Lazarus, come out!

When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house....

Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, "Remove the stone."

The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, "Master, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead four days!"

Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone."

They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father, I'm grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."

Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.

Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose." - John 11:17-20, 38-39, 41-44 (The Message)

The tension was palpable. People were upset. Even those who believed everything Jesus said, everything he claimed to be, didn't understand why he would let Lazarus die. (1)Lazarus was a popular man. The story tells us that "many of the Jews" had come from Jerusalem to console Lazarus's sisters, Mary and Martha. (2)Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. The scripture tells us this, and we see it in the way Jesus weeps when he sees Lazarus's tomb. (3) Some would say, Jesus "owed" it to Mary, who in a moment of extravagant love, had washed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume and dried them with her hair. Of all the miracles, this is the one he should surely have performed- saving Lazarus. Yet, he chose not to. Instead, he chose to let His glory be displayed later, to the distress and dismay of everyone around. Why?

Jesus answers this question in verse 15: "You're about to be given new grounds for believing. Let's go there."

We as human beings are so stubborn about believing only what we see. If I could just trust that, since everything the bible says about God, I've found to be true, then all he must really have it all under control, my life would be much less complicated. Instead, I fuss about things and worry a lot and I doubt sometimes that God is who He says he is.

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.- Psalm 18:30 (NIV)

On Miracles...

Open my eyes so I can see
what You show me of your miracle-wonders. - Psalm 119:18 (The Message)

"Got my face pressed up against the nursery glass
She's sleepin' like a rock
My name on her wrist
Wearin' tiny pink socks
She's got my nose, she's got her mama's eyes
My brand new baby girl
She's a miracle
I saw God today"- George Strait

There are people who will tell you that miracles don't happen any more. Even some theologians will say that the act of performing miracles was reserved for the time and place while the Bible was being written and that God chooses now to use people to carry out his purpose, rather than performing miracles.

My personal view is that I see miracles all the time. When I see a couple that's stayed together through lots of hard times and marriages crumbling all around, I see a miracle. When I see people healed who had a 50, 30, 20, 10% or less chance of surviving and today they're cancer-free, that's a miracle. And, yes, the birth of a brand new baby is nothing short of a miracle. Think about all that has to happen for a baby to be born. First, a man and woman have to find each other, among all the billions of people that are alive. Then they have to get together and, ahem, procreate at just the right time under just the right conditions, and somehow one of his frisky little swimmers has to not only find his way upstream into the right tube, but then have enough energy left to find and penetrate that single, solitary egg. Next, cells have to divide and divide and divide until they start to look like something, and the mother has to feed and nourish herself along with the baby, and not do anything too strenuous for nine+ months and the baby has to survive all sorts of viruses, bacteria, and other ickies to which it may be exposed. Then, finally, when the time is right (but not before), it starts to push it's way out and the mother gets to the hospital even though the dad is a total wreck and forgets her bag and the doctors and nurses know just what to do even when the cord is wrapped around its neck and the right foot comes out first. Whew! It's a miracle any of us are here, right?

I think the real reason so many of us don't believe in miracles is because we've become so accustomed to seeing things in a practical, scientific light that we can find an explanation for just about any supernatural thing that happens. If someone is cured, that medicine must really work (even if it didn't work for the last person who took it). If we run into someone at just the right time- right when they needed a friend- and we can encourage them, it's a coincidence. Coincidence gets way too much credit in our modern society.

Don't get me wrong. I know a lot of people who say "everything happens for a reason" and I'm not one of them. I don't think everything happens for a reason. I think sometimes your son grounds out because he just didn't swing the bat very well. Sometimes your daughter fails a test because she didn't study. It doesn't have to be God trying to teach you a lesson. But, I do believe that God is telling a story with our lives, and each story has a theme that runs througout. And, God will use events in our lives to carry out this theme. Sometimes, we get so far out of the story, that it takes a miracle to get us back where we belong.

Sometimes we get way too sick, and God still has other chapters to write, so he needs to write us back in. So, he sends just the right doctor with just the right training at just the right time so we can live to fight another day. Or sometimes, we take our identity as sinners too far, and we start to wreck a marriage or a family or a career that God needs to tell our story. And God will use a miracle to heal that situation.

My prayer is like that of the Psalmist. God, open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle-wonders.