John 11:28
And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
Martha quietly drew her sister aside in private to tell her that Jesus had arrived and was asking for her, keeping the message from the mourners because the rulers were watching to seize Him. On hearing it Mary rose at once in haste and went to where He was waiting outside, falling at His feet in grief over her brother's death. The summons belongs to the greatest of His miracles, wrought for the beloved family at Bethany whom He cherished with tender affection and in whose home He found welcome and rest. Lazarus had lain four days in the grave and seen corruption, so calling him forth was permitted as the last crowning evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah. His power then to restore a brother to his grieving sisters points to His return, when His voice will call the dead in Christ to rise to immortal life to be with Him forever.
The Summons at Bethany
This summons belongs to the greatest of Christ's miracles, wrought for Lazarus of Bethany. Lazarus was among the most steadfast of Christ's disciples, strong in faith from their first meeting and deep in love for Him, and greatly beloved by the Saviour. Christ blessed all who sought His help and loves all the human family, yet He was bound to some by peculiarly tender associations, and His heart was knit by a strong bond of affection to the family at Bethany, for one of whom His most wonderful work was wrought.
It is set in the Bethany home where Jesus often found welcome, friendship, and rest and repose, where He spoke freely and was treasured as a listener. There was mutual sympathy and confidence between Him and Martha, Mary and Lazarus, for the household sympathized with Him and the sisters were confident He would do what was best. His response to their need followed divine wisdom and served God's purpose, so that His delay was guided by divine wisdom. Mary was an earnest listener to Jesus, and the raising of Lazarus that followed the call led many to believe in Him, though those who had repeatedly rejected light remained hardened.
Martha delivered the call to Mary as quietly and secretly as possible, and the cries of the mourners kept her words from being heard. This secrecy was needed because the priests and rulers were ready to arrest Jesus when opportunity offered. On hearing that the Master had come and was calling for her, Mary rose hastily at once with an eager look, and her haste reflected her eagerness to meet Him. She went to where Jesus was waiting, and kneeling at His feet said with quivering lips that if He had been there her brother would not have died.
The mourners followed Mary thinking she had gone to the grave to weep. Their cries were painful to her because she longed for a few quiet words alone with Jesus. She was restrained from fully expressing her grief by knowing the envy and jealousy cherished against Christ in the hearts of some present. The surrounding act of giving their buried brother back to Mary and her sister shows Christ's sympathy for grieving women and brought them unspeakable joy.
Christ's Power in Raising Lazarus
The Master who calls is Jesus, whose earthly life was persecution and insult, driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejected by His own people at Nazareth, and condemned to death without cause at Jerusalem, withdrawing at last with His few faithful followers to temporary shelter in a strange city. Yet He was ever touched by human woe, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry and comforting the sorrowful. He walked on the heaving waves and silenced their roaring by a word, cast out devils who in departing acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, broke the slumbers of the dead, and held thousands entranced by words of wisdom, while unable to reach hearts blinded by prejudice and insane hatred who resolutely rejected the light.
He delayed going at once to Lazarus, and that delay was guided by divine wisdom and served God's purpose, with the household's sympathy and confidence that He would do what was best. The reason is that He is health and strength in Himself, so that disease is always rebuked in His immediate presence. He could not witness suffering without bringing relief, and could not witness disease or death without combatting the power of Satan.
Lazarus had been dead four days, and his body had seen corruption. His death was permitted so that through his resurrection the last and crowning evidence might be given to the Jews that Jesus was the Son of God. That work after four days in the grave was witnessed even by Christ's opponents as evidence of His authority.
The miracle gave convincing proof of Christ's divinity, showed He was the Messiah, and revealed the Father through Christ's works. It demonstrated His character as Saviour and Lifegiver shortly before His entry into Jerusalem. It convinced Nicodemus that Jesus was the Messiah.
Raising the dead to life was just as certainly His mission as the Pattern Man as toiling as a carpenter at Nazareth while hiding His divine mission, as treading the waves of the Sea of Galilee, and as dying on the cross as man's sacrifice to lift the whole race to a new and perfect life.
Through all this conflict with evil the darkened shadow of His own death was ever before Him, with the means by which He must pay the ransom for souls, and as He witnessed human suffering He knew He must bear greater pain mingled with mockery and the greatest humiliation. When He raised Lazarus He knew that for that life He must pay the ransom on the cross of Calvary, and every rescue made was to cause Him the deepest humiliation, for He was to taste death for every man. Though strong to save the whole world, He wept at the grave of Lazarus at the thought that He could not save everyone whom Satan's power had laid low in death, because He had given Himself a ransom for many, even all who would avail themselves of coming back to loyalty to God.
Its Witness and Future Hope
The summons to Mary belongs to the raising of Lazarus, which was Christ's crowning miracle and a final test for the Jewish nation. His delay in coming to Bethany was guided by divine wisdom, and when Lazarus was raised many believed, while those who had repeatedly rejected light remained hardened. Mary herself was an earnest listener to Jesus, and her household was in sympathy with Him.
That miracle had a powerful effect on minds and drew a large, enthusiastic crowd to Jesus. It showed that Jesus was the Messiah, and by it Nicodemus was convinced.
Lazarus was raised to testify to Christ's divine power and to declare that Christ was the Son of God. Yet he had no experience of the time he was dead to relate, because the dead know nothing.
With the son of the widow of Nain and Jairus' daughter, Lazarus was called back to life during Christ's ministry, but those so raised were not clothed with immortality and remained subject to death and decay. They differ from those who came forth from the grave at Christ's own resurrection, when He proclaimed Himself the resurrection and the life. Those at His resurrection were redeemed from Satan's captivity and brought forth as firstfruits of His power and trophies of His victory over death and the grave, raised to everlasting life to be with Him where He is, nevermore to see death or experience sorrow.
The calling of Lazarus from the tomb after he had been dead four days shows Christ's power over death. It points to His return, when His voice will call the dead in Christ to rise to immortal life to be with Him.