Bethany.
John 11
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”
12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept. 3
6 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?”
57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Ok, say you are watching "Game of Thrones" and you missed half the series because for some reason, you were given the novels and you read 3 of them, but every single, living, person keeept onnnn dying and you just got tired and gave up. And you gave your books to Dr. Kurt Kirkpatrick - he loved them so much, that then you picked up the series and you were surprised to find out, there is a heck of a lot of nudity.
And you are THRILLED to find out Finally the Starks are going to live. Finally good news. And the Dragon Queen is good. It's looking like - hey - might not be such a waste of time.
I am hoping the way "Game of Thrones" plays out, we will not see so much cynicism about God.
I fully understand about the Crusades. Yada Yada. The people who drone on and on about the crusades - like current Christians are to blame. (Listen to Historian Dan Carlin talk about the Mongols and how the historical Mongols ended the last Christian Muslim struggle in the 13th Century -, very, very fascinating.) The High Sparrow with the Gods and 7 Blessings - not the real deal - too much hair shirt - too little Joy in being part of Father God's Plan = revamp Crusades. And watch out for the people who take a widow's house the BIBLE warns. When 'it' is all about power - jump back.
Ok, surely if you watch the show you know that, but Consider. Perhaps the High Septon going on and on about sins is really the damn flap trap about something that occurred 500 years ago and those people are DEAD. The Chinese would not consider it appropriate to be blamed for Mongol 70 million dead.
Now the God of Light - this one has some Idea of Biblical History. The red whatever, Melisandre, has a clue that the God of Light deserted her when a child was sacrificed. The Old Testament is the Same. God deserted all the baby for blood - for the crops to the god of prosperity - people.
And they arrive at the Stark's house to war and discover the horrid man who shot down the Stark child with an arrow - he is not going to have help with survival. In fact, the God of Light helps the people with the lost child - with the newly, alive John Snow Stark to win.
And we see John Snow Stark is really going to live - so far. And he came back from being dead - dead. Like Lazarus.
Ok, now the deal is Lazarus - let's be real, let's be honest, let's be accurate.
If you really know your Scriptures - Peter WAS NOT the first to announce Jesus is the Christ. Nathaniel and Andrew, Peter's brother got this - the first day.
Lazarus. Lazarus is not the first person Jesus raises from - the DEAD. Lazarus is the fourth the Disciples bothered to write down. In FACT, Jesus, a couple of times, took multitudes and the Word of God says "HE Healed Them ALL." And this is without doubt - a time with the dying - on stretchers were brought, to Him. So, let's be real and factual and say, 'Lazarus is the fourth we know of. In Fact, John says John cannot even begin to describe how Magnificent Jesus IS.'
Jesus said, with astonishing Jesus like Humility, that after He dies and Shows us Literally the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand - by Ascending - So (Thanks Dee and Sharon) we know Where Jesus IS. With Witnesses.
And Jesus does not say things off the cuff (like I do and have flaws and weaknesses). And if you look up people who have life after death experiences - you see none of us are surprised. However, if you keep looking you will find really, very dead people - who have even their skin has rigor mortis and are being cut open for organ donation with 15 medical witnesses to their death. They return to say, they have met Jesus. We have a recent movie about this too from a 4 year old child. Oklahoma, a small town, prayed for a boy killed in a car accident not to die. And he did and all was lost. Until he had been dead for a day and they went in to take organs from his completely rigor mortis, skin rigor and black although he was Caucasian.
Another woman was from the Midwest and she died after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was dead. Rigor mortis of the flesh to turn black. And she woke up in the morgue. To find she had no more cancer, which had been through her whole body.
Jesus was not just a great man. Jesus is ALIVE.
Jesus please pray with us.
Our Father,
Who is in Heaven. Holy is Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be Done. On earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this Day. Our Daily Bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not in to temptation.
Deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory.
Forever and ever. Amen.
In the Name of Jesus, we pray as Jesus told us in John 14, 15 and 16.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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