Why Would Jesus Let This Happen? | Crossroads Daily

Hey, welcome in to the Crossroads Daily. I'm Justin. I'm Dani. I'm Miko. I'm Alex. Great. Glad you're here with us. We are talking today about John 11, specifically the story of Lazarus, and which is another crazy story of Jesus shocking people by raising dead people back to life, which is nuts, which is nuts. It's a typical Tuesday for Jesus. Exactly right. Exactly right. So with the story and the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick and he doesn't rush to the town Bethany where Lazarus and his family live. He waits. And by the time he arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days. Crazy. He's like really dead. Right. Really, really dead. Just kind of. And any hope of a different outcome is gone. And Martha, Lazarus' sister, meets Jesus with both grief and faith. And Jesus responds with one of the clearest declarations that we have in all the scriptures when he says, I am the resurrection and the life. And then standing before a sealed tomb, like the tomb is already set in place, he calls Lazarus back to life. Jesus doesn't simply offer resurrection. He says he is the resurrection.

So throughout stories like this, for me, I'm constantly looking like, OK, what's Jesus' actions that show me the character of God? What's the people's actions which might help me figure out how I should respond to things of hopelessness and things like that? But one of the things that Jesus does right away that's, I think, just striking is he waits and he doesn't like immediately run to Bethany. He waits. Why do you think he waits? Well, I think it's kind of interesting. I heard this podcast that was talking about at three days, when somebody dies three days, the Eastern belief is that their spirit is kind of lingering around for three days, waiting to come back, like hoping that maybe it could come back. And so when they specifically say four days, it's calling out like, oh, he's done. He's done, done. Oh, wow. He's dead, done. And I'm like, well, isn't that just like Jesus to say, hey, it's been four days. I waited because I'm going to show you what I can do. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, there's not going to be any question about what I can do. It's such an interesting context for how significant that number would be for the people who would experience the miracle. Wow. It's like that same note, like written down. Do you really? Yes, literally. Because I heard it one time years ago, too, and wrote the same thing down. It reminds me of like how, what was that when they were in the Old Testament, he was like pouring the water on the wood. You know what I mean?

Like, let's make it even more difficult for God to come in with the story of Elijah. So yeah, I don't know what takes me there with that. When I think about, as you were reading it now, and I'm hearing it, like him saying, I am the resurrection. And with that being this declaration, it's like, no, I need, I want this to occur so that I can reveal this aspect of me to you. Had I waited, you know, or had I done it sooner, then, you know what I mean? It wouldn't have had the same impact. But it's like, no, this is who I am, and I want to reveal this to you. So I'm going to use this, even death, even, you know, to whatever degree of sorrow and pain that people around Lazarus are feeling. I'm going to use this to reveal this aspect of who I am. Yeah. And then at the beginning of the chapter, it says something like Jesus says, this will be used for my glory. So he already even knew before then. And I'm sure the disciples at this point are like, oh, Jesus says crazy things all the time. We'll find out later what that means, but they do. But I'm sure that's part of it, is he had already planned for this particular instance to bring him so much glory. And had he not waited, then maybe it would not have been as glorifying. I don't know. Right. Especially with the Eastern context that you just shared, too. It's like, yeah, really kind of driving that point home amongst everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And at the end of the chapter two, I hadn't really noticed this before, but this was the

miracle and the instance that really set the motion of the planning of Jesus's death into action. And so I even wonder, did Jesus, was he already thinking of that? Was God already like revealing that master plan to him in this miracle? I don't, I don't know, I just never noticed that before. Yeah, it's not what's wild, and we're gonna get to this later in the week, but there's, it's not the first time he's resurrected anyone. Right. Yeah. But this one sets it all in motion. Right. And there was already, like it says in the chapter, like he, his disciples, his friends, are like, let's not go back to that area, Bethany, in Judea, because they're looking for you. They're trying to kill you, and Jesus is like, no, we're gonna, we're gonna go there. We're gonna go there. Exactly. Because my friend Lazarus is dead. Yeah. Yeah. And he's, it's about to change. And then what's crazy, one of the other, we were talking about this in his, with a few friends the other day, one of the other gospel writers says that not only do they look to kill Jesus after this, but they set a plot to kill Lazarus. It's one gospel writer, I can't remember, sorry, no biblical scholar here. I don't remember exactly who it is, but he says a sentence, they set a plot to kill Lazarus, because he's walking around going, hey y'all, I was dead for four days, and now look at me. Yeah. It's wild. And the Jewish leaders were going, this is something very different than we've ever seen. Yeah. What do you see in Jesus in this? Not just his waiting, but what do you see in Jesus or Mary or Martha, his sisters, that shows you something about how we can respond to hopelessness, or maybe how God responds to hopelessness? Yeah. Any other actions stand out to you? This is, this is the same story, right, where Jesus wept? Yeah. The shortest. Yeah. Shortest verse in the Bible. Yeah. And for me, that's like, oh man, even when I'm in my distress and grief or whatever, Jesus is sitting in it with me. He's compassionate. He has empathy that takes action. Yeah. He comes right in there with me and sits with me. Yeah. Yeah. Even when he knows how it's going to end. Right. Right. That's so crazy that he wept and was crying, was empathetic and compassionate and all of those things, when we just said, he already knew what

was gonna happen. Yeah. Yeah. He knew and he still wept. Yeah. Because he felt the pain and the grief and the, because he's fully human. Yeah, that's right. And fully God. It gives like new meaning to that phrase, good grief. Right. If Jesus is grieving, it's like, then clearly this is a good thing to do. You know what I mean? So it's like, as we're dealing with things, it's not like, oh, get over it or it'll be okay. Or it's like, no, go through that process. Jesus did it. Jesus sat in the emotion of it. Like there's a goodness in grieving. Yeah. Yeah. Good grief. Come on. That was not just for Charlie Brown. Good grief. Good grief. I love that. I love that. I think when I see the sisters, something that stands out to me is how raw and honest they are and how they feel in this. Like they didn't try to sugarcoat their words before they got to Jesus. They brought it to him. Very raw, very raw emotion in the moment. Hey, this is how we feel about you right now. This is what we were expecting. This is what you did. This is how it makes us feel. You know what I mean? I think there's just that realness. It's like, that's something that I take from that. Like, no, come to him because he knows what you're thinking anyway, no matter how you try to like, yeah, put it together or whatever. It's, you know, like, no, he's like, no, give me the real. I know how you feel. I know what's really hitting your heart. Like, speak it, you know? And I don't know. So that's, that's, well, not, I don't know, but that's, that's my takeaway from there. It's like, I see just that realness that I can appreciate. Well, the same of like, where were you? If you would have come sooner, he'd be alive. How often do I do that to God? Like, where were you? This, we could have avoided all of this. He's like, oh no, it's, this is my story. I know exactly what's going to happen. And somehow they still had faith. I think that's one of my biggest takeaways. And Jesus sees that and recognizes that and calls that out in them. Like, even in the, where were you? They still end up saying like, we trust you and have faith in you. I don't know if I always like, get to that point. I think sometimes I stay in the, where were you? And when Jesus, if he was like sitting across from me in person said, but do you still trust me? I think I'd be like, I don't know. Like, I don't know. And so that faith's amazing to me. It is that rawness, the honesty that they had, and then the faith that they continue to walk with, I think is the, is a major takeaway of this. I mean, I, they didn't, so many times my grief takes me further away from God. Like I draw away from him or my fear or my anger, where were you? Takes me this, it just like, makes the distance larger. What they seem to do is cut the distance and they go to Jesus and say,

here's how I feel. Now that's easier. Because he's physically there with them, right, but I would say for anybody for anybody listening today or reading this story Whatever is that? Thing you're afraid to say to God. I would just say say it Yeah, wherever that thing that you're like, is there is it hopeless? I would say have hope and draw near to him. Yeah, and Trust him lean in. Yeah, he continues to show up and lean into his compassion. He's with us in the fight That's what I take away from the story