On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed home.
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and, whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary…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.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
During the summer of 1982, I served a ministry internship at a church in Pittsburgh. The church was located just across from a city park in an area of the city that had degenerated into a kind of “slum” area. In fact, my internship was focused on developing an outreach to the children of the Hmong refugees that lived in that area of the city, so it was not unusual to see homeless or otherwise very troubled people hanging out or sleeping in the park almost on a daily basis.
One morning I left the church building (where I slept in a small “apartment” each night) to walk across the park to a donut shop and noticed a man who looked to be sleeping at the foot of a tree just inside the park area. The awkward position the man was lying in the grass drew my curiosity – so I moved a little closer. As I got close enough to see his face – he appeared somewhat ashen in color and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. My heart started to race as it dawned on me that I might have stumbled upon a dead man.
I moved closer and said, “Sir, are you O.K.?” He didn’t seem to hear me because he didn’t move a muscle. I moved even closer and said, a little louder, “Sir! Are you O.K.?” Nothing. I was close enough to him now to see that his eyelids were partially open – and it appeared that his eyes were rolled back in his head. I leaned within inches from his face – and couldn’t detect any signs that he was breathing. My heart was pounding. I reached out and nudged his shoulder, and said, “Sir!” At that moment he suddenly woke up with a violent shudder and growled, “What are you doing?!” I jumped back – almost falling over – and said, “What are YOU doing?!” To which he said, “I’m trying to get a little sleep!”
I was relieved, of course, that the man was, in fact, alive – but the truth is, people die every day. In fact, while you are reading this “10 Minutes with God” entry – about 1,000 people will die worldwide (according to statistics, 1.8 people die every second). Yet, in a way, death still surprises, shocks and frightens us. We don’t like to think about it and try in many ways to push it as far away as possible (except in movies – where we seem to be fascinated with it – probably because death is make-believe in movies). Even with amazing advances in medical science, we feel powerless in the face of death’s inevitability. The human mortality rate is 100%.
In this story from John 11 we see that Jesus was not afraid of death. In fact, it appears that he waited a number of days before going to Lazarus’ aid to demonstrate that not only was he not afraid of death – he was, and is, greater than death! We fear death because we cannot control it and we cannot fully comprehend it. We fear death because we cannot see clearly beyond the grave. But in Jesus, we have one who not only understands death and has lived beyond the grave, but one who ultimately defeats death completely, replacing it with his life – with himself.
If you are like me you think about death every now and then – usually when it happens to someone you know – or someone in your family. If you are like me, you rarely think about your own death – and when those thoughts come you quickly replace them with other thoughts because death is, well, an unpleasant thing to think about. This story reminds us that while death remains an inevitable and unwelcome enemy to life, we do not need to fear death.
Ask God to fill your heart and mind with the hope and peace that come from knowing that Jesus has conquered death through his resurrection life!
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
During the summer of 1982, I served a ministry internship at a church in Pittsburgh. The church was located just across from a city park in an area of the city that had degenerated into a kind of “slum” area. In fact, my internship was focused on developing an outreach to the children of the Hmong refugees that lived in that area of the city, so it was not unusual to see homeless or otherwise very troubled people hanging out or sleeping in the park almost on a daily basis.
One morning I left the church building (where I slept in a small “apartment” each night) to walk across the park to a donut shop and noticed a man who looked to be sleeping at the foot of a tree just inside the park area. The awkward position the man was lying in the grass drew my curiosity – so I moved a little closer. As I got close enough to see his face – he appeared somewhat ashen in color and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. My heart started to race as it dawned on me that I might have stumbled upon a dead man.
I moved closer and said, “Sir, are you O.K.?” He didn’t seem to hear me because he didn’t move a muscle. I moved even closer and said, a little louder, “Sir! Are you O.K.?” Nothing. I was close enough to him now to see that his eyelids were partially open – and it appeared that his eyes were rolled back in his head. I leaned within inches from his face – and couldn’t detect any signs that he was breathing. My heart was pounding. I reached out and nudged his shoulder, and said, “Sir!” At that moment he suddenly woke up with a violent shudder and growled, “What are you doing?!” I jumped back – almost falling over – and said, “What are YOU doing?!” To which he said, “I’m trying to get a little sleep!”
I was relieved, of course, that the man was, in fact, alive – but the truth is, people die every day. In fact, while you are reading this “10 Minutes with God” entry – about 1,000 people will die worldwide (according to statistics, 1.8 people die every second). Yet, in a way, death still surprises, shocks and frightens us. We don’t like to think about it and try in many ways to push it as far away as possible (except in movies – where we seem to be fascinated with it – probably because death is make-believe in movies). Even with amazing advances in medical science, we feel powerless in the face of death’s inevitability. The human mortality rate is 100%.
In this story from John 11 we see that Jesus was not afraid of death. In fact, it appears that he waited a number of days before going to Lazarus’ aid to demonstrate that not only was he not afraid of death – he was, and is, greater than death! We fear death because we cannot control it and we cannot fully comprehend it. We fear death because we cannot see clearly beyond the grave. But in Jesus, we have one who not only understands death and has lived beyond the grave, but one who ultimately defeats death completely, replacing it with his life – with himself.
If you are like me you think about death every now and then – usually when it happens to someone you know – or someone in your family. If you are like me, you rarely think about your own death – and when those thoughts come you quickly replace them with other thoughts because death is, well, an unpleasant thing to think about. This story reminds us that while death remains an inevitable and unwelcome enemy to life, we do not need to fear death.
Ask God to fill your heart and mind with the hope and peace that come from knowing that Jesus has conquered death through his resurrection life!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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