It is always risky to step into the middle of another family’s crisis. Every family is different, and within every family different family members play different roles. There is also a history of learned behaviors and subtle signals that an outsider can never fully comprehend.

So it is with fear and trepidation that we enter the family crises of today’s text. In fact, there are two families in crisis in today’s readings. There is the obvious one: the Bethany family unit of the siblings Lazarus, Martha, and Mary which has suffered the ultimate tragedy of death. But Jesus’ actions and reactions reveal there is a larger family unit he is concerned for, who is the focus of his compassion—-the human family, a family created by God that is suffering from fear and faithlessness.

Not only does Je…