+ Lazarus Saturday + Лазарева Суббота

Today the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorated the rising of Lazarus from the dead. Orthodox Christians call this day “Lazarus Saturday” (Лазарева Суббота). Hearing the account of the death of Lazarus, one naturally ponders the question, “Why did Jesus delay in coming to see Lazarus?” After all, He had gotten word two days earlier that Lazarus was deathly ill. Why did He wait for two days to go see him? Did He not care? The Bible says he loved Lazarus, so Our Lord obviously cared. Then why did Jesus delay?

Mary goes to where Jesus was and said the same thing that Martha told him, namely that if he had been there then Lazarus would not have died. Jesus was troubled when he saw her weeping. He felt emotional about Mary’s grief in the same way any of us might be affected by someone’s grief. We even see that Jesus shed tears when they began to lead him to the tomb where Lazarus was laid. Remember that the bible said that Jesus loved Lazarus and now he was dead.

Although the Lord knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, He demonstrated His full humanity by emotionally sharing in Mary and Martha’s grief that Lazarus had died. When Jesus commanded to roll the stone away, Martha responded that it would stink because Lazarus had already laid dead in the cave for four days. Jesus reminded her and us that He is the Resurrection and the Life.

There are times when we pray and God doesn’t come through the way we expect or within the time frame we ask Him to come through. The healing doesn’t come. The answers don’t come. We cry, we pray, we cry, and we wonder… Does God care about me? The answer is “Yes, He does!” The same Lord Who wept out of love at the grave of Lazarus loves us.

On Friday we will commemorate the greatest sacrifice of love known to humanity as Jesus voluntarily goes to the cross for us, dying for our sins. There is no greater proof of His love and care for us. We are called to have faith that in His own time and His own way, the Lord will make a way for us when there seems to be no way. Whether the answer comes as we expect or not, we are called to respond like Martha and Mary, trusting beyond our limited understanding in His love and care.

 

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