John 11.5-6
11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 11:6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days.
John reminds us that Jesus loved them, before he drops the big SO bomb on us. Jesus was more concerned that the Father’s glory be made fully known than He was about Lazarus dying or Mary and Martha’s sadness.
Psa. 63:3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
It is more important to Jesus that we know Him and His strength fully than not know the fullness of who He is and be mediocre and happy. Martha knew all of the right stuff theologically. She was on the right side of the religious debate about resurrection, but she did not know that the resurrection was A MAN and not necessarily an event. She had her doctrine and theology right, that Lazarus would be raised from the dead and the resurrection was real; SHE EVEN believed that Jesus was powerful and wise and could have healed Lazarus when he was alive and sick.
Jesus wanted her and everyone else to know that He wasn’t just the Giver of Health, He is the Giver of Life.
That’s why He waited 2 days to show up. His two day wait was like Elijah’s buckets of water on the stone altar (1 Kings 18). Throughout the scriptures God takes a hopeless situation and allows it (or deliberately makes it) UTTERLY hopeless so that He may have the full glory. Why then to do strain so hard at making things comfortable, nice, and easy?! Why do we complain so much and share ‘prayer requests’ like a litany of things to mourn?
Let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds and see that if DEATH ITSELF happens on a terrible schedule “for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”