'Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard
therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place
where He was.'—JOHN xi. 5, 6.
We learn from a later verse of this chapter that Lazarus had been dead
four days when Christ reached Bethany. The distance from that village
to the probable place of Christ's abode, when He received the message,
was about a day's journey. If, therefore, to the two days on which He
abode still after the receipt of the news, we add the day which the
messengers took to reach Him and the day which He occupied in
travelling, we get the four days since which Lazarus had been laid in
his grave. Consequently the probability is that, when our Lord had the
message, the man was dead. Christ did not remain still, therefore, in
order to work a greater miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead than
He would have done by healing, but He stayed—strange as it would
appear—for reasons closely connected with the highest well-being of all
the beloved three, and _because_ He loved them.
John is always very particular in his use of that word 'therefore,' and
he points out many a subtle and beautiful connection of cause and
effect by his employment of it. I do not know that any of them are more
significant and more full of illumination with regard to the ways of
divine providence than the instance before us. How these two sisters
must have looked down the rocky road that led up from Jericho during
those four weary days, to see if there were any signs of His coming.
How strange it must have appeared to the disciples themselves that He
made no sign of movement, notwithstanding the message. Perhaps John's
scrupulous carefulness in pointing out that His love was Christ's
reason for His quiescence may reflect a remembrance of the doubts that
had crept over the minds of himself and his brethren during these two
days of strange inaction. The Evangelist will have us learn a lesson,
which reaches far beyond the instance in hand, and casts light on many
dark places.