Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

Good morning. Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep. This is the terminology used throughout the New Testament when someone dies – that he or she has fallen asleep. Remember that Jesus waited two days, but when He got there Lazarus had been dead four days. In other words, if He had left immediately after they had told Him about Lazarus and had gone at the same pace, He still would’ve been two days too late. He is just across the Jordan River from Jericho. Even if He left right now and did not stop to spend the night with Zacheus, it would not of taken four days to get to Lazarus’ house. The disciples thought He was talking about literal sleep and that if Lazarus was asleep, it was a good thing. Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him. (Doubting) Thomas said, let’s also go, that we may die with Him. So they get there four days too late, and there are a lot of people consoling Martha and Mary. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. We can suppose that someone came and told Martha. We do not know whether or not they told Mary. If they did not tell Mary, why didn’t Martha tell her? Was she concerned about how Mary would react, or was she wanting to confront Jesus about why He had not come sooner? Her statement when she first sees Jesus implies that it could be the latter. Mary’s first statement when she sees Jesus implies the former. If Mary did hear that Jesus had come and stayed in the house anyway, she was probably hurt/angry with Him, as her first statement to Jesus implies. We’ll see what the statements were next time. Father thank You that if we die before Jesus returns, we will simply fall asleep physically. Prepare things in advance so that this year will be a great year for the reader.