Articles in this section are from the past 6 to 12 months,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Martha to Jesus, John 11.21.
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary to Jesus, John 11.32.
The raising of Lazarus in John 11 represents the climax of Jesus’ public ministry. It is the seventh “sign” Jesus performs in John’s gospel, the first being turning water to wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. As a miracle, it is unparalleled. There are only seven resurrection stories in this category in the Bible (Jesus own resurrection is in its own category): Elijah, Elisha, Peter, and Paul perform one each. Jesus performs three. We notice that, other than the three Jesus performed, two are performed in the Old Testament, and two in the New Testament. We also notice that two happen before the ministry of Jesus, and two happen after. The number 3 is as significant a number in the Bible as the number 7. 3 is the number of divinity, and Jesus performs three resurrections: the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9.23-26, Mark 5.35-43, and Luke 8.49-56), the raising of the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7.11-17), and raising Lazarus (John11.38-44). What sets this resurrection event apart from all the others is the time Lazarus is in the grave. He has been in the grave for four days, and his body is already decomposing.
This detail is important. Jesus, when he hears that Lazarus is terminally ill waits for days to visit, because He intends to leave no doubt about his unique power over death (vv.11-15). Lazarus is in the grave for four days because Jesus intends him to be.
The lengthy account of these events begins by reminding the reader of the deep bond of love that exists between Jesus and the Lazarus family: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus,” (v.5). So we understand that when Lazarus fell seriously ill, his sisters would expect Jesus to come quickly. He didn’t. Neither did he heal Lazarus across the distance, which he is capable of doing (Matthew 8.5-13, Luke 7.1-10). Jesus lets Lazarus linger, suffer, and die. Jesus allows his sisters to watch, wait, worry, and wonder why Jesus didn’t come.
Then there are three days of grief. There are all the details that attend a death. The sisters must prepare their brother’s body for burial, and then bury him. They must arrange for mourners. They must welcome and attend to guests who come to mourn with them. Each responsibility is fatiguing and stressful. Worst of all is the feeling that Jesus has neglected them. And so when Jesus arrives four days late, the first thing both sisters say to Jesus is: “Lord, if you had been here our brother would not have died.” It is the only thing Mary ever says in scripture. This stings so much when Mary says it that Jesus weeps (v.35).
The raising of Lazarus is an event brimming with meaning. One of the lessons we learn is that in this sinful world, even when you love, and do everything according to God’s plan, you might still hurt people you care about. This is true even if you are Jesus. Jesus is perfect (Hebrews 4.15), and still His actions in John 11 cause people He loves to hurt, and to hurt badly.
The great lesson we learn from both Martha and Mary is that the hurt and disappointment they feel does not lessen their faith. Martha says to Jesus: “Yes Lord, I have believed (and will believe) that you are the Christ, the Son of God, He who comes into the world,” (v.27). Mary, who says nothing with words, but whose brave deeds trumpet forth, still falls at his feet. He is still her Lord.
Let us be as wise, and as full of faith as they are. Let us never accept a mathematics which equates difficulty and pain with neglect and heartlessness. The math does not necessarily follow – even if we are speaking of Jesus.
Manassas Church of Christ family,
During late spring and earlier summer of 2014, during our son Will's transition from a hotel management position in Iowa to his current assignment just outside of New York City at the Hilton Westchester, many of you that did not know Will and his wife Ryana had the opportunity to meet both of them. During my lesson the last Sunday of 2014 I briefly mentioned an email clearly outlining the essentiality of becoming one with Christ via baptism that Ryana sent to her Indonesian family and close friends on Christmas Eve. It was a great example of sharing the greatest gift mankind has ever received. The contents of that email are immediately below.
- Bill Booth
Dear Loved Ones,
As some of you might have already known… About a year or two ago, after almost 9 years of thinking, debating, denying, ignoring and pleasuring my stubbornness and my ego, I finally made a decision to repent and be baptized. Yes, my parents sent me to be ‘baptized’ when I was a child as a part of church tradition, culture or maybe it is a social event. At that time, I did not know any difference…
At this time, as the world is celebrating the birth of Jesus, let’s remember it in our daily lives the purpose of it.
THE GIFT OF CHRIST
JOHN 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
A common practice during this season is the exchanging of gifts, as a way of showing others how much we love and care for them. The giving of gifts started with God, who gave the ultimate gift, His Son, to reconcile us to Himself.
2 CORINTHIAN 5:18-21 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The reconciliation we have in Christ come while we were still enemies of God, separated by sin.
ROMANS 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Unlike the gifts we can give each other, the gift of Christ cannot be purchased. It is freely given to all that will accept it.
ROMANS 3:22-24 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
ROMANS 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Accepting the gift of Christ requires action on our part, not payment. The action that is required today to be found In Christ is the same now, as it was when the first gospel sermon was preached.
ACTS 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Baptism is an illustration of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and illustrates our death to sin and new life In Christ. It is fitting that baptism illustrates burial, given the root of the word in the original Greek is ‘baptizó’ (to dip, sink) meaning “immerse” or “immersion”. Modern culture may teach that there are many ways to be found In Christ; however the New Testament teachings in the Bible as outlined in the first gospel sermon that to be In Christ one must be baptized. Based upon the root origin of the word, and what the act of baptism illustrates, there is one acceptable form of baptism, immersion in water.
ROMANS 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
As part of the plan of salvation Jesus Himself was baptized, showing us again through the example of His life how we should live, and what it means to be found In Christ. The account of Jesus’ baptism can be found in Matthew 3:13-17; an important detail of this account is found in verse 16, “…. He went up out of the water”. The further illustrates that baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit requires immersion in water.
MATTHEW 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
If you say you are a Christian, you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died and was resurrected for the forgiveness of your sins, yet you do not obey his command, you are an enemy of God;
HEBREWS 10:26-27 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
However, if you obey God’s command, and follow the plan of salvation there is no condemnation In Christ.
ROMANS 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
God created us with free will to make our own decisions, and He wants us to follow Him. He gave us the example of Christ’s life as a man, and a book called the Bible where everything is recorded for us to see. God is also patient with us, giving us time to come to Him.
2 PETER 3:8-9 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
We should not mistake God’s patience as reason for us to delay.
MARK 13:32-33 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.”
The apostle John in the closing of the book of Revelation makes it clear that God does not want us to interpret or modify His plan.
REVELATION 22:18-19 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
I am blessed that God gave me a great husband, a partner In Christ, who guides me every moments to study His words, get closer to Him and follow His teaching. To follow Jesus, meaning to obey His commands and do what He does. I am grateful that it wasn’t too late for me to respond and accept the gift of Christ because we do not know when the time comes. We pray that you will accept this greatest gift of all, as well.
JOHN 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love, Will & Ryana
The most traumatic movie-going experience of my childhood was seeing John Wayne’s dog hacked to death with a machete in the movie “Big Jake.” Actually, you don’t really see it, you mostly hear it, which is more effective. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards, and will have another now for having mentioned it. The end of the movie “Old Yeller” comes in a close second. As a boy I was much more disturbed by violence against dogs than violence against humans.
This is why I have never picked up the Jack London classics The Call of the Wild, and White Fang after a first reading. Both novels have scenes of sustained brutality against their main-character dogs. But I have not stopped thinking about them. They are a matched set – a pair of novels that together pose a single question: Is it better to hold on to our origins, or to evolve towards our destiny? Buck, a collie-mix, begins life as a domesticated dog living in California. He is snatched from his home, is passed from one brutal owner to the next until he ends up in the Canadian north-west pursuing the life of a wild dog. White Fang is three quarters wolf, and one quarter sled-dog. He is taken from the wild in the Canadian north-west and is passed from one brutal owner to the next until he winds up living the life of a family dog in California. The endings of both books are stirring, but in different ways. Every boy who has read The Call of the Wild has shared the excitement of Buck as he heard the wolf’s cry beckoning him to return to his natural, undomesticated state. It doesn’t take much growing beyond boyhood to see the allure of the end of White Fang. We leave him drowsing in a sunny back yard, while puppies play nearby
It is the choice between the natural man and the cultivated man (or dog), the primal and the refined. It is the tension of modern humanity – the longing for things basic and organic, and the desire for advancement and progress. Our origin and our destiny lie in opposite directions. We can only pursue one.
Unless we follow Jesus.
It is only in Christ that the journeys of Buck and of White Fang become one - that our origin and are destiny are one. As Romans 5 makes clear, Jesus undoes the damage wrought by Adam, and in Him we return to a prelapsarian state. Jesus takes us back to the Garden. It is also true that in Jesus we find our way forward to heaven, where he has prepared a place for us (John 14.1-3). It is like being in a back yard in California, and deep in a Canadian forest at the same time, because they are the same place. It is going backwards and forwards simultaneously – an impossibility, except for Jesus.
Our origin is God. Our destiny is God. Jesus contains God (Colossians 2.9) and Jesus contains us (Colossians 2.10). Jesus is God. Jesus is us. In Jesus we do not have to choose half an identity. We do not have to shun the past to pursue the future, or forego a future to hold onto our past – because both are the same, both are God. In Jesus we are restored and reconciled to Him (Romans 5.6-19).
N
ow that the holidays are upon us I need a few clarifications. Some of these questions I have asked before, but without receiving any satisfactory answers. For instance: In that show “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” we learn that there is an island of misfit toys. We also learn that Santa’s elves make all the toys. Therefore, Santa’s elves are responsible for all the pain and suffering experienced by those misfit toys. And yet no one has held Santa or a single elf responsible for this corruption. Why?
Also: what about those exploding frogs everybody sings about, the “missile toads?” What is the deal there? I have never seen one, not even on television. I haven’t even seen one animated, and yet so many songs talk about kissing beneath the missile toad. I guess an exploding frog would produce sort of a fireworks effect, but still, the splattering organic matter would seem to ruin the romantic effect.
Then there is the bit about Santa driving the reindeer while intoxicated. That’s in “The Christmas Song” (also known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”). Remember the line that goes “You know that Santa’s on his sleigh, He’s loaded……” Why hasn’t anyone revoked his license? Then there are the two questionable passages in that primary document: “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (also known as “The Night before Christmas”). The father in the poem must have been imbibing himself because he says he “tore open the shutter and threw up on the sash.” But the really questionable bit is where Santa is described as “laying a finger inside of his nose and giving a nod…” Sticking a finger inside of one’s nose and giving a nod sounds like a good way to poke one’s self in the brain. This all makes Christmas seem a corrupt, alcohol-soaked, miserable affair. But everyone seems to ignore these negative aspects.
Well enough silliness.
It is so easy to pay just enough attention to get everything wrong. That is my only point, as I write these lines. God had given us a book. We often read that book with much the same attention we give to a Black Friday circular. We come away from our few moments of inattentive reading feeling refreshed and certain we have a better understanding, but do we? The question of Phillip to the Ethiopian Eunuch: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8.30) persists.
We must remember how Jesus used scripture to answer the Sadducees. They did not believe in the resurrection, or that we survive in any form after death. They also rejected all the books of the Old Testament except for the five books of Moses. As a test of your Bible knowledge, try to prove the resurrection from the books of Law and only the books of the Law. You can. Jesus did. He answered them thus:
Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (ref. Exodus 3.16)? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Matthew 22.31-32
Jesus is an attentive reader. God has said “I am,” not “I was.” Therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of whom had died centuries earlier, were still alive in some form. It cannot be otherwise. The few scriptures the Sadducees accepted as canonical were shown to be against them.
Jesus’ example teaches to listen closely, to read attentively, to read and read again, to pray for understanding, to reason carefully, and to never assume we have listened well enough. Otherwise we will find ourselves using God’s word as poorly as I used the words of Mel Torme, and Clement C. Moore above – and that will not be excused as silliness.
O
n August 17, 1805 Merriweather Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery were in a desperate situation. They were low on supplies. Their long-boats would be of no use in crossing the Rocky Mountains that loomed menacingly ahead of them. They needed horses. They were hoping the Shoshone would be able to supply their needs at a price they could afford. They had a measure of confidence that the negotiations would go well because a member of their group was a Shoshone woman, Sacagawea. She had been taken by the Minnetarees as a young girl, and had been sold along with another Shoshone girl to a French trapper named Charbonneau. He purchased both girls as brides. Lewis and Clark met Charbonneau during the winter they spent among the Mandans, and hired him as an interpreter. He was worthless to them, but the younger of his two wives, Sacagawea, proved to be indispensable. This was never more evident than the day when Lewis and Clark sat down with the Shoshone chief, Cameawaite, to bargain for horses and supplies.
After a long series of formalities, Sacagawea was called for. She came in, eyes downcast, and sat in the circle. When she raised her face and saw the chief she leapt up, ran across the circle, threw her blanket over his head and wept. Chief Cameawaite was her brother, the only surviving member of her family. The reunion was one of the great coincidences of American history, and one that favored the Corps of Discovery, for the Shoshones was more than generous to them.
The sweet, beautiful irony of all this is that while Lewis and Clark and their Corps were on a journey of discovery Sacagawea was on a journey home.
We stopped believing that the human race is on a sure and upward trajectory long ago. Some are sure that global warming and the rise of super-viruses have put us on a sure path of extinction. But we still put a great deal of faith in technological advancement. Faced with a threat like the Ebola Virus outbreak, our response is to turn to science and research and expect a cure. Most still have faith that with enough resources our abilities will be sufficient to conquer any threat. Many believe that technological advancement will cure spiritual malaise as well, why else line up for days to get the newest IPhone?
Whether the future for which we are headed is utopian or dystopian, most of us believe that humanity itself represents a Corps of Discovery.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the writer sees humanity on a circular path, where historical seasons are like meteorological ones – they come, and go, and come again (Ecclesiastes 3.1ff). In fact, the path humanity is on is more like a rut we cannot escape. From his perspective, God has made us aware of eternity, of something beyond, but keeps it out of reach as we are tethered to time and space and this planet (Ecclesiastes 3.11).
We Christians know that the journey we are on is a journey home – that like Sacagawea we are headed for a reunion with our brother who is also a king.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
We inhabit the same planet as it spins clockwise on its axis, and makes its ellipses around the sun but we Christians are on a different journey from others (Matthew 7.13-14). Some believe they are headed for new discovery, some that they are headed for fresh disasters, some that we are headed back towards the starting gate. We Christians know that we are headed home.
