Josie Time

A Series on New Testament Stories
Lazarus, Mary and Martha
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 11:1-44 

[Much of the Bible is made up of stories. Stories about people’s lives, the struggles they faced and their faith, or lack of it. In this series we will be looking at some of those people in the Gospel of John. We’ll try to learn from their stories about who God is, how he worked in their life and how that applies to us today.]

  

Every Tuesday, I pick up my granddaughter at her preschool, take her home to fix her lunch and then take her to her afternoon school. I call this my “Josie time”.

 

We have certain rituals that we do almost every Tuesday. One of them is when I drop her off at her school, I tell the teachers who greet her at the door, “This is Super Josie”! Josie smiles and goes in without saying anything.

 

Here’s a picture of Josie by the door of her preschool classroom. “We choose love”. It’s a good message for children. It’s a good message for adults too. In fact, it was a message that Jesus not only taught, but lived out in his life.

 

¹ Now a man named Lazarus was sick… ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.       NIV

 

Despite his strong feelings for his friends, he waited two days before going! By the time he arrived, Lazarus had died and been buried. When the sisters learned that Jesus was there, Martha ran out to greet him, but Mary stayed back. She may have been too distraught and overcome with grief to do anything but cry.

 

During the dialog between Jesus and Martha, he tells her, “I am the resurrection”. In turn, Martha confesses her belief that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. Jesus then sends for Mary who is still crying.

 

When Jesus sees her, he is "deeply moved in spirit and troubled”. Overcome with emotion we read the shortest verse in the Bible… “Jesus wept”. Then Jesus follows Mary to the tomb and is again “deeply moved”.

 

It’s in this climactic and highly emotional scene of the story, where Jesus prays to his Father and then calls in a loud voice, “Lazarus come out”! The drama is intense. It’s almost like a Hollywood movie, except its real.

 

⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”            NIV

 

Like my granddaughter’s preschool door, Jesus chose love. He wasn’t a robot without feelings. He loved Lazarus, Martha and Mary and openly showed his feelings for them.

 

What if you or I faced a difficult life situation like the loss of a loved one or a job? Or if we struggled with a mental illness or an addiction? Would Jesus love us? Would he weep for us like he did for Mary and Martha? 

 

Yes. Like Lazarus, who he raised from a physical death, he loves us enough to raise us from our spiritual death of sin. To call us out from our tomb to a resurrection life both here on this earth and later in heaven.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams