We Don't Think Big Enough, Part 2

  John 11
  When Jesus arrived in Bethany, many unthinkable things happened.  The first was when Martha went to meet HIm and the conversation that followed.  The first thing Martha says to Jesus is really like an accusation, but it also shows that she understands the power of Jesus.  "If you had been here, my brother would not have died."  Martha knows that Jesus could have saved Lazarus and through her hurt, she knows that Jesus could have stopped her pain, and she tells Him so.  But in this hurt-filled statement, there is also a beauty.  Martha knew and understood that Jesus could heal.  Later, Mary comes out to meet Jesus and says the exact same thing.  In the middle of their pain and loss of their beloved brother, they were still worshipping God.


   So it seems that Mary and Martha are pretty legit right?  They are solid in their faith in God, they are close friends of Jesus, they know He can perform miracles.  So what could they learn from losing their brother, knowing all along that Jesus could have saved Lazarus.  But did they really understand the power of God?


   Both Mary and Martha said, "if you had been here. . ."  They weren't dreaming big enough.  They knew that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of God who was to come into the world" (v. 27) and that they would see Lazarus again in the resurrection at the last day (v. 24).  But they still weren't dreaming big enough.  We can learn so much from these few verses.  Mary and Martha weren't expecting Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead even though they knew Jesus could have saved him before he died.  Yet they still trusted Jesus.  Even though they didn't know what Jesus was up to, they took Him to Lazarus' tomb when He asked.  They protested when Jesus said for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb, further showing they had no idea what was coming next; but they had the stone moved anyways - because they believed and trusted Jesus.


   We never know exactly what Jesus has planned for us, but when it's a very hard situation it's particularly hard for us to trust in what Jesus is doing in our lives.  But it's in those times that we need to go with what God is telling us, no matter how crazy it may seem.  Mary and Martha led Jesus to their brother's tomb, the place where all their heartache was.  Can you imagine how hard and painful that was for them?  To go to the place where they knew their brother was, but they would never be able to carry on another conversation with him again, and the person who could have prevented all that pain was asking them to reveal it to him all over again.  They didn't know why Jesus wanted to go there or why He wanted the stone rolled away when it was not going to be a pleasant sight.  It was going to be very painful.  But they did it anyways.  And their pain was healed because they trusted in Jesus enough to listen to what He had to say.


   Although Mary and Martha trusted Jesus, there was so much more that He had planned for them that they could never even imagine. . .