If you’ve been in or around Christian churches for any length of time, you’ve heard the story recorded in chapter 11 of the Gospel of John. The passage talks about the time Jesus raised His friend, Lazarus, from the dead. It’s a fascinating story, worth a quick review if you have a Bible handy.
Every person in this story (and, I would say, every person in the world) is believing things. We act according to how we believe the world works, choosing the behaviors (or even thoughts!) that are most likely to satisfy our needs or desires at a given time. It’s not that hard to see what people believe. But, if you want to know what someone (or even you) actually believe, you’ll have to not only listen to their words, but watch their actions.
What about the people in this story? When Jesus first received the message that His good friend, Lazarus, was sick, He did not go to Bethany right away. A few days later, when He told His disciples that He was going, the responses of the disciples are interesting. They apparently believed that Jesus had not gone to Bethany immediately because He was avoiding a personally dangerous situation. (Check out verses 8 and 16 of chapter 11.) Of course, Lazarus was already dead. So, once they arrived, we get to see what most people in town, including His friends Martha and Mary, believed. They believed that, if Jesus had been physically present prior to Lazarus’s death, He COULD HAVE and WOULD HAVE prevented it. (Check out verses 21, 32, 37)
To me, the tender exchange between Jesus and Martha in verses 20-28 is one of the most beautiful exchanges recorded in the gospels. I can relate to Martha. What she had expected of Jesus wasn’t matching up with what had happened. She knew-or thought she knew-that Jesus loved her and her family. But her brother was dead. Really dead, in the tomb, rotting and stinking. When Jesus tells her that her brother will rise again, she goes to a fall back theological answer (verse 24). And, again, I can relate to Martha.
When did Martha find peace? It’s tempting to jump the the end of the story, where Lazarus is physically resurrected and everyone goes home and says, “Wow, that was really amazing!” and goes on about their business. Look carefully. When did Martha find peace? Was it when everything made sense and all worked out? I want to suggest to you that Martha found peace when she believed the truth about Who Jesus is. Why do I think that? “And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister…” (verse 28). Martha didn’t know the outcome at that point. She just knew that her sister needed Jesus. Likewise, when everyone went to Lazarus’s tomb and Jesus told them to move the stone at the entrance, Martha objected at first. She still didn’t know what Jesus was going to do right then, but she trusted Him and had the stone moved.
If you continue reading in the gospel of John, you’ll see that, although this is an AMAZING story, it wasn’t exactly a “happily ever after” story for any of the characters. The story continues. So much for waiting to see how things turn out before you decide what to believe. If there is to be any peace at all, it must be found DURING the story. If we are ever to find peace, we, like Martha, have to find that peace by believing the truth about Who Jesus is.
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.'” John 11:25-27
Stirrings of the Harts 