(July 29, 2024) Richard Winter shares food for serious consideration…

A long time ago — that is before Amazon Prime —  people actually went to brick and mortar stores and bought the necessities and joys of life.

Amazon and Covid changed much of how we live —

• Amazon will deliver just about anything in a day.
• Covid stopped you from being with people.
• We all learned to change our lives.

Covid no longer has its tentacles on our lives, but Amazon does! Amazon has increased our expectations about delivery— ordered yesterday; delivered today. And if it takes four days, most people are having a fit.

Four Days!
That can seem like a lifetime! And in fact it was for two sassy sisters… they had a brother whom they loved, as did Jesus, but he became quite sick and although Jesus had been informed He hadn’t come to see him. And now he’s dead — dead and buried!

One of the most beloved stories in the Bible is found in John 11 about two sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed Jesus with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. Martha was more your tidy home-keeper and their brother Lazarus had become ill.

Mary and Martha sent this news to Jesus and He sent a strange message in response saying that Lazarus wasn’t going to die. And He stays in the village of Bethany for two more days (v3-6). But… Lazarus does die and is buried.

When Jesus does decide to visit, verse 17 tells that ‘On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.’ The sisters learn He’s nearby and while Mary stays at home Martha rushes to meet Jesus to challenge Him.

Four Disappointing Days
Now the moment of sass by Martha: ‘Jesus, you’re four days too late! If you had been here my brother would not have died. ’

Okay… that’s my wording of Martha’s verse 21 challenge — but can you sense the absolute despair in Martha’s heart? Or can you hear the like of ‘Jesus, you do miracles everywhere… why didn’t you rush to heal Lazarus your friend, my brother?’

How would you feel if this happened to your brother? That’s one question we should answer — but two other questions should also be asked:

1. What does this story teach us about Jesus that we can emulate?
2. What does this story teach us about death that we should anticipate?

So let’s start with Bethany… it’s on the east of Jerusalem, across the Jordan River and on the way to Jericho. Mary had sent a message to Jesus who was about 20 miles away and He just takes His time there before walking to Bethany. In fact He waited two days before setting off!

How many miles can you walk in a day? It’s possible that Jesus did 10 miles and rested for the night, then another 10 miles the next day arriving in Bethany to be told the sad news that Lazarus had been buried four days earlier.

And how would we have expected Jesus to react? Most of us would hit total despair instantly. But Jesus was never frantic or anxious about anything — a belief point for us all to remember!

Paul would tell the church to emulate this  activity of Jesus: ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4:6-7).

Here’s how a relationship with Jesus works—

• Spend more time with Him.
• And you will be more like Him.
• You’ll become less worried and anxious in this life.
• But examine all the personal actions we are required to do.
• This is an active learning relationship!

Four Emotional Days
Back to Martha and Mary. This was a sad situation— their brother, a good friend of Jesus, has died and the sisters are very disappointed in His seemingly tardy response to their request to come quickly. They had gone through four sad days… all highly emotional — death of a loved one does that to any of us.

Indeed highly emotional responses can cause you to—

1. Do impulsive things.
2. Say regrettable things.
3. Think irrational things.
4. Abandon truth.
5. Even lose faith!

Now here’s a theological premise we all need to know — emotions are God-given but unreliable as a direction for decision making! Likewise feelings do not determine reality. We should not recalibrate truth to fit our feelings as they will not always validate the truth, which will always validate the feelings.

Four Delaying Days
When God delays responding, withholding His actions and He isn’t acting according to our timetable there is a good reason, a God reason!

Jesus is not driven by emotion, He is guided by devotion to His Father and in this case He is going to perform a miracle even greater than that of healing the blind man in John 6! With this four day delay and the entombment of Lazarus, Jesus is going bring glory to God as He had proclaimed when He had first heard of His friend’s illness (John 11:4)!

Reality: It’s normal that we expect God to fix all of our problems immediately but sometimes He will delay so that a greater miracle can be experienced, and God will be glorified in a greater way.

Note: Although Jesus wasn’t driven by emotions, He did display them! When Mary also strongly sassed Him on meeting, He was so touched by her tears that He was deeply disturbed (v32-33).

Earlier in this chapter we read that  ‘… Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus’ (v5). So we mustn’t misinterpret that God doesn’t love us if He doesn’t act on our time schedule!

Verses 33-35 tell that when the comforting Jews joined Mary and Jesus, He enquired about Lazarus’ body: ‘“Where have you laid him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.’

Yes, the emotion of losing a loved one is tears! And our Lord Jesus wept deeply, bitterly, so sadly! Understand something here… verse 35 is regarded as the shortest in the Bible but it is so powerful! The Greek word is dakuro, indicating that Jesus burst into tears, then wept silently!

Get the picture here? This is Jesus the God-man, deity Himself, weeping! How He cared! No wonder those Jews immediately remarked, ‘See how He loved him!’ (v36). And our Saviour cares so deeply for us too, for every human being on planet earth!

Four Focused Days
While Jesus had strongly focused on not travelling immediately to Jerusalem, John now tells how He will have everyone focusing on the greatest miracle — He will demonstrate that He has power over life and death because He is the resurrection and the life (v25).

Now He had briefly discussed this with Martha and she had affirmed she believed that in the resurrection Lazarus would have eternal life (v23-27). Good theology— but the miracle Jesus would perform that fourth day would be even better than just theology. Martha and Mary and those Jews, and His own disciples would be amazed!

You too can believe there is a resurrection— but how do you get there? You need to know the  one who provides the way, to believe in and to accept Him as Saviour.

And what happens if you die before Jesus returns? Death is not a destination, but a transition!

• Billy Graham said: ‘Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will have just changed my address. I will have gone onto the presence of God.’ [And he has changed addresses!]
• Pastor Tony Evans who just recently lost his wife due to cancer said: ‘Just before the sun came up this morning the love of my life, Lois Evans, transitioned from this earth and watched her first sunrise from heaven.’
• Helen Keller who was born blind said: ‘Death is no more than passing from one room to another. But there is a difference for me you know. Because in that other room I will be able to see.’

Every human being needs to see and believe— see and believe that Jesus is our Saviour, a miracle-working friend. That’s why John wrote his gospel telling about seven of His miracles. Jesus—

1. Turned water into wine for a wedding celebration (John 2:His first miracle).
2. Healed a boy without ever going to him: Just spoke the word (John 4).
3. Restored a man who was crippled for 38 years (John 5).
4. Fed at least 5000 with two fish and five loaves of bread (John 6).
5. Walked over the sea of Galilee (John 6).
6. Miraculously healed a man who had been born blind (John 9).
7. Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11).

This last miracle is Jesus dealing with the greatest problem for all of us— ‘What happens when you die?’ Jesus told Martha it is but a transition if we believe in Him… ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die…’ (John11:26a).

Four ‘Non-late’ Days
But… note well that Jesus then asked Martha a most important question: ‘Do you believe this?’ (v26b)! He would later say that many people didn’t believe because of their unbelief (12:39). That challenge resonates to us in 2024!

Up until this Lazarus incident death and life had been in a constant war and death had always won. What Jesus does next — four days late — is the key to believing in Him as our Saviour with power over death!

With Martha and Mary and the others standing near, Jesus called loudly: ‘“Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go”’ (John 11:43-44).

This miracle was more than relieving grief —  it was a demonstration of God’s power over death through His Son! Verse 45 tells that one of the results of Jesus being four days late was that ‘… many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.’ Death is not the end; it is the beginning of eternal life — on death a human soul either goes to heaven or to hell.

Hell was created for Satan and demons— we only go there if we choose to reject Jesus as Saviour. So I quote a final John scripture for today, that so-well known John 3:16 scripture:

‘For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

Final scripture and a final thought: This John 3:16 message is what someone we know needs to know! Jesus called to Lazarus ‘Come forth’(NKJV) — I would call to you forth, dear reader, not to hide your faith but to ‘Come forth you good and faithful servant and share the gospel’s good news of eternal life.’

God is never late!

Even when He’s four days late He’s still on time… His time! May we too be on time in going forth sharing the good news about our all-powerful Lord!

___________________________________________________
Dr Richard Winter pastors The Connection Church, Huntington Beach, California. Link: OnlineConnect@gmail.com
___________________________________________________