Hang on for Chapter Two
When God Disappoints Us
John 11:1-44
Disappointed Expectations
It seems Jesus often disappointed people. He had a way of pushing back against their expectations and requests. He’s done the same to me. I’ve felt disappointed not to get what I wanted, when I wanted it, how I wanted it. I begged him to heal my mother—my good and devout mother. Instead, he let her die of cancer after enduring seven years of treatment. Disappointment didn’t scratch the surface of what I felt. But Jesus didn’t allow grief to have the final word.
In one of the most human stories in the Bible, Lazarus and his sisters dive deep into desperate prayers and disappointed expectations. Everybody cries at some point in the story. Even Jesus. Not a holy cry over humankind, but tears of grief as their friend. But he also confuses plenty of people around him, disturbed by how Jesus approaches the entire situation.
Unanswered Call for Help
The word “yet” jumps out at me as I read the story in the New Testament book of John. Jesus gets an urgent message from Lazarus’ sister. The same adoring Mary who would later pour a year’s wages of perfume on Jesus’ feet and wipe it with her hair. “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Everyone expects Jesus to rush the two miles to Lazarus’ suffering side. But instead, we read: “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet… he stayed where he was two more days.” He loved them all. Yet he stayed put? Unexpected.
“The miracle-working Jesus did not come.”
Lazarus endured two more agonizing days of his terminal illness. His family looked for Jesus and counted the minutes. They watched Lazurus take each labored breath… until the long final exhale. The miracle-working Jesus did not come. In the darkness of grief, they buried their brother. More than disappointing. Devasting.
Jesus finally arrives, tragically late by the mourners’ judgment. Sister Martha lays it out for him in plain language. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Even adoring Mary repeats the same sentiment. Their message: “You really let us down. How could you?”
How many times has my heart cried the same refrain? How could you! You’re supposed to protect me from the big stuff. I thought you loved me. I prayed and prayed…where were you?
Hope in the Bigger Picture
As readers of the story, we observe the bigger picture, what the friends of Jesus missed in the midst. We know the context around them. We watch the pieces weave together into the climax. We discern that the cliffhanger leads to a higher purpose revealed in the prologue. We feel their grief and want to shout, “Hang on till the end!”
“If we can hang on—and hang in with Jesus—the end of the story is never the tomb.”
While Jesus wept with them and for them, he also gave the friends he loved a role in the greater Story. Their suffering transformed into a momentous announcement anticipating the greatest event in human history. Just as the angel messengers split the sky at the Bethlehem birth, Lazarus burst through his four-day-old tomb. In a mind-blowing, unexpected plot twist, Jesus heralds: “Get ready for the Resurrection!”
Of course, the bigger picture can feel irrelevant to our hurting hearts. We don’t know yet what happens in our chapter two. In the confusion of unexpected disappointment, we barely breathe beyond our own pain. Yet… Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” If we can hang on—and hang in with Jesus—the end of the story is never the tomb.