Once more St. John presents Jesus to us on the move: He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there He remained. [v.40]
Jesus is heading inexorably towards Jerusalem, to His passion and death.
In terms of His public life, the constant seeking to convey to those He encounters His love-teachings – as He continues to do within every heart-soul - the battles with evil spirits and human enemies, the miracles, the healings, all have surely taken a toll.
Perhaps Jesus simply needed to rest a while in the place where the Father and the Holy Spirit had affirmed Him and His mission.
Clearly the rest was short lived for: Many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in Him. [vs.41,42]
The phrasing is somewhat odd since the speakers are noted as coming to Jesus, their statement appears to be spoken not to Jesus Himself, rather to each other, to whomever happened to be in what was a group, perhaps not a real crowd.
Since we know [Jn. 1:28] the place where John had been baptizing is that part of the Jordon river near Bethany, clearly word about Jesus being nearby the town would have spread easily.
There is an urgent immediacy to the opening of chapter 11: Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried His feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Master, the one You love is ill.” [1-3].
Throughout his Holy Gospel account St. John references love, usually in the teachings of Jesus, fifty-three times. Sometimes referencing, as in 17:26 the love relationship between the Father and Jesus. Perhaps mostly we are familiar of the use of the word ‘love’ in 21:15ff, where Jesus asks of Peter about his love. There is an increased intensity in each of the three questions, a palpable desire on Christ’s part for Peter to get it right. Finally when Peter does affirm his love with the passionate words: “Lord, You know everything; You know I love You.” [21:17], the bond of intimacy and communion of love has become unbreakable, so much so that not even martyrdom could break it.
On receiving the message Jesus said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” [4]
This receptivity of Jesus should assure us that He also receives all our prayer-petitions and the words Jesus speaks should also assure us that ultimately all suffering we are permitted to endure, when taking up that aspect of our cross and following Jesus, will also be for the glory of God and because Jesus is within us glorification unfolds within us, that is the Light of Christ poured into us by the Holy Spirit at Baptism, intensifies and shines more brightly upon those around us, the whole world, the entire cosmos.
Commenting on the above verse William Barclay says beautifully, truthfully: The simple fact of human need brings Jesus to our side in the twinkling of an eye. [1]
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was ill, He remained for two days in the place where He was. [vs. 5,6]
Just as at the wedding feast at Cana the wine jugs had to be obviously devoid of wine, thus there was a delay then to fill them with water and bring them back to Jesus, another miracle manifesting His glory, so too here the delay is necessary so that when Jesus will approach Lazarus in the tomb Lazarus will be devoid of life and need to be filled up with new life.
Given the proximity of Bethany to Jerusalem, about 3kms, and Jerusalem being where Jesus was headed, while the disciples were surprised by what Jesus says next, we should hear the words for what they truly are, Jesus’ consistent obedience to, abandonment to, trust in the Holy Will of the Father: Then after this He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone You, and You want to go back there?” [vs. 7,8]
Of course He does!
From the moment of His Incarnation Jesus has had one destination on this earth, one purpose, and every night in prayer, every step He has taken, every pause to teach, to heal, to reveal Himself in the various miracles and expulsions of demons, all have been the warp and woof of the tapestry of His life, of our salvation, as seamless a life and act of redemption as the tunic His Mother Mary wove for Him.
Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” [vs. 9,10]
Sometimes, as here, St. John seems to drop words of Jesus in the middle of a narrative that deliberately interrupt and require a standing still, as it were, putting aside the narrative to contemplate Jesus’ words, even when those very words seem disconnected from the event at hand.
This sense of disconnect is because we easily fail to keep before us the narrative is an unbroken trajectory from: In the beginning was the Word…..to: ….And there are also many other things that Jesus did……within which narrative Jesus wastes not a word, for each word He speaks illuminates for us why we are so beloved and how to respond to the love the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit lavish upon us.
Thus in His teaching about time and seeing, walking and not stumbling – or choosing to walk ‘lightless’ in the dark - this is Jesus reminding us that HE is the light of the world and that the time allotted to us on this earth is offered as that ‘day’ of hours needed to fulfill our baptismal vocation as His disciples, something we can only do if we seek to dwell in Him in, the Light of this world.
Absenting ourselves, even for a moment from this communion of light and love, means to choose to dwell in loveless darkness, and there we shall stumble, perhaps, for our souls, fatally.
He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to Him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about His death, while they thought that He meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with Him.” [vs. 11-16]
One of the wonderful things about the disciples, including the Apostles, is their blatant humanity, which should never be confused with stupidity or intellectual denseness. While clearly they did not always understand what Jesus was teaching or doing, they had by now been with Him long enough to have bonded in love with Him, and while as yet they did not understand the purpose of Jesus’ determination to get to Jerusalem, they did well know the authorities we seeking to arrest and execute Jesus, so the courage expressed by Thomas is admirable.
Are we willing to follow Jesus to death, to martyrdom by blood or loss of reputation, that is being rejected by those around us with their disdain for Christianity, because we never hide the fact we are His disciples, we are Christian?
[1] The Gospel of John, volume 2, p.81; William Barclay, the Westminster Press, 1975
© 2020 Fr. Arthur Joseph
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