Part 2: "But Mary sat still in the house."

Introduction

Welcome to Part 2 of our online examination of the biblical account of Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead. I hope you will continue to experiment with the various parts of each lesson and let me know what you think.

Prayer

Lord, remind me of your presence in all parts of life.  Let me use this time to focus my attention and broaden my understanding.  Help me be to be relaxed, alert, and welcoming to whatever you want me to learn or know today.  Amen. 

Film Portrayal

There have been many dramatic portrayals of the raising of Lazarus in plays, movies and television shows.  Here is a link to one of the portrayals that closely follows the biblical text.  It's from a movie called "The Gospel of John," starring Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1ku3kE2lY

Scripture

The account of the raising of Lazarus appears in the Gospel According to John, Chapter 11, verses 1-44.  Here is the passage again, this time as translated in the Authorized (King James) Version:

"Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

²(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

³Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

⁴When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

⁶When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

⁷Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

⁸His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?

⁹Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

¹⁰But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

¹¹These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

¹²Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

¹³Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

¹⁴Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

¹⁶Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

¹⁷Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

¹⁸Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

¹⁹And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

²¹Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

²²But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

²³Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

²⁴Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

²⁵Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

²⁷She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

²⁸And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

²⁹As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

³⁰Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

³¹The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

³²Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

³³When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

³⁴And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

³⁷And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

³⁸Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

³⁹Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

⁴⁰Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

⁴¹Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

⁴²And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

⁴³And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

⁴⁴And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go."

Discussion:   "But Mary sat still in the house..."

I find it fascinating to notice the way in which John's account of the raising of Lazarus tampers with the reader's expectations regarding how the main characters will act.  For example, although the Gospel According to John almost always portrays Jesus as calm and totally in control of his emotions, verse 35 describes Jesus as weeping openly before the tomb of his friend Lazarus.  In verse 16, it is not Peter (usually the bravest and most vocal of the disciples) but Thomas who bravely urges his fellow disciples to join him in accompanying Jesus to Bethany, even at the risk of death.  The Apostle Thomas is frequently called "Doubting Thomas" because of his initial reluctance to believe the reports of Jesus' resurrection--but that description does not fit Thomas in this episode.

In the same way, the account's description of Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, seems somewhat surprising.  In chapter 12, verses 1-4, Mary is described as anointing Jesus' feet and wiping them with her hair, at a banquet honoring Lazarus after his return from the dead.  In the Gospel According to Luke, chapter 10, verses 38-42, Mary sits in rapt attention at Jesus' feet, while Martha is irritated that she must serve Jesus and the disciples without any help from her sister.  It is often assumed, then, that Mary was the more attentive follower, while Martha was more concerned with household logistics.  In John's account of Jesus' arrival at the tomb of Lazarus, though, it is Martha, not Mary, who promptly leaves the house to greet Jesus, and it is Martha who professes faith in Jesus as Messiah.  Mary, the author notes, remained at home.  In the King James translation, the text notes pointedly, "Mary sat still in the house."

Why?  Why did the two sisters not go to meet Jesus together?  If only one sister went to meet him, we might imagine that Mary would be the one to do so.  We might imagine Martha back at the house, hurrying to serve food to the other guests who had come to console the sisters. 

According to the John's Gospel, though, Mary remained at home, even after she had been informed of Jesus' arrival.  She only left her house to speak to Jesus after her sister returned home again "secretly" to get her, saying, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee." (verse 29).

Perhaps the two sisters perceived the etiquette of mourning differently.  Mary may have expected that she should remain in the house while mourners came to her and her sister to offer condolences.  Martha may have instead perceived a duty to go out to welcome Jesus, in order to recognize Jesus as more important than an ordinary well-wisher.

In all events, I think the sisters' different responses helps highlight the difference between depression and ordinary sadness.  Everyone is sad upon the death of a loved one.  The intense longing for the loved one feels overwhelming, and sorrow grips the heart. Mourning rituals are sometimes difficult for anyone to manage.  But life continues.  Sometimes, though, personal tragedies (or even otherwise innocuous events) can trigger an emotional and medical condition that is more debilitating that sadness.  Depression is not merely a mood, and cannot be overcome simply by wishing for a better attitude.  It is a biological condition.

Depression can render a person unable to make decisions and even unable to muster the strength to get up to do anything.  It can create a profound sense of hopelessness.  It can be physically painful.  it can destroy the desire to live.  It is not a mood or an emotion, but a medical condition.  Depressed people cannot think or act as they normally would.  Perhaps Mary was not just sad, but depressed.  If so, then Jesus' raising of her brother caused a healing in her too--a medical healing.  Then perhaps the restoration of Mary's sense of emotional control was a second, less frequently noticed miracle in Bethany.

Reflection

Have you ever known another person has suffered from depression?  What became of that person?  Have you ever been diagnosed with depression?  What kinds of medical and/or psychological treatment have helped?  In such times, has faith in God played any role in dealing with the depression?  In what ways has it helped or not helped?  Has God seemed present or absent in the midst of depression? 

Have you found anything helpful to say or do, for a person who has been suffering from depression?  Notice that although Jesus spoke with Martha about his own identity as "resurrection and life," and promised that Lazarus would live again. (verses 23-26),  he offered no theological pronouncements or promises to Mary.  Jesus did not give Mary any advice.  He simply asked where Lazarus had been buried, and acted to raise him.  Does your own experience in dealing with a person suffering from depression suggest anything about the effectiveness of offering a depressed person your own affirmations about Jesus' identity or eternal life?  What is the best thing to say to a person suffering from depression after a great personal tragedy?  What should we pray for, in dealing with such a person?  In what ways might the Bible or rituals (either religious rituals or rituals of daily life) be helpful?

Think about the account of the raising of Lazarus again, in connection with such times.  In what ways might the image of Lazarus being bound in a shroud and held in a tomb seem to reflect the feelings of someone in the throes of depression?  Does the account of the miracle seem reassuring?  Or do you react more like those in the crowd-- “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”  In such a time, how can Jesus summon a person suffering from depression to "come forth," to come out of a "tomb" of emotional deadness?

Is it significant that, after Lazarus emerges from the tomb, Jesus orders the people to "loose" Lazarus, and "let him go"?

What do you imagine Mary thinking, as she emerged from the house to talk with Jesus?  What might Lazarus say, upon seeing Mary and Martha outside the tomb? 

Prayer

Lord, be with us in all despair and depression.  Be also with others suffering from such desolation.  Help us know how to be of help to others who are suffering. Remind us that you are Lord of all life, and Lord over death itself.  In the midst of all the crises and sorrows of our lives, remind us that your love never fails.  In the name of Jesus, who raised Lazarus and who promises life to all of us, Amen.

Part 1: "Jesus began to weep."

Introduction

I've been thinking a lot recently about mourning, loss, depression and faith.  As I have watched people I care about struggling with losses of all types, and as I have experienced losses of my own, I have found myself looking again and again to the Bible for hope.  Like many other people, I've repeatedly turned to the account of Jesus' raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead.  This online study will look at that account from several different perspectives, in the context of mourning, loss and depression.  I hope you will experiment with the various elements of each Part and let me know what you find useful, interesting.  I hope you will also let me know what you find uninteresting, boring or useless.  That will help me improve future studies.

Prayer

I think it's a helpful practice to begin and conclude any examination of the Bible with a short prayer.  A good short prayer puts a reader in a right frame of mind to gain some insight from God.  A long prayer can be distracting or boring.  You may have your own preferred prayer for beginning a study; if so, offer that prayer now.  If not, try this prayer:

Lord, open my eyes.  Open my mind.  Open my heart.  Help me be to be relaxed, alert, and welcoming to whatever you want me to learn or know today.  Amen.

Scripture

The account of the raising of Lazarus appears only in the Gospel According to John, Chapter 11, verses 1-44.  Here is the passage, as translated in the New Revised Standard Version:

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Discussion:   "Lord, if you had been here..."

While the story may be very familiar, the text retains its dramatic effect even after many readings.  The tension builds and builds, until the exciting moment of Jesus' loud cry, "Lazarus, come out!" and Lazarus' startling appearance outside the tomb. No wonder that this episode features prominently in practically every movie and mini-series about the life of Jesus. 

Still, each reading seems to raise new questions and reveal surprising details.   For example, why did Jesus not hurry to Lazarus' bedside when he received the message about Lazarus' illness?  Each of the sisters of Lazarus separately greeted Jesus with the same statement:  "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."  The text does not indicate tone of voice, but it would have been understandable for the sisters to be upset, if they had known of Jesus' seemingly intentional delay in arriving.

Mary and Martha did not lack faith in Jesus' power or love.  Their initial message to Jesus mentioned Jesus' love for Lazarus, and the statement, "Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died" implies a belief in Jesus' power to heal.  The statement, though, also served as something of a rebuke, as if to demand an explanation of why he hadn't been there when he was needed.

In modern life, lots of people feel frustrated and even abandoned by God, when fervent prayers for the healing of loved ones do not appear to have any effect.  If we believe in God's existence, God's love and God's power, we struggle to understand God's failure to intervene to prevent the death of a loved one.  Even if we can accept the inevitability of death, we struggle to accept the extended suffering of people who are close to us.  God can seem very far away.  "Lord, if you had been here...."  

But Jesus had another agenda with Lazarus than showing his power to heal.  Jesus had already repeatedly demonstrated his power over illness and over disability.  Even as he healed particular individuals, though, Christ had not removed illness or disability from the world, even for his most faithful followers.  Everyone would have to suffer those things, even the most fervent believers.  So maybe the point of those healings was not just to remove suffering, but rather to show his lordship over all of the struggles of life. 

Jesus had showed a startling lack of worry about Lazarus' illness.  He even said he was glad to know that Lazarus was dead, because that meant he could demonstrate the glory of God, so that others might believe in God’s power and love.  Evidently, death was not the worst thing that could happen to Lazarus. 

In fact, when you think about it, Lazarus might not even have been too happy to be called back from the tomb.  After all, Lazarus would have known that he’d only have to suffer and die again later; and he also would have known what he was leaving behind.  But the raising of Lazarus wasn’t about Lazarus’ happiness.  It was a glimpse of the power of God in conquering death.  So that others might believe in that power, and get a glimpse of how it would feel.  Jesus called to Lazarus, not with congratulations, but with a command to come forth out of death, and a command that he be unbound and set free.

Reflection

Have you known another person whose long-held faith has been challenged by tragic events in life?  What became of that person?

Think of a time when you have mourned.  Perhaps you have mourned for the death of a loved pet or a dear relative.  Perhaps you have mourned the loss of a cherished career or a close relationship.  How did that affect your feelings about other things, or your feelings about God? 

Has your confidence in God's love or power or presence ever been shaken by events in your life?  Did God seem unconcerned?  Did you feel that your commitment to God had simply been a foolish waste of time?

Think about the account of the raising of Lazarus again, in connection with such times.  Does the account seem reassuring?  Or do you react more like those in the crowd-- “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”  

What do you imagine Lazarus thinking, as he emerged from the tomb?

What practices, phrases, songs or Bible passages comfort you in times of mourning?  Do you find funeral rituals helpful and comforting, or painful and unnecessary?

Prayer

Lord, be with us in all mourning and loss.  Remind us that you are Lord of all life, and Lord over death itself.  In the midst of all the crises and sorrows of our lives, remind us that your love never fails.  In the name of Jesus, who raised Lazarus and who promises life to all of us, Amen.