Devotional John 11: The Resurrection of Lazarus and the Love of Jesus Devotional reflections on John 11: the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus's compassion as He weeps for His friends, and how His miracles reveal God's glory. Read more! Topics: Devotional, New Testament.

Devotional John 11: The Resurrection of Lazarus and the Love of Jesus

Continuing with the book of John, today I did the second devotional on chapter 11.

Synopsis: In this chapter, Jesus is informed that Lazarus has died, and He returns to Judea, even though He was being persecuted there, to raise him from the dead. Since many of the Jews who had come to comfort Lazarus’s sisters (Mary and Martha) also saw what Jesus did, they were divided: some began to believe in Jesus, while others went to tell the Pharisees what had happened. And from then on, they decided to plot a plan to kill Jesus.

Observations

These were my observations on this chapter:

1. Jesus only worked miracles to satisfy two things: the faith in God of those being helped and the Glory of God. Not only in this chapter, but in others as well, Jesus, as a rule, only heals and works miracles for those who believe in Him. Many times, He asks them if they believe He can do the miracle they are asking for, and only when they say yes does He do it. Furthermore, He also performs miracles solely to glorify God (i.e., so that those observing will believe in God and Him). This is very interesting, as it shows that He only performs them to satisfy these two things. That is to say, if we want God to perform a miracle in our lives, we must keep these things in mind. For He wants the miracle to be a blessing for everyone (the person asking and the witnesses observing).
2. Jesus loves us and weeps when we suffer (or worse, die). In this chapter, the Jews who observed how much Jesus loved Lazarus through His weeping were witnesses to His love for us. This shows that God is not an insensitive and distant God. It is the opposite. He is a personal God who feels every time something bad happens to us. He takes no pleasure in seeing us suffer. That is why Jesus sacrificed Himself for us and conquered death to save us from the misfortunes of this world. Because of this, we can and should believe in Him. For no one will ever love us as He loves us, because His love is unconditional and perfect.
3. Things happen to fulfill God’s prophecy. In this chapter, but also in other books of the Bible, things often happen to fulfill God’s prophecies. In this chapter, particularly: Lazarus’s death and resurrection; Jesus’s return to Judea; the witnesses who did not believe in Jesus and went to complain to the Pharisees; the words of Caiaphas prophesying Jesus’s death for us; and the plans of the Pharisees to kill Him. All of this happened to fulfill God’s prophecies spoken through the prophets.