Jesus may also have been deeply troubled by the unbelief, fear, and devastating power of death that He encountered around Him, because of the lack of faith He saw around Him. When Jesus first told His disciples they would head back to Judea, they reminded Him that the last time He was in Judea, He was almost stoned. They were operating in fear and not faith. As they attempted to discourage Jesus from returning to Judea, Jesus responded:
“Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’” (John 11:14-16)
Jesus intentionally waited to go to Lazarus to bring God glory once Lazarus was raised from the dead. Still, the disciples planned to go to Judea with Jesus to die with Him. As we’ve already read, once Jesus reached Judea, Mary and Martha both lamented that Jesus had not…