No, He did not go straight to the tomb or to the house of
Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, with whom He was known to have shared a
close relationship---at least, knowledge of this close relationship is implied
in the Gospel narrative. Instead, and quite curiously, Jesus is reported
to have stopped outside the village. Does this not seem a bit
strange? It does indeed. It does so because the one who reads the
Gospel is presumably already aware of the outcome of the situation, already privy
to the full story.
Because the full story is known, together with the way the
story happily ends with Lazarus being raised from the dead, it is known that
Jesus loved both Lazarus and his sisters.
One would think that this love would compel Him to not only not delay His
visit to Bethany, but also to go straight to the grieving sisters without
hesitation upon reaching their town. So why does the story, as told exclusively
in the Gospel of John, make the point that He did not immediately go to these
people that He loved?
It may seem redundant to point out, but as the story of the
raising of Lazarus begins, Jesus’ love for this family was immediately evident,
as it is said that the two sisters went to the trouble of sending a message to
Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Why go to
the trouble to do this unless the expectation was that Jesus would come quickly
to the aid of the one He loved? Coupled with Jesus’ not immediately rushing
to provided the requested and likely expected assistance to His friend, this
stopping outside of Bethany and not even going into the town seems doubly
strange. If it seems a bit perplexing to those that would later hear or
read this story, one can probably imagine that it was every bit as frustrating
for these two sisters of Lazarus in that day as well, and that along with them,
their fellow villagers were likely struck by the oddity of this
occurrence.
Not only that, but in small, tight-knit communities as
Bethany no doubt was, not only would the entire village know that Lazarus was
sick, they would also know that Lazarus had died. It is likely that they would be aware of the
fact that a message had been sent to the miracle-worker Jesus, informing Him of
the sickness of Lazarus. They would also
learn that Jesus did not respond to the message by coming to Bethany with all
rapidity (perhaps even bringing a bit of shame to this family), and they would
now know that when Jesus did finally make His way to Bethany, that He stayed
just outside the town, forcing the grieving sisters to come out to Him.
Almost undoubtedly, they would know all of these things in
the larger context of the hope of Mary and Martha that Jesus could do something
about the sickness, which can be seen to be manifested in their urgent message
to Jesus about Lazarus’ sickness and the words that are reported to have been
spoken to Him when they finally see Him.
This hope, that would eventually be vindicated by their brother’s
raising at the hands and words of Jesus, would have been reasonably and
understandably spurred by the healings and other miraculous occurrences that
had marked Jesus’ ministry, not to mention Jesus’ love for Lazarus and his sisters.
Naturally, based on
the information heretofore provided, Jesus’ visit to Bethany should be
considered in the light of the parousia of the Caesar. So when one hears or reads that “when Martha
heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him” (John 11:20a), a context
has been created. It is here necessary to bear in mind that the readers
of this Gospel, in the first century, would be quite familiar with an imperial
parousia. Those that would hear this
story in the world in which Jesus was said to have become King of all by His
own Resurrection, would find that this going out of the village to meet Jesus,
on the part of Martha, very much fits into the mold of expectations concerning
an imperial visit.
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