When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” – John 11:4 (NET)
Jesus had received a message about a good friend. It had been told to Him that “the one You love is sick” (11:3b). As an aside, it should be noted that Lazarus is the only man in the New Testament of whom it is said that Jesus loved him, while we also learn that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (11:5). It is fascinating that it is these people alone that are of spoken of in this way, and spoken of this way here in this Gospel alone, which was authored by the disciple whom Jesus loved (21:20,24).
Upon hearing this, this Jesus---the one that had demonstrated power to turn water into wine, pronounced from afar the healing of the son of a royal official in Capernaum, healed a long crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, multiplied a few loaves and fishes to feed a multitude of people, had walked on water, and gave sight to a man that had been blind from birth---this Jesus, did not run to Lazarus’ bedside and He did not pronounce healing from afar. He simply replied to the message by saying that “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Having heard this report about one he loved, “He remained in the place where He was for two more days” (11:6b).
What did Jesus mean by this statement? Many conclusions can be drawn. As we consider possible answers, let us remember that these Gospel narratives were not compositions of random occurrences, but continuous narratives, designed to tell a story and to prompt the reader to draw a conclusion about the person upon Whom they are focused. When Jesus said that this sickness would lead to God’s glory, was He indicating a knowledge that Lazarus was going to die, and Jesus was going to go and call him forth from the tomb, thus bringing glory to God? This is possible, but unlikely. In fact, it is as unlikely as the idea that the man that had been born blind, about whom we read in the ninth chapter of John, spent an entire lifetime suffering in blindness and darkness so that one day Jesus could heal Him and God could be glorified through the healing. That would seem like nothing more than a great, cosmic joke by a prankster god.
In that instance, Jesus said “he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him” (9:3b). That case was less about the healing and more about Jesus’ Messianic claims, as the fall-out over the healing would ultimately center on questions about Jesus as Messiah and Jesus’ presenting Himself as the Good Shepherd, which carried patently messianic undertones. Through the healing, the acts of God were in fact revealed, in that the expectation about Israel’s messiah was that he would be the physical, human embodiment of faithful and covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that He would be acting on behalf of Israel to fulfill His promises to them. In addition to that, through the healing, we are given a glimpse into what God intended for humanity.
Getting back to the situation with Lazarus, we see that Jesus did in fact say, “This sickness will not lead to death.” However, just a few verses later, after the two days of delay in going to Lazarus, Jesus tells His disciples that “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to awaken him” (11:11b). Because of His disciples’ confusion about what Jesus was attempting to communicate to them, Jesus clarified His meaning and says, “Lazarus has died” (11:14b). To this He adds, “and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (11:15).
Here again, we are presented with another question to consider. Did Jesus expect that His raising of Lazarus from the dead would finally cause His disciples to believe that He was Who He said He was, namely, Israel’s Messiah (King=Son of Man & Son of God)? In similarity to the first answer, this is unlikely, as if they had not yet believed in Him as the Messiah, after all that they had seen and experienced, it is improbable that this event would convince them. At this point, it is quite likely that they already believed that He was the promised Messiah, and they were firmly ensconced within His movement. Now, that’s not to say that they would not be quickly shaken from this belief, as the evidence following His arrest and crucifixion suggest otherwise. At this point however, they seemed to be on board. In fact, one of the disciples---the one referred to as a doubter---might have been the first and only one to both realize that Jesus was the Messiah, and that, contrary to what the rest expected, that He was also going to die on behalf of the people, as their King. After Jesus informed His disciples that they were going to be returning to the area around Jerusalem, where the disciples had previously reminded Jesus that “the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone You to death” (11:8b), this one disciple was heard to have said, “Let us go too, so that we may die with Him” (11:16b). Indeed, the “doubter” might have been the one with understanding.
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