Life

[SivartM]

[Not sure where to put this; we need a writing forum or something.]

Mary: Jesus’ faithful follower. Martha: too busy to listen. But at their most vulnerable time, the roles were reversed, and Mary learned what she had not known before: that Jesus has power even over death.

Martha and Mary called for Jesus while Lazarus was still sick. Surely the Great Healer would come and heal Lazarus! But days passed and there was no sign of the Master. When Lazarus breathed his last breath and Jesus had still not arrived, Mary and Martha were forced to cope however they could.

For Martha, this probably meant staying busy with funeral preparations. But Mary, who had sat at the feet of Jesus, had to sit and cry as time passed in a blur and she picked up the shards of her shattered faith. She didn’t know why Jesus hadn’t come, but she knew there was nothing that could be done now. And she tried to force herself to still believe in the One who had always been there before.

Jesus finally came to Bethany. As soon as Martha heard she ran to go see Him. Mary simply sat in the house, wanting to run to Jesus with Martha, but too angry inside to act like nothing had happened.

Martha came up to Jesus as He was about to enter the town. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” she said, not expecting what was to come next.

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Martha replied with simple faith, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Martha ran to get her sister. She was not sure what Jesus was going to do, but she knew that Mary needed to hear His words of hope. Running into the house to Mary’s side, she whispered in her ear, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” Mary quickly rose and went after her sister. The family friends who had been in the house with her also followed, thinking that Mary was going to the tomb to weep.

Instead, Mary followed Martha to Jesus and fell at His feet, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She said exactly the same thing Martha had said—but there was no declaration of faith in Jesus’ current power. As far as Mary was concerned, Jesus had no power over death. And for all she knew, Jesus would die someday, and the world would be as dark as it had been before He had come.

Jesus cried out in His heart to the Father. “Where have you laid him?” Everyone led Him to Lazarus’ grave.

Jesus wept.

His agape went out to everyone around Him. The pain He felt over the death of this one man was unfathomable.

Some of the Jews were touched by His sorrow. “See how He loved him!” they said.

Others were incredulous. “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” They couldn’t understand why Jesus was so sad if He could have just come earlier and healed Lazarus. It was practically Jesus’ fault that Lazarus had died.

Jesus heart cried out again. He came to the tomb, a simple cave with a stone covering the entrance. “Take away the stone.”

Martha couldn’t believe He was asking that. “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

“Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

Martha quickly asked some men to move the stone. Mary stood speechless, too afraid to believe in what was happening lest she be disappointed again.

Jesus lifted His eyes up to heaven. “Father, I thank you that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Jesus felt the fog of death fighting with His agape power, but He knew that death was no match for the giver of life. Drawing Himself to His full height, the voice that spoke the world into being, the voice that created everything from the tiniest atom to the largest galaxy, the voice of life in its essence, spoke in its full agape power, “Lazarus, come forth!”

As if a shockwave had gone from Jesus’ lips, the entire crowd stood still, not even daring to breathe lest the regenerating power of love fade from the air. And in one moment the dead body of Lazarus, lying helplessly in the grave, rose and stumbled out of the grave still wrapped in cloth.

And as Lazarus’ body was unwrapped, Mary fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, weeping with joy, covering His feet in her tears. She had found the power over death.

[Guest]

You put it in the right place. This forum has the best moderator in all of Club Adventist, John317. Are you saying you wrote this?

[SivartM]

Okey dokey. I wouldn't say that around the other moderators though. O_O

Yup, I did.

[Guest]

Long as I stay here I'm safe. I think that's pretty good writing.

[Guest]

Hey I just noticed, I broke 2000.

[Guest]

Now back to the good writing. When did you do that Siv?

[SivartM]

Thanks.

I wrote it a few hours ago.

[Guest]

Have you ever done anything like that before?

[Woody]

Very Good SivartM

[SivartM]

Have you ever done anything like that before?

Like... writing a story like this, or writing a story very quickly? I don't think I've ever written a story like this before. I don't write a whole lot, but when I do I usually do it in one sitting.

[Guest]

I like it.

[SivartM]

Thank you, Richard and Redwood.

I got the idea when I was reading John 11 and realized that, surprisingly, Mary at one time nearly lost her faith.