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John 3:16-17
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John 3:16-17
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We prayed and prayed for his healing. He was young, healthy, married with children, and actively serving the Lord as a campus minister. Despite his total dedication to the Lord, he got cancer and died. When I got the news, I knew I should feel hope, but I mainly felt punched in the gut.
John 11:17-44
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.” Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there. As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
Lazarus’ community believed that his soul hovered near the body for three days, hoping to return. But by the fourth day, everyone knew the death was final. The body had started to decompose, the spirit had departed, and it was time to move on. Jesus has repeatedly communicated that this death will reveal the glory of God. It’s a puzzling statement. So Thomas says he is prepared to die as well. Martha expresses confidence that God will raise Lazarus in the distant future. Mary confesses that Jesus could have prevented the death if he had come earlier. If, like them, I had never seen someone rise from the dead, these are the kinds of responses I might offer, too. I’ve left many funerals quietly wondering how much to grieve and how much to hope. I’m sad to have lost someone I loved, but I know I will see them again soon. The problem is that I can see their body go into the ground, but I can’t see them in heaven. It’s easier to grieve than it is to hope. Jesus is surrounded by professional mourners who have filled the air with wailing for days. He’s looking at his dear friends, Mary and Martha, and he knows they are struggling with the sting of death and the ache of disappointment. He’s come so that they might believe, but no one understands. Jesus’ response is a guttural mix of anger, grief, and sadness. It’s directed at the entire system of sin and death that causes those he loves to suffer. He weeps. Then he takes in the stench of Lazarus’ dead body, looks into the darkness of the tomb, and says the most powerful prayer of his ministry. It’s followed by the simple, straightforward command: “Lazarus, come out.” A dead man, bound in burial cloth, shuffles out. He didn’t just say, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He showed it. In his presence, a dead man’s only option was to come back to life. Our world is filled with more suffering and death than I care to read about. If there is any hope at all, it is because Lazarus walked out of the tomb.
Martha, Mary, Thomas, and the mourners all respond differently to the same situation. Which response is closest to yours?
Jesus didn’t claim to be the resurrection and the life in a synagogue. He said it next to a decomposing body. Why does the setting matter?
Where in your life does hope feel harder than grief?
Say this sentence out loud: "Jesus, I'm sad about ___ and I don't know how to hope." Then text your prayer to a friend.
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