seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 11:38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Yesterday, I started to remember another place in the Bible with a man named Lazarus. I got to thinking they were the same guy. The other Lazarus was a beggar who went to Heaven.... and a rich man, who had probably wanted to spit on him [and probably did a time or two] was in hell, begging for water. According to that parable, Jesus told the crowd " ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Different Lazarus.... the Lazarus John is writing about is not the same one Luke was writing about. BUT, it was the same lesson. These people, the friends of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, would not have been convinced had they not seen it with their own eyes. The Lazarus in the tomb was a friend of Jesus. Jesus had eaten dinner with him. Jesus used Lazarus' home to teach in. Lazarus was a friend. Jesus wept when He saw how hurt the sisters were by the necessary "death" of their brother.
When Jesus healed the man who had been blind since birth, I thought it would have been cruel to have that man live blind his whole life just so Jesus could teach a lesson with the healing. I thought it would have been cruel to use that man to get to the cross.
Now Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead. Lazarus had to get stinky, and his sisters had to entertain the mourners while in mourning themselves. These were people who loved Jesus, and Lazarus had to spend four days in a rock tomb to help Jesus prove a point. No wonder Jesus wept.
The first thing I noticed was the stench. Martha, the good little homemaker, was really concerned about the stink. I wonder if the stink ever left Lazarus.
I found this in the commentaries.
His face was wrapped with a cloth: Lazarus was not resurrected, but resuscitated. He arose bound in grave-clothes, for he would need them again; Jesus left His grave-clothes behind in His tomb, never again having need of them.
i. “How he moved I do not know. Some of the old writers thought that he glided, as it were, through the air, and that this was part of the miracle. I think he may have been so bound that though he could not freely walk yet he could shuffle along like a man in a sack.” (Spurgeon)
I wonder, if the stink of death did leave him, how long did it take? If the stink of death never left him, what kind of candles did Martha use to hide it? I figure, once Lazarus was unwrapped, Jesus finished by taking away the stink. I wonder, did Lazarus also suffer from some kind of dermititis as result of the four days? Did Jesus leave a few scars to remind Lazarus was resuscitated, not resurrected?Remember this....
Lazarus was not resurrected.
