A Friend's Death

If a friend was dying, would you not go to him to be there in his last moments?

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." 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 strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." - John 11:17-27,38-44

Jesus stunned Mary and Martha by arriving too late to help Lazarus, their brother, his friend.

How could he not come when summoned?

When he prays for the Father's help, he does so aloud so all can hear, so was this all staged?  Did he let Lazarus die so he could raise him from the dead?

How human of him!

Now one could argue that there is a lesson here for us.  We can come away from this knowing that it is never too late to come to Jesus, or to have God help us.

It does seem like a stunt, though, and I can understand why some would look upon this and see manipulation rather than salvation.

This is the dilemma we face as Christians.  We try to explain the unexplainable and often we fail.

We look at the story and see a miracle, a sign of Christ's divinity.

Others look on this and see a circus act.

I think we need to be critical of our own beliefs in order to share the Gospel with others.  If we can question what they question and still believe, there is hope.

If we simply take a stand and ridicule those who fail to understand, we lose the opportunity to bring a friend to Christ.

So, let us debate and challenge what we hear and read.

It may just open our eyes and ears as well.

More to come...