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1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." 11 After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." 12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." 17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." 28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" 38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." 45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. (John 11:1-45 NRSV)
A blessed Monday to you, Friend! Wow! is the only word I can think to use when I think about Sunday worship yesterday. For the first time in our recent history, almost every church was closed, and most of those tried in one way or another, to provide worship through online streaming. Our church, FUMC of Gonzales, videotaped a YouTube video of our pastor, Rev. Dr. Matt Pennington, and two wonderful singers who shared two hymns, with the pastor sharing a meditation. A megachurch from North Carolina was live on YouTube with a praise band and the senior pastor, all of whom maintained a "social" distance from each other; though the pastor asked them to stay onstage with him so that he would not feel lonely as he preached. Our gym had a Saturday night video of exercises we could do at home. We were blessed by our church and the worship experience. The gym, well, not so much. LOL.
I pray this blesses you, as we deal with the uncertainty of these days. God knows that we need it. A trip to the grocery store takes now more than an hour. We needed necessary items and we arrived at the store at 7:30 am, and an hour and a half later we were loading things into our vehicle.
Again, dear friends, we encounter John's need to tell a complete story, and he does, taking 45 verses to tell it. In fairness to the apostle, he wrote it completely out and it was church fathers who divided the story into chapters and verses. It is lengthy, but also like all John writes, very powerful.
Jesus had personal friends whom He loved very much. It was a household of two sisters and their brother. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Jesus was asked to try and stop a squabble between the two sisters in an earlier story, and this one begins with the brother being very sick. The sisters knew of Jesus' power to heal and so word is sent to Him to come. Jesus does not drop everything and runs to Lazarus' side. He waits two days before he starts to respond to their plea. He had a plan. And He tries to explain it to the 12, but it doesn't register with them. They thought this going back would lead to their death and they were alright with that. Jesus spoke about the death of Lazarus as being sleep. What Jesus wanted to do was to expose them to the power of resurrection that He knew they were not quite ready to handle something so supernatural.
Jesus gets scolded by both sisters, yet they hold out on hope that even now Jesus might do something for their brother. "But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of Him." And Jesus does say, "Your brother will rise again." And Martha replies with the Sunday school answer she knew in her head, that on the last day at the resurrection, all will rise to face judgment. It's here that Jesus shares one of His signature "I am" promises and truths; "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Martha is asked if she believed this, and she replies she does, and affirms she believes Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God.
As Jesus comes to the tomb of Lazarus, we find what in the King James Version of the Bible, is the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." It shows how much Jesus identifies with our human condition. Death brings sorrow and sadness, and more so in those days when the Church was not really teaching on it, and the two leading schools of thought were Sadducees, who taught there was no life after death, and the Pharisees who believed in a resurrection in the last day, and others who only believed one could live on in the minds of loved ones and friends. The time was right for what Jesus did next. He orders the tomb opened and Jesus says, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man is now alive and amazes all who saw it. Resurrection had come as a sign of what was to come through a relationship with God; a foretelling of what was to be shared by Jesus; victory over sin and death. The second Adam had shown what was going to come.
As our Lenten Journey continues, we see in this story what is come to the earth on Easter Sunday. Just today our daughter asked if Easter was cancelled by the Pope. I read up on it, and saw where crowds would not be allowed in the usual public spaces for his traditional Easter services. They would have to wait to see and hear his message on television. But the point of Easter is to celebrate what God did through His Son, Jesus. He cancelled the power of sin over our lives. And the power of sin to kill has also been cancelled by Jesus because all who believe will never die. This is hope for us and strength for us to continue to trust in the Lord. This is good news! Precisely what we need to hear especially in the mess we're experiencing.
PRAYER: Loving Father, speak to our hearts with tones of calm and peace; make real the promise of Jesus so that we can continue forward and upward with our lives. Bless the needs of this dear reader, and be with all who need You. We pray in faith in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Reach someone with a prayer, a note, or a call.
Receive my blessings of peace and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
BONUS: A video on hope and encouragement during these difficult times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFqiV5MCLF8
