John 11:17-37
So now I can’t see the name “Lazarus” without thinking about John S.’s argument that Lazarus may have written the Gospel of John. Further support for that argument has to do with the amount of time that John’s Gospel has Jesus in Judea and the fact that Lazarus was from Bethany, only two miles from Jerusalem. In fact, it’s easier to mention how little time John’s Gospel has Jesus in Galilee. The first half of chapter 2 has Him at the wedding in Cana, then in Jerusalem for a cleansing of the temple. Then chapter 4 has Him in Samaria with the woman at the well, followed by nine verses of Him in Galilee, then back to Jerusalem in chapter 5. Chapter 6 has Him in the region of the Sea of Galilee before He returns for a feast in Jerusalem in chapter 7. An argument could then be made that, except for a few verses and incidents, everything from chapter 7 to the end of the Gospel has Jesus in Judea. So John is on solid ground in arguing for Lazarus as the author of the Gospel of John. Interesting …!!
So today… I’m intrigued by Martha and Mary and their interactions with Jesus. They have been with Jesus before, probably on many occasions; it’s likely that He often stayed with them when He visited Jerusalem. But in today’s reading both of them go to meet Jesus quietly before He even enters the village. They both have witnessed Jesus’ power in the past, so much so that in verses 21 and 32 each of them says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Then when Jesus saw Mary weeping, …He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled…, to the point of weeping Himself (vv. 33, 35). Finally, there is an interesting item from verse 28 where Martha says to Mary, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” My Study Bible mentioned that women were not taught by the Jewish rabbis, but that Jesus’ special relationship with Martha and Mary led them to be able to call Him “the Teacher”. All in all, Jesus has a special relationship with this entire family!
See also: August 14 / John 11:17-27; August 15 / John 11:28-37