Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45

"My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways"

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

It would be interesting to poll this congregation and ask -- what do you
think is the hardest problem to handle in the Christian life???

Your answer might be different than mine.

For me, the hardest problem I have to handle as a Christian is what to do
when God does not do what I have been taught to expect him to do; when God gets out of line and does not act the way I think he ought.

We have an occasion like that in the story of the raising of Lazarus from
the dead.

John introduces this last of the great miracles of Jesus in chapter 11 in
these words:

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying "Lord, he whom you love is ill."

When the message reached Jesus, this was his remarkable response:

"This illness is not unto death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it."

The remarkable thing about that is, if you carefully check out the schedule of timing of this event, Lazarus was already dead when the message reached Jesus. It took two days for the messenger to get to the Jordan, so when Jesus returned to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.

It is difficult for us to believe that Jesus did not know that because of
the insight that the Spirit of God had given him on numerous occasions.
But he sees this as a signal from the Father that something tremendous is
going to happen in connection with it, thus he sent back this remarkable
word: "This illness is not unto death."

In verses 5 and 6 we get the real shocker here, however when we read:

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill... he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

That is incredible to us. That is the part of the story which is hard to handle.

Martha loved Jesus; Mary loved Jesus; Lazarus loved Jesus; and Jesus loved them. From the record of scripture we know that their home was filled with love and that it was one of the most welcome havens for our Lord during his three years of ministry.

But when Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick - what does he do?? He waits.

It is a tough thing to believe that Jesus deliberately waited. We are so
used to critical illness being a signal for immediate action –ambulance rushing with sirens on, flashing red lights, frantic phone calls - get right down to the hospital, that it seems incredible that Jesus, knowing that his friend was ill, or in this case dead, nevertheless stayed right where he was for two more days.

Somebody may well say,

"If he knew Lazarus was dead why would he hurry? There was nothing he could do."

But remember Mary and Martha's hearts were breaking. This was a dearly loved brother, and his death would be a grievous loss to them. Jesus' presence with them would have been a tremendous comfort even though he may never did a thing about raising Lazarus from the dead.

Yet, knowing that they needed him there to comfort them, knowing that they longed to have him there to the point that they sent a messenger to let him know the situation, he deliberately remained two days longer at the place where he was.

Why?
That is the question we all ask.
Why?

When you have gone to God for help which you feel you desperately need and nothing happens, when your heart is breaking over something and you need God to intervene, but the heavens are silent, it is not at all easy to understand, it is very difficult to accept, and it is tough to get any kind of grip on why there is complete silence from God.

But what this passage is telling us is that a delay in answer like that is
not a sign of God's indifference or his failure to hear. It is a sign of
his love. The delay will help us. It is for our sake. And it is so that
Christ may be glorified through it.

Jesus deliberately delayed going to Mary and Martha because he loved them and knew this would strengthen their faith as they learned the ultimate outcome which God would work through Him.

That is a very hard and difficult lesson to accept. I myself have struggled over this many times. But it works - something we expect and long for does not occur and then - bingo - sometime after we think that everything is lost and that there is no hope, God does something remarkable that totally reverses our view.

Think of the reaction in Bethany as the messenger returned with the news
that when he told Jesus that Lazarus was ill, Jesus had said, "This illness
is not unto death." Yet when the messenger got back with that message
Lazarus had already been dead for two days.

What do you think the reaction of his sisters was?
How do you think they felt?

According to the account, two days later Jesus acts. He says to his
disciples

"Let us go back Judea... Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up."

The disciples, who had every reason to believe that if they returned to Judea that Jesus would be stoned to death, protest, saying:

"Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."

To which Jesus replies

"Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe"

Notice that Jesus says he was glad he was not there when Lazarus died,
"for the sake of the disciples."

Just as Jesus delayed his going for Mary and Martha's sake in order that their faith might be strengthened by that delay, so that they might see His glory in it what will happen because of it. So he delayed as well for the sake of his disciples that they might believe.

I want to tell you there have been times when I have cried out to God for
help and said, "Things are so bad it can't get any worse. Lord, do
something. Help me!" But no answer came. That is hard. It is hard to
believe. It is hard and difficult to wait.

But I am gradually learning that this is never the end of the story, gradually learning what God said so clearly through the prophet Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways."

That is what is so difficult. God is sovereign. God is not a mortal that
he should act like we act. There are dimensions of the problems which he sees that we do not remotely imagine. There are possibilities and
opportunities in every situation that we cannot conceive of.

So we must wait and quietly trust, knowing that he is working out
something.

"Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe"

As we go in the story, as Jesus arrives at the outskirts of Bethany - we
see that Martha greets Jesus with a phrase that must have been frequently
on all of their lips when Lazarus was sick.

How many times must they have said, "Oh, if Jesus were only here." They had said it so many times that it comes automatically to Martha's lips when she meets him: "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died."

I do not believe this is a word of reproach.

Martha is not saying, "Lord, why didn't you come sooner? We sent for you. If you had responded we wouldn't be in this pickle." It is clear from the account, that she realizes that the message did not reach him until Lazarus was dead. Martha's word rather is one of regret: "Lord, I wish you could have been here, because if you had, my brother would not have died."

Then she goes on to say, "But even now, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you."

Many ask at this point, "What does she expect? What is it that she wants
from him?" Some commentators say that she really did expect Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead, pointing to her words, "Even now."

These commentators miss the point because, of course, the very next word of Jesus is, "Your brother will rise again."

If Martha had any idea that would happen then, she would have said, "How wonderful, Lord! That is exactly what I expected you to do now that you have come."

But she does not say that. What she says is, "Yes, I know. He will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Clearly Martha is not looking for the immediate resurrection of her
brother. What, then, is she looking for from Jesus? What does she mean by the words, "Even now, whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you?"

We have to conclude that she is looking for his comfort, for the release
that God can give to a heart that is burdened and saddened, torn with
grief, anticipating the loneliness and emptiness of the days ahead. God
can give marvellous inward peace. Many have testified to that. This is
what Martha is asking for, "Even now, Lord, even though he is gone..."

There is so much God can give us at a time like this. As we listen to the
story we can see that Martha's faith is like the faith we so often have.
She believes in what she thinks will happen now and then later, rather than in what God might make happen whenever God decides to make it happen.

How many times have you said to yourself, "I know God has worked in the past, and I know that he will work again in the future, but today, well,
this is not the day of miracles..."

This is Martha's faith: in the future, at the resurrection of the last day, yes, the program of God is certain. But for today - well - that is a different matter.

The same thing can be said of Mary -- who greets Jesus with the same words that Martha used: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.".

Neither Martha, nor Mary, nor any of those who accompany her to the grave side - nor the disciples expect what happens next. They do not even hope for it.

How often are we in the same position with regard to the Lord's work in our lives?

In our brokenness - in our experience of grief - in our despair- we weep,
as Mary wept - we weep and we expect nothing - nothing but heartache for today and for as long as we live and breathe..

Jesus wept too - It says that Jesus asked where they had laid Lazarus, and
as he started out to the tomb, that "he wept".

He weeps not because he loves Lazarus - not because Lazarus has died – for he knows what he is about to do -- he weeps because Mary weeps. He weeps because he is sharing the heartache of the sisters - because he sympathizes with them in their pain..

I read once of a little girl who hurt her finger, and she ran to her daddy, who was busy studying for an exam in his study. She showed him her finger, but he was so caught up in what he was doing he just looked at it and said, "Oh, that will be all right," and sent her on out. She ran to her mother, weeping and crying, and her mother said, "Oh, dear, does it hurt so much?" The little girl said, "No, mommy, it's just that daddy didn't even say, 'Oh.'" That is what she wanted, somebody to say "Oh" with her.

In Romans 12, Paul tells us to "weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice." Here our Lord himself sets the example of this.
Knowing that he is going to turn it all around, he yet feels the sorrow of
their hearts and weeps.

Now we come to the actual miracle.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone."

Notice how he answers. He does not rebuke her, he encourages her in the words, "Remember what I said." "Did I not say to you that 'if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

Then Jesus turns to do the great deed. He begins with a simple prayer.

And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

Notice the many times in this account that what Jesus did he did for the
sake of the ones involved.

Earlier he said to the disciples, "I am glad I was not there for your sake.
He stayed two days where he was when the message reached him "because he loved Mary and Martha." Now he prays out loud for the sake of the people there.

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

What does this miracle say to us this morning?

One answer to that is given by the apostle Paul in his Second Letter to
Timothy. Timothy was a young man who was left in the pagan city of Ephesus. He had to struggle to live as a Christian in that polluted, pagan
environment, just as we have to today in our society. He was sometimes
discouraged, sometimes defeated, facing many problems. He was a little afraid. He was frail of health.

What were Paul's words to him?

"Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Remember Jesus right where you are. Remember he is with you."

This is his word. He is with you.
He knows how to handle the situation you are in.
He knows how to lead you through it,
he can - and in fact will even raise the dead.
He can do anything.

Focus your faith on him, not on the solution to the problem or the eventual working out of it.

Trust in him, despite the delays
- turn to him, knowing that he is able
- and knowing that whatever illness may strike, with him it is never an
illness unto death - rather it may well be the pathway to new life.

Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.