Tuesday | 21 April 2026
Luke did not record any of the conversations that occurred between Jesus and Lazarus when He first visited their household; however, Jesus evidently developed a close relationship with Lazarus. The apostle John noted that, later, when Lazarus became sick, the two sisters immediately sent word to Jesus, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.’ Joh 11:3.
The point to note is that through this initial encounter, Jesus connected these ‘sons of peace’ to the command that El Shaddai gave to Abraham, when He said, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.’ Gen 17:1. Blamelessness refers to walking by faith, with Christ, in the fellowship of His death, burial and resurrection. This is the circumcision of Christ. Col 2:11‑14.
We know that Christ’s death, burial and resurrection was the focus of His message at this time. The apostle Matthew recorded that after Peter had confessed that Jesus was the Christ, He ‘began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day’. Mat 16:21. Luk 9:18‑22. Later, just prior to sending out the seventy‑two, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.’ Luk 9:44. It was in the context of this word‑focus that He explained, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’ Mat 16:24.
In the same way that Abraham and Sarah were commanded to walk blamelessly in order to be made ‘exceedingly fruitful’ and ‘a mother of nations’, Christ’s initiative towards this worthy house was to establish it as a context of fruitfulness and multiplication through fellowship in His death and resurrection.
Further Study:
Colossians 2
References:
Joh 11:3
Therefore, the sisters sent to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.’
Gen 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.’
Col 2:11-14
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Mat 16:21
From that time, Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Luk 9:18-22
And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ So, they answered and said, ‘John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said, ‘The Christ of God.’ And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.’
Luk 9:44
Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.
Mat 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’