The statement of Jesus that “Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad…”  would have produced the same shock in the disciples that it should produce in us. But Jesus goes on to tell them why He is glad.

His joy is “so that you may believe”. The tense of the verb (aorist) indicates the beginning of faith which, as Morris notes, is quite curious when applied to these disciples who have trusted Jesus and left everything to follow Him. But we shall soon see that their faith was not strong enough to keep them by His side when He was arrested. The meaning of this is that faith is progressive. “There are new depths of faith to be plumbed, new heights of faith to be scaled. The raising of Lazarus would have a profound effect on them and would give their faith a content that it did not have before.” (Morris)

The death of Lazarus brought a crisis to Jesus, but as Sir John Reith once said, “I do not like crises; but I like the opportunities which they supply.” Jesus was glad for the opportunity which the death of Lazarus supplied to Him. And we should have the same attitude as Jesus when faced with crises. We should recognize that they offer the opportunity to demonstrate the power of God in our lives. For in the final analysis, we are the witnesses to a dying world of what God’s power can do. Only He can make a bad man good.