John 11:1-27
In their anxiety, the two sisters at Bethany sent a request to the divine Friend. This request can serve as an example to us, "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick" (v. 3). When they call on the Lord, they recognize. His authority and do not dictate to Him what to do: for example – come and cure him! They simply lay before Him the matter which worries them. They also know His love and refer to this. Yet this affection does not make the Lord Jesus decide to go to Judea immediately, even as the criminal intentions of the Jews do not hinder Him from going there when the time comes. Only obedience to His Father directed the Lord’s steps. Through this delay God’s glory is to shine out even more brilliantly since Lazarus has been four days already in the sepulchre by the time the Lord Jesus arrives in Bethany. From time to time we meet people going through a time of mourning. Then we can feel the complete inadequacy of human sympathy (like that of the Jews in v. 19). But everything changes when we look to Him who is "the resurrection and the life". Then we realize the full value of eternal things and our faith even now triumphs in hope.