Lord being sinless, by no means prevented His taking part in the common cares and concerns of social life. Nor did it indispose Him for condescending to indulge in such tender and amiable affections as sweeten life, and form some of the choicest links of that invisible chain which binds the best of men together in this rough changing world. We find that while He sojourned here, our Divine Master became attached to a small family residing at Bethany, consisting of three persons, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, a brother, and his two sisters. It was on the occasion of a bereavement in this little circle, that our Lord selected an opportunity of exhibiting His power as God, by raising the dead to life. But it is desired at this time rather to trace his conduct as man throughout this touching scene, sympathy for suffering friends being the peculiar lesson to be derived from the incident. Lazarus was seized by sickness, and the sisters who believed in Jesus, sent in their distress to acquaint Him of their trouble, which was described in a short, but comprehensive sentence, "he whom thou lovest is sick." Jesus immediately declared that it it was not a sickness unto death, alluding to the miracle He meant to work, and by which He was about to prove His divinity. When He announced His intention of going to the mourning party, His disciples reminded Him of the danger He would incur by exposing Himself to those who had so lately sought to stone Him. This however was no obstacle to His setting out on an errand of mercy, and He proceeded to explain to them that He was going to restore Lazarus to life. It has been supposed, by some, that when He said, "our friend Lazarus sleepeth," He thus expressed Himself to avoid giving a shock to their feelings by at once informing them of his death. If it were so, He very soon after explicitly told them that Lazarus |