I have broken this story into two pieces for ‘dramatic’ effect...haha, not sure how much drama I can muster up in a 4 minute podcast and a set of Bible journaling notes, but I think there is an important idea embedded in this first reading.

In these first 27 chapters of chapter 11, we see 2 devout sisters in Mary and Martha who’s brother Lazarus has gotten ill, and we find out that he actually dies.  Mary and Martha send for Jesus to come because they believe He can heal Lazarus, and we know Jesus had an affinity for Lazarus because he is called ‘the one whom you love’; this is a title not frequently given to Jesus.  So, we have 2 sisters and a brother all truly intertwined with Jesus, true followers - they call for Jesus to come and to save Lazarus and Jesus does what...He hangs around for two days before going.  He apparently loved Lazarus so much that He watched football over the weekend before going to save him (hopefully you catch the humor in that!).

But think about that...that seems a little insensitive...doesn’t it?  Why wouldn’t He go immediately?  Well, He tells us that it is so we could see God’s glory on display.  But what I want you to notice is that Jesus tells the disciples this...not Mary or Martha...Jesus essentially tells them, “Hang tight, chill out, I let Him pass away so I could do something amazing and raise Him from the dead...don’t worry, I got this.”  But, meanwhile, these two sisters Mary and Martha don’t know this.  And that is what I find so awesome about what happens next.

Just as an ironic side-note...notice that Thomas, the same Thomas who hands Jesus over to the Jewish authorities for the crucifixion, is the one that speaks up enthusiastic about getting over there to raise Lazarus; just kind of funny, in a sad way I guess.

Picking back up with our story, Jesus shows up and now Lazarus has been dead for 4 days.  And Martha runs out to Jesus as He comes strolling up, Mary is distraught and stays inside, and then we see the thing that just really impresses me...Jesus reminds Martha that whoever believes in Him shall be saved, and that He is the in control, and He asks her if she believes Him without her knowing what is coming...and she says ‘yes’.  She was confused because she assumed when Jesus told her that her brother would rise again that He was talking about rising in heaven; we can see that in her response.  And if that was all that there was to the story, she said ‘yes’, that she trusts Jesus.  In other words, she wasn’t happy that her brother had died and that Jesus didn’t save him, but she was content in Jesus.  Now, that’s awesome.  We see a bold trust in Jesus right here, and I think THAT is part of what really moved Jesus, as we’ll read tomorrow.  It reminds me of when Jesus’ mother Mary was asked to trust in God, by the angel Gabriel, when she was told what was going to happen to her and we are told ‘she believed’...she trusted.  Martha trusted Jesus without knowing the rest of the story...without knowing what Jesus was going to do.  That’s a great, great lesson for us today.  When we really trust, when we really place our faith in God, that’s what it looks like...bold, unknowing, and open-handed trust.  That’s what moves God.