Many people around the world are afraid right now. It is a natural emotion. I believe that Jesus, in His human form, was afraid when He walked this earth. He must have been afraid in the garden of Gethsemane when He asked God to take the suffering away. Also, when on the Cross and He believed God had abandoned Him.
Can you imagine that? The Son of God believing that His Father had abandoned Him?
In both occasions when Christ was afraid, I believe it was the devil tempting Him. Just like he is tempting many of us to be afraid of our current situation.
One way to combat fear is to be thankful. To be thankful to God for all the good things He has done for us in the past. Each one of us can look back over our lives and remember occasions when things were bad, very bad, yet God was with us. Even if we did not know it at the time.
By thanking and praising God for those times we are acknowledging His power and His control over all things. We are also hopeful that this time too, He is with us, a prayer away, ready to help and to see us through our crisis.
When Lazarus died, Jesus said, "
The final result of this illness will not be the death of
Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God ..."
I believe the same applies today.
Let us now read the story about Lazarus.
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John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33-45
"So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’
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.’ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and
Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days
longer in the place where he was."
Note that Jesus does not go straight-away to heal Lazarus. He waits for
two more days. He also says that this illness will not lead to death.
"When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the
tomb for four days ... Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not
have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask
of him.’"
Jesus arrives after Lazarus has been dead for four days. This is very
significant. In those days some people believed that the soul does not
leave the body until after three days. Jesus wanted to make sure that
Lazarus was dead before performing His miracle. He did not want anyone
to suggests that Lazarus was just sleeping or in a coma; as may well
have happened in previous occasions when He raised someone from the
dead. This time He wanted to make sure that the people understood that
the power of God can raise people from the dead.
Notice also how Martha reprimands Jesus. "If you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Don't we too, kick back and blame God when something goes wrong in our
lives? Note also the faith in that very sentence. She believes that
Jesus could have saved Lazarus, had He been here. She reprimands Jesus.
That in itself is an expression of faith. There is no point in
reprimanding or getting angry with someone who can do nothing about it.
But the very fact she reprimands Jesus shows that she knew He could do
something about it had He been there.
When we are in great grief, or despair, we sometimes lash out at God. We
blame Him for what has happened. This is only natural. It is our human
nature speaking.
God knows that and He can take our anger. After all, He took all our anger and hatred when He hung there from the Cross.
Like in Martha's case, God forgives. We should in return hold on to our Faith and believe that everything is possible to God.
Note that Martha also says,"But even now I know that God will give you
whatever you ask
of him." When miracles happen it is always through the will of God, in
the name of Jesus. Sometimes people ask Saints for miracles. When the
Apostles walked this earth they performed miracles too. See Acts of the
Apostles 5:12-16. Also see Peter's miracles when he heals Aeneas and
raises Dorcas from the dead. Acts 9:32-43. On both occasions and
elsewhere in Acts the Apostles the early Christians performed miracles
through the power of God in the name of Jesus. It is God who performs
miracles. Not the Saints. Even today miracles happen through the power
of God.
"Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him,
‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus said to her, ‘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?’ She said to
him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the
one coming into the world.’"
He re-iterates His message that He has the power to raise Lazarus. And
Martha too, confirms that she believes Jesus is the Son of God.
"When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his
feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died.”
This is also significant. Mary joins her sister to meet Jesus and she too says, "If you had been
here Lazarus would not have died". The crowd murmur that Jesus healed
many sick people why did He not come earlier to save Lazarus.
"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
for four days.’"
Let there be no doubt that Lazarus is dead.
"And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard
me. 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.’
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’
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.’"
Jesus re-affirms to His Father that this miracle is to make the people
believe that He is the Son of God. This whole episode in Christ's life
has one main purpose. To make the people believe.
Jesus deliberately arrived late to ensure that Lazarus was dead. Let
there be no doubt about that. His sister and the crowd knew that. After
four days, in the hot heat, the body would have decomposed and begin to
smell.
In previous miracles, many sceptics and cynics would have said that the
individual was probably not dead. He may have been in a deep sleep, or
in a coma. Not much of a miracle.
This time Jesus waited for four days after death and burial to turn up
and raise Lazarus. He wanted there to be no doubt that Lazarus is dead
and that he has been raised back to life. No doubt that God's glory,
through Him, will be seen by everyone.
Jesus says "unbind him, and let him go." Let that be a message to us
when we are unbound from our sins and let go freely forgiven once again.
"Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him."
At last ... some ... of the Jews believed.
From the very beginning Jesus had said, "The final result of this illness will not be the death of
Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will
be the means by which the son of God will receive glory."
Our lesson is to learn that when things go wrong ... very ... very
wrong; we need only believe that the end result will be that God is
glorified, as is His will.
