As we look at the world right now, one of the
things we wonder is, “Where is God in all this? Why is God not doing something? It seems like the world is falling
apart. People are getting sick.
People are dying! People are losing
their jobs. Businesses are closing. We cannot even go out to see our
friends. What’s going on? I
thought God was supposed to be all-powerful.
I thought God was supposed to love us and take care of us. And
now, here we are, the world is out of control, and what’s God doing about it?”
I can understand why we ask those questions. I
suspect God understands it, too. But God
still asks us to have faith and trust Him. And maybe, one of the things
that can help us do that is our Bible reading for today, the story of Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead.
Lazarus was a good friend of
Jesus. He was the brother of Mary and Martha, who of course were also his
good friends. Lazarus gets sick, very sick. Mary and Martha know about the healing power
Jesus has, so they send word to Jesus that Lazarus is sick. And Jesus’
response is, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son
may be glorified through it.”
And the disciples said, “Huh?”
Well, the Bible does actually say that last part, but I
would not doubt if it was true. They’d have been glad to hear Lazarus was
not going to die, of course. But the bit
about God’s Son being glorified through this sickness? I doubt if they
had a clue what that meant.
And then, Jesus does nothing for two days. He just
goes about his business. The disciples
must have wondered about that, too. Is Jesus not going to go help his
friend? Does Jesus not care? Is he not even going to send word to Mary and
Martha, so they know he’s aware of the situation? Is Jesus not going to
do anything?
But Jesus was in control of the situation. After two
days, he tells the disciples they’re going to go to Judea. And he then
tells them that Lazarus has died. And he
says he’s glad he was not there!
The disciples must have been really confused. Jesus
had said two days ago that Lazarus would not die, and now he says he’s
dead! And Jesus did not lift a finger to help. He did not even try to get to Lazarus before
he died. In fact, he deliberately stayed away, and he’s happy that he
stayed away.
And not only that, but now, after it’s too late to do
anything, Jesus wants to go to Lazarus. Why? What’s the point? Does he want to go to the
funeral?
But Jesus is still in control of the situation. He
knows what he’s going to do, even if no one else does.
Jesus gets to Bethany, and he finds out that Lazarus has
been buried for four days. Martha and Mary find out that Jesus is coming,
and Martha goes out to meet him. And
it’s interesting what Martha says. It’s kind of an accusation, but it’s
kind of a plea, too. She says, “Lord, if
you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even
now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Martha has not given up hope. She knows Jesus
could’ve saved Lazarus. But she also knows that “even now God will give
you whatever you ask.” She is still holding out hope that there might be
something Jesus can do, even with Lazarus dead four days. And she also
says to Jesus, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to
come into this world.”
Martha still has faith, and she still has hope. I
don’t know if she really thought Jesus would bring Lazarus back to life.
After all, in response to Jesus’ question, she says she knows he will rise
again on the last day. I don’t know if Martha had anything specific in
mind that she thought Jesus would do.
But she still believed he could do something, because she still believed
that Jesus was the Son of God.
And Jesus was still in control of the situation. He
knows what he’s going to do, even though nobody else does. Mary comes
out, and Mary does not appear to have Martha’s faith. She does not appear
to have hope, either. She simply said,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Now, it’s hard to know how she said that. She may
have said it accusingly, she may have said it matter-of-factly, she may have said
it sadly. She was definitely sad--she was crying. And Jesus starts crying, too.
Now, Jesus is still in control of the situation.
Jesus knows what he’s going to do.
Remember, he said this “is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be
glorified through it.” But still, Jesus starts crying. That may have been just out of sympathy for
Mary, but I suspect it was more than that.
Even though Jesus knew things had to happen the way they were going to
happen, and even though Jesus knew it was for God’s glory that it happen this
way, I suspect Jesus still felt some sadness. He was sad that Mary and
Martha had to go through this. He was
probably sad that Lazarus had to go through it, too. He knew it needed to be this way, and he knew
it was going to be for the best in the end, but he was still sad that they had
to go through what they were going through.
They take Jesus to the tomb. And again, Jesus is in
control. He tells them to open the tomb.
People object, but they eventually do it. Jesus prays, and then
says, “Lazarus, come out!”
And he does! Lazarus is alive! He’s got the
grave clothes on him, the strips of linen and so forth, but he’s alive!
And Jesus tells him to take all that stuff off him and let him go. Just when the situation seemed hopeless,
Jesus acted. And it was for God’s glory, and God’s Son was glorified
through Jesus’ acts. And I would think
there must have been quite a party at the house of Lazarus and Martha and Mary
that night.
So, how does that relate to our situation? Well, some
of you are probably already ahead of me on that. If you’re not, though,
let’s look at it. Mary, Martha, and
Lazarus were in a really bad situation. They thought Jesus was their only
hope. And they called on Jesus, asking,
begging him to help them. And--nothing
happened. Jesus did not do anything.
It appeared that Jesus had failed them.
Their situation became worse. In
fact, it looked hopeless.
And then it appeared that maybe, just maybe, Jesus would do
something. But it seemed like it was too late. It seemed like nothing could be done
now. Martha, at least, had kind of a vague, undefined hope. But no one else had any hope at all. It
was all over. There was nothing Jesus or
anyone else could do.
Nobody could understand why Jesus had not acted.
Nobody could understand why Jesus had not taken care of the situation. He
could have, they knew that. They knew
the kind of power Jesus had. And they
knew Jesus was aware of it--they’d specifically asked him to come and
help. And yet, Jesus had ignored them.
He had done nothing. They had
thought he loved Lazarus, and yet, he had allowed Lazarus to die. Jesus had abandoned them just when they
needed him the most.
Except he had not. Jesus had not abandoned
them. Jesus was in control of the situation all along. And when the
time was right, Jesus acted. And he
acted in a way that God was glorified, and the Son of God was glorified, too.
Right now, we’re in a bad situation. We’re looking in
a lot of places for answers, but nobody seems to have any answers, at least not
yet. And many people are calling on God to do something. And it does not appear that God is doing
anything. God is allowing the situation to continue, and in fact it seems
to be getting worse.
And some people are losing hope. Some of us cannot
understand why God does not act. We don’t understand why God has not
taken care of the situation. God could, we now that. We know the kind of power God has. And we know God is aware of the
situation. First of all, God knows everything--that’s one of the things
that makes God, God. But also, any
number of people are praying, repeatedly, for God to help. And it appears
that God is ignoring us. It appears that
God is doing nothing. We thought God
loved us, and yet God is allowing all this to happen. It feels like God has abandoned us just when
we need God the most.
But it’s not true. God has not abandoned us.
God is in control of the situation, and God always has been in control of the
situation. God is not happy about the suffering that’s going on right
now. In fact, I believe God cries with
us. But when the time is right, God will act. And I believe God will act in a way that
results in God being glorified, at least in the eyes of those who are willing
to accept it.
Now, I want you to understand what I mean when I say God
will act. I’m not saying that at some point there’s going to be a flash
of lightning and a clap of thunder and a voice from heaven will say, “Begone,
coronavirus!” I mean, God could do that--God could do anything--but I
don’t think that’s probably what will happen.
I think God will act the way God usually acts. God will act through people.
In fact, God is already acting through people. Look
at the number of people who are helping each other through this. Look at
the dedication of our medical providers and our first responders. Look at
the dedication of our educational system, working so hard to find ways to reach
our kids even when the school itself cannot meet. Look at the dedication
of our religious educators, who are also finding ways to reach kids. Look at the dedication of our store owners,
who are finding ways to serve people at curbside or with drive-thrus.
Look at the dedication of just common, everyday people who are calling each other,
checking on each other, making sure everybody is okay. And I could go on and on. Whenever any of this stuff happens, God is
glorified. God is giving us all kinds of chances to love our neighbors,
and a lot of us are taking advantage of those chances. And it’s awesome to see.
It may feel like the world is falling apart. But it’s
not. God is still in control. And when the time is right, God will
act. Even if the situation starts to seem hopeless, God will act. And when God acts, it will be for God’s
glory.
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