He whom you love
Isn’t it interesting that we’ve never heard of Lazarus before and he isn’t mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, yet Jesus knew him and loved him. There is a subtle play on words that doesn't translate here because different Greek words are rendered as "love" in verse 3 and verse 5.
The sisters think that Jesus loves (phileo) Lazarus. They don’t say that he loves (agape) him. This is always the case with us and God. We don’t know how he really feels about us. We may think he likes us a lot or loves us like a brother - they loved their brother like this - but we aren’t sure he loves us regardless of our actions or our blood. Will he really give up everything for people such as us? Agape is such a big word. Is Jesus big enough for it? Verses 5 tells us plainly: Jesus loved (agape) them. j
for more insight into this, read The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis
コメント