When Jesus Waited

What the delay before Lazarus’ resurrection teaches us about faith in the middle of the story

The Raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt), Vincent van Gogh, 1890. A scene alive with grief, urgency, and emotional chaos. Public domain.Welcome to today’s article.

This Sunday’s lectionary reading includes the story of Lazarus in John’s Gospel. Even if you do not follow the church calendar, it is one of those passages that quietly refuses to behave the way we expect.

I am terrible at waiting, which is not ideal because faith seems to involve a great deal of it.

Not the dramatic kind of waiting where you can see the resolution coming. I mean the subtler kind. The kind that settles in after you have prayed, hoped, trusted, and still nothing appears to be changing.

Which is why the story of Lazarus has always unsettled me.

We tend to remember it as a triumphant miracle. A man raised from the dead. A decisive display of Jesus’ power over death.

But there is something Jesus says before Lazarus is raised that most of us rush past.

And if we slow down long enough to hear it, it changes how the whole story feels.