But Martha. She sees Him and runs out to meet Him. She approaches Him with, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." I imagine she is saying this with frustration. Confusion. Deep sorrow. That is how it is when things seem to be falling apart all around us. Our hearts ask, "Where were You Lord? How could this happen?" I love her honesty with Him. She knew she could take her questions, her frustrations, her grief to Jesus.
But she goes on. But even now... "But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask." Such faith. So Jesus answers. But with a bigger answer. He revealed truth about Himself that transcended the here and now of the situation. Yes. He could raise the dead. But He IS the resurrection. He IS the life. Those who believe, though they die, will live again. Eternal life through Jesus. This is why He came. To reveal this. And He did to this women who came to Him.
Jesus so often answered questions with the bigger answer. Martha went to Him and she learned more than she asked for. And so it is when we stay with Him, when we don't hang back in utter despair like Mary did. Martha wanted something from Jesus and in classic Jesus style He gave her so much more than she even knew to ask for.
He wants us to teach us too, even in the difficult, painful times in our lives. He wants us to learn to grasp and keep in mind, the bigger picture. He wants us to operate out of a Kingdom perspective that goes beyond the trivial and mundane issues of our right here, right now lives, no matter how earth shatteringly important they seem to us now.
It is the but even now that I love. Martha went to Jesus knowing He could do more. She knew that with Jesus the impossible was possible.
Jesus spent His time on earth working at getting the message across that we need to believe. We need to trust. We need to have faith. We need to come to Him with all that concerns us.
He seemed so frustrated at times over His follower's lack of faith. Martha was the one who came out and nailed it. She acted out of her understanding that, even now Jesus was the One to look to, the One Who could change everything. Jesus knew Lazarus would be walking around again, real soon. Martha was the one who dared to believe.
I want to dare to believe too. I want to live in that audacious belief that not only trusts but finds peace of mind knowing that Jesus takes what is dead, all that is messy and ugly, and bring His life to it. He is the God of resurrection. He is the One Who makes all things new. I want to walk closely with Him so I don't miss what He has to say to me as I live in this lost and broken world.
Thank You Lord, that I can run to meet You. That you are here, right now. You are the One I can trust to bring life to all that is broken and bereaved in me and all around me. Life is messy. We are messy. That is why you came. Thank You that I can trust that it will all work out and that my life is safe in Your Hands. Thank You that you are the God of even now....You have in mind better things than I can ask or imagine. Thank You for being the God of resurrection, of life.
