Lord, if you had been here…

Strangely, this passage periodically comes up in my life, and when I signed up for this passage, I knew it was not an accident. The reason this passage resonates with me is the honesty. Mary and Martha loved Jesus, and truly believed he was the Messiah – come to be the resurrection and the light. This had to give Jesus some sort of clout among the people of Jerusalem and Bethany, where this takes place. Yet, when Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, after Mary sends for him, we see the very honest emotions revealed when Martha says, “If you had been here.” I envision this sounding very sad, almost pleading – if only you had been here, I called for you, why didn’t you come, you could have prevented this, why didn’t you prevent this?

The same scene plays out when Mary eventually approaches Jesus - after being sure He knows full well that she is angry with his delay. Full of disappointment and regret, she says “if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” There is something very moving for me with this sentiment, that although these women asked for a prayer to be granted… to the actual person of Jesus, it did not come to be, at least not in the way they expected.

Sometimes, our prayers are not answered in a way that is transactional – following the “if I ask, it will be granted” model. A wise person once told me that prayer was “not transactional,” and while I still don’t fully understand what that means, I believe this passage speaks to it.

When we got our first puppy, we wanted a name for him that was unique and fitting for the sweet spirit we welcomed into our home. We settled on “Lazarus,” Jesus’ Best Friend, the only person for whom Jesus weeps, the one he loved, Lazarus. Our puppy Lazarus grew into a Best Friend to all, as a therapy “Animal Friend” at local elementary schools, and the best friend this girl has EVER had. He filled that name to the highest degree and was the one whom many loved.

PRAYER: Loving God, I pray that we all can be the kind of friend Jesus and Lazarus were to each other. I pray that we can see prayer as more than a list of requests, and that everyone has a friend as good as I had in Lazarus, the Chocolate Labrador. Amen

PROMPT: What can I learn about being a friend by looking at the relationship between Jesus and Lazarus? In what ways does this story show that prayer is not transactional?

John 11:1-45