![]() There was no way he could have responded and gotten there before Lazarus died. If you had responded we wouldn't be in this pickle." It is clear from the account, that she realizes that that message did not reach him until Lazarus was dead. Martha is not saying, "Lord, why didn't you come sooner? We sent for you. 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 greets Jesus with a phrase that must have been frequently on all of their lips when Lazarus was sick. Mary, on the other hand, in line with her more shy, more retiring nature, waits at home. This is very characteristic of her she is a woman of action. Hearing that Jesus is on the way, Martha goes to meet him. Evidently Mary and Martha were well known and popular, so there were many mourners there, just across the Mount of Olives from the city of Jerusalem. ![]() John shines his spotlight of memory first upon Martha, who has left the many mourners who came out from Jerusalem. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world." (John 11:17-27 RSV) And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. The first division is found in Verse 17 and on: It is told in three simple movements, beginning with Verse 17, each of which involves one of these three members of this family: In the first movement, Martha's faith is challenged in the second, Mary's grief is shared, while in the third, Lazarus' life is restored. This story, found in John 11, concerns a family in Bethany, Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus, who had died. Although Lazarus had been dead for four days, Jesus turned that all around and brought him back to life, not by painstaking medical research, not by voodoo and magic incantations, but by a simple word of command because he was, and is, the Master of death. ![]() In the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, to which we have come in the Gospel of John, we have a factual account of an eyewitness to the ability of Jesus of Nazareth to reverse the iron grip of death. You can jog, you can avoid cholesterol, you can watch your health and you will end up the healthiest corpse that ever died, because death is still the master of our race and nothing can be done about it. The striking fact that no one refers to at all today is that in spite of this apparent progress, the death rate remains exactly what it has always been - a flat 100%! On the other hand, however, deaths due to heart disease, cancer, etc., are skyrocketing. It is also true that science has virtually eliminated certain diseases that once were great killers among us hardly anyone dies of tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria or smallpox anymore. ![]() It is true, of course, that people do live longer than they did 25 or 30 years ago, and we are grateful for that. One of the strange delusions of our day is the quite unwarranted belief of many that medical science is making great strides in conquering disease and in eliminating or reducing the aging process. ![]()
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