How the story of Lazurus gave me comfort in my time of grief

In this process of grieving the loss of my mother, I found comfort and hope in this story of Lazurus....



The story of Lazurus
Now one named Lazarus, of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha, was sick. 2. And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3. The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, Lord, lo, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4. And Jesus, having heard this, said, This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it. 5. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6. Having therefore heard that he was sick, he then remained two days in the place where he was.

Jesus was speaking of the miracle he was going to perform. This sickness was not to death but to show the Jews who He was. Jesus did not hurry to save Lazarus, He waited to show who God was. What salvation is…


7. And after this he saith to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. 8. The disciples say to him, The Jews but lately sought to stone thee, and dost thou go thither again? 9. Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk by day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10. But if any man walk by night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11. He spoke these things, and after this he saith to them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him. 12. Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleepeth, he will recover. 13. Now Jesus spoke of his death; but they thought that he spoke of the repose of sleep.

Jesus stated Lazarus was just sleeping instead of saying he was dead, “Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him.” Jesus was and is the over comer of death. The other thing I find interesting here is the term sleep in 1 Thessalonians 4:13- 18 it says “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words….Hallelujah! Amen!

Paul is saying here we don’t need to grieve like the rest of man who have no hope. We have hope, we have faith. We have what God has given us thru Christ. God will bring our loved ones with Jesus. The dead in Christ shall rise first then we will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This is exciting! We know what is going to happen.

14. Then Jesus, therefore, said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15. And I rejoice, on your account that I was not there, that you may believe. But let us go to him.

Here Jesus is rejoicing! He wants the disciples to believe, He is excited because of what is to come and what is to happen. They will see God. God will be revealed and glorified..

16. Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 17. Jesus therefore came, and found that he had been already four days in the tomb.
18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs. 19. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20. When Martha, therefore, heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 21. Martha then said to Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died. 22. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give it thee. 23. Jesus saith to her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24. Martha saith to him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believeth in me, though he were dead, shall live. 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

I find this the most exciting part of the story. For Martha does not know what is to come very soon. What the miracle Jesus is going to perform. Jesus says your brother shall rise again…Martha says ya on resurrection day he will…..But what does Jesus say here? “I am the resurrection and the life”. He tells her” I will make Lazarus rise again.” And she doesn’t even know how soon this will happen….Jesus also said “Lazarus believed in me though he is dead, shall live/” Even tho with our loved ones we don’t get this opportunity but this passage still ignites a fire inside of me. This gives me comfort and excitement for who God is.

John Calvin in his commentary states this: “The reason why it is said that believers never die is, that their souls, being born again of incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23,) have Christ dwelling in them, from whom they derive perpetual vigor; for, though
the body be subject to death on account of sin,
yet the spirit is life on account of righteousness”
2 Corinthians 4:16 states “Therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
I can think of mom in this passage and affix my eyes on what is unseen. Her body was subject to death on account of sin just like all of ours are, and she was wasting away. . And to also truly see the spirit thrive in such a situation. To see the spirit in her come to peace, not to struggle with her death. Her spirit is life. Mom’s spirit IS LIFE! On account of righteousness. Inwardly she was being renewed day by day even tho she was wasting away externally. One of us (mostly dad) would read her a passage of scripture and you could see by her demeanor this comforted her. This was done everyday multiple times a day sometimes in the hospital. This gave her peace, it gave her strength, it renewed her mind to get through the day. Even though her body was facing death she was facing eternal life… eternity in heaven. Our troubles are momentary even tho they do not feel like it. But they are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all….

27. She saith to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.

28. Having said these things, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is here, and calleth for thee. 29. As soon as she heard it, she immediately arose, and came to him. 30. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. 31. Then the Jews, who were with her in the house, and comforted her, perceiving that Mary suddenly arose and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth to the tomb, to weep there. 32. Mary therefore, having come where Jesus was, and having seen him, fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died. 33. Jesus therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, groaned in his spirit, and was troubled, 34. And said, Where have you laid him? They say to him, Lord, come and see. 35. Jesus wept. 36. The Jews therefore said, Behold how he loved him? “see how he loved him!” 37. And some of them said, Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not die? 38. Then Jesus, again groaning within himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed on it.

39. Jesus saith, Remove the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, saith to him, Lord, he already stinketh, for this is the fourth day. 40. Jesus saith to her, Did I not tell thee that, if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? 41. They therefore removed the stone from the place where he who was dead lay. And Jesus again lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42. And I knew that thou hearest me always, but, on account of the multitude around me, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43. Having spoken these words, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44. And he who had been dead came forth, bound hand and foot with bandages, and his face was wrapped in a napkin. Jesus saith to them, Loose him, and let him go.


In my grief I can see the glory of God in this story of Lazarus. I see the physical death in a different light in these passages, as I read them with a different perspective. I feel death much more than I ever did. I understand death much more than I ever did. Before mom’s death I would read these passages but not feel it. Not fully comprehend the reality of it. To really grip the reality of physical death on account of our sin, to really understand the pain and suffering of physical death To watch mom physically die and to watch her body go through such anguish and turmoil. I just wanted her to be released from her suffering. I prayed to God to take her, to release her from her pain, for I knew where she was going. I knew she would have ultimate peace with God and I would see her again one day. Then the pain came flooding in when she left this world. The physical death on account of sin has so many elements of pain and suffering. You have the pain and suffering internally of the physical body. You have the pain and suffering of those left behind. I see this physical death on account of sin, this sin as infecting so many places and elements. It causes so much pain when the physical death is over a period of time. You see them suffering so much and the pain not ending. I wanted mom to be released of that pain and suffering. When I was with her during those times of pain and suffering it was emotionally draining to watch her go through that. It was very taxing on my body and me. I could not function like I normally do. But I would also focus on the time I had with her to talk with her, to have a coffee with her and she would have one to if she could drink. I also focused on knowing I would spend eternity with her and it is only a matter of time we are apart. I would listen to my dad say over and over to her “I love you mom forever and ever” I would always shed a tear when he said that to her. Because of the love he has for her. He would say that to her many times a day. She would say “I know” or “ I love you to” Sometimes she would say “yes, yes I heard you, you keep saying that” And we would laugh. That love is God’s love for me. He loves me forever and ever. And I knew her spirit was released after she died. When I looked at her body after death, Mom was not there anymore. Her spirit lives on with God. We will see her again…

Romans 8:18 - 21
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We see in the story of Lazarus the Glory of God being revealed. Jesus said to Martha “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”. We will never die a spiritual death but as it says in Romans, bondage to decay. This is our sin, the physical death dies due to our sin. But our spirit where does it go? Into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We are free! We will live forever…..Our spirit lives forever. We have hope, we have God. Thank-you for giving us hope, for giving us a spirit of righteousness.