A Net in Time

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Faith

Fragrance of Faith

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When I started reading this 15th chapter in Faith-shaped life it didn’t make any sense to me.  Talking about Jesus being the Rose of Sharon (referencing the Song of Solomon) and how often Christians get lost in the exactitude of faith and belief that they lose their fragrance of faith.   This made ZERO sense to me.   So I talked with hubby and he immediately asked me… does he reference 2 Corinthians at all?   He referred me to this passage: 

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Then this chapter began to make sense… because I can read scripture and make sense it of (usually, not always).  🙂

fragrance of faith, applying an essential oil to hands

Fragrance of Knowledge

What is this fragrance of knowledge and do we show it well?

When I think of fragrance I think of two things.

  1. STINK – you know like a skunk has a fragrance all it’s own
  2. PERFUME – a sweet or nice smell that one can appreciate as it’s pleasant to the nose.

So when we think of the fragrance of knowledge, of being the aroma of Christ, what are we conveying?   Does the smell we convey lead to life?

Does our union with Christ show as we proclaim the knowledge of Christ?   Have we allowed the two to become separate?  When we proclaim Christ do people see our relationship with him?

People need not only to know the truth of Christ’s redemptive  work, of the forgiveness we find in him, of the connection to God that he once again gives us… but they need to see the results of that lived out.  Our relationship with God needs to be apparent as that is what shows the good aroma of the Lord. 

Lazarus is Raised

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Jesus wept the last time we met, today we see him raise Lazarus from the dead in John 11:38-44

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

John 11:38-44

Jesus cried with Mary and her mourners, now he has come to the tomb and again he is deeply moved.  It’s a hard thing when a friend dies.   Now the tomb that Lazarus was in was a cave with a stone laid against it. 

Then Jesus did the unexpected “Take away the stone.”

This cause the obvious hesitation.   Martha was the one who spoke up “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

Jesus stopped her though with a gentle reminder.  “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Such a nice reminder eh?   You will see the glory of God.  Oh.. I wish I was a fly on Martha’s mind.   To know what she thought at that exact moment.  

But the people listened, they  took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” I read these words and I got to thinking, when I pray, do I pray only to God or do I pray to benefit those around me as well.   Jesus thanked God for hearing him, even though he knew that God always did hear him, but he said it so that those gathered there would know it as well.   His goal?  That they would believe that God sent him (Jesus) to them.   It’s always comes down to that with Jesus eh?  He does what he must to encourage true faith in him. ALWAYS.   I have so much to learn from him. 

Anyways, getting back to the passage again.  🙂  Jesus next move was to cry out with a loud voice “Lazarus, come out.” Did Jesus have to use a loud voice?  He probably could have whispered, but by talking loudly everyone present could hear him clearly. Remember his end goal is to develop faith in those listening.  And miracles of miracles, Lazarus came out of the tomb.  Hands and feet all bound up in linen strips, face wrapped in cloth. But out he came. This man Lazarus who had died CAME OUT.

Can you just imagine the shock?  I can just imagine the stunned silence, followed by Jesus filling it with a needed command “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Would have been necessary eh?   To get those tightly wrapped burial clothes off him, help him to breathe and move?  Have the light of day shine on him again after being sick and then dead. 

Jesus took care of them all.  Helping Martha realize more of who he is, sympathizing with Mary and then raising Lazarus from the dead. 

Jesus Wept

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Remembering Martha’s statement of faith we move on to visit in Mary in John 11:28-37.

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

John 11:28-37

Mary’s Turn

When Martha had finished talking with Jesus she went in and talked with Mary, privately telling her that “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

Hearing this Mary didn’t stop and wonder, asking questions, instead, she rose quickly and went to find him. She needed to look for him since he hadn’t made it to the house yet.  Those visiting saw her get up and thought she was going to the tomb to mourn for Lazarus so they got up to follow her.  They wanted to be there to console her. 

Watch what happens when Mary sees Jesus.  She doesn’t rush him, instead she crumples at his feet.  Can you see the pain she must have been in, her plaintive (this is MY read into it) “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Her heartache was real.  She had lost a brother, and Jesus could have prevented it. 

Her Pain Mattered

And you know what Jesus did?   He didn’t ignore her pain.  His heart broke for her… troubled in spirit and deeply moved.  Her pain mattered.

So he asked the obvious,  “Where have you laid him?”

They brought him to the tomb, and there Jesus wept.

I find it interesting, that even here, in this intimate moment there was division over Jesus and abilities. Some of the Jews seeing the love, others wondering why Jesus couldn’t have simply saved him.   Always the division eh?

—- As I sit here pondering these words I’m struck again at how Jesus’ heart was moved at Mary’s pain.  It reminds me of the book I just finished reading “Grace like Scarlett“.   In this book I saw how Jesus walks with a person in their grief over miscarriage and child loss.  This is so clearly shown in this passage isn’t it?   Jesus walked with Mary to the tomb, he wept there with her, his heart broken by their pain.  This is what Jesus does. 

Anniversary

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Anniversary… that’s the word prompt for today, and I’ve been sitting here thinking… what in the world can I do for this word?

I can’t really do “our anniversary” since well it’s been past for about 1.5 months now.   THOUGH… did you know I’ve been married now for 16 years!  Who ever would have thought I’ve be married?   I remember my dad once telling me how surprised he was that I wasn’t the first one married and that I didn’t have a passel of children running around.  He had thought for sure I would.  And here I ended up being the last of us married (younger brother who hasn’t married) and I only have one child that I’m raising.  Not the passel… but hey.. let’s not go there tonight eh?

anniversary

So I got to thinking about other anniversaries that people celebrate:

First Kiss, Job, First date, Engagement

I was reading on a site somewhere tonight a gal debating if they should celebrate five months of marriage that just happened to fall on the same date as when they first met or if they should wait to celebrate six months of marriage.

I got to thinking…How silly can people be?

Shouldn’t we celebrate something real rather than making up these little anniversaries to celebrate?  Shouldn’t an anniversary stand for something?

Like “We made it through our first year of marriage, look at how much we learned”.

“I’ve worked for this company 10 years, boy I’ve helped them along and they’ve allowed me to provide for my family”. 

“60 years.  Looking back with fondness over the years, the love shared and grown, something worth celebrating over eh?”

An anniversary is a time of looking back remembering what all has happened, the good, the bad, the sad, the sometimes ugly and the beauty of time spent.     And as you look back, it gives you a chance to see the now, then the future.   If you made it through all that is in the past…. you have a foundation to build upon.   A foundation worth living out, you know?

 

We Know

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In this chapter, Ian Hamilton breaks down the importance of truly understanding this truth from God: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  From Roman 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. On a water flood background

Paul starts this verse off with this imperative. WE KNOW.  Can we believers truly say this?  How can Paul, the midst of life’s uncertainties, say this with such clarity and forthrightness?   WE KNOW.

Well, who is the we… those who love God AND are called according to his purpose.  It’s a two parter eh?   The love and the calling. First There we are, the people of God, the people that love God.  Not a person all on their own, but a person united with others so we become a WE.   We have a love for God that holds us together but we also have a calling.  A calling to do God’s purposes.  With that love comes a knowledge that God will work all things in our life together for good.

Do you see how they fit together?

The love we have for God calling us to a unity.  

God’s love evidenced in our lives.  He called us to be his own.  He predestined us to love him and to be mindful of him and he calls us his own.  In the calling he works everything that happens in our lives for good. 

It doesn’t say that he works everything out for OUR good, but that he works everything out FOR good. Remember how we are a WE?  So the struggles that we go through… a job to find, a death of a child, temptations, devastation, death, and such like.  We, including the individual me and I, but we, who are loved by God, who love God and are called according to his purposes.  He works it all for the good. 

Isn’t that just the greatest comfort?

Paul’s assurance that we KNOW this.  That we know God’s calls us according to his purposes and that he works out everything single thing that happens in our lives FOR GOOD.  He does.  It’s just a regular fact in our lives as believers.  So confident he is that we know this thing.

The miscarriages I’ve had helped me reach out to a gal who went through a miscarriage, losses of animals held dear to my heart help me understand pet loss in others, raising a child (something not always so easy) helps me reach out to other moms.  It doesn’t always directly benefit me, but it does benefit the kingdom of God.  And THAT, that is a very good thing.

What hard things have happened in YOUR life that have turned out for good?  

 

Martha’s Statement of Faith

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Lazarus died, God’s glory to be seen and Thomas is ready to die with the Lord Jesus was the topic of the first part of John 11. Our passage today is John 11:17-27.

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

John 11:17-27 faith statement of Mary

Jesus delayed two days going to see Lazarus but today’s passage tells us the Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days already.   This makes me wonder if Lazarus died shortly after he got the call to come.  Would it take Jesus four days to walk to their place?   I don’t know how long it would have taken.  Even if it took two days, that puts Lazarus’ death shortly after he got sick. 

Regardless of how long it took, by the time he got there many of the Jews in the area had come to console Mary and Martha.  It’s hard when a loved one dies and so folks where coming to offer their sympathies.  They would have had a houseful of folk, but Martha saw him coming.  She didn’t sit and wait for him to come but went out to meet him.  Mary stayed behind. 

Remember Martha?  She’s the one who liked to take action, and here she is again, taking action.  She wanted to let Jesus know that he could have saved Lazarus if he had come.  Even now she knows that God will do whatever he asks.  

Jesus surprises her I think though when he says “Your brother will rise again.”  For Martha says, indeed he will, in the resurrection.  Jesus corrected her though.   Telling her that HE is the resurrection and the life.   He went on to explain that  “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”  And then asked her  “Do you believe this?”  The beauty of this passage is this: she clearly stated her faith in him, as Christ, the Son of God. 

Isn’t that a great statement?   To be able to clearly say that you know that Christ is the Son of God.  When you’ve just heard him say that he is the resurrection and life, belief in him means eternal life.   Oh, Martha knew it!  She believed it, and it’s a grand thing to hear. 

Don’t you just love reading statements of faith?

Lazarus’ Death, God’s Glory

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Today we discuss John 11:1-16, yesterday we saw how we need to believe the works of Jesus if we won’t believe his words. 

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

text from John 11:1-16

Going into this passage I have in mind the blind man… the one who was blind so that God’s glory may be seen?  And I’m remembering the relationship that Jesus had Mary and Martha.  Jesus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus were good friends.  Mary had anointed Jesus with perfume wiping it over his feet with her hair.  So when Lazarus grew ill, it was only natural for them to send, letting him know that someone he loved was very ill. 

You might think that Jesus would rush to his side but instead he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Hmm… another incidence with God’s glory at the centre.   Does that right there make you think something interesting is going to happen?   We’ve seen the evidence of it before… a blind man seeing.  And now we are faced with a very sick man and Jesus isn’t worried, he merely states two things.

  1. This illness won’t lead to death and
  2. It is for God’s glory (and the Son of God will be glorified through it)

Remember, this was a family that he loved, but he didn’t rush over, he stayed two days longer, and then he made plans to go to Judea where Mary and Martha live with sick brother Lazarus.

The disciples worried though.  Jesus had just come from Judea where people were wanting to stone him. Surely it was too early to head back that way!  Jesus didn’t seem worried though… He was heading there to wake Lazarus up.   He also added these verses that I am just not sure what to do with in light of this passage: “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”  What does the threat of being stoned have to do with light and dark?  Of knowing the way or stumbling?  I know that Jesus was sure of his actions… and right now the action he needed to take was to go to Lazarus and wake him up.  I don’t know that I have it, I’m feeling a bit fuzzy headed at the moment, so feel free to help me understand it better eh?

The disciples didn’t get it.  Lord, come on, if he’s fallen asleep he’ll be fine, was their attitude.  Jesus, therefore, made it very clear to them “Lazarus has died“.

He added that he was glad for them, for their sake that he did not go to Lazarus earlier.  He goal: to help them believe.  I loved Thomas’ response “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”   Can you imagine that?   Someone thinking that going somewhere will be the death of you and they are willing to go and die with you?   Would you be able to say that?  To willingly be able to go to your death if Jesus said “We’re going here” (a spot where death to Christians is conceivable).   I’d find that hard… and yet Thomas (at this stage in their discipleship) was willing to do so.  Not only that, he encouraged others to do so as well.