarus from death to life instead of curing him of sickness.
The disciples attempted to dissuade Christ from returning so near to Jerusalem, but finding Him resolved, they declared their willingness to accompany Him, and they all departed together into the land of Judæa. As they approached Bethany, Martha, hearing that the Lord was coming, went out to meet Him, while Mary remained in the house. As soon as Martha met Jesus, she thought, doubtless, of all the people He had so mercifully healed by a touch of His hand or a word from His mouth, and said to Him, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Then added immediately afterwards, “But I know that even now, whatever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee.”
These words of Martha’s prove how strong her faith was. And Jesus answered her, saying, “Thy brother shall rise again.”
She does not seem to have felt sure that this promise was meant in the sense of restoring Lazarus to life; but what followed is best related in the words of St. John, who tells us:—
“Martha saith unto Him, ‘I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said unto her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?’ She saith unto Him, ‘Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.’ And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, ‘The Master is come, and calleth for thee.’”
It was the custom among the Jews, when anybody died, for the friends and neighbours of the bereaved family to gather round the remaining members of it, and mourn with them, or endeavour to console them. Mary was surrounded by friends when Martha returned to her, and said, “The Master is come.” St. John goes on as follows:—
“As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto Him. Now Jesus was not yet come unto the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, ‘She goeth unto the grave, to weep there.’ Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, ‘Lord, if Thou hads’t been here my brother had not died.’ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled; and said, ‘Where have ye laid him?’ They said unto Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept.”
Christ, the Son of God, wept with the mourners. Although He knew He should raise Lazarus from the dead, He shed tears at the sight of human grief.
They came to the grave. It was a sepulchre hewn out of the rock, and a large stone had been rolled against the entrance. Jesus desired that this stone should be rolled away. Then Martha reminded Him that Lazarus had been dead four days. She said this because in hot countries like Judæa bodies decompose rapidly after death. But Christ replied,—“Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”
The stone was removed. Jesus first lifted up His eyes, and prayed, then He cried in a loud voice,—“Lazarus, come forth!”
And the man who had been dead four days came forth, all wrapped in his grave-clothes, and his face bound about with a napkin. Those who stood round and beheld this miracle, were too astounded to approach Lazarus, until Christ said,—“Loose him, and let him go.” St. John adds:—“Many of the Jews which came with Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him.”
