When Disaster Strikes John 11:1-45
The following was written by Jack Jordan newspaper editor recording the events of April 3, 1974.
An uneasiness nagged at me as I checked over proofs for the next day’s paper. It was Wednesday, April 3, 1974 about 4 o’clock on a gray afternoon. More than 100 tornadoes had been sighted to the southwest. We had had such warnings before the twisters had always missed Xenia, Ohio.
Suddenly the radio crackled: “Tornado! Southwest of town, expected in six minutes.” I leapt from desk and hurried out into our office which faces the main downtown street. Police shouted “Take Cover” through bullhorns. Already white faced shoppers and business people were streaming into our new annex building for the protection of its steel beam and thick concrete construction.
suddenly an ominous green darkened the street. A rumbling roar like a thousand freight trains crossing the ceiling filled the building with a grinding thunder. Our street doors flew open, I rushed to close them and found myself looking up into a black k swirling sea of debris and giant tress. I fought my way back and threw myself down on the stairs among the other praying and sobbing people.
Then an eerie stillness filled the air. The monster had passed. My family and home were two miles away. I ran to my convertible, its windows sucked out, I sat in broken glass and drove down the street. There were no more streets , just mountains of debris and dazed and confused people wandering around. After making sure that my family was okay, I returned to the newspaper office.
The tornado had bulldozed a seven mile path half a mile wide right through Xenia, Ohio. 33 men, women, and children were dead. Almost half of Xenia’s buildings were destroyed. Nearly 10,000 people were homeless. Six of nine schools were smashed, nine churches, and 180 stores and businesses were destroyed.
In the coming months the city would pull together and begin to rebuild houses, businesses, churches, schools, and lives. One afternoon, seven months later I walked downtown and remembered the houses that owners had spray painted with the words “Oh God, why us?” and “Only God knows.” And I remember what Dick Pope a minister had said at an Easter celebration just eleven days after the tornado. “For the first time people are really going to understand what resurrection is about. You have to realize that Christ was even more effective after the resurrection than before. And this storm can be a turning point for this town. The Christian faith does not promise that we will not have suffering, but it does create the character in us that can face it and know how to use it.”
I want to talk to you today about our lives and how we deal with it when disaster comes into our lives. Whether it is a natural disaster like a tornado, or a health disaster like cancer, whether it is relationship disasters like a broken marriage, whatever the disaster is...how do we respond and what do we do to make it through the disaster.
2 Corinthians tells us that God is the God of all comfort. That he has the power and the willingness to see us through all the disasters that life may bring us. The bottom line of what I want to say this morning is this...
When the going gets tough, the tough get God.
Now I don’t mean that we only need God in the difficult times, We need him all the time and should walk with him all the time, trust him all the time, rely on him all the time. What I am saying is that when a disaster comes we better have a shelter that is storm worthy to protect us. We better have a relationship with the almighty God that will shield us and protect us and deliver us through any storm.
When the going gets tough, the tough get God.
This morning we will look at a story where two sisters who facing a horrible disaster in their lives did just that. I want us to look at the story of Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus and I want us to see five things you and I need to remember in a time of crisis.
We find this story in John 11. Jesus was very close friends with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Lazarus gets sick. His sisters send word to Jesus. Jesus does not immediately go to Lazarus. By the time Jesus does arrive in Bethany where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha are, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days.
Martha and Mary are distraught and grieving, asking Jesus “Why didn’t you come? If you had just been here, our brother would be alive. Jesus assures them that this is not the end. He goes to the tomb, prays to God, and Lazarus arises from the tomb.
Let’s consider five lessons we can learn from this crisis, things we can apply to our own lives when we are faced with a crisis.
1. Prayer must be a priority. (John 11:1-3)
The first thing the sisters did was to send word to Jesus.
The one you love is sick. When a crisis hits our lives, be it a death, an accident, a diagnosis, a relationship breakdown, whatever it is... the first thing we need to do is to send word to Jesus.
When a crisis brings us to our knees we are in perfect position to pray.
Prayer changes things. When we communicate with the creator of the universe, things happen. We call on the greatest power in the world. And yet too many times we lack the faith that prayer will make a difference. How do I know that? Because we do not pray until we have tried everything else. Instead of prayer being a last resort, it should be our first option.
Now the sisters could send word to Jesus because they had a close friendship relationship with Jesus. Had they not known Jesus, they would have been in an awful position with no where to turn.
If you are without Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you have not been immersed into him and become a child of God, then it is plain and simple- you do not know Jesus. When disaster hits you will be without his help. You will literally be in a world of hurt. You can change that by taking Jesus as your savior, repenting of your sins, being buried with him in baptism, rising to live a new life with him. Then you will never be alone again.
2. Emotion is natural. (John 11:35)
One of the worst temptations during a crisis is to try to appear strong. I will be a rock during this storm, you might think. But let me share a simple truth with you. When we are weak, he is strong. We live in a Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone testosterone society that says crying is weak and for women. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Jesus wept. Why did Jesus weep? Mourning over Lazarus? No that doesn’t make sense. He knew God was going to raise him from the dead. He wept because he saw the pain in Mary and Martha, people he loved, and his heart hurt with them.
God has made us emotional people and when a crisis hits we need to let it out. It’s ok to be emotional. It’s ok to cry. When I have done funerals, I look to see if people are letting their emotions out at some point. It is not healthy to bottle it up and pretend it doesn’t exist. At some point in the future any little thing could trigger and emotional explosion that could do great damage.
Read verses 21, 32. It is ok to question God. It is ok to say “God I do not understand why this is happening to me. I don’t understand what you are trying to do in my life.”
If you are going through a crisis realize that prayer must be a priority, and that it is ok to allow your emotions to be expressed.
3. Perseverance pays off. (John 11:6)
Do you think Jesus stayed where he was two more days because he didn’t care about Lazarus? No way. He stayed where he was because he knew that God was in control of the situation and at the right time God would take care of the crisis with Lazarus. When a crisis invades our lives we do not want to wait it out. We want it to end as soon as possible.
One of my greatest fears is haunted houses. I have never liked them. I can remember going to haunted houses as a teenager and they were so scary that if you just couldn’t go on they would have “chicken exits” so you could out the haunted house. Let me tell you, the first “chicken exit” I would come to, I was out of there.
As Christians, when a crisis comes, we often look for the “chicken exits.” We want out of the trial or crisis just as soon as possible, and with the least amount of pain. Romans 5 tells us “We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.”
Sometimes the only way out of a storm is to ride it out. Sometimes the only way out of a crisis is perseverance. One day Lazarus was alive, the next day he was dead, just four days later he was alive again. A lot can happen in a week. A lot can happen in three days, just ask Jesus.
4. God uses disaster for his glory. (John 11:4, 40)
In the Xenia tornado, I imagine that God was able to do some things through that disaster that he could not have done otherwise. Notice God didn’t cause the tornado, he simply used it for his glory. He can take a negative and turn it into a positive. He turned disaster into deliverance. God can use crisis in our lives to bring about his glory.
In verses 4 & 40, God did not cause Lazarus to die, but he used the crisis for his glory and it changed the lives of Mary and Martha. So how does that help us?
It helps us with the temptation to blame God. It helps us to realize that God doesn’t bring disaster into our lives. It helps us realize that he loves us and can take our defeats and turn them into his victories. It also gives us hope that God is able to cure any disease, fix any marriage, mend any heart, forgive any sin.
There is no crisis too big for God.
5. God changes lives through crisis. (John 11:45)
The final lesson for us is that God changes lives through crisis. Sometimes it is the life of the one going through the crisis. Other times it is the lives of those around a suffering person. Most of the time it is both.
Think about the lives that were changed in the Lazarus story:
Lazarus- he was never the same again. He had some wild stories to tell.
Mary and Martha- new love and appreciation for life, Lazarus, and Jesus.
The Jews- (verse 45) changed hearts, a new faith.
It is sad that it takes a crisis, but thank God that through a crisis he can turn the lost into saved, he can melt hardened hearts, he can make the bitter loving, he can turn orphans into children of the king.
If you are a Christian and have gone through a disaster in your life, then you know exactly what I mean. You could say today, “I am not the same person that I was before the crisis came into my life.” God has shaped and molded you into who you are today, and has done it through crisis.
If you are a Christians and have not had any “great disasters”, I do not want to be the bearer of bad news, but at some point you probably will have a time of crisis and testing in your life. I pray that you will keep these things close to your heart so that you will be totally prepared in a time of crisis.
One final scripture today- John 11:25-26. Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Do you? Christians are you living your lives reflecting your hope in the risen Lord?
If Jesus is not the Lord of your life, he can be. The Bible says we must:
Believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
Repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord.
Be immersed into Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Arise and live for him each and every day.
