John 11:37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
A Better Yes
Have you ever asked God for something and He replied with a no? If you have done much praying at all, you have received a no instead of a yes. The fact is, when I pray, I am praying for a yes. If I wanted a no, I would just sit on my hands. Sometimes the Lord says no, and that can be confusing. That is the feeling that you find with some of Jesus’ dearest friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Lazarus was sick, so his sisters came to the Lord and said, “He whom thou lovest is sick.” The Bible says, “When he heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.” By the time Jesus showed up, Lazarus was dead.
The people observed how much Jesus loved Lazarus, and “some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?” The answer is yes! The Bible says that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but “when Jesus heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.” The Bible does not say that Jesus loved them but that He just couldn’t get out of town in time to get to Lazarus’ aid. It says that He loved them, and therefore because He did, He stuck around for two days.
That is a strange way to show love. It is one thing when someone loves you but can’t help you; it is another when someone claims to love you, but won’t help you. That is hurtful.
The people around framed this as a question of ability, a lack of power. Could not this man? The answer is yes, He could have. Jesus had opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, and done so many other things, yet when it came to the people He loved the most, He would not. It wasn’t that He could not; He would not. That makes this even more perplexing.
Twice, when Jesus arrived after Lazarus had died, the sisters said, “Lord, if you had been here Lazarus would not have died.” Well, that was true. So, when the Lord says no, it is for a better yes. Jesus had said, “This sickness is not unto death.” Later He said, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye may believe.” In other words, Lazarus did die because of this sickness, but that wasn’t the purpose of the sickness. The purpose was that people would know more clearly Who Jesus is.
So, He didn’t lack power, and He didn’t lack knowledge. Hence, when He heard that Lazarus was sick He stuck around for two days on purpose, by design. It wasn’t that He couldn’t, didn’t understand, or lacked compassion. Jesus wept for Lazarus, and the people saw how much Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters.
The bottom line is that Jesus did not heal Lazarus; He brought Lazarus back from the dead! Which do you think would have been more noteworthy for Jesus to heal a friend or to bring him back from the dead? There were so many people who believed on Jesus because of Lazarus, that Jesus’ enemies considered killing Lazarus so that people would stop coming to Jesus! How foolish would that have been! Lazarus dies; Jesus raises him from the dead. So the answer is to kill Lazarus again? They couldn’t win and Jesus couldn’t loose. Yet, this was a pivotal point.
The Bible says that Jesus walked “no more openly among the Jews.” That is basically the end of the story. Jesus had done one of His greatest miracles, yet the high priests and religious leaders rejected Him still. So, He no longer walked openly among the Jewish people.
I don’t know what your need is, but realize that God knows and He cares. Jesus’ answer was in response to their request. He didn’t heal Lazarus, but brought him back from the dead. To say that He wasn’t responding to their request is folly. Second, Jesus response was better than their request. Remember today that Jesus knows, He cares, and He can.