Study inJohn’s Gospel

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Coping With Illness and

DeathChap 11v1-16

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IntroductionChapter 11 of John’s gospel begins with a problem that we are all able to identify with – the immanent death of a family member. Developing close relationships is part of being human. Close relationships with family members, with colleagues and friends are precious to us and we would give anything to maintain them.

However, from time to time the natural calamities of life inevitably intrude into our happiness and those closest to us are wrenched from us. And at such moments some begin to question the love of God.

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IntroductionOthers, while not doubting God’s love and faithfulness, may find their faith severely tested. I am sure that most of you have experienced the shadow of death falling across your family lives and have felt that loss keenly.

What are we to think in such circumstances? What are we to do? There is probably no better example found in the Bible than that of Martha and Mary. They sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick”.

But before we look at the way in which they approached Jesus there is a very obvious point that is so easily forgotten and which we need to grasp.

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Jesus Friends Get Sick And DieIt is this, even those for whom Jesus has a particular love get sick and die. The sickness of the believer is in no way incompatible with the Lord’s love for them. The language used here implies two things:

First, that Lazarus’ sickness was considered terminal.Secondly, there was surprise in the sisters’ hearts that their brother, whom Jesus loved, should be at death’s door. But they should not have been surprised because Lazarus, though a close friend of Jesus, was still just a man.

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Jesus Friends Get Sick And DieSpurgeon, preaching on this passage, points out that the followers of Christ are not exempt from disease. Some foolishly think that a very simple line can be drawn between God’s favour and good health, and also between God’s disapproval and illness.

And so people are overheard to say, “He was such a good living man and yet he got such a terrible disease”, or “Why did that nice woman have to die so young when there are some pretty horrible people around who seem never to have had a day’s illness in their life”.

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Jesus Friends Get Sick And DieDavid voices a similar complaint in Psalm 73, before being reminded of the reality of eternity. Again in Psalm 119v71 he writes, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees”. He is saying that sickness can be a trial that is used by God for our good and sometimes for the good of others as Jesus points out in v4, "This sickness … is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."

And as a result for 20 centuries God’s people have been comforted and encouraged by what happened to Lazarus!

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God Our HelpNow the fact that God can use serious illness should not prevent us from praying for the sick. Again the sisters’ example is worth studying. They ask Jesus for help. Is Jesus our first or last port of call? Ps.24 tells us that “God is our present help in trouble”. His help is immediately available.

Now we are often reluctant to share our anxieties with others thinking, “They would not understand “or “they would not be sympathetic”. However, we read in Hebrews 4.15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses”. Jesus invites us to pour out the anguish of our heartsbefore him – he understands and is sympathetic!

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God Our HelpThere is a comfort associated with telling Jesus our problems. First, because it distributes the burden. Before sending for Jesus, Martha and Mary carried the burden of their brother’s condition on their own. Their appeal to Jesus shared that burden. And that is a comfort that we too can experienceas we share our life traumas and crushing concerns with him.

It is also a comfort to know that while Jesus does not always bring the healing we long for, he sometimes does and he may heal. We do not come demanding or, claiming healing for ourselves or others but webelieve he may heal.

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God’s LoveThis leads to a further characteristic of the sisters’ prayer - the foundation on which they based it. Notice first, what they did not base it on. They did not say or imply, ‘you have often been a guest in our home and so you owe us something’. Many people continue to approach God like that. “I have served the church for so many years in a particular capacity. I have given sacrificially of my time, substance and talents and so I think this is the least God can do”.

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God’s LoveNor did Martha and Mary appeal to Jesus on the basis of their love for him but in his love for them. There is no comfort in the former. For people begin to ask, “Have I loved him enough?” Honest answers to that question can drag us into a morass of self-doubt. What the sisters clung onto was Jesus’ unchanging love for them. Never make your own inadequate and sinful attainments the basis of your appeal to God. Horatius Bonar minister and hymn-writer wrote:Thy love for me O God, Not mine O Lord for thee,Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.

These words should shape our approach to Jesus.

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God’s LoveIn coming to Jesus the sisters did not seek their own will but Jesus’ will, “Lord, he whom you love is ill”. Their appeal is couched in terms that indicate they are seeking his will in this matter and trusting him to make the right decision. Do we do that when we pray? What is uppermost in our minds when we pray? To have the trouble removed; the sick one healed or is it the much more fundamental desire that God’s good and perfect will is done?

It is only when we do the latter that we can experience, ‘the peace that passes all understanding and keeps our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’.

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Higher Than Our WaysAgain our passage makes it clear that God does not always answer as we expect. Doubtless after sending word to Jesus they looked to see if Lazarus would recover knowing when the messenger would have reached Jesus. Jesus just had to speak a word. But nothing happened! Nor did Jesus return with their messenger.

And when Jesus did arrive their brother had been dead for four days. At a purely emotional level we find it hard to cope when Jesus appears to be indifferent to our trouble. What was Jesus doing?

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Higher Than Our WaysPrayer for the sick is not always answered as we expect. Our comfort in prayer does not lie in the fact that Jesus always answers as we imagine. Rather it rests in the fact that the Lord of circumstances will do his perfect will even if we cannot fathom the depths of his plan.

God’s word records Hezekiah’s prayer. God had told this good king that he would not recover from his illness. Instead of accepting God’s will he was upset with God and must have been thinking, “After all I’ve done for you It’s not fair”.

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Higher Than Our WaysSometimes, when we tell God we know better than him, he gives us the desire of our heart and then we have to live with the consequences. Hezekiah was given another 15 years to live. During that time, he fathered Manasseh, who proved to be the worst king ever to reign over God’s people. He introduced idolatry to the nation. Had Hezekiah accepted God’s original time-table Manasseh would never have been born!

That is surely something worth thinkingabout!

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Higher Than Our WaysYou may be thinking, “It’s all very well to point out that Lazarus’ death was part of God’s plan and for God’s glory. For he was raised again from the dead by Jesus”. True, but there is an even greater resurrection awaiting God’s people. And that knowledge should be of immense practical comfort to them.

In 1873 a Boston based Christian lawyer named Horatio Spafford put his wife and 4 children on board the luxury liner, “Ville de Harve” bound for France. He was to follow his family after a few weeks. During the crossing the ship was struck by another vessel and sank within 30 minutes. Mrs Spafford knelt with her children on the ship’s deck and prayed that they might be savedor, given grace to die if that was God’s will.

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Higher Than Our WaysThen the children were swept overboard. Mrs Spafford lost consciousness and awoke to discover she had been rescued by sailors from the other ship and to the knowledge that all her children were lost. Ten days later on arrival in Europe she sent a cable to her distraught husband. It read, “Saved alone”.

He paced the floor of his rooms all night. Then he bowed down and shared his great and irreversible loss with God and experienced the peace of God overwhelming him. His children were safe in God’s hands. In response to this he penned the lines of the hymn, “When peace like a river attendeth my soul”

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ConclusionThe sore circumstances that surround our lives do not reflect the measure of our love for God but may be used to reveal the enormity of his love for us. If you are well, serve God vigorously. If you are sick, let the world see how you are able to glorify God in your sickness. Let others see how God has comforted and cheered his people in their weakness, sorrow and grief.

But if you are not convinced that the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart and if God remains a distant stranger to you, then resolve to seek after him while he may be found and experience his unchangeable love for you.

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