Tempering our Understanding of Miracles
John 11:1-45
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” 12 The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” 16 Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
John 11:17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about 1two miles off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. 21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “aI am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are 1athe Christ, the Son of God, even 2bHe who comes into the world.”
John 11:28 When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she *got up quickly and was coming to Him.
John 11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and 1cwas troubled, 34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, 1have kept this man also from dying?”
John 11:38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the 1people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” 44 The man who had died came forth, abound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
This is a very difficult narrative to discuss because the author wants to give the readers a sense that everything can be fixed by becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. So, give me a moment to explain why my opening statement will be taken badly by some listeners.
First, in the story, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. It was four days after Lazarus died Jesus arrives in the town. The custom of the day was that the person’s spirit stayed in the body for at least three days after death. On the third day, it was the custom to go to the tomb and offer final goodbyes. They believed that the deceased person could hear the mourners. Of course, the deceased person could not reply. A quick foreshadowing in John’s Gospel. Mary at Jesus’ tomb on the third day went there to say her final goodbyes. When Jesus appeared to her imagine the surprise she felt. That was not supposed to happen. Truly the LORD was with Jesus.
Ok, back to the story at hand. The fourth day had come, and the people believed that Lazarus’ spirit had returned to the LORD. That is, he was now in Heaven. Jesus comes to the tomb and calls upon the LORD to send him back. The miracle occurs or perhaps it was a sign that Lazarus was revived and walked out of the tomb. The immediate interpretation is that nothing is impossible with the LORD.
I believe it is possible to do some impossible things with the help of Jesus and the LORD. However, being realistic, there are things that do not happen even when calling upon Jesus. A flaw in Christianity’s proclamation of anything is possible is that it is not a 100% proof theological position. Many impossible things happen with Jesus’ help, but many things don’t happen. This was a problem for the early church and one today.
I had a dear friend named Lew. He did not listen to his heart doctor when he had his second heart attack. Lew was instructed to not work or get stressed for 12 weeks. His heart needed time to heal. Of course, at 9 weeks Lew felt great and went back to work. Two weeks later, he was back in the hospital with a heart attack.
This time the cardiologist said to him that only 20% of his heart was left. He also said that Lew had two years to live unless he got a transplant. So, Lew went on the list. A month into the two years there was a heart. He rushed to the hospital and was prepped for the surgery. However, the heart came in damaged in transport. No one was sure why or how it happened. Lew did not get the transplant. He was never called again. 2 weeks before the 2-year mark Lew’s heart failed and he died.
Honestly, all the praying in the world would not have repaired Lew’s heart. The heart is an organ that does not remove dead tissue and replaces it with new tissue. The strain on 20% of Lew’s heart would not last for long. Medical science has plenty of proof for hearts. What did I do? I prayed for Lew’s soul that he would come to grips with his mortality and prepare himself to meet Jesus. Lew was ready to meet Jesus. He did not look forward to it because it meant leaving his family and friends. However, he accepted mortality and was ready the day the angel of death took him into Heaven to be with Jesus.
I would say that Lew’s miracle was how well he accepted his situation and that he caused it by not listening to his heart doctor. So, let me change my opening statement by saying I believe it is important to call upon Jesus to help us overcome the difficulties of life. We might not get what we would like but when we pray and listen to God’s voice, we can be comforted knowing that God is doing the best for us.
It is difficult to pray for a person who has a terminal illness or wound. If this person is a dear relative or friend, we want the person to be healed. We accept that healing may be the person’s physical death, with healing being a part of the soul. It is still difficult to accept because of this story.
We can look at the Lazarus story a little differently. In this story, Jesus could bring Lazarus back from death. Here, Jesus could answer Mary and Martha’s prayers for their brother. Instead of the story being about death, what if we see it as an answer to prayer? There was a situation that needed God’s help. Jesus responded. The prayer came to be in this case. What am I saying? Praying for a solution to a situation shows a faith in Jesus. However, the solution to the prayers will be what God can do.
Prayer and the answers to prayer is a very difficult area to explain. Why do some prayers come to be while others do not? This is a question that has been around since the beginning of religion. What appears to be true is that there are prayers that God answers and there are prayers that cannot be. With our limited time here, it is not possible to go through all the possibilities. I recommend the book “Prayer: Finding the Hearts True Home” by Richard Foster. He examines prayer and offers several possible answers to prayer being answered.
A prayer lesson from the story is that no matter the possibility of a prayer being answered in the way you want it you should offer it. The sisters never expected Jesus to bring Lazarus back to them. If you feel you have an “impossible prayer” offer it nevertheless. Understand that the answer may not be the one you want. I pray for all who are listening or reading this message that your faith continues to be strong and call upon Jesus for help.
