Rolling away the TombStone

If we read  the obituary notices of our  local newspaper  any morning we understand the grief many persons are going thru. In fact difficulties, sickness and ill health, sorrow are  something each  of us  have been or are experiencing on a day to day basis. It is not easy to cope with these situations.

In situations like this what do we do?  

What actions do you take? 

What is your response? If we get a solution or  a road map into the future how do we respond?

Well to get into more details and seek answers  to my question I would like you meet an interesting woman form the Bible.

As you would have guessed she is Martha from the Bible. Let us quickly understand a few  aspects of her personality.  We  first read of her in  Luke  10^th chapter

  ³⁸As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

    ⁴¹"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but only one thing is needed.^[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Here she comes  across as a

1. 1.       Worried Housekeeper – she distracted by all the preparations she was making
2. 2.       Energy -  she moved about quickly ,  she went to meet the  master
3. 3.       Anxious Care – you can understand this when she says “, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Many a time we are like  her. Complaining that our brothers in the field are not helping us in the day to day work. We are anxious when we lack focus.
4. 4.       Spiritual Knowledge – she had reasonably good spiritual knowledge and could last a few verses in the interview with Christ.
5. 5.       Finally  she had faith.  We will  understand her Faith a little more clearly today.
6. Can we  identify a Martha in our family.

In our day to day life we have issues and problems   we then pray to Jesus to help us . Jesus  listens to our prayer and tells you I am going to solve your problem.  Then what do we  do?

What do we do when we meet Jesus.?

What kind of a faith do we display when we meet Jesus?

We read in verse 20 :²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Going out to meet Jesus is an  Excellent  action.  Many of us sitting here do go out to Meet Jesus. 

She also displays a  Faith in saying Lord if you are here my brother would not have died. There is no presence for death when Christ is present.  
Pause for a moment.  What is the faith she is displaying.

She has a Complaining Faith. In fact my children when reading this portion told me “ Daddy I don’t like the fact that Martha and Mary have accused Jesus of not being present with them. “ Martha complained  about the absence of Jesus. Her complaining only limited her Faith.  Today however we cannot complain and say “ Lord if you have  had been here” since we know that  Christ  is Risen and is present in our midst. Jesus is present even now with us.

She realizes she should not have complained and tries to make it comfortable for Jesus  by saying in verse 22 ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

She makes a bigger mistake now.  She is now limiting Jesus to a level below  God.  When we meet Jesus we also limit his power overwhelmed by the problems and issues we are facing.

She also has a questioning faith.  She did not entrust the matter completely to Jesus. She questions if Jesus has done what is best

She questions if Jesus knows what is best by her Lord if you would have been here.

Jesus speaks in simple language and tells her Martha I will perform a miracle.  Your brother will rise again.  She is not listening.  Brothers and sisters we have an answer to our prayer, we have an answer to  our  questioning faith yet we are not listening to the answer.  We are listening with our ears only and not with our hearts.

We need to pause on  reflect on the words of Jesus and understand his answers to our Prayer.  I am still overwhelmed by my circumstance and I tell  Jesus, Listen  I know the concept very clearly. I know that will happen at a later time but solve my problem now.

The promise of resurrection and  reunion is of not a comfort, I have a problem now and I need a solution to  my grief. My brother has gone and my context has changed. It is all about me.

What is happening here is that Martha has a fundamental knowledge. Her basics in faith are correct.

However to be a Christian  and live victoriously we need to Live our Faith. Mere knowledge is not enough.  We need to experience a vibrant and living faith which is dynamic, communicating and worshipping. We need to tell each other stories of what Jesus has done for us. 
Merely knowing the commandments and reciting the Lords Prayer  with out  living them is not of consequence.

Lets not have a questioning or complaining Faith like Martha but build on the Fundamental Faith we have so that each day becomes a joyous anticipation.

Martha affirms her faith clearly and tells  Jesus that she believes  that he  is Christ the Son of God.

While many commentaries say that  Martha has declared her faith in these verses. My view is different. It is ok speak  but the real acid test is when we  have to match Action to our words. We agree to any of the words of the  preachers’,  Bible, our parents as long we have to agree to the words.

However   when we have to let the stone be rolled away we  exclaim “ But , Lord”

In an effort to help people grow as persons, one of the worlds leading coaches Marshall Goldsmith, who is also a friend, said that the  use – "no" "but" or "however"  does not help in building a mature relationship.  These are very limiting words.

We are wanting Jesus to be in the comfort of the church and drawing rooms. We don’t want him to put a demand on us and a confrontation with our realities of sin.
We simply do not want our  tombs to be opened.

Why do we say  “ But Lord?

There are  several ways we say "But Lord", It is our fear, we have our superstitions.  I think we still look for the good days and moments to start a work. At wedding times it is most evident  for example the number of persons to meet some one.

We don’t take risks. Jesus took risks for example he walked on water. If you go to a tourist destination  you take a horse ride. Jesus rode a donkey. Can you or I do it?  I  am not sure if I would do it.

We  are so much caught up in the present that we don’t have a vision of the future.   We have an example of Zechariah who is praying for a child  and when he meets angel Gabriel who tells him clearly “ your prayer has been heard “ asks  “ How can this be possible.?   We simply do not have a vision of the Future. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we donot see.  An exercise of Faith is to imagine that what we hope for becomes a reality.

Let not fear, superstition, and our clouded vision deny Jesus to perform a miracle in our lives.

By saying But Lord through our actions and words we are limiting the power  and authority of Jesus.

He can do things that absolute and impossible in our views. We may look foolish in peoples in eyes, we are in the world and not of the world. Let us have the courage to look foolish in the eyes of People for God.

I want to bring three aspects of Jesus in this event

1. He had foreknowledge of what is to happen.  We are all fully known.
2. Jesus was praying for Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
3. He spoke in the past tense in his prayer. This is assurance for each one us.

Jesus is unchanging.  Inspite of Martha’s questioning faith, he did what he thought was  needed to done.

Inspite of our shortcomings Jesus  is changeless.

Finally Jesus did not say  “ But Lord “ while  on the Cross. It would have been really painful yet he bore our sins and shed his blood. He matched his words  of "I am the resurrection and Life" with His actions on the Cross.

The most beautiful thing  aspect of this passage is the empty tomb. Jesus has conquered death, one of our biggest fears  while we live. To have an empty tomb we need to  roll away the stone.

WE need to roll away the stone so that the smell may be gone,

so that the darkness is illuminated.

We need to roll away the stone to expose our weaknesses and vulnerabilities so that  the Assurance My Strength is made perfect  in your weakness becomes a reality.

Let us with a living faith roll away the stone so that we may truly experience the resurrection.

He can do things that could fulfil our deepest desires.

Roll away the stones and expose the empty tomb at this Lenten time.