Let Go, My Soul

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am always reading through the Psalms.  I am also always reading through the gospels, because I’ve found that reading about and reflecting on the life of Christ is pretty crucial if he is supposed to be our perfect example.

John 11 is one of my favorite stories in the gospels – the resurrection of Jesus’s friend, Lazarus.  We first learn about him and his sisters, Mary and Martha, in Luke 10.  I always feel like Martha gets the shaft when Luke 10 is discussed.  Like she was just some whiny brat who was mad that her sister wouldn’t help her.  But if you look more closely, it’s really more about Jesus lovingly speaking into her anxiety and her need to be loved and validated through serving (sometime with which I can totally relate). He didn’t rebuke her so much as he reminded her there was a better way.  He does this again in John 11.

Lazarus was really sick.  The sisters sent for Jesus, begging him to come quickly and heal their brother.  I think we sometimes miss that this was actually a sign of their great faith.  They truly believed Jesus could keep Lazarus from death if he came.  They loved and trusted him a lot.

The next two verses are so interesting:

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

He stayed two extra days.  That seems like kind of a terrible thing to do at first glance.  But the scripture doesn’t say, “he loved them BUT he stayed,” it says “he loved them SO he stayed.”  There is more to his plan than meets the eye and we see that a little later.

Lazarus died.

Four more days passed.  They buried him. They thought it was over.

Mary and Martha had to have been beside themselves with grief, confusion, and anger by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany.  They both said the exact same thing to him – “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (verses 21 & 32) And they weren’t wrong.  Jesus could have saved him.

But Jesus wasn’t being unkind or unloving.  In fact, he wept with them in their grief because he loved them deeply.  But he knew what they didn’t, what they couldn’t.

Which brings us to the big finale.  Jesus went to the tomb with Mary and Martha, and said, “Take away the stone.”  Wait, what?

He’s been dead for FOUR DAYS.  I think Martha’s response in the King James version is “by this time he stinketh.”  It made no sense and was actually a pretty gross request.

But they did it, and out came (stinky) Lazarus.  Game over.

What’s most telling to me in this story is Jesus’s response to Martha after her stinketh comment, right before he called for Lazarus to come out of the tomb.  In verse 40, he says, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

Remember at the start of this post when I referenced Jesus’s response to Martha in Luke 10?  How he lovingly and gently reminded her there was a better way?  I believe that’s what he was doing again here.  Not shaming her for her unbelief, but rather reminding her that her understanding is limited.

The Lord isn’t late.  His timing may not make sense to us but it’s never wrong.  I love that Mary and Martha thought the ultimate miracle would be for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus of his illness.  They probably believed it would bring the Lord so much glory if that happened.  And certainly it would have.  But Jesus knew there was an ending to this story that would bring him even more glory (just another reason why he is the hero and not us).  He didn’t wait to come in spite of his love for them, he waited because of his love for them.  He wanted them to see the glory of God in its fullness, not just a glimpse of it.

We don’t have the whole picture. We don’t see the whole story.  Even when we think we are dreaming big, our dreams are minuscule in comparison to what the Lord is capable of doing.  The heart of the question Jesus asked Martha is something he poses throughout the gospels, essentially, “How can you have been with me, how could you have seen all of my signs and wonders, and still not believe?”

It’s the same question he poses to me every day.

Believe and see the glory of God today.