The raising of Lazarus from the dead, recorded in John 11, is one of the most moving narratives in scripture. The dynamics between Jesus and Martha and Mary are heartrending. When Jesus finally arrives, both women say the same thing: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." They seem to know that Jesus has been just a couple of miles away for four days, deliberately delaying long after their urgent pleas for help had reached him. Why would He do such a thing?
An Undeniable Sign
Four months later, just before the final week begins, Jesus is again at Lazarus's home. Mary takes a pound of spikenard ointment, "very costly," in an alabaster box, and with it anoints Jesus's tired feet, wiping them with her hair. The picture this creates of one woman's gratitude and love for her Savior is so complete it defies commentary. Jesus found it so as well, and declared that wherever the gospel story was told, her sweet act of worship would be recounted.
What if?
Martha and Mary remind us how easy it is to becoming entangled in a never-ending cycle of regret, asking "What if this or that had been different? What if I could have done this or that better or not made this or that mistake?" Jesus reminds us to "remember Lot's wife," and not look back. So we examined ten ways to put useless regrets behind us and move on. In the Book of Mormon Jacob reminds us that we can only feast of the love of God, "if your minds are firm," implying that a certain mental discipline is required to look forward in faith. (Jacob 3:2)
After class one of the sisters shared a story with me. She told of a friend who lost a 15 year old daughter in a tragic ski accident. To the family's surprise President Monson came, uninvited. to the funeral. Of course he was asked to speak, and said that he had seen the story of the accident in the paper and came to offer words of comfort. He told the family to eliminate two words from their vocabulary: "What if." What magnificent advice from a prophet. One writer said, "Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future." The grace of Christ is there to help us have peace about both the past and future, and joy in the present. As these clever New Yorkers remind us, we just need to remember to ask for that grace on a daily basis, and "look not behind thee."
According to the Bible, how many Old Testament prophets raised people from the dead? Answer: Two. Elijah and Elisha.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. And they only did it three times. So the act of raising someone from the dead would have been seen as a very, very big deal. It was not like healing someone of a disease or casting out demons. Lots of people, it seems, could do those miracles. Nope, raising someone from the dead was the big kahuna of all miracles!
In the Gospel of John chapter 11, we are told that Lazarus had been dead for four days. His body was decomposing to the point that he stunk. Lazarus death and burial were very public events. His tomb was a known location. Many Jews had come to mourn with Mary and Martha and some of them were wondering why the great miracle worker, Jesus, had not come and healed his friend Lazarus; essentially blaming Jesus for letting Lazarus die.
Let's step back and look at the facts asserted in this passage: Only two OT prophets had raised people from the dead, and these two prophets were considered probably the two greatest Jewish prophets of all time: Elijah and Elisha. If this story is true, the supernatural powers of Jesus were on par with the supernatural powers of the greatest Jewish prophets of all time! If this event really did occur, it should have shocked the Jewish people to their very core---a new Elijah was among them! This event must have been the most shocking event to have occurred in the lives of every living Jewish man and woman on the planet. The news of this event would have spread to every Jewish community across the globe.
And yet...Paul, a devout and highly educated Jew, says not one word about it. Not one. Not in his epistles; not in the Book of Acts. Think about that. What would be the most powerful sign to the Jews living in Asia Minor and Greece---the very people to whom Paul was preaching and attempting to convert---to support the claim that Jesus of Nazareth himself had been raised from the dead? Answer: The very public, very well documented raising from the dead of Lazarus of Bethany by Jesus!
But nope. No mention of this great miracle by Paul. (A review of Paul's epistles indicates that Paul seems to have known very little if anything about the historical Jesus. Read here.)
And there is one more very, very odd thing about the Raising-of-Lazarus-from-the-Dead Miracle: the author of the Gospel of John, the very last gospel to be written, is the only gospel author to mention this amazing miracle! The authors of Mark, Matthew, and Luke say NOTHING about the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Nothing.
To continue reading:
http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/2016/01/the-story-of-lazarus-is-blatant.html