For my 21st birthday Barney bought me one of the most enduring gifts I have ever received: the Matthew Henry Bible Commentary.
This giant book was made even more special for the fact that it was secondhand, enriched by the notion that someone else had poured over these very same musky smelling pages receiving insight and revelation for many years before me.
I haven't read as much of it as Barney has, she is a fast reader with a huge attention span, me, not so much. But frequently when I'm reading my bible I get stuck on something, knowing that there is more in it for me, and that is when I head to the bookshelf and retrieve Matthew Henry.
...
At the moment D and I are reading Nehemiah (on our way from Genesis to Esther) but yesterday my bible fell open to John 11:5, a verse I had read and highlighted last year, and I knew I needed to see what insights Matthew had into it.
John 11:5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
If, like myself you were born in the eighties, somewhere in your teens you probably wore a W.W.J.D. (what would Jesus do?) arm band. They were little wearable reminders intended to prompt you at any given crossroads to base your next big decision on what Jesus would do in that same situation. Seems like a good idea, except, what would He do? There is one thing we know for sure, He is all about love, but as seen in this verse, His love doesn't always look like what we expect, or want it to. It certainly doesn't seem to fit His seemingly cavalier approach to his friend's most urgent need.
Jesus loved Lazarus, and Martha and Mary knew this. In their desperation they even reminded Him, John 11:3b "Lord, the one you love is sick." Therefore it would have seemed reasonable for Martha and Mary to expect that Jesus would come to Lazarus's aid right away. But he didn't...
As always Matthew Henry has some amazingly profound insight:
"They pleaded Lord, it is he whom you love. Now one would think it should follow, when he heard therefore that he was sick he made all the haste that he could to him. But he took the contrary way to show his love. Instead of coming right to him, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. He loved them, that is, he designed to do something great and extraordinary for them. Therefore he delayed coming to them, that Lazarus might be dead and buried before he came. Deferring his relief so long, he had an opportunity of doing more for him than for any."While things worked out for Lazarus in the end, if I'm honest, I like the slightly more immediate, '007' version of God's response to our call for help described in Psalm 18, you know, where it says (paraphrasing here) our cry comes into His ear, the earth quakes and the mountains shake, smoke billows from his nose because our situation moves him to such immense anger - and well, He's gonna do something about it! Then, boom, he parts the heavens, saddles up a cherub (if indeed they need saddles?), fly's in under the cover of darkness and appears on our scene in a blaze of glory, armed with hailstones and lightning to defeat our strong enemy. That fired-up is He, that one exhale of his nostrils empties the seas of their water and flattens the trees on the earth (that's an impressive lung capacity), then, after dealing with our enemy He tenderly comes to us:
Psalm 18:16-17 & 19 "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."
Ahhhh, that's better right? That's better than having to be 'dead and buried', better than a delayed and confusing, faith shaking, heartbreaking, eleventh hour response, right?! Well... yes, except if we're ever to learn to trust Him, you know - with our very life, and maybe even trust Him with our dreams and desires that as far as we can see are not coming to pass, and at the risk of sounding a little bit 'Sunday School', even trust that He actually loves us and is for us, even when His love doesn't look like what we thought it would.
I watched the trailer to Ragamuffin a few weeks ago, it's a recently released movie based on the life of the late singer-songwriter Rich Mullins. The end of the trailer faded out on a scene depicting Rich talking with his mentor Brennan Manning. Brennan says to a very battered and broken Rich, "I am now utterly convinced that on judgement day the Lord Jesus will ask one question and only one question. Did you believe that I loved you?" That moment moved me to tears. Because it's true isn't it? For me at least, that His seeming 'delay' somehow doesn't mess with my love for Him, as much as it messes with my belief that He loves me...
In his commentary of this passage of scripture Matthew Henry writes in conclusion, "God has gracious and loving intentions even in seeming delays. Christ's friends were not out of his thoughts, though he made no haste to them."
Jesus was never unaware, unconcerned or uninterested in Lazarus's need, and neither are we out of His thoughts. Though we wait, we can wait with the assurance that He sees us, He loves us and though He may be taking longer than is comfortable, He is most definitely coming for us.
Whatever we're waiting on Him for, whatever our unmet need, the challenge remains: to trust that despite it, we are loved by God.
