May 22, 2018

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO BE RIGHT ON TIME (part 7)

John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

At this point, Lazarus had been dead for four days. It would seem that Jesus was a little bit too late. Even Martha told Jesus that the body was already beginning to decay. It was as if she was saying, ‘thank you for all your efforts but it is just too little too late’. So Jesus commands them to roll the stone away from the cave that served as Lazarus’ grave. And when He did, He called out to God the Father. Listen to what Jesus said:

* 41………And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

Jesus wanted to make sure that the “critical crowd” and the family understood what was going on. Jesus wanted to make sure that God the Father was glorified by this. In fact, Jesus says to Martha:

* 40 …..Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

Jesus then calls Lazarus forth and as we all know, Lazarus came out in his grave clothes. Then Jesus commands the grave clothes to loosen from Lazarus, and the fabric that they bound Lazarus in, when they buried him, came off. The Bible says that many believed that were there that day, and then some of them ran straight to the Pharisees to tell them what happened.

What is interesting to me is that we are not told a lot about the reaction of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, or Jesus. There is no ‘I told you so’. There is no ‘take that you critical, contaminated, cynical crowd’. Jesus just does the miraculous, and then heads on to the next task. I don’t know if Mary and Martha fainted, cried, screamed for joy, or fell at Jesus feet. I do not know if it was a mic drop moment, a Holy hush moment, or a worship moment. I don’t know if the crowd started cheering, talking, or if they just stood there with their mouths open in amazement. I do not know if you have ever wandered about these details of this story. Jesus was doubted by everyone there that day. Everyone thought He was, at best, too late. But we are not told everything that the crowd did, nor anything that Mary, Martha, or Lazarus did. I guess because none of this is really about any of them. This was all about the Glory of God, displayed through the persons of God the Father, and God the Son. You know, nothing in our lives should be about us. Everything should be about the Lord. Usually, while we’re are busy doubting Him, He is busy doing the miraculous. May we remember that Jesus is never late, He is always on time. May we remember that the glory of God should be the ultimate purpose in everything we do. Finally, may we determine which “crowd” we are going to be part of.