Lazarus
But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?” John 11:37 · Berean Standard Bible
But some of them ask, 'He opened the eyes of the blind man—couldn't He have kept Lazarus from dying?'
It's a fair question on the surface. But they're thinking too small. Jesus didn't come to prevent death—He came to defeat it.
Some skeptics question why Jesus' power wasn't used to save Lazarus.
They're asking the wrong question. They're wondering why Jesus didn't prevent death. He's about to show them something far greater: He can reverse it.
Some mourners question why Jesus, who opened the blind man's eyes (chapter 9), could not have prevented Lazarus' death—raising the theological problem of unfulfilled expectation of divine power.
The reference to the blind man healing links chapters 9 and 11. The question implies doubt: if Jesus had power over blindness, why not over death? The irony is that He is about to demonstrate exactly that power.
Skeptical mourners voice the logical question about the limits of Jesus' healing power.
The skeptics raise the obvious question, not knowing that the answer is about to be demonstrated in the most spectacular way imaginable: Jesus' power extends not merely to healing but to resurrection.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39“Take away the stone,” Jesus said.
Read all of John 11 — Jesus weeps at a tomb. Then He calls a dead man out of it. The shortest verse in the Bible and the most powerful — separated by minutes.
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