Then after this he says to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
Two silent days lie between the message from Bethany and this word to the disciples. This verse is the moment the silence breaks. Why did Jesus wait, and why does He now choose to return to the very region where His enemies had picked up stones?
Why the Delay Ended Here
The pause was not indecision, and the move was not impulse. The Father's will governed both.
He had come to do the Father's will. So we see Him here waiting on that will, governed wholly by it, and not by His own affections, pure and perfect as they were. He had received the touching appeal — an appeal to His heart: "Lord, he whom you love is ill." Even so, He would not move until the Father's appointed time had come. How differently we often act! Would it not be enough for most of us to hear that someone in need wanted us there, someone bound to us by close ties? Let us learn that there is a higher region than even the promptings of the tenderest affection. The will of God is the Christian's only law.
Once the Father made that will known, nothing held Him back — not even the warning of what waited for Him there.
During these two days He had received no direction from His Father to go to Bethany. He loved this family, and the two sisters reminded Him of it. Still He stays where He was, without stirring. Then His Father made His will known to Him, and He goes without hesitation to the place of danger He had left. The light of day was on His path, the light of His Father's will. There He always walked.
Divine Love, Not Human Speed
Two days of silence after "he whom you love is ill" can look like coldness. Commentators read it as love working on a wiser timetable.
Love is glad to be called on, and will not disappoint the confident appeal of faith. At the same time, divine love acts according to divine wisdom. It acts, at times, in a way that seems so strange and contrary to the way of human love and human prudence... Human love would have gone at once; human prudence would never have gone at all. Whether He stays or goes, Jesus does not act by the thoughts of nature. He depends on the Father's will and acts according to it.
The sisters who sent the message had their own lesson in the waiting:
Such delays are a great trial to faith and patience. But He was teaching them to wait for His time, and for Him alone. We cannot hurry Him.
Back Into Judea
"Again" carries weight. Judea is the place of danger He had left, and the disciples had not forgotten it.
He who was God, and loved as no man ever did, stayed two days where He was. Then He calmly said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." They wonder. Did He not know better than they the murderous hatred of the Jews? Had He forgotten how often they had tried to stone Him? Why then did He propose to go there again? He was here to do the will of His Father; and here was a work to do for His glory. His eye was always undivided, His whole body full of light.
"Let Us" — The Disciples Included
He does not announce a solo journey. The invitation follows a pattern in His dealings with His twelve disciples.
The Lord had chosen the twelve disciples so that they might be "with Him." They were His personal attendants, and He kept joining them with Himself in His service... During His travels we often find Him graciously including them with Himself when He spoke of what He meant to do next. For example: "Let us go to Judea again" (John 11:7); "Let us go across to the other side" (Mark 4:35); "See, we are going up to Jerusalem" (Matt. 20:18).
A Path Only Faith Can Walk
His companions heard the call but could not read it. Their replies show how far behind Him they were.
It is faith alone that can move along the path where Jesus leads. To mere nature that path is dreadful. It is rough, dark, and lonely. Even those standing around our blessed Lord when Lazarus died seemed quite unable to grasp His thoughts or to follow His steps with understanding. When He said, "Let us go to Judea again," they could think only of the Jews stoning Him. When He said, "I go to awaken him," they replied, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
Summary
- Waiting. The two days were not neglect; He would not move until the Father's time had come.
- Word. When that word came, it settled everything at once — affection had not moved Him, and danger could not stop Him.
- Wisdom. Human love would have gone at once; human caution would never have gone at all. Divine love followed the Father's will instead.
- With. "Let us" folds the disciples into His journey, as with "Let us go across to the other side."
- Walking. Only faith can follow where He leads; nature hears the invitation and sees only the stones.