John 11:42 Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."
Here we have explicitly stated, the aim of the miracle God was about to do. It is to glorify the Son! It wasn’t primarily for Lazarus or Martha or Mary that this miracle occurred. It was for them, but primarily it was so that those who came from Jerusalem to comfort them might believe that Jesus was sent by God. This gives us insight into how we might pray when we don’t know what to do to love someone. We might pray, “Father, I know You hear me because I am asking in Jesus’ name that You would do whatever is necessary for others to believe that You sent Jesus into this world to give us resurrection life.” When we live to love with Jesus, and Jesus loves through us, it shows that God has performed a miracle: we have been raised from death to life by the power of God through Jesus Christ, His Son, whom He sent for that specific, glorious purpose. Jesus said that it is through our union with Him that the world will know that God sent Him (John 17:20).
