John 11:43
“When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.'”
Speaking of zombies, Lazarus was dead and in the tomb for four days before Jesus came to wake him up. Now Lazarus’ death wasn’t due to sinful living, or any fault of his own that we know of. In fact some understand his death and raising to be a fulfillment of Luke 16:19-31. If so, I wonder which crowd the Rich Man’s 5 brothers were with in John 11:45-57? Were they with those who saw Lazarus raise and then believed in Jesus, or were they among those who then sought to kill Him? Where would I be? One thing I know, you can believe and also not believe at the same time.
Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, are examples of those who straddled the fence of belief and unbelief. Luke 10:38-42 describes an earlier scenario of the sisters and Jesus. Mary was the one at Jesus’ feet listening to what He said while Martha was busy doing the chores. When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary wasn’t helping, Jesus told her that Mary chose what was better. Now in John 11:17-32 with the death of their brother Lazarus, it seems to have switched things a bit. Martha goes to Jesus and says, ““if you had been here, my brother would not have died”, we will hear this again from Mary, but Martha goes on to say, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus used her confession as a door to her faith and told her that her brother will rise. Martha responded with what she understood thinking He was referring to the resurrection at the last day. Jesus stepped further in and said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and asked her if she believed that. Martha responded and said, “Yes, Lord.” Martha then left to get her sister telling her that The Teacher was there and was asking for her. Mary got up and went; she returned to Jesus’ feet but this time it doesn’t say she came to listen. She fell at his feet echoing Martha, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Jesus was lead to Lazarus’ tomb. “Take away the stone,” He said, to which Martha replied that by then there would be a bad odor. Jesus then said in verse 40, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Jesus then thanked His Father for hearing Him, and called Lazarus out.
Perhaps the stone to Lazarus’ tomb was the doorway to Mary’s faith in a similar way that Martha’s confession was to her’s. For Martha, Jesus stepped in opening her mind to what she only partially understood. For Mary, something dead had to come out for her to realize what she only partially understood.
Belief or unbelief, are you still on that fence? Will you confess Jesus is Lord, or does something dead have to come out first?
When starting this post I found that it was difficult to stop because in the very next chapter, John 12, we have the sisters back in their places. Martha was serving the food, but this time without complaining; Mary was once again at His feet, but this time her response to Jesus was an act of worship. She anointed His feet with oil. Jesus took her act of worship and incorporated it with His burial. It was her worship as a result of seeing her faith come forth that Jesus used to anoint His mission to bring salvation to all.