For two whole days He continued His Paræan ministry “in the same place where He was.” To us this conduct is most surprising. O, how often the Lord does so with us, even when we cry after Him in our sorrow He does not come. But always right in front of the statement, that He does not come, we have “Jesus loved.” How it added to their sorrow. Lazarus dying, Christ not coming, and at last Lazarus is dead and in the tomb, and yet the Master has not come. Surely the dense gloom of bereavement has settled down over the home, but a little while ago so full of sunshine and beauty. Heartbroken, the sisters keep their vigil by the sepulchre, but among the friends coming and going to tender their sympathy, the Friend does not appear. He came not to save; He comes not to weep. The fact must have added poignancy to their grief. But wait in your judgment. Right through these dark hours Jesus loved these sisters. Do not lose sight of this fact. It may comfort you some day. He refrained from bestowing a small favor only that He might have an opportunity to bestow a greater. If he had healed Lazarus by a word, Martha and Mary would have been grateful and satisfied, but by waiting He could give them a greater blessing, and one which might be shared by sorrowing ones in all ages to come. But Jesus is coming. Lazarus is dead, but Jesus is come at last, and is halting on the brow of the hill, just outside of the village. The news of His arrival reach the stricken sisters. How does the intelligence of His presence affect them? “Then Martha,” the dear woman, “as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him; but Mary sat still in the house.” What a contrast. Martha hastens along the village road to the brow of the hill where the Saviour had halted, doubtless that He might meet the sisters apart from the crowd, which had come in accordance with Jewish custom, to mourn with them, and as she comes running to meet Him, she exclaims, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died.” He certainly understood that. But in her blind grief she could not understand how, if He loved her and her sister, He could delay His coming until it was too late. In her words there was almost the accent of rebuke and reproach, “If _Thou_ hadst been here my brother had not died.” But how graciously He deals with her. He comes to her in her argumentative state and with words the most comforting said, “Thy brother shall rise again.” Martha could hardly believe her ears, as she certainly did not comprehend the meaning of these words with her heart, and replied, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She believed in the life everlasting, but she was going to put off being comforted until “the last day.” In that Martha has many sisters.