John Calvin Commentary John 11:5

"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." — John 11:5 (ASV)

And Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. These two things appear to be inconsistent with each other: that Christ remains two days beyond Jordan, as if he did not care about Lazarus's life, and yet the Evangelist says that Christ loved him and his sisters. For, since love produces anxiety, he ought to have hastened immediately.

As Christ is the only mirror of God's grace, we are taught by this delay on his part that we ought not to judge God's love from the condition we see before our eyes. When we have prayed to him, he often delays his assistance, either to increase still more our ardor in prayer, or to exercise our patience and, at the same time, accustom us to obedience.

Let believers then implore God's assistance, but let them also learn to suspend their desires if he does not stretch out his hand to help them as soon as they think necessity requires. For, whatever his delay may be, he never sleeps and never forgets his people. Yet let us also be fully assured that he wishes all whom he loves to be saved.