John 11:45-46 – Our perspective matters

The miracle of raising Lazarus from death was indeed remarkable. But we ae not told how he or his family had felt. We are left to imagine the joy and elation the raising of Lazarus brought to them. It must have brought tears and joy to the family all at once. Yet there is not a word here concerning their emotion. But what we do see from this passage are two kinds of response to the raising of Lazarus.

One group of people saw and believed in Jesus. The statement that “…many of the Jews came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him”, implied that Mary must have been speaking about Jesus prior to this moment. We are told in other passages she was the one who had loved Jesus dearly and would sit at His feet and listen to Him. It would not be a surprise if she would talk glowingly about the Lord at every given opportunity. And many who had heard her, now saw Jesus at work in raising Lazarus. The combination of both the telling and the seeing, affirmed their belief in Him. This encourages us who are in love with Jesus, to find moments to talk about Him whom our soul loves. We must also not stop introducing and bringing those, whom we have spoken to about Jesus, to church. In the atmosphere of the gathering of God’s people, they can be exposed to what Christ can do and given the opportunity to respond to Him in faith.   

Though we are not told explicitly how the second group felt, their action betrayed their scepticism. Their reaction to the miracle Jesus had just done was contrasted by the connective “But.” Unlike the first group, they responded in the opposite. They went to the people that wanted Jesus’ dead and reported to them. It would not be a surprise if they would even exaggerate to incite hate. They could well be sent as spies for the Pharisees. They reported with the intention to generate greater wrath for Jesus and His work. The wickedness of their heart can be sensed by their action. Instead of being inspired to adore Jesus, they spurned Him for His love for Lazarus, his family and those who believe in Him.   

The way we make sense of the world is important. How we view the things Jesus is doing will determine the depth of our trust in Him. The sad moment of life, viewed in proper perspective in the plan of God, will cause us to stay calm, trusting and peaceful. The good news is that we can choose our perspective and how we believe. We can either see beautiful roses instead of the thorns, or are we seeing the thorns instead of the beautiful roses. Where is our perspective? Are we viewing things from where we are seated with Christ in the heavenly?  If we are, we will not be living under our circumstances, we will be living above them because we are seated with Christ.  

Hear what Paul tells us in Roman 8:35, 37-39: 

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For … neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.