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:—