That night when the others had turned in, I sat with Jesus and listened as he reflected on what had happened at Bethany. “You know, John, I thought for one horrible moment I had made a terrible mistake about Lazarus. I had been so sure Lazarus would recover without me. When I heard he had died and was already buried, I did not understand how that could be. My first thought was I had made a mistake, but at another level I knew I hadn’t. However, I realized if I had stayed just that extra hour or so, then Lazarus would have been fine. None of this needed to happen. My one concern as we raced back up the road to Bethany was whether we would be in time.
I smiled at him in the dark and said, “I’ll never forget the moment you called Lazarus out. I still see him in my imagination, clutching the wall and struggling with that shroud. You certainly gave all of us a scare. Warn us next time you do something like that.”
Jesus chuckled. “No, hanging around our God is always surprising. You will have to get used to it. But, John, you can’t imagine how relieved I felt when I saw him holding onto the wall there. Only then did I know everything was going to be all right.”
“You never thought about the consequences or what the authorities might make of it?”
I could faintly see Jesus smile in the darkness. “No, I am sorry, John. I never gave those people a thought. You know, everything I do comes from Him who sent me. The works I do are His, not mine. Take this last event, for example. I looked for something that would cause the authorities to overreact, and I thought that healing that8 blind man was it. We certainly stirred up enough trouble, and I thought it time to begin the last phase of my journey. That is why I was in such a hurry, and we left for Jericho immediately after the Sabbath.” Jesus scratched the side of his beard and stared into the dying flames.
“This healing of Lazarus has blown the roof off everything. There is no going back now.” He gave a suppressed chuckle. “John, I didn’t mean to do it. No, really. Now it is all over, Lazarus is all right, and our friends are safe. I think the situation is hilarious. Caiaphas is going to wet his pants. People in Jerusalem will be talking ‘Messiah’ for sure, and the Temple clergy will all be in alarm mode by now. This raising of Lazarus is our Father’s work. The result is far more effective than I could have hoped for. Don’t ever think our God has no sense of humor.”
Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.