THIS IS LOVE!

"Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was." John 6:1-6 ESV

In my 38 years of being a Christian I have come more and more to see how to see life through God’s lens of eternity necessitates becoming comfortable with paradox. Webster defines a paradox as "a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true." G. K. Chesterton gave this magnificent definition of a paradox: “a paradox is truth standing on its head shouting for attention."

In my mind's eye I see truths lined up like ridiculous people on their heads, feet waving in the air, calling, "Hey, look at me! Up is down! Down is up! Think about it." Paradox is a powerful vehicle for truth, because it makes people think. Have you ever thought about how often the teachings of Jesus and scriptures are laden with paradox? He said things like: “We gain life by losing life; we live by dying; we receive by giving; we become great by becoming least; our weakness is our strength; we rule by serving; the empty are full, the sad are the happy; the slave is free, the cursed are blessed, and that death brings life. All these statements which first strike the ear as contradictory become increasingly true to us as we meditate on them.

Jesus rules in an “upside down kingdom.” He brings a way of life that seems upside down in contrast with the world’s view of life. “For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). Jesus offers us an “Upside Down Kingdom” in John 11:1-6. In reality Jesus kingdom is right side up for if God is God and God is our life and His life is THE life and therefore, our life; than upside down is right side up and right side up is upside down!

In the first six verses of John 11 we hear Jesus define for us what love really looks like as he responds to the illness and death of His friend Lazarus.

Mary and Martha, his friends from Bethany near Jerusalem, sent word to Jesus of a medical emergency and that their brother Lazarus was very sick. But Jesus responds by saying in verse 4,
‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’”

Notice that the first thing Jesus does when he hears the news of Lazarus’ illness is put it in relation to the glory of God and his own glory. If you do not understand what the glory of God means, I strongly urge you to prayerfully and reflectively read the six blogs that I wrote last year titled "The glory of God for Dummies Like Me: A Primer". It will really help you to understand it's supreme worth and central importance in your understanding of God and life. Here is the link:
http://robbyman.blogspot.com/2011/06/glory-of-god-for-dummies-like-me-primer.html

Jonathan Edwards helps us to understand the magnificence of this statement by writing,

"All that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God's works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God..."

Then John underlines for the third time the love that Jesus has for this family. Verse 5: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” John really wants us to see this and feel this. Three times he says it: Verse 2: This is the woman who anointed Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. Verse 3: “The one whom you love is ill.” You love him! Verse 5: “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

So with all the emphasis upon the love Jesus has for these three, John knows that what he is about to say in verse 6 goes against all ordinary human experience and reveals God's upside down kingdom in the most radical way.

"So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.”

How does that hit you dear reader? We must pay very, very careful attention to what Jesus says and does here. The key word that unlocks the shocking words that He says is the word “so” at the beginning of verse 6. It means “therefore.” So verses 5 and 6 read like this: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So [therefore], when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was."

You would think that because of this deep friendship and love that Jesus would get there as fast as He could. It's a tough thing to believe that Jesus deliberately waited. We are so used to critical illness being a signal for immediate action -- mourning sirens, flashing red lights, get him to the hospital, that it seems incredible that Jesus, knowing that his dear friend was ill, or in this case dead, nevertheless stayed right where he was for two more days. Jesus knew what this would mean, this delay. It would mean the certainty of Lazarus’ death. We know this because of verse 14. When Jesus decides to go to Bethany he knows Lazarus is dead: “Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died’.” Jesus did not go as asked. He stayed. And Lazarus died.


Perhaps, now we are prepared to see and feel the main point. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus so much that He stayed away! It was love that moved Jesus to let Lazarus die.

How can we come to understand and believe that Jesus loves us? If you have or are experiencing God's delay, pay close attention. For in writing I believe that John intends, and Jesus intends, for everyone seeing this to ask: How is that love? John has gone out of his way to set this up. Shockingly, Jesus calls this behavior of his love. John 11 elevates our perspective. It explains to His beloved, waiting, praying, struggling, and suffering children that no matter what they appear, Christ's delays are the delays of love. Jesus loves them. He loves them. He loves them. Therefore, he does not heal him but lets him die.

That is the tough thing to handle. When you have gone to God for help which you feel you desperately need, your heart is breaking over something and you need God to intervene, but nothing happens, the heavens are silent, there is no word at all, that is what is tough. Has that ever happened to you? It has happened to me several times. When that does happen, we always interpret God's delays as God's denials. We say, "He didn't answer my prayer. Prayer doesn't work. What's the use? I've tried it. It doesn't work." This is the usual reaction. But what this is telling us is that a delay in answer like that is not a sign of God's indifference or his failure to hear. It is a sign of his love.

Remember what Jesus said in verse 4: “This illness does not lead to death [in other words, the point is not death]. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” This illness will turn out for the glory of God, and the glory of the Son of God. It will make Jesus look amazing. God's delays are always purposeful. Therefore (verse 6) love lets him die.

So what is love? What does it mean to be loved by Jesus? Love means giving us what we need most, and what we need most is not healing, but a full and endless experience of the glory of God. Love means giving us what will bring us the fullest and longest joy. And what is that? What will give you full and eternal joy? The answer of this text is clear: a revelation to your soul of the glory of God, seeing and admiring and marveling at and savoring the glory God in Jesus Christ.

Look at the way Jesus says it in verses 14–15: “Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.’” The human counterpart to the revelation of God’s glory is believing. Believing is coming to Jesus to be satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus. And we come to him that way only when we see His glory, "we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

These are the two great purposes of all things:

1. God’s demonstration of his glory in Christ

2. Human beings treasuring that glory above all things.

That is the meaning of life and of all creation. And these two great purposes are really one: Because our treasuring God’s glory above all things, even life itself, is the way we join God in demonstrating His glory. As John Piper says, God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him.

So Jesus lets Lazarus die to show the glory of God and to intensify the faith of his disciples and the main point is: This is love.

The aim of Jesus' love is to bring people to the fullest knowledge and the fullest enjoyment of the glory of God. Jesus didn’t just let Lazarus die for this. He died for this. “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus prayed that on the other side of his death his redeemed people would see his glory: “I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24).

So what is love? Love is the longing that labors and suffers to enthrall others with what is infinitely and eternally satisfying: the glory of God. AMEN!

Pastor Bill