The title is the statement Jesus made after learning that His friend Lazarus had died. It’s a small but powerful reminder of the difference between the way God views death vs. the way we do. People tend to think only of the finality of death, the feeling of loss, the separation that comes when a loved one is no longer around to answer the phone, go to lunch, blow out a birthday candle, etc. It makes sense that we would think about death in those terms: We’re finite and linear people; we’re always moving on a straight line, slowly approaching the day in which we too will die. It can’t be avoided.
Because death carries such a sting, it’s a sensitive topic. Making light of it usually results in someone telling you to stop being disrespectful or to be more considerate of those who have recently lost someone. I understand that. And yet, that response is purely a human one. The Lord doesn’t share our view of death. Take for example the death of King David’s firstborn son. The prophet Nathan makes it clear that the child will die as punishment for David’s many sins (2 Samuel 12:14).
The idea that God would kill an innocent baby to punish David is, for many skeptics and critics of the Bible, proof-positive that Jehovah is not “good” and not worth serving, etc. What those critics fail to understand is they have a completely different view of death than God. What is death to the One that is life-personified? Where will David’s newborn son end up? Will the baby burn forevermore in the fires of Hell? No, he will live forevermore in the comfort of Jehovah. When God kept His word and took the life of the young baby, David’s response was to worship Him. In fact, the King’s unyielding devotion almost took his advisors and servants by surprise, but he explained that while the child could not return to him, he could one day go to be with the child (2 Samuel 12:20-23). David’s view of death aligned with his God’s.
The critic’s approach to death is a selfish one: “My life is my life; my son’s life is his life; God has no right to take my life or his life!”
What they fail to grasp, and what David rightly understood, is that all of our lives are God’s. He is our maker and master and, as such, is free to do with our lives as He pleases. It’s a hard thing for us independent-minded to understand, but it’s true: We are His making, created to do what He wants (Ephesians 2:10).
Which takes us back to the title of this article.
Lazarus was dead. The loss made Jesus weep. We can speculate specifically as to why the Lord cried (John 11:35), but let’s not. Let the fact of it stand on its own. Before arriving at His tomb, Jesus told the disciples He was glad He wasn’t with Lazarus when He was sick (John 11:15). Why? Probably because He knew His compassion would compel Him to heal His friend. He wanted to work one final miracle before He entered into Jerusalem for the last time, and what better final miracle of His ministry-proper than to raise the dead (a feat only He could top when He later raised Himself from the dead)? So even though death is a loss and losses wound the heart, the Lord could see the bigger picture: He was glad not to have kept Lazarus from dying. In that sense, He was glad Lazarus had died. Why? How could Jesus make such a statement? How could He be so flippant and casual about something as final as death? Because Lazarus—whether dead or alive—belongs to God, and the Lord can do with Him as He pleases.
Even if that means bringing him back.
~ Matthew