John 11:1-16 (NRSV)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.  So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."  But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."  Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight?  Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.  But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them."  After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him."  The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right."  Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.  Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."  Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Glorified.  God will be glorified through Jesus in the most unexpected of situations.  Lazarus becomes a vehicle for that glorification, and the opportunity for the disciples to fall into a deeper belief.

Lazarus is the brother of Mary & Martha, and he is sick.  Jesus and his disciples don’t seem to be in a hurry to get to them after they received the message, and stayed back for 2 days.  All of a sudden, Jesus is ready to go to Judea again.  The disciples are quick to remind him that the Jews were ready to stone him the last time he was there (see yesterday’s passage).  Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus has died, and implies that he will use this death to help them believe.

Thomas still doesn’t understand, but appears to be thinking about Jews that are ready to stone Jesus.  He tells the other disciples, “let’s go and die with him.”  Thomas is ready to go, regardless of the consequences.

Jesus has spent the past few days of readings narrowly escaping the ones that want to kill him.  Today, Jesus is ready to go back into the danger zone for the chance to use the death of his friend to glorify God.  Jesus is ready to take the risk to help his followers believe.

I feel the call today is trust.  Be trusting, like Thomas.  Thomas acts like he would follow Jesus to the ends of the earth regardless of what they ran into.  This implies a deep trust of Jesus, and a belief that he is who he has proven himself to be.  If we were to trust like this, then we may see the Christ glorified in the world.