Clearly, not all change is good.
The coronavirus outbreak that emerged in December quickly morphed into a global pandemic that has taken the lives of many thousands and threatens the lives of millions more. This crisis, unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetimes, has resulted in an alarmingly disruptive and entirely unprecedented surge of alterations in the ways we communicate, congregate, and generally go about our daily lives. Each day brings distressing news of more disease, loss, restrictions, hardship, and uncertainty. We’re unsettled, anxious, fearful, waiting…
Indeed, not all change is good. We find ourselves and our world in a plague of truly biblical proportions. Thankfully, we know the God who gave us that Bible, and we know that he is good. And so, we ask: Why is this happening? What is God up to? And what are we supposed to do? We can find some answers to those questions in the familiar gospel story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead.
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha… But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”… Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, so that you may believe. Come, let’s go to him.”
Portions of John 11:1-16
This was a grim time of anguish and confusion for Lazarus’ sisters Martha and Mary. When Jesus finally did arrive in Bethany, Mary fell down and cried out, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:32) No, it wasn’t a global plague, but for them it surely seemed like their world was coming to an end. Their lives had changed forever, and forever for the worse. What’s more, Jesus could have prevented it. But he didn’t. Why?
The disciples surely wondered the same thing. Upon hearing of Lazarus’ illness Jesus waited for two days before going to him. When at last he did set their course for Bethany, placing his own life at risk in doing so, he told his disciples bluntly: “Lazarus is dead.” (v.14) The answer to our question “why?” lies in what Jesus said next: “For your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, so that you may believe.” (v.15)
Jesus did the inexplicable, the debatable, what would seem even to be the inexcusable! Why? So that we might believe! He didn’t do this to save himself. He did this for our sakes! That we might believe. You see, he already knew that four days after Lazarus was in the tomb he would do something tremendous, miraculous, even divine. He would raise his friend from the dead! He would be glorified! So that they would believe. Indeed, he already knew that afterward, in Jerusalem, he would die on a cross for them, and three days later gloriously rise again. So that they would believe – and live!
Would God allow disaster, loss and crisis to occur for our sake, that we would believe? John, the writer of this Gospel, might tell us that everything Jesus does – everything God does – he does that we might believe in him as our Savior. Jesus speaks often of this in John’s Gospel, but perhaps nowhere more directly than on that day in Bethany when he declared to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25,26)
This pandemic is not good, my friends. And yet, even
now, Jesus is sovereignly at work, in the midst of
all that is not good, to change the world. He will be
glorified and draw all people to himself. Is there any
evil he cannot defeat? Any wrong he cannot right?
Any circumstance from which he cannot rescue?
Will we at this time believe? What will such believing lead us to do? How will it cause us to live in this moment? As Jesus led his disciples to Bethany in Judea, a place where they feared Jesus could be killed, Thomas boldly said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (v.16)
As Thomas and the other disciples learned, when we follow Jesus we don’t determine the direction. Or the destination. Or the timing. He may wait for two days. He may wait for two months. He may wait longer. But he knows where he’s going and when. And he’s taking us with him. Let’s go with him! Let’s do what he would do. Let’s risk it all. Let’s weep with those who weep. Let’s love and hope and rejoice in Jesus. Let’s tell the Good News of resurrection. And let’s see what changes.