“Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Yet they were still sinners, although they had been saved by grace. It was because He loved them with an everlasting love that they were saved. And that is why He had come into the world – to die for them and all others whom the Father had given to Him in the everlasting covenant. As yet, He had not suffered for their sins, but His work of redemption was so sure that its merits were already available to those who believed.
Martha, Mary and Lazarus had all trusted in Christ; but in what circumstances they first did so, we do not know. Yet just as surely as there was love in the heart of God towards them from all eternity, so they had been effectually drawn out of Satan’s kingdom and brought into God’s marvellous light by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in their souls. And it could be said to them, as Paul afterwards told the Corinthians: “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor 8:9). How poor was the man Christ Jesus, who had nowhere to lay His head and availed Himself, along with His disciples, of the hospitality of the home in Bethany! Yet, as divine, He was infinitely rich. He had become poor so that Martha, Mary and Lazarus – among multitudes of others – might become spiritually rich. How blessedly rich they were, with grace in their hearts, and love and faith going out to the glorious One whom it was their privilege to entertain!
How Jesus must have felt holy love to Mary when she showed her love to Him as she “anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair”! And again when she “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word”, showing her love to Him as the great Teacher and demonstrating the value she placed on His wonderful teaching. No doubt there were occasions when Martha and Lazarus also specially showed their sincere love for Jesus and could recognise His great love for them.
But the Saviour’s love for these three believers in Bethany is particularly mentioned when John is recording a time when trouble had come to their home. Lazarus was ill; he probably suffered pain and weakness before he died. His illness would have left his two sisters worried, and then there was the sore pain of bereavement. They had sent Jesus a message to tell Him that the one He loved was sick. They all loved Him; He loved them; and yet He stayed where He was for two further days, so that by the time He reached Bethany, Lazarus was already dead for four days.
David Brown, in one of his “remarks” on John 11, asks, “Did Jesus suffer the case of Lazarus to reach its lowest and most desperate stage before interposing, and his loving sisters to agonise and weep until their faith in His own power and love, which had done nothing all that time to arrest the hand of death and corruption, had been tried to the uttermost?” Brown answers his question with further questions: “What is this but an illustration – the most signal, indeed, yet but one more illustration – of a feature observable in most of His miracles, where only after all other help was vain did He Himself step in? In so acting, it is necessary to say that He did but serve Himself Heir, so to speak, to God’s own ancient style of procedure towards His people (see Deut 32:36, Is 59:16). And will not this help to assure us that ‘unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness’? (Ps 112:4).”^1
Clearly trouble – whether sickness or bereavement or anything else that causes distress or difficulty in this fallen world – is not inconsistent with Christ’s love. The circumstances may become darker and darker before light bursts in when the time of deliverance comes. But Christ’s love has not changed; it did not weaken during the darkness; and so the deliverance did not indicate an increase of love. It was not because of a weakening in Christ’s love to him that John was marooned on the Isle of Patmos “for the testimony of Jesus Christ”; indeed it was there that Christ appeared to him so remarkably and gave him those revelations which constitute the last book of the Bible. Paul was not loved any the less when he experienced the thorn in the flesh – even when his repeated, earnest prayers seemed to receive no answer. It was only after all other help was seen to be utterly vain that the Lord came to him with the encouragement: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
It was not because of a weakening of Christ’s love to Lazarus that he became sick and died. Nor was it because of a weakening of His love to Mary and Martha that they had to watch their brother suffer and, in the end, pass away. No doubt, it is particularly clear in their case that Christ’s strength was made perfect in their weakness. He demonstrated His power to raise someone from the grave, to restore life. And while today’s believers cannot expect to see their loved ones restored to life within a period of days, yet the same power that brought Lazarus back from the grave will be seen when all are raised again at the resurrection on the last day – Lazarus among them. As David Brown makes plain, none of those whom the Saviour raised from the dead was to escape death: they experienced “a mere re-animation of the mortal body until in the course of nature they should die again, to sleep till the trumpet shall sound and, with all other sleeping believers, awake finally to resurrection-life”.
Jesus affirmed that Lazarus’ sickness was to be for the glory of God and, in particular, His own glory – as was clear when He brought Lazarus back to life. But God was glorified also in strengthening Martha’s faith. At first, by faith, she was able to say to Jesus: “I know, that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee”. But when Jesus assured her that Lazarus would rise again, her expectation went no further than: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day”. And then she could express her faith in Jesus as the Messiah: “Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”. She was walking in the way of salvation and her Saviour was using means, including trouble, so that she would grow in grace and in knowledge, to the glory of God. Mary obeyed when Martha was sent to call her. She too, we can be sure, was enabled to grow in grace and in knowledge through her contact with the Saviour on this occasion.
There is no indication that Jesus’ dealings with Lazarus and his sisters had anything to do with chastisement. As in Job’s case, the reasons why God so dealt with them were hidden at the time. The sisters believed that, if Jesus had been with them, such was His love to them that Lazarus would not have died. They needed to learn that the works of God towards His people are greater and more wonderful than they can ever understand, in particular while they are undergoing some affliction.
The Saviour may be saying to His people now, as He did to His disciples as He washed their feet: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter” (Jn 13:7). While they are here, in this world of sin, trouble and sorrow, the great Teacher is training them, through the Word and providence, so that they will grow in grace and in knowledge and at last be fit to enter glory. But they may not understand His dealings with them until they are brought to glory.
But one thing the children of God must bear in mind: His love to them is unchanging, even in the most difficult of circumstances – even if they do experience chastisement. And in His love, the Saviour continues to call to them: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). They have every reason to trust in Him.