Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (Jn 11:1)
So begins John’s account of the raising of Lazarus. At first it would seem that Lazarus is just “some guy” who happens to live in the same town as Jesus’ number one fan, Mary. John tells us that this Mary is the one who has “anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair” (Jn 11:2), thus indicating the deep love and gratitude she has for the Savior. She is very close to Jesus. She trusts him. And Jesus, in turn, loves her too as a sister, a friend, and a daughter-figure all wrapped up in one. What does this have to do with Jesus’ concern for Lazarus?
Scripture goes on to explain that Lazarus is not just “some guy” from the same town as Jesus’ good friend Mary, after all. Lazarus is not her coworker, her neighbor, or even her friend: John tells us that “it was her brother Lazarus who was ill” (Jn 11:2). Jesus has gone to Bethany to tend to Lazarus because Mary—and her sister Martha—have “sent word” to him:
Master, the one you love is ill. (Jn 11:3)
Now let’s stop here for a moment. If one of my ten children was so sick that they needed to go to the ER, and I called my husband’s office and left a message with the secretary to tell my husband that “the one he loves is ill,” how on earth would he know which child I meant specifically? Let’s put aside the fact that Jesus is God and knows everything, because while that is true, would these two ladies, upset and anxious about their dying brother, really rely solely upon the Lord’s capacity for omniscience at a moment like this? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to send a more dire message such as, “Hurry! Lazarus is dying! HELP!!”
While it is true Jesus would later use His divine power to raise Lazarus from the dead, there was nothing about His interpretation of the sisters’ message that required His supernatural abilities. Why? Because the message itself would have spelled out precisely to whom these two women referred. Let’s see if we can understand why that is.
Scripture scholars tell us that the two sisters and their brother were all single adults, living as a family—an unusual circumstance in ancient Jewish culture. How that came to be we do not know for certain, but some theologians have speculated that perhaps Lazarus lived with a kind of chronic, degenerative illness that required him to be cared for by his two sisters (Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap, The Catholic Thing). Now if this were the case, we can deduce two things.
One, when word was sent to Jesus that the one whom He loved was ill, Jesus would have immediately understood that the illness of the one whom he knew to be ill, had taken a marked turn for the worse.
Now there is something else we can deduce if indeed Lazarus lived with his sisters because he needed special care: he would have been the “one” whom Jesus loved, not simply because his sister Mary had a special bond with Jesus, or because she loved and trusted him like no other. It wouldn’t have been only the faith of his two sisters that would have been the reason Jesus showed Lazarus special favor. Lazarus was the one whom Jesus singularly loved, precisely because he was so ill.
Now why would Jesus love someone more simply because they were ill? Well, let’s understand what is meant by “more.” My parish priest once told the story of his mother being asked by a neighbor which of her seven children she loved most. Her response was, “The one who needs me most.” There’s something about a soul who is suffering that softens our hearts and breaks them open in a capacity to love like nothing else. Old resentments and grievances between family members are forgotten; a desire to serve that we didn’t even know we had is drawn out from deep within us. And in the case of a mother towards her child, nothing will elicit her singular attention and focus more than the suffering of her baby. Such is the disposition of Jesus towards Lazarus.
Which leaves us with one last point. Friends, if right now we ourselves are suffering with a chronic illness like Lazarus—if we are suffering in any way, really—let’s understand that this is a sure sign to us that Jesus loves us “more.” Not “more” as in, “better,” but rather, with singular attention and focus. It is precisely because Jesus knows our burden is just a little heavier to carry than most, that He comes to our aid, weeping with us in our pain, hurrying to heal our heartache that it may be replaced with His peace. Jesus will carry the heartache for us, so we can simply place our efforts on trusting Him.
Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and fulfill your vows to the Most High; then call upon me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me. (Ps 50:14-15)
Finally, let’s realize one thing: if we suffer in this way, and it elicits the compassion and love of the Lord like nothing else…it is because He is the one who has allowed it. Our suffering is our opportunity to obtain the conversion of souls, and, in turn, to be sanctified ourselves. Jesus loved Lazarus because he was His friend. He loved Lazarus because he was ill. But mostly, Lazarus was the “one” whom Jesus loved because Lazarus was uniquely chosen by God for holiness.
Bonnat, L. (1857). The Raising of Lazarus [painting]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
