John 11: 1-16

 John 11: 1-16

Jesus having made it across the Jordan safely will stay there from the Feast of Dedication, late December, till His return just before His death and Resurrection. It is after this season of renewal that Jesus heals Lazarus from death. Grammar has much to teach us in this passage. The illness will pass through death but that is not the ultimate result. We see the whole story: we see the calling of Lazarus back from the dead. We have read the happy ending. But those who lived the story did not have that advantage while they were in the story. Lazarus experiences the difficulty of a terminal illness. There is every possibility that the journey to death was difficult and painful. There would have been little palliative care and there would have been very natural suffering for Lazarus and his sisters as death approached. We should not lose sight of the reality of the first part of John 11 just because we know the end of John 11. The glorification of the Son by the Father is displayed in this miracle, but that miracle came through the suffering of a good man.

There is for us an important lesson that on the road to the glory of Christ; we will be called to suffer. We have often developed the false belief that in following Christ suffering is either removed or mitigated to the point of a minor nuisance, that is a dangerous misunderstanding. In terms of Eternity our suffering is only a minor thing. But in the moment our faith is not pixie dust that we sprinkle on misery and make it go away. Sometimes misery is something we must accept, be strengthened during and endure completely before we experience God being glorified through us and in our suffering

“Lord, grant me grace to suffer in such a say that You are glorified.  AMEN”