The two sisters Mary and Martha, no doubt, nursed their brother Lazarus very tenderly when he fell sick. But the greatest act of kindness they showed him was when they sent to Jesus for help. We know how willingly the Lord complied with their tender appeal. Though He tarried for a while at the place where He was, He finally came to their help and dried their tears by raising Lazarus from the dead. When sickness comes into our homes, we do not delay sending for the doctor; but are we so anxious in appealing to the Lord Jesus for help as were these two sisters?

The Lord loves us and our sick ones just as tenderly as He loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus; His love sacrificed His life for us. Do we send our prayer: "Lord, behold, he (or she) whom Thou lovest is sick," up to His throne of mercy in the days of sickness, and do we also send for His servant, the pastor, to come and comfort, warn and instruct and cheer us with God's holy Word? For the Lord Himself is present in His divine Word with His saving grace and comfort and help. In larger congregations it is impossible for the pastor to know when any in his flock fall sick. It is the duty of the members to notify him, as the apostle admonishes: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him" (James 5:14).

But there are also foolish Christians, even doctors, who ought to know better, who will not have the pastor called in to see the sick, even if they know that the patient cannot recover. They say, "It will excite the patient and make him worse." How do they know? If they keep the saving Word of God from the patient, who now perhaps dies in his unforgiven sin, God will require his blood at their hands. But where Jesus comes to those shut in by reason of sickness, even though the patient dies, as did Lazarus, it is nevertheless true what our Savior said of Lazarus: [verse 4] "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."

[devotion text by Rev. F. W. Herzberger (1920) -
from the Family Altar - CPH (1957 edition)]
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