Hey everyone.
I am on Spring Break this week, so I am going to try to write out some of the thoughts that I just haven't had the time to write recently. A couple of days ago I wrote about Jesus' statement, "I am the Resurrection." Today I want to take a look at that same conversation with Martha and the healing of Lazarus from a slightly different perspective.
Going back to John 11, Martha greets Jesus, by saying, "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." It is clear at this point that Martha has a great deal of faith in Jesus. She is confident that Jesus could have and would have healed her ailing brother. She adds that even now God would give Jesus whatever he asked. As the conversation goes on, Jesus challenges Martha a little, to really believe in him. He says in verses 25 - 26, "The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." He tells that those who live by their faith will really live and never die. The key, then, to a real life in Christ is our faith. The greater the Faith, the greater the Life.
Then he challenges her "Do you believe this?" Her response is good: "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is come into the world." Martha has a pretty strong faith. But a little later on, we see where she reaches the limit of her faith. Now she had said earlier, that God would give Jesus whatever he asked. Perhaps there was some faint hope that Jesus could do something about her brother's condition, but when Jesus asked that the stone be moved away, Martha more practical side came through, and she quickly pointed out that Lazarus had been dead for four days and that at this point there would be a bad odor. Jesus challenges her again, in verse 40. He says, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" Then Jesus raised Lazarus, a man who been dead for four days, from the dead. Jesus has performed a great miracle and Martha and the others were allowed to witness the glory of God.
Understand this, I am not down on Martha at all, she was a woman of great faith. Jesus, however, was even greater than her great faith. He was able to do things that her imagination could only dare to think about. For us, no matter how great our faith may be, Jesus is greater than that. He can do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) Martha got to see the glory of God AND got her brother back.
The challenge is there, isn't it? Imagine your dreams, and imagine Jesus saying to you, "Do you believe I can do this?" Jesus wants all of us to witness the glory of God as well, and he can do it. Jesus is greater than whatever it is you just dreamed about.
May we see God's glory together.
Tom
Monday, April 21, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Jesus: The Resurrection
Hey everyone.
My son, Caleb, and I just got back from a HOPE Service Brigade in Nicaragua. It was quite an adventure. It would be impossible to explain briefly everything that we experienced, but I will tell you that we got to serve some people in need alongside some great people who became dear friends immediately. We also experienced three earthquakes in four days (magnitudes 6.1, 6.6 and 5.1). Any way, it was quite a party.
So I want to get back to Jesus and his "I am" statements. So far we have looked at the statements "I am the bread of Life," "I am the light of the world," "I am the gate for the sheep" and "I am the good shepherd." This time looking at his statement in John 11:25, Jesus says to Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." Here is the context. Jesus has received the message of Lazarus' illness, but arrives four days after Lazarus has died. He is greeted by Martha, sister of the deceased, who says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
After Jesus replies, "Your brother will rise again," Martha talks of him rising again at the resurrection on the last day. This is where Jesus tells her that He is the Resurrection and that those who believe in him will live, even if they die, and that if they believe in Jesus they will never die. I'm sure that you know the rest of the story. Lazarus has been dead for four days, yet Jesus calls him forth from the grave and he comes alive, an amazing miracle.
Today, we are not focusing so much on this amazing miracle, as we are on just his statement, "I am the Resurrection." What does he mean when he says that? How is He the Resurrection? There are different ideas that we could discuss here. In his ministry, he had power over death. He raised Lazarus and two others from the dead. He himself had power over death, when he rose from the dead. Both things are truly amazing. However, what I want us to focus on is my resurrection.
As I have studied the book of John, I have been continually amazed by the words of Jesus. He often said things that made little sense to his listeners, because he was talking about something spiritual and they were listening with physical, earthly ears. So I started thinking about this statement as referring to a spiritual resurrection rather than a physical one and it was then that I realized that in my own baptism I too had experienced a resurrection. That I had been dead spiritually, but now I am alive. (See Romans 6, Ephesians 2) Romans 6:5 says, "we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his." So as important as the physical resurrection of Lazarus was to Mary, Martha and Lazarus, in my own life, my spiritual resurrection is the greater miracle, because not only does Jesus have power over physical death, he has power over spiritual death as well. This is great news for us all. Lazarus' resurrection added a few more years to his physical life and comforted the people close him, but his spiritual resurrection adds eternity to his life. The physical is important, but the spiritual always trumps it.
I hope Jesus, the Resurrection has worked a similar miracle in your life.
Happy Easter.
Tom
My son, Caleb, and I just got back from a HOPE Service Brigade in Nicaragua. It was quite an adventure. It would be impossible to explain briefly everything that we experienced, but I will tell you that we got to serve some people in need alongside some great people who became dear friends immediately. We also experienced three earthquakes in four days (magnitudes 6.1, 6.6 and 5.1). Any way, it was quite a party.
So I want to get back to Jesus and his "I am" statements. So far we have looked at the statements "I am the bread of Life," "I am the light of the world," "I am the gate for the sheep" and "I am the good shepherd." This time looking at his statement in John 11:25, Jesus says to Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." Here is the context. Jesus has received the message of Lazarus' illness, but arrives four days after Lazarus has died. He is greeted by Martha, sister of the deceased, who says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
After Jesus replies, "Your brother will rise again," Martha talks of him rising again at the resurrection on the last day. This is where Jesus tells her that He is the Resurrection and that those who believe in him will live, even if they die, and that if they believe in Jesus they will never die. I'm sure that you know the rest of the story. Lazarus has been dead for four days, yet Jesus calls him forth from the grave and he comes alive, an amazing miracle.
Today, we are not focusing so much on this amazing miracle, as we are on just his statement, "I am the Resurrection." What does he mean when he says that? How is He the Resurrection? There are different ideas that we could discuss here. In his ministry, he had power over death. He raised Lazarus and two others from the dead. He himself had power over death, when he rose from the dead. Both things are truly amazing. However, what I want us to focus on is my resurrection.
As I have studied the book of John, I have been continually amazed by the words of Jesus. He often said things that made little sense to his listeners, because he was talking about something spiritual and they were listening with physical, earthly ears. So I started thinking about this statement as referring to a spiritual resurrection rather than a physical one and it was then that I realized that in my own baptism I too had experienced a resurrection. That I had been dead spiritually, but now I am alive. (See Romans 6, Ephesians 2) Romans 6:5 says, "we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his." So as important as the physical resurrection of Lazarus was to Mary, Martha and Lazarus, in my own life, my spiritual resurrection is the greater miracle, because not only does Jesus have power over physical death, he has power over spiritual death as well. This is great news for us all. Lazarus' resurrection added a few more years to his physical life and comforted the people close him, but his spiritual resurrection adds eternity to his life. The physical is important, but the spiritual always trumps it.
I hope Jesus, the Resurrection has worked a similar miracle in your life.
Happy Easter.
Tom
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
What you talkin' 'bout, Jesus?
Hey everyone.
I have noticed through my study of John, that sometimes when Jesus is asked a question, his response doesn't seem to answer the question. I, sometimes, don't really understand his answer, so I expect that his hearers may have been a little confused as well. But because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and I trust him, I believe that his answer is not only correct, but that it is the best possible answer to the question. The confusion is not his problem, its mine. I then have to do my research so that I can understand what Jesus meant by his answer.
Here is an example of what I am talking about. At the end of John 10, the Jews had tried to seize him in order to kill him, but Jesus had eluded them. Jesus and his disciples left the area and went to where John the Baptist had been baptizing earlier. Then in John 11 a messenger comes to Jesus with a message that his dear friend Lazarus was sick. Knowing that Lazarus was sick, Jesus still waited two days before returning. Then suddenly two days later, Jesus says to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea." The disciples fearing for their lives, said, "But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?" I can't blame them for their response. Who wants to walk into a place where the people want to kill your leader, and maybe you.
Jesus response is, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light." (John 11:9-10) My immediate response to this would have been something along the lines of, "What? What kind of answer is that, Jesus?" It doesn't seem to answer the fundamental question that is on the mind of the disciples, which is, "Hey, don't you understand that they are trying to kill you?"
Judea was about the last place that the disciples wanted to go. When Jesus says in verse 11 that Lazarus had fallen asleep the disciples respond, "if he sleeps, he will get better." They didn't really want to understand that Jesus meant that he was dead, I think that they were hoping that Lazarus would just get better and they would not have to go. Their dread is evident in Thomas's response in verse 16, "Let us go, that we may die with him."
So, any way, what did Jesus mean by his answer? I read several online commentaries with a few different ideas about what Jesus meant by this statement. In the end, I think Jesus meant something like this (Hughes paraphrase): "I am the light. You guys are with me, so you have nothing to fear. It is when you are walking around without me that you will stumble around and get hurt. I am not afraid of those guys and you don't need to be afraid of them either." Jesus was, as always, correct. They followed him, but in this adventure, only Jesus got hurt. They all came through it relatively unscathed. They would later, lay their lives down for Jesus and consider it worth it, but for now, they were frightened and Jesus is telling them that they don't need to be.
It's a good lesson for us as well. If we stay in Jesus and walk in his light, we have nothing to fear. I will admit that I do sometimes give in to fear of this scary world we live in, but I shouldn't because if I am walking in His light, I have no reason to fear.
Tom
I have noticed through my study of John, that sometimes when Jesus is asked a question, his response doesn't seem to answer the question. I, sometimes, don't really understand his answer, so I expect that his hearers may have been a little confused as well. But because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and I trust him, I believe that his answer is not only correct, but that it is the best possible answer to the question. The confusion is not his problem, its mine. I then have to do my research so that I can understand what Jesus meant by his answer.
Here is an example of what I am talking about. At the end of John 10, the Jews had tried to seize him in order to kill him, but Jesus had eluded them. Jesus and his disciples left the area and went to where John the Baptist had been baptizing earlier. Then in John 11 a messenger comes to Jesus with a message that his dear friend Lazarus was sick. Knowing that Lazarus was sick, Jesus still waited two days before returning. Then suddenly two days later, Jesus says to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea." The disciples fearing for their lives, said, "But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?" I can't blame them for their response. Who wants to walk into a place where the people want to kill your leader, and maybe you.
Jesus response is, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light." (John 11:9-10) My immediate response to this would have been something along the lines of, "What? What kind of answer is that, Jesus?" It doesn't seem to answer the fundamental question that is on the mind of the disciples, which is, "Hey, don't you understand that they are trying to kill you?"
Judea was about the last place that the disciples wanted to go. When Jesus says in verse 11 that Lazarus had fallen asleep the disciples respond, "if he sleeps, he will get better." They didn't really want to understand that Jesus meant that he was dead, I think that they were hoping that Lazarus would just get better and they would not have to go. Their dread is evident in Thomas's response in verse 16, "Let us go, that we may die with him."
So, any way, what did Jesus mean by his answer? I read several online commentaries with a few different ideas about what Jesus meant by this statement. In the end, I think Jesus meant something like this (Hughes paraphrase): "I am the light. You guys are with me, so you have nothing to fear. It is when you are walking around without me that you will stumble around and get hurt. I am not afraid of those guys and you don't need to be afraid of them either." Jesus was, as always, correct. They followed him, but in this adventure, only Jesus got hurt. They all came through it relatively unscathed. They would later, lay their lives down for Jesus and consider it worth it, but for now, they were frightened and Jesus is telling them that they don't need to be.
It's a good lesson for us as well. If we stay in Jesus and walk in his light, we have nothing to fear. I will admit that I do sometimes give in to fear of this scary world we live in, but I shouldn't because if I am walking in His light, I have no reason to fear.
Tom
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