Saturday, August 2, 2014

Faith to Know He Is Able

The floor felt cold, as floors so often do in the middle of the night. She couldn't sleep, so she decided to go for a walk around the house. A candle was burning in the other room. Mary wandered into the room, curious as to why someone else was up so late.

"Martha, what are you doing?"

Martha turned her head slightly towards her sister, but promptly turned back to what she was doing. Mary came closer, and realized she was writing a letter.

"Who are you writing to?"

"Jesus."

Mary smiled for the first time since her brother, Lazarus, had fallen so ill. "That's a perfect idea!"

"How does this sound?" Martha angled the paper so Mary could see.

"Lord, he whom you love is ill," was all that was written on the thin paper.

Mary put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "That's all you need to say."

                                                                                          

The grief must be making Martha hear things. "What did you say?"

The plump woman consoling her looked slightly confused at Martha's confusion. "Jesus. He's on his way. Why, my husband's, uncle's, cousin saw him coming into town. Said he was coming this way."

Without another word, Martha picked up the hem of her skirt and robe, and started running. She didn't care how indecent it looked. She didn't care that as one of the family members in mourning, this was highly irregular.

All she cared about, her only purpose right now, was to get to Jesus as fast as possible.

Finally, she saw him. She stopped, suddenly lacking the ambition to go any further. He was close enough that if she said his name loud enough, he would know she was there. But she didn't speak his name. Not yet.

Jesus finished talking with one of the men accompanying him, and turned his head ever so slightly. It was just enough, to put her right in his line of vision. Jesus locked eyes with her, and approached her. He didn't stop until he was close enough to pull her into a hug if so needed. He didn't speak. It was like he was just...waiting for her to speak.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. The feelings of anger, confusion, and little bit of betrayal broke her. "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

There. She had said it.

But she wasn't done.

"But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

She watched as a smile pulled at Jesus eyes and mouth, despite his own obvious grief.

Based on John 11:1-3, 17-22

What I want to talk about today, isn't the important conversation Martha and Jesus had about eternal life. It's about how when the life of their brother hung in the balance, they called on Jesus. They sent a word to Jesus because they knew that Jesus was able to heal him. They knew.

Even after their brother died, and everything seemed hopeless, both Mary and Martha knew that if Jesus had been there, their brother would have been fine. Even more then that, Martha said that even now she knew that whatever Jesus asked from God, God would give it to Him.

That is faith!

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

These women hoped in Jesus. They knew and believed that Jesus could do the impossible even though they hadn't see it in their lives personally for this situation (yet).

Is that what holds us back? We see all this cool God stuff happen in the lives of other people, but not in our own lives, so we think that God isn't as capable as we've been told? Or that maybe, He just isn't that capable for us personally?

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

That is faith! Hebrews 11 lists tons of men and women who had faith in God and believed that He would do what He said He would, and most of them did not see those things fulfilled in their lifetimes.

"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' and the Lord said, 'If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you.'" Luke 17:5-6

Increase our faith, Lord! We want to be a people who believes in You and what You can do completely. You are the one we should call on because You are the one who is able! Faith to know that you can take any mulberry tree out of our path! Even if we never see it.

V. Joy Palmer

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