What the sisters needed to Learn?
John 11:1ff
JN 11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
JN 11:4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
This is a rather familiar story in the Gospel of John. Lazarus, the brother to Mary and Martha, lay sick. Mary and Martha send word to Jesus, the one whom you love is sick. And they waited for Jesus the Great healer to come
Mary and Martha are much like us today. We pray asking God for favor, and we wait.
JN 11:21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
JN 11:32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
In verses 21 and 32 we have the same cry from two heartbroken sisters. Jesus had let them down. He did not come when they called, if he had Lazarus would still be with them.
Sometimes when we pray we are like Mary and Martha. Lord if you had just responded when I called things would be a whole lot better.
Mary and Martha, like many of us, have something to learn. Even the crowd that gathered there that day asked. "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
They would soon learn what Jesus was trying to teach them. Lazarus is in the tomb four days, no one has ever raised a man from the dead who has been in the tomb four days. Mary and Martha were now going to learn the meaning behind Jesus statement "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Mary, Martha and the crowd that day had learned that Jesus was more than a prophet, he is greater than a prophet, they learned he was more than a healer, he is the giver of life.
JN 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.
And when it seems that our prayers are not being answered, that God doesn’t care, Jesus shows us how much he cares by teaching us something new, or maybe just reminding us of what we know of him. So next time we pray and it doesn’t seem he is answering, ask him, What are you trying to teach me Lord?
