When Lazarus doesn’t come out of the Grave

This post starts by refreshing your memory about the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with this event in the Bible, you can read it here. John 11: 1-43

Lazarus wasn’t just one of the many people who followed Jesus. He was a dear friend. Lazarus and his two sisters had become special when they entered the life of Jesus and his disciples through visits to there home whenever Jesus came into their town. This family of three had evidently been chosen to be more than casual acquaintances. They had built a relationship with Jesus by welcoming him deeply into their lives.

The two sisters, Martha, the eldest sister, and Mary the younger, saw that Jesus and his disciples were treated with love and hospitality. Martha in particular must have loved to prepare the meals. I can relate to this part of the story. There’s nothing like feeding the people that you love, especially when they enjoy your efforts to please them. Mary, was more drawn to joining the times of teaching and sitting at the feet of Jesus. Both of these acts were ways in which these women showed their love for Jesus.

Lazarus was spoken of as being Jesus’ friend. The two men were probably like brothers. I’m sure the community must have recognized the fact of how dear this family was to the Rabbi Jesus. So, when we begin to read about Lazarus falling ill and Martha sending a servant to find Jesus to tell him, our minds begin to think that Jesus will instantly head their way. It was no secret that Jesus was able to heal those who came to him. Most of these were strangers.

When the servant found Jesus and his disciples and told him that Lazarus was sick and that Martha was asking him to come, Jesus’ response was to stay two more days where he was. Wouldn’t you have thought that being his friend that Jesus would have hurried to his side? It ended up being four days before Jesus went to the home of his friends. At first, Jesus left his confused disciples wondering why he didn’t respond to the news brought by the servant only to hear, that in fact, Lazarus wasn’t just ill but that he had died.

When the news came to the sisters that Jesus was entering their town of Bethany, Martha went out to meet him. The town was full of people who knew the family and official mourners. Martha was understandably heartbroken and upset with Jesus; and rightly so. Lazarus was a friend. She and Mary also considered themselves to be friends with Jesus. If any person would have prompted Jesus to act, you would have thought it would have been Lazarus.

This is a very emotionally charged story. There’s confusion, anger, disappointment, and most of all a deep hurt coming out of total misunderstanding. Jesus’ actions seemed to be completely out of character. It seemed that he had purposely not come to this family's side at their most critical hour of need.

Perhaps as you read this story as I did, I found myself thinking about times in my life where I needed Jesus to show up with the only possible answer to my prayers; and He was late.

After four days of being in the grave it was an opinion of that era that the soul of the deceased had passed on and death was absolutely believed to be true. Not only that, but the body had begun to decompose. Therefore, when Jesus was asked to be taken to where Lazarus had been sealed in the tomb he was followed by the crowd. He’d already been confronted by the sisters stating what they believed that if he had come, their brother would not have died. I’m sure there were many in this small town who had taken the same approach to the appearance of Jesus’ lack of concern for someone he was supposed to have highly respected and loved as friends.

Jesus makes the most humanly response so far in this story; he weeps openly. His conduct now shows what so many had already thought Jesus would do—care deeply. That he would care enough to have rushed to stop this grief from ever happening. But if we continue to follow along while carrying our own story of grief or disappointment as we watch this story unfold, we’ll see why Jesus did what he did.

Jesus was after far more than restoring life to his friend. He wanted all those who were witness to this event to believe that in seeing him, they were seeing the tremendous Love of the Father for all humanity. Now, I know you might be thinking—love? How could it possibly be love when Jesus had the ability to heal Lazarus and have prevented such hurt and chose not to?

Jesus was always representing the Father—in fact he was the exact image of the Father having come in human form. That was what Jesus came to do over everything else; show the world the Father. On many occasion he said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. The Father and I are one.”

In my own life I have come to Jesus in prayer believing that He would answer those prayers. In those times I realize now that I was coming like the people in this story asking for the “thing” and not the Person behind my prayers. Jesus’ main purpose that he wove through every incident of healing, teaching or interaction with people was to turn their attention to the Father’s love.

Continuing to the end of the story we see that Lazarus is called out of the tomb and his life restored much to the amazement of everyone who witnessed it. Jesus was acclaimed that day to truly be more than a Rabbi because no one could raise the dead other than the Son of God.

If you are sitting thinking about a time when you needed Jesus to raise the “dead” prayer you prayed, and he didn’t, than you are not alone. I’m sure Jesus and the disciples all returned to the home of this family and ate and rejoiced the rest of the day. But it’s not that crowd I want to continue to address. What about the crowd of us who have been left standing at that grave waiting for the answer to our prayers to come walking out?

What do we do when Lazarus stays in the grave?

I can only tell you what I have had to do on several occasions once I realized that what I was asking God for wasn’t going to happen—I continued on. What I’m about to say doesn’t make me some kind of super saint, in fact what I’m going to say will expose me to be just the opposite. I am a very needy weak person. I have not been able to handle most of what life threw at me. I learned early on that I needed God. I knew that I could not do life without help.

When my “Lazarus” doesn’t come out of the grave I keep trusting. I have to, I have no other choice. Turning back to whatever means of coping I had before accepting Jesus as Lord of my life isn’t an option.

Many times, I have laid on my face crying out for some kind of understanding of why God didn’t answer my prayers the way I thought he would. After times of sheer mental and physical exhaustion God gathered me up in His arms of love and reassured me that He wasn’t done yet.

When I dared to continue to believe that perhaps God had something else in store for me was when my answer came. I had to learn the same lesson Jesus was teaching in the story of raising Lazarus. It wasn’t getting Lazarus back that was most important; it was understanding the Love of the Father for us. If just getting what we are asking from God is the only thing we want then we are sadly missing everything Jesus stood for.

The main instruction to all of us in the Word is this, Matthew 6:33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

When we make knowing God our primary goal everything else becomes secondary. When it dawned on me what God was truly after in my life I have made it my main pursuit. I want to know Him. I want to know His love for me. I want to wake up every day experiencing His love, comfort, and care through the Holy Spirit he sent into my life for just that purpose.

Do I have needs? Do I pray for things that I hope will come to pass? Absolutely. Even with my main desire to know and trust God’s sovereignty and believe in prayer have I continued to spend nights hurting over unanswered prayers? Yes, yes I have. But I have also seen the sun rise on better answers than what I was asking for.

God is never done. Just because Lazarus doesn’t come out of the grave for you and me doesn’t mean that God hasn’t heard our prayers or doesn’t care.

I want to encourage you and in encouraging you, I’m once again encouraging myself to never give up on God’s love. It’s the power behind everything we as Christians believe.

If you have or are now having to walk away from the grave of an unanswered prayer I would ask you to take heart. I’m not saying don’t feel the feelings, I’m saying by all means let yourself grieve the loss, the disappointment and even the discouragement. But once your tears subside, and they will, then look to the God of all Comfort because He is not done yet.

Maybe you have heard it said that when God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you think that he should that he has something else in mind. At the time that doesn’t offer much comfort. Sometimes it takes time to see the better plan. Living in an instantaneous world, waiting is not something any of us want to do. Because I have been at the end of many unanswered prayers I have also found myself rejoicing over much more than I was asking. Not only did I finally see the Wisdom of God’s purpose in not answering my prayers the way I thought he would I learned a far greater lesson. I learned to patiently trust the love of God for my life. I learned how comforting the Holy Spirit can be. I learned what unconditional love really means when God forgives my frustration with him. I’ve gained an ever growing relationship with God. One that isn’t superficial but goes far beyond. One that I’m still perfecting.

It's with an extremely thankful heart today that I can say that I’m glad that Lazarus stayed in the grave of some of my prayers. Because I gave God time to show me what He was doing in my life I have never been forsaken by Him. Today as I’m waiting and watching yet again, for that marvelous loving heart of God to choose something better for me and those I love, I will praise Him today. My expectations are in Him. No matter what, he can and will only do me good. The Word doesn’t say that all things are good, but that He works all things together for the good of those who love him. He never intends anything but good for all of us.

No matter what you are facing today, if you know God and even if you don’t, his Love for you is the same. Don’t give up, don’t walk away because God just might not be done yet and you don’t want to miss what He has planned for you that you didn’t see coming.

I bless you