Faith and Unbelief
In the last post about Martha and Mary, https://sixmeasuresofbarley.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/marthas-sister-mary-part-1/ we saw Jesus visiting the home of the sisters and Jesus praising Mary for choosing the good portion. Today, let ‘s have a look at the second visit, described in the book of John ( John 11:17-44), where we see Lazarus becoming ill and dies. Here Jesus visits the sisters, comforts them and also restores their broken house into a place of joy; He turns their mourning into joy; Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead!
Now let’s get closer and walk along with the sisters.
When Lazarus became sick, Jesus being their friend and loved their family, the sisters send word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick”. As I read through, few thoughts came to my mind.
1)Martha and Mary had great faith in Jesus; during their hard time they send word to Him because they have seen Him doing great miracles; they have seen the joy He gave to the many who were healed and restored; they heard the words of life flowing from Him. They totally knew that if Jesus came, there would be healing for their brother; there was no room for doubt in there.
2)Being a friend of Jesus or being loved by Jesus does not exempt us from the hardships of life; sickness and perils does not vanish when we are in Christ. Like the sisters send the word, (Lord, the one you love is sick.) we too have a place to seek help from, we have a refuge , a rock to look upon, a stronghold, and a hope in Jesus.
When Jesus heard about Lazarus, He said it is not for death, but for the glory of God. Jesus knew what was going to happen, yet He did not rush to Martha and Mary, but waited for His time to intervene in their situation. Till then they might have only seen Him healing the sick and blind and healing the demon processed but this miracle of raising Lazarus opened their perspective to see that He have power over life and death.
Four days after the death of Lazarus, Jesus reaches the village of Martha and Mary. Hearing that Jesus is there, Martha runs to Jesus, and says, 21 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” In the last study we saw Martha unable to prioritize being with Jesus over her work, but here we see her greeting Jesus, totally broken, and unable to hold her situation. Her words stress the depth of her strong faith in Jesus; there is also a tone of complaint when she says if you were here, this would not have happened, this situation would not have come in our life. She is truly expressing all her emotions to Jesus. When Jesus tells ” your brother will rise again”, she responds by relating it to the resurrection at the last day. Her measure of faith is tied to the knowledge, that Jesus could heal but she could not relate to the thought that Jesus could raise her brother from the dead. She related her faith to what she knew, but Jesus saw her faith and wanted to build her faith, by teaching her that He is life and resurrection and we see Martha confessing her faith, which is as bold as the confession of faith by Peter.
John 11:27, “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” When Jesus is ready to intervene in our situation , he is searching for our faith, sometimes we may be weak in faith, sometimes we react quickly to him, not knowing what he is asking us, sometimes we limit Him by what we have seen and heard, but that does not stop Him from working in your life, He will teach you and build your faith to see the unseen.
We see Mary is still at her house, Martha goes and calls her. 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.” Mary expresses her concern that Jesus was not early enough to intervene in her situation. She does not talk much, but in her tears and brokenness she is still found at the feet of Jesus. Mary displays a heart of worship, being at the feet of Jesus, did not leave her unshaken, she is true to her feelings. She learned to worship the Lord even in hard days, even if she does not feel like. Sometimes, when we are hit by rough tides, we often forget to worship Him, we might have many things to say, we have opinions of our own, we are fast to react, we lean on our experiences. Jesus was moved by her tears. I would like to remind you there may be many who won’t understand your tears but God will not pass the tears of his children, without intervening for them, without rising for them. His heart was melted and stirred, He wept with the sisters, God in humanity!
Now as Jesus is at the tomb of Lazarus, He is asking to take the stone away. We see Martha, having an opinion, trying to remind Jesus, the impossibilities and raising doubt and disbelief, we saw her confessing her faith yet she could not perceive what was in the mind of The Lord, Mary though not talking anything is able to understand better, if He says to do something , there is a reason, there is a mission behind it, His glory is going to be revealed.
When Jesus is coming into your situation to intervene, are we having the measure of faith He is looking for? When He is teaching us are we ready to open our mind and receive? Jesus wants us to make us more of a Mary; it is okay to express ourselves before God, but when He teaches us let us be with listening ears and open minds, ready to do anything He wants us to do.
God bless you!
Smitha Thomas.
Redeemed Ministries.
Picture Courtesy: www.lds.org
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