Torn and Confused

What if we could see the results of the decisions we make?

Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 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 11:30-44

When Jesus came face-to-face with Martha, he was deeply moved.  And as he approached the tomb where Lazarus lay, he was greatly disturbed.

The delay in coming to Lazarus was all Jesus' doing.  He chose to wait so he could do what he was about to do, and yet seeing how his decision affected his friends troubled him.

Imagine if we were forced to confront our decisions, seeing the impact they have on others.  Would we think twice before making them?

Jesus may not have thought how painful the decision to wait would be on his friends.  He may have thought the sisters' faith would hold them until he got there.

What he learned was there are real limits to what faith can do.  We could have a lot of it, and still become overwhelmed by the reality before us.

Surely the sisters did not know for sure that Jesus could bring Lazarus back.  You can hear it in their words.

Even now, you could do something, they say, and yet they warn him about the stench.

They are torn and confused.

What we gain from this lesson is hope.  Knowing what we know now, we can place our faith in our faith because we have hope that the outcome can be changed, even after all hope is lost.

But, can we hold fast to that when we need it?  Or will we let reality take away all hope?

More to come...