Sunday School Jesus

The account of Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead is a powerful, well-known, bible story. I can't read it without memories of the Jesus I met in childhood breaking through.

The Jesus I met in childhood was good and nice and wanted me to be good and nice.
The Jesus I met in childhood had a pale face and looked very feminine and was always tenderly holding a little lamb.
The Jesus I met in childhood was very disappointed, and even cried, when I did something bad.
The Jesus I met in childhood made sick and blind people well, because he was a good and nice.
The Jesus I met in childhood brought dead people back to life...because he was really God. (?)
The Jesus I met in childhood loved me so much that he died so I could go to heaven and live with him forever.

Then everything will be good and nice.

So it's hard, when reading through the re-telling of Lazarus' resurrection, to pull my mind away from the focus on Jesus' divinity. My thoughts want to zero in on the Jesus who has magic, Godly powers to raise the dead, who has magic, Godly powers to fly me off to heaven. So I read it very slowly, and then re-read it.

John 11:3
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
The sisters are Mary and Martha. Jesus has stayed in their home. Mary sat at his feet and learned from him, she perfumed his feet with oil. Martha cooked and cleaned for him and served him. Jesus did not just love them because he wanted them to go to heaven, he was in relationship with them.

I have'nt heard of an account that details what Jesus did with his life from around the age of 12 until around the age of 30. Was he preparing for his ministry, secluded, praying and studying the Torah day and night, communing with God, and being holy? I'm thinking, based on what information I do have of him, probably not. I think, more than likely, he was doing life. He was living and experiencing life as a fully human, first century Jewish man. In relationship with family and friends, doing the work of his hands, attending feasts and festivals, loving and being loved, preparing for his ministry, praying and studying the Torah, communing with God and being holy.

John 11:5,6
Jesus loved Mary and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
The Jesus of my childhood didn't walk, he floated, he was above it all. He always had a secret "Mona Lisa" smile. Nothing phased him (except naughty children), because he knew in the end it was all for the glory of God.

What must it have been like for Jesus the man? To stay away, while those he loved were dying and heartbroken. Was it agonizing for him? Did he suffer knowing that Mary and Martha were not only grieving the loss of their brother, but quite probably feeling appalled and betrayed that their close friend, who had the power to save, chose to stay away, ministering to and teaching others? Did he feel physically ill at the thought of Lazarus suffering the pain of sickness, death and decay? And yet..."for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it." (John 11:4)
he stayed away.

John 11:8
"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"
When focused on the drama of Lazarus' death and resurrection, my mind tends to down play the background, the setting, the timing. This is near the end of Jesus' life. He is becoming more and more a target of the Jewish leaders and Pharisees. Was he not afraid? Is it possible for any fully human man to not experience fear of such a thing? But he still had work to do. Knowing that every step closer to Jerusalem was a step closer to torture and death. He chooses to go. Not in a mad emotional panic to bring his dead friend back to life. But walking through the fear, with purpose and determination. And in so doing, not only drawing more followers to himself, but also drawing more zealous attention from the Pharisees, and sealing his own death sentence.

John 11:35
Jesus wept.