It is undeniable that there was something dark and mysterious about our Lord's message. He might of course have said plainly, "Lazarus will die, and then I will raise him again." Yet there is a wonderful likeness between the style of his message and many an unfulfilled prophecy. He said enough to excite hope, and encourage faith and patience and prayer, but not enough to make Mary and Martha leave off praying and seeking God. And is not this exactly what we should feel about many an unful- filled prediction of things to come? Men complain that proph- ecies are not so literally fulfilled as to exclude doubt and un- certainty. But they forget that God wisely permits a degree of uncertainty in order to keep us watching and praying. It is just what He did with Martha and Mary here.
Let us remember that the final result of Lazarus' sickness is what we should desire as the result of any sickness that comes on us and our families : viz., that God and Christ may be glori- fied in us. We cannot say, " It shall not end in death : " but we can say, "By God's help, it shall be for God's glory."
Chrysostom observes : " The expression that in this passage denotes not cause, but consequence. The sickness happened from other causes. Christ used it for the glory of God."
Calvin remarks, that God wishes to be honoured by Christ being glorified. " He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father." (John v. 23.)
, — [Now Jesus loved Martha, etc.~\ This verse is meant to show that all the members of the family at Bethany were disciples of Jesus and beloved by Him, the brother as well as the sisters, and one sister as well as the other. A happy family, Lampe remarks, in which all the members were objects of Christ's special love.
We know not where Lazarus was at the time when Jesus stopped at Martha's house, in Luke x. : perhaps he was not con- verted at that time. But this is only conjecture.
We are generally apt to undervalue the grace of Martha and overvalue that of Mary, because of what happened when Jesus was at Martha's house before. Many foolish things are some- times lightly said against mothers and mistresses as being Mar- thas, "careful and troubled about many things." Yet people should remember that different positions call out different phases of character. Mary certainly shines more brightly than Mar- tha in the 10th of Luke ; but it is a grave question whether Mar- tha did not outshine her in the 11th of John. Active-minded Christians come out better under some circumstances ; quiet- minded Christians, in others. Our Lord teaches us here that He loves all who have grace, though their temperaments differ/ Let us learn not to judge others rashly, and not to form hasty estimates of Christians, until we have seen them under every sort of circumstances, in winter as well as summer, in dark days as well as bright.