Jesus Waits While Lazarus Is Sick

The sisters use phileō, while John uses agapaō. Large theological distinctions have sometimes been built between these verbs, but their use in John's Gospel overlaps considerably. They should not automatically be treated as two completely different kinds of love. John does not allow the reader to explain Jesus' delay through indifference. He establishes Jesus' love before describing the delay. The connective oun ties the preceding statement closely to Jesus' remaining for two days. This makes the relationship between love and waiting part of the puzzle rather than allowing us simply to separate them. The rest of the narrative gives clues. Jesus speaks of God's glory and later says the events matter for the disciples' faith. The waiting therefore belongs to a larger story that the family cannot see in the moment. John 11 tells a specific story in which the reader is given information about what Jesus knows will happen. It should not become a simplistic explanation for every tragedy, as though we can always identify a hidden purpose behind suffering. Despite Jesus' statement in verse 4, Lazarus dies. The wording can be understood as saying death is not the sickness's final destination or outcome in the story. The grave is not the end. For Martha and Mary the situation is straightforward: Lazarus is sick and Jesus needs to come. Jesus sees a development involving sickness, death, burial, raising, glory, and faith. Both sisters later tell Jesus that their brother would not have died if he had been there. The story permits them to voice the pain of the delay. Jesus' knowledge of what he will do does not make him emotionally detached. He is deeply moved and weeps. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. The story has moved far beyond a delayed sick visit toward the question of whether Jesus can act when death appears final. The delay leads into Jesus' statement to Martha, shifting attention from merely what Jesus can do toward who he is. Lazarus's raising leads both to belief and to intensified opposition against Jesus, making John 11 a turning point toward Jesus' own death. Martha and Mary are allowed to tell Jesus directly, "If you had been here..." Their grief is not treated as forbidden. This makes the story useful for discussing waiting without turning it into an easy answer to every instance of suffering.

Independent English translation from the Greek text, using SBLGNT as the primary Greek edition.