The Legend Of Samara

Are you afraid of death?

Afraid of that inevitable, inescapable moment when you and death will finally meet face-to-face?

An Appointment in Samara

An old Middle-Eastern tale still rings true.

In bustling Baghdad, a merchant sent his servant to the marketplace.

But the man soon returned, ashen and trembling.

> “Master, in the marketplace a woman brushed against me.

When I turned, I saw it was Death.

She looked at me and made a gesture as if to strike.

Lend me your fastest horse!

I must flee to Samara and hide.

Surely she will not find me there.”

The merchant, pitying the man, lent him his own swift stallion.

In a cloud of dust the servant galloped away toward Samara.

Later that day the merchant himself strolled to the market.

There, among the crowd, he saw Death.

> “Why did you frighten my servant this morning?

Why threaten him?”

Death replied quietly,

> “That was no threat.

I was only startled.

I was astonished to see him in Baghdad,

for I have an appointment with him tonight—in Samara.”

Everyone, whether prince or pauper, keeps an appointment with death.

From Fable to Gospel

So what does Scripture say to hearts uneasy about that meeting?

Open John 11.

It was a bright winter day east of the Jordan.

To the west, melt-waters from Mount Hermon glittered as they poured into the Jordan River.

To the east, purple-gray hills stood like silent sentinels.

And wherever Jesus went, people crowded close—farmers, merchants, mothers with children, the curious and the desperate—drawn by the warmth of His words.

Suddenly the hush of teaching broke beneath the sound of pounding hooves and a breathless shout.

A servant pushed through the crowd with a desperate message:

> “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

(John 11:3)

The name behind the plea was familiar—Lazarus of Bethany, brother of Mary and Martha, close friends of Jesus.

When Friends of Jesus Suffer

Notice those words: the one You love is sick.

Let them sink in.

Friends of Jesus get sick.

Friends of Jesus die.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if belonging to Christ meant a kind of spiritual immunity—some invisible shield that kept tragedy away?

But since Eden’s fall, this planet has been a battlefield where sickness and death touch saint and skeptic alike.

Perhaps you carry your own private diagnosis or grief.

Hear this: your suffering is not proof that Christ has turned His face from you.

The one He loves may indeed be sick—and still loved.

A Perplexing Delay

Here is where the story takes a turn we find hard to accept.

> “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days.”

(John 11:5-6)

He lingered.

While Lazarus lay dying, Jesus continued teaching and healing as if nothing had changed.

Why?

We often think we know the best timetable for God to follow—for our nation, our family, ourselves.

Yet He moves on a different clock.

Jesus explained only this:

> “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

(John 11:4)

We cannot yet see the end from the beginning.

But heaven does.

An old Christian writer captured it well:

> “God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led if they could see the end from the beginning.”

Four Days Too Late?

Two days later Jesus finally turned toward Bethany.

> “When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days…

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him.”

(John 11:17, 20)

First-century funerals were raw with sound—wailing neighbors, consoling friends, the deep ache of loss.

Grief always feels like an intruder.

Through tears Martha blurted the cry of every broken heart:

> “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

(John 11:21)

How many have whispered that very sentence?

“Lord, if You had come sooner… if You had answered my prayer… my loved one would still be alive.”

Where was God when the monitor flat-lined?

Where was He when the accident happened?

Into that anguish Jesus spoke words that still carry resurrection power:

> “I am the resurrection and the life.

The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die;

and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die.

Do you believe this?”

(John 11:25-26)

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Death Called “Sleep”

Martha must have struggled to grasp Jesus’ claim.

Her brother had been dead for days, yet Jesus spoke as if death were only temporary rest.

Earlier, when the disciples questioned His delay, He told them:

> “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”