Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why Does Jesus Wait? | The Gospels | John 11:1–16

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

Why would Jesus delay helping someone he loved? Does God's waiting mean he doesn't care? What if his delays are accomplishing something greater than we can see? In today's episode, Jensen explores John 11:1–16 and reminds us that Jesus's timing is never disconnected from his love. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: John 11:1–16

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. My husband and I do this thing when our life gets really chaotic. With three kids, four and under in the house, chaos is pretty constant. But some days it just feels heavier. Sometimes we get less sleep than we need. There's additional stress at work or trips to plan, parties to host. In some seasons, it's family conflict.

emotional baggage, seasons of doubt. But anything added on top of the normal 24-7 chaos can send him and I into a tailspin. I'll speak specifically for myself. I get snippy. I assume the worst. I feel overwhelmed and begin to throw blame anywhere else. We can both feel it happening as children scream at us vying for our attention and the pasta water boils on the stove and my three-year-old. year old runs in, covered in some substance of unknown origin, and then my four-year-old asks me if I want to see his hot wheel go through the triple loop really quick. We always just make eye contact above the chaos, and we say, same team, same team. We are not out to get each other, we are not competing, we are on the same team. Sam and I have the same goals. We share the same

burdens. We hope for the same things. And this guiding truth about our relationship with one another helps us walk into the chaos and any added stress without turning on one another, without assuming the worst. Instead, we walk in united. Now, you may not be married. You may not have toddlers. Your house may not be as chaotic as mine, but we can all benefit from understanding the power of a simple guiding truth, a foundational truth, simple in reality, but full of richness that can transform our understanding and approach to even the most appalling and confusing moments in our lives. See, in John's Gospel Chapter 11 begins a sort of transition. This transition is moving as towards Jesus' death on the cross, Jesus' approach to Jerusalem, where he will be finally arrested and killed by its leaders.

See, Jesus has taught his disciples that he is the bread of life, the light of life, the water of life. But in this subsequent chapter, he's going to display up close and personal that He Jesus brings life. Chapter 11 tells of the death and then resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. But the portion of scripture that we're looking at today focuses solely on the before. We don't see the resurrection yet. And parts of what we will read today may confuse us, may make us wonder, why? Why would Jesus even let this happen? But we will see John employ the same tactic that Sam and I employ in the chaos of our home, a guiding truth that helps us approach the text with understanding and not confusion.

That's enough of an introduction to the text. Let's just dive in. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love, is sick. So John, he gives us context. Lazarus is a close friend of Jesus, like Mary and Martha. Mary, who will in the next few chapters wipe Jesus' feet with her hair, assigns. respect, care, love, adoration. The one who sat at Jesus' feet, clearly they have a close relationship,

a close friendship. But they describe their brother as the one Jesus loves. Now, when I hear that my kid is sick at school, I immediately go to them, both because it's policy, but also I want to be near them, to take care of them, to do what I can for them. Mostly it's to offer them comfort. But Mary and Martha reach out to Jesus because they know that he has power. Not just to comfort them as a friend, but to heal. They know his ministry. They're imploring him to come and take away this sickness. And we would expect if Jesus really loves Lazarus like I love my kids, he will immediately go to him and heal him. But he doesn't. Verse 4. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that God's son may be glorified through it.

Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. Jesus waits. When he heard, he stayed two more days. One day for a messenger to get to Jesus to tell him two days of waiting and another day to travel to Bethany to get Lazarus. That's four days of waiting. Four days for Mary and Martha to wonder, where is Jesus? For Lazarus to wonder why his friend, the one who loves him, does not come. Does Jesus not care? Is Jesus indifferent to our suffering? Does Jesus, indifferent to our suffering? Does Jesus feel no burden to carry our grief with us, to help us, to heal us? See, the guiding truth that we have to remind ourselves as we read this text is that Jesus

loved these people. Deeply, John tells us multiple times in the text, we will see him weep over the death of Lazarus tomorrow. He loves them. That is fact. It is guiding truth, foundational to all that Jesus does here. If we look closely at the text, John says Jesus loved this family so he stayed. His delay was because he loved them. Now it sounds backwards, but let's try to understand with our guiding truth. Jesus loves these people. So what's going on here? Well, Jesus has said that this sickness will not end in death. But in just a few verses, he tells his disciples that Lazarus has already died in his delay. Jesus knows at this moment when he speaks that Lazarus is already dead. So he means that ultimately Lazarus will not remain dead. He hints at the resurrection to come.

But he does say that the sickness, the death of Lazarus, comes for God's glory, so that the son of God may be glorified through it. Now, John isn't talking about glory in a praise sense, but glory in an identity sense. Lazarus's death, his sickness is happening so that the truth about who God is and who Jesus is would be revealed. They would be glorified, seen for who they are, divine, glorified beings. When the disciples say that they shouldn't go to Lazarus because Jesus may be stoned, it's too close to Jerusalem where they just fled for Jesus' safety, Jesus isn't actually concerned. He knows that he has work to do. he knows that he must reveal the glory of God. He says, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up. His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he'll get better.

Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. They misunderstand. They want to protect Jesus, protect themselves. If Lazarus is getting better, let's not risk it. Let's not put ourselves in danger. So Jesus gets super clear. So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe, but let us go to him. So Lazarus is already dead. Jesus knows by supernatural power, he's all knowing. And we learn when he arrives in Bethany that Lazarus has been dead for four days. To the people watching, it seems like Jesus' delay has caused the death. If only he had been there, he could have healed him.

If only had cared, if only he had acted, why did he remain? Have you ever asked God similar questions in your own trials? God, why are you silent? Why aren't you acting? Why don't you care? But listen to what Jesus said to the disciples. For your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. Jesus has told us that this sickness and death would reveal the glory of God would show the world

who Jesus was, the one with power over the grave, the Christ, the Messiah. And now he says, it is for their sake, for their belief, for their good that he delayed, that Lazarus fell sick and died, and stays dead for four days, which is past the point when ancient people believed that a person could be resuscitated. Jesus is making it extremely clear. This is a supernatural resurrection by my power. Jesus knows that he will wake Lazarus, but he asks his disciples,

he asks the ones he loves his friends, to trust him, to trust that he loves them in the middle of the darkness so that he can reveal his true glory to them. When you face trials and difficulty, If your foundational belief about Jesus is that he's indifferent, that he's calloused, it will lead you to despair, to feel alone, to grow angry, resentful. But John is weaving the foundational truth that Jesus loves his people,

and that all his choices, his actions, even the ones we don't understand, all of them, are built on the foundation that you and I, that we are loved by Jesus. Jesus. When we face trials, when the chaos builds and the storms begin to thrash at us, when it feels confusing, if we are guided by the foundational truth that we are loved and that we are loved deeply by the creator of the universe, it will change us. You are the one that Jesus loves. That foundational truth is never shaken or changed or made untrue by anything this life throws at you, not even death. Now it can feel confusing. We can ask why, and we may never know why, but if we believe scripture, then we have to believe what Paul says when he says, and we know that in all things,

God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Good. It was for the good of those that Jesus loved, even Lazarus, that Lazarus would get sick and die. It was for their good, their ultimate good, so that they could see Jesus for who he was, so that they could believe. See, this miracle that Jesus will perform, raising Lazarus from the dead, will be the final thing that kind of pushes the Jewish leaders over the edge. It will lead to Jesus's death. And that doesn't feel like good, but we know on this side of the resurrection that it will, was so good, that it was through death that we are healed, redeemed, brought near the one who deeply loves us. John refers to himself in his gospel as the one Jesus loved. He was sure of

this foundational truth and he wove that truth into his gospel. In the confusion, in the persecution he would face in the misunderstanding and death and sickness and silence, Jesus loves you. He is working for your. your good. He cannot act towards you in any way but out of love. Do you believe that? In the storms of this life, look up, lock eyes with Jesus, and remind yourself, Jesus loves me. I am his beloved. It is simple, but it is a foundational truth that will anchor you, carry you through this life no matter what you face. Because ultimately, even when it seems foggy, even when you don't fully understand, the end is promised. Things are working out for your

eternal good. Jesus is loving you every moment, bringing you each day closer to himself, until he returns and raises you up to live with him, the one who loves you deeply for all of eternity. This story shows us the glory of the one who loves us. It reminds us that we are loved by the one with the power to command life itself, and that changes everything. Rest in that truth today. Jesus loves you.