Fr. Miller

Lessons for All Saints Day (or the Sunday closest to it) – John 11:32-44

Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018

How many times have we asked similar questions that the Jews, who were with Mary, asked in times of tragedy (John 11:37)? “But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’”

Could Jesus have prevented this disaster from happening? Why did Jesus allow this death or illness happen? Questions that naturally come to us when we face the loss of a loved one, or when a natural disaster like an earthquake or storm hits. While it is a fact that all of us will one day die and that life can be disastrous at times, does it really mean that Jesus is ‘missing in action’? Here is another fact: Jesus does not stand aloof to the tragedies of life but is in the midst of them with us.

Here in this very passage we read twice that Jesus was “deeply moved” (John 11:33 and 38) when faced with the death of Lazarus and the sadness of those gathered with Martha and Mary. The Greek word that translates “deeply moved” is embrimaomai and it means to feel something deeply and strongly, like anger or sadness. In this passage, Jesus was feeling a deeply felt anger and sadness at the loss his friends were facing, but toward the condition of sin that brought death and suffering to a world that originally was created as ‘good.’ After all, was Jesus angry with the people who were mourning? He wept with them because He felt their pain and suffering.

Jesus knew their sadness and despair and He knows ours. He is not happy with the fact that death exists and that His people suffer in a fallen world. However, the raising of Lazarus teaches us that Jesus is indeed the resurrection and the life … death will not have the last word over those who believe in Christ. The raising of Lazarus was a physical sign that Jesus has authority over death, a fact that will find its ultimate fulfillment when He goes through His own death and resurrection for the sins of the world.

So, Jesus knows about our suffering when we face the tragedies of life such as the death of a loved one or of a disastrous event. Not only does He know but has and is doing something about it. We live in a time of the ‘already and not yet,’ a time when He has come and set us free from sin and eternal death but has yet to come and set all things in order. However, make no mistake, the day is coming when He will return and take away pain and death once and for all (Rev. 21:4).