Day 26 – The greatest challenge yet

John 11:1-16

Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was this Mary who had anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, look, your friend is sick.”

But when he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness won’t end in death, but it is for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed where he was for two days, then said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”

The disciples said, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you – you are going there again?”

Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the day, they don’t stumble, because they see by the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, they stumble, because the light isn’t in them.” He said these things, and then said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going on a journey to wake him up.”

The disciples answered, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.”

Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was talking about normal sleep. So Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. But anyway, let’s go to him.”

Then Thomas, who was also called Didymus, the twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too, so that we may die with him.”

For reflection

Do you notice anything strange about Jesus’ movements in response to the death of Lazarus? What do you think John is communicating through this story?