That One Time Jesus Said, "BET."
You know that moment in your life, where you had to just take a step back and think to yourself, "uhhh, that.... is really just not how I saw that going..."That moment of disbelief but also amazement at what took place before your own eyes?
Like one time I was fishing, and I caught a duck. Yea. A duck. Im not lying and I truly mean, that was a moment where I was so caught off guard I cannot begin to express how amazed I was. The duck lived...I think.
Jesus was a man who if you followed him, watched him, you would find yourself feeling that sense of amazement and disbelief so often you might begin to expect it, or maybe not. One time Jesus was so on his "I am God, so watch this", stuff, that I think all the people who were with him that day walked away completely changed. Here is what happened:
A friend of Jesus got pretty sick, at least sick enough that his sister thought he was going to die. So, knowing Jesus, she sent word to him to come and save her brother. Long story short, Jesus does not come, and Lazarus, the brother, dies. Man, if that was the end of the story... well Jesus would be pretty lame I guess. But, it's not.
So Jesus hearing what had happened, roles into the town of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the dead man. And by the time he gets there, Lazarus had already been dead for 4 days, and been laid to rest. Apparently, Mary, the sister of the dead man, comes running up to Jesus and falls at his feet. She is weeping, she just lost her brother, and Jesus is 4 days too late to heal her pain and mourning. But this is where the story gets a bit crazy. Where it begins to turn into a "yea...thats not how I saw that going, kinda story."
Jesus says, "Where have you laid him?" and then begins to walk in the direction of the tomb.
I wasn't there, but if I was, I'd want to know what in the world Jesus was up to. Yo, why do you care now? You could of been there 4 days ago? You could of shown up for his funeral? And now, after the whole town has mourned his death, you want to go see him? And for the record, people have heard the things Jesus has done, so when he walks into a town, people come to see him, so at this point, I'm convinced at least some of the town has tagged along to the grave site to see what Jesus is doing.
So here we all are, standing at the tomb of Lazarus, watching Jesus. Some of us are crying, some of us are mad that Jesus took 4 days to get there, and some of us just want to go home and watch Netflix.... and this is what Jesus says....
WHAT? What do you mean, take away the stone? Again, I wasn't there but if I was.....NOOOOOO, don't take away the stone, there's a dead man in there! Bro, Jesus, he probably smells bad by now, don't do that!
Do anything, but don't role away the stone, there are kids here and we don't need to see that, ok! And of course Martha basically says that to Jesus, and his response is... well, it's good.
Jesus says, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"
Jesus basically says, ok bet. "Mary and Martha, you called me here, because you know who I am. Now role away the stone because I can do more than all you could ever ask or imagine! BET!" And so naturally, they rolled away the stone....and here is how the story ends.
Jesus, in a loud voice, calls out, "Lazarus...., come out!"
Bro, timeout. Jesus, the man is dead, ok. The fun and games are over. Now you're just scaring the kids! And then, the crown heard it, the silent rumble of movement in the cave, and the shadows moving as a dead man, walks out of the darkness of the tomb and into the light. Lazarus, the dead man, walked out of the tomb! And Jesus, in all of his wisdom and humor simply says, "Take off the grave clothes and LET HIM GO."
For the final time, I was certainly not there....but if I was, this would of been without a doubt, the most incredible, unbelievable, blow away all my expectations moment, of my life.
Sometimes we become numb to the stories of Jesus. We forget. We forget that he raised Lazarus from the dead! And as Easter Sunday approaches, we will celebrate his own resurrection, but I hope we would be in awe of this account of history, because although we were not there, if we were, if we saw his grave clothes and heard Mary proclaim that He Has Risen, I think our lives would look different.
Like one time I was fishing, and I caught a duck. Yea. A duck. Im not lying and I truly mean, that was a moment where I was so caught off guard I cannot begin to express how amazed I was. The duck lived...I think.
Jesus did that all the time.
Jesus was a man who if you followed him, watched him, you would find yourself feeling that sense of amazement and disbelief so often you might begin to expect it, or maybe not. One time Jesus was so on his "I am God, so watch this", stuff, that I think all the people who were with him that day walked away completely changed. Here is what happened:
...
A friend of Jesus got pretty sick, at least sick enough that his sister thought he was going to die. So, knowing Jesus, she sent word to him to come and save her brother. Long story short, Jesus does not come, and Lazarus, the brother, dies. Man, if that was the end of the story... well Jesus would be pretty lame I guess. But, it's not.
So Jesus hearing what had happened, roles into the town of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the dead man. And by the time he gets there, Lazarus had already been dead for 4 days, and been laid to rest. Apparently, Mary, the sister of the dead man, comes running up to Jesus and falls at his feet. She is weeping, she just lost her brother, and Jesus is 4 days too late to heal her pain and mourning. But this is where the story gets a bit crazy. Where it begins to turn into a "yea...thats not how I saw that going, kinda story."
Jesus says, "Where have you laid him?" and then begins to walk in the direction of the tomb.
I wasn't there, but if I was, I'd want to know what in the world Jesus was up to. Yo, why do you care now? You could of been there 4 days ago? You could of shown up for his funeral? And now, after the whole town has mourned his death, you want to go see him? And for the record, people have heard the things Jesus has done, so when he walks into a town, people come to see him, so at this point, I'm convinced at least some of the town has tagged along to the grave site to see what Jesus is doing.
So here we all are, standing at the tomb of Lazarus, watching Jesus. Some of us are crying, some of us are mad that Jesus took 4 days to get there, and some of us just want to go home and watch Netflix.... and this is what Jesus says....
"Take away the Stone"
WHAT? What do you mean, take away the stone? Again, I wasn't there but if I was.....NOOOOOO, don't take away the stone, there's a dead man in there! Bro, Jesus, he probably smells bad by now, don't do that!
Do anything, but don't role away the stone, there are kids here and we don't need to see that, ok! And of course Martha basically says that to Jesus, and his response is... well, it's good.
Jesus says, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"
Jesus basically says, ok bet. "Mary and Martha, you called me here, because you know who I am. Now role away the stone because I can do more than all you could ever ask or imagine! BET!" And so naturally, they rolled away the stone....and here is how the story ends.
...
Jesus, in a loud voice, calls out, "Lazarus...., come out!"
Bro, timeout. Jesus, the man is dead, ok. The fun and games are over. Now you're just scaring the kids! And then, the crown heard it, the silent rumble of movement in the cave, and the shadows moving as a dead man, walks out of the darkness of the tomb and into the light. Lazarus, the dead man, walked out of the tomb! And Jesus, in all of his wisdom and humor simply says, "Take off the grave clothes and LET HIM GO."
For the final time, I was certainly not there....but if I was, this would of been without a doubt, the most incredible, unbelievable, blow away all my expectations moment, of my life.
___________________________________
Sometimes we become numb to the stories of Jesus. We forget. We forget that he raised Lazarus from the dead! And as Easter Sunday approaches, we will celebrate his own resurrection, but I hope we would be in awe of this account of history, because although we were not there, if we were, if we saw his grave clothes and heard Mary proclaim that He Has Risen, I think our lives would look different.
There is hope to be found in his story, if you stop long enough to look.
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