Are you a leader, or are you (by and large) happy to be led?
Today, we are invited to look at a familiar story from a different angle. Instead of fretting about Jesus’ refusal to go to Lazarus straight away - when, in fact, his deliberate delay was for a higher purpose - we are looking at him as a leader who does not react as we, or his disciples, expect.
If we had been there, what would our reaction have been?
Would we have struggled to follow his lead, because we did not understand what he was doing? Would we have followed him blindly, trusting that he knew best? Would we have made a conscious (head) decision to follow, even though our hearts said “Whatever are you thinking?!”
For the time being, this story has a happy ending: Lazarus will die eventually, but now he is called out from the tomb and restored to his sisters. This story foreshadows Jesus’ own death, the death of the One who passes through death and comes out on the other side.
Given the current turmoil, both nationally and globally, many people have huge concerns about who we can trust and who we should follow. Indeed, wherever I have been for the last couple of weeks, people have talked about little else!
Sometimes we have to follow our leaders, even when we don’t understand - or agree with - them.
Above all, knowing that prayer works, we need to pray for them.