Martha, (Cont.)

Yesterday, we met Martha cooking away in the kitchen because her brother Lazarus had his friend Jesus over, and her sister Mary was sitting at his feet, neglecting to help with the meal preparation.

In the Book of John, Chapter 11 we revisit Martha, Lazarus and Mary!

John 11:1. NLT: “A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha.

John 11:3 NLT: “So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, ‘Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”

John 11:4-6 NLT: “But when Jesus heard about it he said, ‘Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.’ so, although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.”

As we read on within the chapter we read that Lazarus did indeed die!

We take back up in verse 20.

John 11:20 NLT: “When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him.

John 11:21-27NLT: “Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.’

Jesus told her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’

‘Yes,’ Martha said, ‘he will rise when everyone else rises at the last day.’

Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die.” Do you believe this Martha?

Yes, Lord, she told him. ‘I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”

We continue to read: Jesus instructs the stone of the tomb to be rolled away! Martha exclaims in fright that he’s been dead four days and the smell will be terrible!

Jesus, knowing the glory of God was about to revealed for all at the funeral to see!

Chapter 11:43 NLT: “Then Jesus shouted, ‘Lazarus come out!”

Chapter 11:44 NLT: “And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, ‘Unwrap him and let him go.”

WOW! And people say the Bible is dull; this is straight out of a horror movie! Out of the tomb walks Lazarus, who resembles a cross between a mummy and a zombie!

OK, back to having a Martha’s Heart: when we pick back up with this family, the brother has become gravely ill: what did Martha and her sister do? They sent for Jesus! We pray to Jesus! Either way, we turn to him for comfort and help!

She had witnessed the miracles Jesus had performed: healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, the lame walked, the deaf heard, the mute spoke, and the leper’s skin became whole again.

So, in her mind, Jesus will show up at any moment, and all will be well. She looks out her window from time to time, possibly walking to the end of her lane a time or two, hoping for a little cloud of dust to appear down the road! Another day, brother is worse, and no Jesus, fear trickles in!

Her brother dies, and it appears Jesus didn’t care! In verse 20, we read that Martha gets wind of Jesus approaching and goes out to meet him. Personally, I can picture this little Jewish woman huffing and puffing down the road mad as a wet hen!

How could he have let this happen? How could he have taken him from us? Didn’t he love him too? Jesus, Why?

Sound or feel familiar? Anger is a very normal emotion akin to death, and usually, that anger gets directed at God.

Why does he heal some and not others? I do not know if anyone has that answer, but the closest I can get is Ecclesiastes 3: “A Time For Everything.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT: For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

3:2: “A time to be born and a time to die.”

3:4: “A time to laugh and a time to cry.”

It goes on. But, upon returning to Martha, I believe we can learn from her!

How!

We can march boldly to the throne heartbroken, angry, lost, and hurt!

We can sit and ask him all our questions and know he will hear and comfort us!

We can be honest and be ourselves with him because He already knows us better than we know ourselves.

We can not see into the heavens, but we must trust our Lord and his ways even when they don’t make sense or align with our hopes and prayers. We must trust in Him!

Remember, we are only on one side of the cross! 😌