17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
Lazarus is pronounced dead beyond any doubt. Commentaries believe he died the day that the messengers arrived, and he waited two more days because the journey to Bethany was only two days. However, if Jesus’ statement that Lazarus was dead indicates that he had just died, which makes more sense, then the journey took four days. This is all trivia. What is important is that he was buried and in the grave for four days by the time Jesus arrived. This is the time it takes for the decaying process to start. If he had been in the grave only three days, then someone could claim he really wasn’t dead. Every other miracle of raising a dead person from the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:32-37) to Dorcas (Acts 9:36-41) and this includes Jesus raising a girl (Matt 9:23-25) and a young man (Luke 7:12-15) occurred presumably before the person had started to decay. Skeptics can always try to say these people were not really dead, however, four days in the tomb is convincing to anyone that Lazarus was really dead and beyond hope.
We also must note that Jesus was only in the tomb for three days, counting each partial day as a day. This was important to establish the fact that though Jesus was really dead, his body had not yet started to decay to fulfil prophecy of Psalm 16:10, “Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (NIV).
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
This is some more important facts to establish that Mary and Marth were well connected in the Jewish world. According to custom, the comforters would follow the bereaved from the tomb to their home and sit with them. There they would offer prayers and consolation; however, they were not allowed to speak unless the mourner spoke. They would continue to sit with the bereaved until they indicated that they were comforted and then they would leave.[1] If they were following this tradition, that means they had been sitting with Mary and Marth for four days.
It reminds me of Job’s comforters who came to him. “And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth” (Job 2:13-3:2 ESV). This is when their comfort came unraveled. We can certainly learn a lot about comforting people from these two examples. Keep quiet and let the other speak. We also see that people often speak out of grief things that alarm us but it doesn’t give us the right to judge them.
20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
This is Marth the doer. She doesn’t sit around; she has to be up and at it as illustrated in her previous interaction with Jesus and Mary (Luke 10:38-42). She is going to be the first to talk to Jesus. She won’t hold anything back and tell Jesus exactly how she feels.
The question is her tone. There is no way of knowing if her tone was accusatory, simply a statement of sadness, or a statement of faith. Perhaps she understood that even if Jesus had come immediately, Lazarus would still have died before Jesus arrived. Yet, knowing that Jesus had raised the girl and young man shortly after death she may be accusing him for not arriving in time.
She also expresses her faith, perhaps too quickly. As we read on, it is evident that she really does not believe that Jesus will raise Lazarus. How often do we act in the same way? We don’t see God working in the way we want but express our faith that he is working all things out for our good (Rom 8:28). We do it simply because we don’t want to sound disappointed or unspiritual.
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."
Jesus wants Martha to expand her faith. She is still stuck, like most of us are, only focusing on God’s sovereignty for the end of the age. We believe he is working things out right now but don’t really trust him. We push our trust out to the end of time, but we don’t act as if he is in control of the present. That’s what Martha is doing.
She has Jesus standing in front of her who can do anything he wants. He is telling her that he is the resurrection. Faith in Jesus means live now, life eternal, life after death, and a resurrected body to live forever. But it starts with the now. He is trying to show her that faith in him is for the now and not just for the resurrection of the dead sometime in the future.
Her response is canned. It is the same as our response to difficulties but doesn’t necessarily express a deep abiding faith in what God is doing now in our lives. This becomes more evident when they come to the tomb. It shows up in us when we continue to say things like, “I’m just a worry wart” right after we quote verses about not worrying.
28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you." 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.
Ok, what’s going on here? I can understand why Martha told Mary secretly because of all the consolers around. But I don’t understand why she said Jesus was calling for her. It is possible that Jesus did ask Marth to say this, but it is just as possible that Martha, being the doer and the fix it person wants to make sure Mary has her chance to possibly reconcile with Jesus. It seems like Martha need to vent to Jesus and was consoled now she projects her emotion on to Mary and want her to work it out also. There is no indication in these verses that Mary has an issue with Jesus.
Mary does react and doesn’t hesitate to come to Jesus. That is certainly the way we should all respond when we hear that he is calling us. Did Martha hear that Jesus had arrived and Mary didn’t? Or did Mary understand that Martha needed the time with Jesus first? After all, she had spent time with Jesus before and now she was letting Martha have her time. Perhaps she was simply patient, waiting for the right time to talk with Jesus.
Now that Jesus is risen, we don’t have to wait for the right time to be with him. We can talk with any time we want. We can hear his calling from the Bible and know that his comfort in any situation is readily available.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."
Martha had her alone time with Jesus but that isn’t going to happen with Mary. She has a houseful of Jews following her. Her meeting with Jesus is going to be very public. Even though Jesus most likely knew there would be a crowd, he still gave Mary the opportunity to meet him without making as stir by going to the house. The Jews are being faithful in their consolation.
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
Mary’s approach to Jesus is quite different from Martha’s. Why does she fall at his feet? Is it because she wants to beg for Lazarus’ life to be restored? I think it is a sign of her devotion to him. She has sat his feet and she knows him much better than Martha. Because she falls at his feet, when she speaks to him, it is in reverence without any accusation or other motives. It is an expression of trust. You say, how do I know this? Ok, I don’t know it like being a prophet or something, but I ascertain this from the fact that Jesus didn’t say anything more to her. If she needed more understanding or to have her faith increased, we would see a discussion as Jesus had with Martha. Jesus knows her heart, that her faith is rock solid. She didn’t need to have Jesus tell her who he is or that she would see her brother raised.
Sometimes we have a rock solid faith that Jesus is doing what needs to be done in our lives and the lives of those around us, but we are grieving because the circumstances are so hurtful. I picture Mary in this way. She knows Jesus and she knows that there may be a bigger reason for Lazarus’ death, but it still hurts. She isn’t presumptuous that Jesus will raise him, at this point she just wants Jesus’ comfort. Sometimes that is exactly what we must want when life’s difficulties cause us grief.
[1]Joseph S. Exell and S S Times, “John 11:17-27,” in The Biblical Illustrator(Seattle, WA: BibleSoft, 2006).
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