Lazarus Come Out From Your Fear

“Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”” 

John 11:16 NIV 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.11.16.NIV)

I work in IT. One of the tasks I perform is to monitor Major Incidents when they occur, to ensure that they are managed properly when they take place and that they are investigated properly when they are fixed. 

Which all sounds really dry.  

But it has caused me to have a major mentality shift. 

Let me explain. 

When my stroke hit, I didn’t start to fret about it, or sit on the end of my bed and ask why I, as a fifty-one year old man with none of the risk factors, was having a stroke. 

No. As soon as I realised what was happening, my focus was on fixing the problem. The questions about how and why would come later. So I struggled down the stairs, unlocked the front door, called for the Emergency Services, and then, when I was told they would take too long, I called out to my neighbour for help. 

I knew there would be no sense in worrying or anxiety. They would only worsen my condition. I knew I was in a bad situation. I had to get out of it as soon as I could. 

The one person I worried would be anxious about my situation was my wife, because she lost both her parents in the past year and the official cause of death for both of them was a stroke. 

Which brings me to Thomas’ reaction. 

Now, he often gets plaudits for being willing to go with Jesus back to Bethany despite a perceived risk to Jesus and His followers. Which is true. This did take a lot of courage. 

But there is also another way of looking at this. 

The threat was real (John 8:59, 10:31), but it was in Jerusalem as well as Judea (John 7:19). So there was no real difference, no matter where Jesus went. 

Also, if we look at how the Jews commonly approached movements like Jesus’, their tactic was always to kill the leader and wait for the followers to disperse (Acts 5:33-39). 

The risk to Jesus’ followers was lower. No matter how justified it may have seemed, Thomas was assuming the worst.  

This is often what happens when we are in difficult situations. Our imagination runs riot, we spiral and then we hit rock bottom.  

Instead of trying to get out of our situation, we dig ourselves deeper into it and make it worse than it really is. 

What Thomas imagined did not happen. Not this time. Instead, the disciples came out of this situation, not just with Jesus’ life and their own, but also with Lazarus alive and well. 

There is a crucial lesson here for all of us. There is a reason why we are told not to be anxious, and a reason why we are told prayer is how we rid ourselves of that anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7). Fear and anxiety are a switch. We control them. If we decide not to give into them and to see our situation as it really is, we just might find a solution. 

Panic is not our friend. Anxiety is not our friend. 

Faith in Jesus Christ is. And it is faith in the One who rose Lazarus from the dead, and who Himself was risen from the dead, who can raise us from rock bottom, guide us through the choppy seas of our own anxiety, and lead us back to safety.