I got to be honest with you. I did not want to preach this message. I initially felt the subject matter was of such a weighty and sensitive nature that it deserved someone with far more extensive experience, expertise and training than I felt I would be able to do justice to. The other reason is because it’s a subject that hits pretty close to home in my family. When I met my wife Deedre in the summer of 2003, her mother Dulcie had already been courageously battling colon cancer for approximately 2 years. During that time her family, her church and people all over the world were exercising their faith by praying for her healing. And lo and behold, the day came when the doctors examined her, and to their shock, her cancer had went into remission. So you could just imagine how people began to rejoice at this miraculous answer to prayer. Nevertheless, about a year later the cancer would return. And unfortunately about a year after I met and started dating Deedre in 2003, we were at Dulcie’s funeral in Jamaica by 2004. The after effect of Dulcie’s passing significantly impacted Deedre’s family in more ways than I have time to describe. And in fact, the loss of Deedre’s mother has taken its toll on Deedre’s overall mental and physical health over the years, so much so that in many ways she is still grieving her mothers passing. So, needless to say, I tried for over two months to find someone else to preach today’s message and of all the well qualified people I contacted, not one of them were available to preach today! It soon became very apparent to Deedre, Pr. Aubrey and myself, that God wanted me to share this message with you today.

And like Deedre’s family, many of you know the pain of grieving the loss of a loved one. And even more recently, you may have even lost a loved one during all the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 global pandemic. Family, the earth is groaning as we’re fast approaching the appearing of our Lord! Can you feel it? As I am speaking to you right now, families in Israel and in Palestine are grieving the tragic loss of loved ones caught in the crossfires of war. And it’s to this same part of the world, over 2000 years ago, in 31 AD, just 2 miles from Jerusalem, that the Holy Spirit directs our attention to another family who were about to be gripped by the pain of grieving the loss of a loved one.

It is this family of three siblings in the village of Bethany who’d often provide hospitality, lodgings and refuge to Jesus of Nazareth; Mary who anointed Jesus with ointment, her sister Martha, and her brother Lazarus. The bond they had with Jesus was so tight that in our passage of consideration, today in John 11, the inspired apostle repeatedly emphasizes the deep love Jesus had for them, even calling Lazarus His friend. So when Lazarus becomes deathly ill the two sisters sent a message to Jesus simply stating that the one whom He loves is sick, fully expecting that He’d cancel all His appointments and drop everything to come heal Lazarus or do one of His distance healings by just the power of His word. As a matter of fact, Jesus’ response that this sickness was not meant for death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it, could have been understood to mean that Lazarus would be healed. But, when Jesus decides to stay where He was for two more days, risking the appearance of indifference to the urgent request of the two sisters, both the faith of the sisters and the disciples would be tested. Then after the two days, when Jesus decides to return to Judea with His disciples, after finally getting through to His disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep in death, the disciples fully expected that they were all going to die along with Jesus, for the last time they were there He almost got stoned!

So why would Jesus bother going back to Judea, risking His life, when clearly His friend had already died? Plus He’d not only have to face the murderous hatred and hostility of the Jewish leaders in Judea, but He’d also have to face a grieving family, namely two sisters who likely felt like Jesus had let them down. Have you ever been there while in the midst of grieving? So then, How does Jesus respond to families grieving the loss of a loved one? We’ll, I invite you to fix your eyes on Jesus as we enter this story to see what the Holy Spirit will reveal to us. For it was upon Jesus’ arrival to Bethany that He discovered His friend Lazarus had been dead for four days. According to the Jewish culture of the time, when someone died they were buried the same day and if they stayed in the grave after three days there was absolutely no possibility of resuscitation, for they had already begun to decompose. The Jewish custom of an initial seven days of deep mourning over the death of Lazarus had already begun in the house of Martha and Mary. You could hear the cry of the professional weepers and mourners, as well as the sound of the flute players in the house. The neighbors would’ve been the first to come over to offer to cook, clean or do anything needed by the grieving family. But, among the family and friends that steadily poured into the house were the very Jewish leaders from Jerusalem that thirsted for Jesus’ death. Therefore, when Martha heard that Jesus had come near to the house, she discreetly left Mary in the house and quickly went out to where Jesus was. Can you hear her trembling voice beginning in verse 21…