Tags
I love Jesus’ prayer in the second part of verse 41 and 42, “Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me.”” Even Jesus gives all the glory over to God. How much more do we need to do the same thing. In everything we should realize that God deserves all the credit and glory for all we have and do.
Daily Devotion 
This passage is so full of drama and intrigue! I could write forever about it!
I love the beginning of this story, because it doesn’t make me feel so bad when I just don’t get it. I love this exchange. Jesus starts out,
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.”
12-13The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14-15Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”
16That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.”
Can you see Jesus rolling his eyes and sighing? Ha! They guys aren’t getting it so he has to spell it out. Then Thomas is like, “Fine. Might as well go and die with him.” Think there’s some sarcasm there? Maybe not. Perhaps I’m just projecting. But it’s fun to think about.
So they go to Lazarus’ tomb. The Bible says in 2 places that an anger welled up with him. A kind of holy anger. Anger at the fact that there is death on the earth. He became angry when Mary fell at his feet, weeping because of his anger at the suffering on the earth. This was a righteous indignation. He wept. Not only because of his own grief and anger, but because of his ability to empathize with the grief of sister who had just lost her brother. This has been constant passage of comfort for me as I’ve walked through my own grief of losing my brother.
So he raises him from the dead. You’d think this would be, like, the crowning achievement. The point when all doubters would say, ‘Um. Hey, maybe this guy is who he says he is.” And while many did believe, there were a number who went back to the Pharisees to report. And what is their reaction? Fear. Fear of losing their power. Their lust for power overshadowed everything else in their lives. So they really begin their plot to kill him. And Jesus’ response? He hides out for awhile. He was streetsmart. He knows it’s not his time yet, so he works outside their sphere of influence. Pretty interesting…to me anyway:).