Lord, You Are Too Late

Lord you are too late

Text:

John 11:21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

32 Then 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.

You have no doubt heard this story recorded in John 11 many times.

It is interesting to note that only John wrote about this story.

Matthew, Mark and Luke never mentioned it for some unknown reason.

It's a very familiar story that begins in verse one.

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

Bethany was situated nearly two miles east of Jerusalem at the foot of the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.

From reading the scriptures it seems that Jesus spent a lot of time in and around the town of Bethany.

It would also appear that Jesus had some sort of close relationship with Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus.

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

He must have had a very serious illness because there seemed to be an urgency coming from Mary and Martha.

These two sisters knew Jesus personally and therefore knew that He had the power to heal the sick.

Now, we read in this chapter that Jesus indeed received the message about Lazarus being sick.

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

Jesus was at Bethabara (Joh 1:28; 10:40), about 30 miles from Bethany when He received the message.

This was about a day's journey, and it renders it probable that Lazarus died soon after the message was sent.

One day would be occupied before the message got to him; two days he remained; one day would be occupied by him in going to Bethany; so that Lazarus had been dead four days (Joh 11:39) when he arrived.

Now let's go to verses 17-21, “Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

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

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

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

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

Then in verse 32 we read that when Mary saw Jesus she made the same statement as her sister Martha.

“Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

In other words they were saying, “Lord, you are too late.”

If you had only came when you first got the message, he would not have died.

But now, it's too late! He died four days ago, and has already been buried.

Lord, if only you would have been here four days ago.

John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible, says, “Jesus wept.”

There are different views on why Jesus wept.

Some say Jesus wept because He planned to bring Lazarus back from a place where there is no death, no sorrow, and no pain to this mortal life, a world of suffering and sorrow.

But my view of why Jesus wept, is because He had such compassion and love for Mary and Martha, and He was grieved to see them in such sorrow.

Notice verse 33, “When Jesus therefore saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.”

As the old hymn of the church says, “O great compassion, O boundless love, O loving kindness, faithful and true.”

But listen, something is about to happen in this story.

Mary and Martha thought Jesus was too late, but Jesus is never late, He is always on time.

You may have cried out to God and seemingly getting no answer.

You may think to yourself, “Why pray now, Jesus is too late anyway.”

But never underestimate what God can do!

What is impossible for man is possible with God.

I am reminded of that old chorus we used to sing:

“Only believe, only believe, all things are possible, only believe.”

Jesus had already said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

Martha replied, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection in the last day.”

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection.”

Jesus said, “Where have you laid him.” They said, “Come and see.”