Lazarus, Part 3 - Misunderstanding Jesus

John 11v11-16

4^th November 2022

While Jesus and His disciples were in Perea, east of the Jordan, messengers came from Mary and Martha to tell Jesus that his friend Lazarus was seriously ill. Jesus waited for two days, and then told the disciples they were going back to Judea. They reminded Him of the dangers that awaited Him there. The Jewish leaders were plotting to kill Him.

John 11v9-10
Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."

Jesus wasn't afraid of danger. He knew that God has ordained every day of His life, as He has of ours.

John 11v11-15
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better."
Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

In Jesus's day, "sleep" was a euphemism, a sensitive way of speaking about death. Today, people say somebody has "passed". Christians might say somebody has "been called home". In first-century Judea they would say a person had "fallen asleep". Like most euphemisms, it was open to misunderstanding, and the disciples misunderstood. We don't know why, but I can think of four possible reasons:

Firstly, perhaps they thought that Lazarus wasn't dead but was so ill that he'd lost consciousness, and Jesus was going to bring him out of his unconscious state.

Secondly, perhaps they thought even Jesus couldn't bring back from the dead a man who'd been dead for four days. But Jesus can do anything.

Thirdly, perhaps they reasoned that if Jesus was going to save Lazarus's life, He would have done so before Lazarus died. This sort of human thinking is understandable, but it's wrong; God doesn't always do things by the easiest and most stress-free route. God the Father had determined to glorify Himself and Jesus – as Jesus had just said. God was willing for the sisters to suffer bereavement and great sorrow to achieve this end. When we pray or sing about wanting our lives to glorify God, do we realise that He might just accept our offer, and it might be painful and difficult?

Or, fourthly, perhaps they simply took Jesus literally when He was speaking figuratively.

Their misunderstanding, and the various reasons why they might have misunderstood, should cause us to think about our own understanding of the Bible. If the disciples, who lived and worked with Jesus every day, could so misunderstand Him, so can we. So perhaps when we disagree with other Christians about some point of doctrine or practice, we can do so with a degree of humility, recognising the possibility that we might be mistaken and the other person might be right.

We will sometimes misunderstand the Bible, and we will sometimes misunderstand what God wants to communicate to us individually, and what God is doing in our lives. But we can trust God to look after us, protect us and lead us on, despite our lake of wisdom and our imperfect understanding.

We can also do what we can to understand God and the Bible better. We can study the Bible seriously. We can also listen to other Christians, especially those from different traditions from or own. We can grow in meekness, and cultivate a willingness to listen more than we speak.

In particular, we should be careful not to assume the Bible is being is literal when it's using a figure of speech. The Bible is absolutely true, inerrant, infallible, but it uses metaphor, poetry, apocalyptic and other non-literal modes, and we do well to look out for these things in the pages of the Bible. Jesus used a figure of speech when He said Lazarus had fallen asleep. Here's a more obvious example: in Luke 13v32, Jesus refers to Herod as a fox. I really hope none of us thinks that means Herod looked like Basil Brush.

Jesus, full of grace and mercy, spelled it out for them, "Lazarus is dead" and He then told them "for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Had Jesus been in Bethany when Lazarus was dying, Mary and Martha would have expected Jesus to heal him. Now that Lazarus had died, Jesus would bring him back from the dead, and the result would be increased faith in the disciples. Can we accept that Jesus so orders events, including delaying answers to prayer, for His glory and our faith?

John 11v16
Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Thomas, aware that the Jews were seeking to stone Jesus, thought that returning to Judea would be too dangerous. He thought Jesus would be killed, so he resolved to accompany Jesus and die with Him. Thomas didn't realise that the One who could raise Lazarus from the dead wouldn't die until the time appointed for Him. This shows that he didn't understand Jesus's words when He talked about there being twelve hours in the day. Similarly, some really nice, well-meaning, loving Christians really don't have much of a grasp of what the Bible teaches, and none of us understands it perfectly.

Jesus, together with His band of disciples, who loved Him but didn't understand Him, set off for Bethany in Judea. You don't have to understand God before you choose to believe the Bible and obey God.