Thomas having heard Lazarus was dead said, "let us go to die with Him". Jesus never replied.
Bethany was about 3km distance. When Jesus came, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.
Such a distance could not take much time, just approximately two hours; why did it take so long? Why was Jesus not in a hurry? The state was urgent and desperate but Jesus seemed not to be bothered. Jesus was waiting for them to come to an end of themselves. When there was nothing else which could be done unless Jesus does it. When they reached that point, Jesus came.
Even today, many things happen in our lives which we think that God should act immediately but He does not. He is waiting for us to reach the end of ourselves. How quickly He comes through depends on how quickly we reach the end of ourselves.There is a statement which says that the end of man is the beginning of God; and it's true. Earlier we saw that at the wedding, He waited until the wine was finished to the last drop and that's when He made new wine. It was after Peter had fished the whole night without catching anything that Jesus came. He never comes when we have any strength remaining; it is when we reach a dead end that Christ comes. Christ is never in a hurry until we come to such a blessed position, when we have nothing but God .
Martha run to Jesus and said, if Jesus came earlier, her brother would not have died. She said if He prayed, God would answer Him. Jesus said His brother would rise again and Mary thought it was on the last day. Jesus said He is the resurrection and the life and everyone who believes in Him will never die. She then went away after saying she believed.
Whoever believes in Jesus does not die. Everyone dies physically, but man is spirit, soul and body. It is the body which dies, but the spirit which is the real person, goes straight to the presence of God. The spirit of those who die in sin goes to hell waiting for the final judgment where even hell itself will be thrown in the lake of fire. You can check on study on Luke 16:19 onwards.
When Mary heard about Jesus, she rose up and ran where He was. When she saw Him, she fell at His feet and said that Jesus was there, her brother would not have died. Comparing Vs 21&32, we see that both Mary and Martha said the same thing to Jesus. But only after Mary spoke that Jesus raised Lazarus. Why. Reading the same verses carefully, we see that there something else Mary did that Martha didn't do; that is she first of all fell at His feet.
Both had the same problem, they had the same amount of pain but only one moved Jesus to act. We learn it is not the magnitude of our problem that moves Jesus to act or even our words for both sisters said the same thing to Jesus. God looks at brokenness in our hearts. It is brokenness that move the hand of God not how we phrase our words in prayer.
Two believers can have a similar problem and they pray about it but only one who is broken in spirit will move the hand of the omnipotent God.
Is there brokenness in your heart? Are you deceived to think that magnitude of your problem will move God to act? It is brokenness that matters to God.
Jesus wept and asked where they laid the body. He didn't even speak to Mary as much as He spoke to Martha.
The Jews saw Him and said that He truly loved Him, but others asked why He couldn't stop Him from dying.
Jesus as we have seen so far, never explained to the Pharisees why He did things the way He did them; but to the disciples, whenever they asked Him a question, no matter how insignificant it was, Jesus always explained to them. He does the same today, He explains nothing to the modern day Pharisees, but to the disciples who truly love Him more than everyone and everything else, whenever they ask Him anything, He always gives an answer, but the Pharisees who are good at finding faults with others, He leaves them to walk in darkness.
To which category are you in?
You are blessed to be a blessing
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@Blessed Mshindi Mambo
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