if You had been here

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (J 11:21)

Both Lazarus’ sisters, Martha and Mary, greet Jesus with the same words. If You had been here.

If You had been here, we wouldn’t have lost man, our trust, our good name. If You had been here, there would be no reason for tears now. If You had been here, we’d follow the old ways, the happy ways. If You had been here, we wouldn’t have learned that we love in vain, because we can always lose a “brother”.

But Jesus is also weeping after the loss of a friend. He, God, who wouldn’t need to be attached to anyone – in order never to feel the loss. And yet He himself loves us always, and loses us all the time – whenever we don’t believe Him. And He never stops loving. Abandonned, batrayed, alone. He is waiting.

And even in the worst secanrio, He says: I was here. I am now. Everything makes sense. The good which is to reveal itself here – has not shown yet, but it will. Now it’s the pain, but hope already precedes the joy of what is yet to come: “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe” (J 11:15).

Only some can do it and their presence can’t be overestimated. When all fails, they’re already looking forward to some greater good coming. “In the end, everything is going to be all right. If it’s not all right, it is not the end.”

Margaret