Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes
in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will
never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Has God ever let
you down? I have no doubt the answer is
"yes." At some point, you wanted something. You may have been
desperate. You went to God and...nothing. The person died, the marriage ended,
the trial continued. Jesus was away from Bethany and heard that his friend,
Lazarus, was sick. Instead of going to him and healing him, Jesus didn't leave
for two days. By the time He got to Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb for
four days. In Jewish culture at that time, once people were dead for three
days, they were considered really dead, so Lazarus might have been said to be
133% dead.
Both sisters told Jesus that
if He'd been there, they believed Lazarus wouldn't have died. They believed He
could heal the sick. Even at this point, they believed that Lazarus would be
raised in a general resurrection at the Last Day, but that didn't address the
pain on that day. Jesus had not been there. They might have been trying not to
blame Him, but if He'd been there, things would have turned out differently.
They would have turned
out very differently. They would have been less. Sure, the family would have
believed that Jesus could heal the sick. They already believed that. They would
not have seen the miracle of restored life. This was such a big deal that the
Jewish officials who had wanted to arrest Jesus before decided that enough was
enough.
Jesus let Mary, Martha and Lazarus
down, in order to do something even greater, and in order to accomplish a
greater good.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the
Calendar:
March 13 Daylight
Savings Begins
Birthday of Joseph
Priestley (discovered oxygen)
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