“This sickness will not end in death.”

That’s what Jesus said when he heard that his friend Lazarus was sick. It’s a pretty odd statement, given that the only thing that he had been told was, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” There is no word in the story about how sick Lazarus was. There is no sense, for sure, that he was on his way to death.

However, by the time Jesus showed up, traveling a couple days distance, Lazarus had been entombed for four days.

There are many stories in this story. We see that Martha (of Mary and Martha fame) isn’t nearly as unspiritual as many people try to make her. We hear Thomas (of doubting Thomas fame) being willing to walk into death. We see Jesus weeping. We hear Jesus calling Lazarus out of the grave.

This story is a crossroads of characters. I’ve known this story as far back as I can remember. But I don’t remember ever seeing what Jesus said.

“This sickness will not end in death.”

Why would Jesus say that? I mean, a couple days later, still not on the road, Jesus says, “Lazarus is dead.” Why can’t he get his story straight?

It’s possible, of course, that his story was straight, that the sickness didn’t end in death; the sickness just had to make a stop at death on the way to healing.

This can be a scary story for people who ask Jesus for help. Who could ever trust someone who would let good friends watch a brother die, only to have him brought back to life? To our eyes, that looks like random infliction of pain.

On the other hand, Jesus knew that death wasn’t fatal. At least not for Lazarus. Not the first time he died.