My grandma was really mad my parents wouldn't name my sister and I Mary and Martha. Yes, we were given Biblical names, but apparently they weren't good enough Biblical names. This is not the point of my post.
I've been noodling for the past three weeks on the sermon series we're going through at church. I've really connected with the perspective Trike's been giving us. It's the story of Lazarus, whose sisters were Mary and Martha. A quick synopsis of the story is that Lazarus gets really sick, Mary and Martha send word to Jesus in hopes that He'll heal Lazarus, Jesus says his sickness won't end in death but for the Glory of God, Jesus goes to Jerusalem, and Lazarus dies. First thought is of course - what the heck!? Jesus said he wouldn't die, but then goes to Jerusalem, and Lazarus dies! What's up with that!?
This is just the coolest thing. So, the verse says: "So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was." (John 11:3-6)
Note the part where the verse says, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, SO when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was." What?! He loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus - knew Lazarus was so sick he might die - and because of His love (BECAUSE of His love), he did NOTHING? How does that make sense??
And it comes down to this. Joy. Praise. Overflowing excitement. When we get super excited about something, like the Bears winning the SuperBowl.....we say "well the Bears are AWESOME and have a fantastic defense and YAY! They're just so great!" We're praising them. We're so super excited and joyful about something, all we can do is say how great it is. Well, same thing. Jesus allows Lazarus to die so that he can raise him from the dead, BECAUSE he knows that Mary/Martha/entire town of mourners will be MUCH more joyful when he brings him back than they would have been if he had just cured Lazarus. And through that, He gets glorified. He fills them up with joy, and it's so overflowing - He ends up getting praised.
It's a bit of a circular reasoning, but it's once you wrap your head around it, it's amazing. First, he's asking, Do you trust Me? One of the verses that I haven't included yet is the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept." But it communicates so much. The actual translation of the verse where the Bible says he is deeply moved by hearing that Lazarus was in the tomb (dead dead) is that he snorted like a horse. He was so touched, so moved, so affected by the sorrow that Mary and Martha felt, that he snorted like a horse. He wept. And isn't that comforting? Jesus knows that there is Glory and Joy and Praise on the other side of the suffering, but he weeps, mourns, agonizes with the sisters. He feels the same pain we're feeling. Sometimes it's pain he's allowed to occur in our life. And he allows it to occur OUT OF LOVE for us. He knows that the result, the end of the story, the last word will be so much more than we could ever dream.
Our hope is not in a dream job, an amazing house, the coolest car, a great relationship. Our hope is cemented in the fact that one day there's something more. Something better. Something profoundly, insanely, crazily more than we could ever hope. God is never late. Everything. Everything is for the glory of God.
It's so easy to get tangled up in thinking that things/people down here are going to make everything "better". That our current suffereng/sadness/depression will be solved when <*insert dream here*> happens. But that's when everything because worthless. That's when we look around and all of a sudden wonder what the point of it all is. "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever." (Romans 1:25) They "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man" (Romans 1:23a). Because if we don't hang onto the truth that all of this happens so that in the end God is humongously praised, it's worthless.
And that gives me hope. It may not seem like things are going to work out. It may not seem like life makes any sense at all. But remembering that this life is short and it's the end that's going to be worth something, that makes now make sense. "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:2b)
Cool, huh?
5 comments:
good observations.
Rebekah,
Good thoughts. I have a comment, a complement of sorts to your current thoughts.
This is a question that I've given more attention to lately, what does one make of the reality of the kingdom of God in relation to making things better today? I struggle with the idea that all of this is just for the praise of God in the end. The thing is I live here and today is when I need the life Jesus gives. So as much as I understand and agree with your thoughts on the need for future hope, I believe the dream your talking about that makes things better is that of the kingdom of God.
Jerod - I think that's kind of where Trike (and hopefully my recap of his message) was taking it? Everything - praise and glory and worship of God - is ultimately for his Kingdom. I have the same struggle of making sense of my everyday life - who the heck cares if i make 10 more boxes of cheerios - in the whole scheme of life it makes no difference whatsoever. And in that, I find it hard to feel like this life is worth anything. I think the thing that resonated with me was that even the crap of my life (which i align with the suffering piece) is eventually going to work into part of God's praise/growth of his Kingdom.
I guess my question back to you (as more of a clarifier to make sure i understand you) is if the thought of the kingdom of God helps you with the struggle of this life? Did i read you wrong?
Nice post, but it seems so difficult to believe.
I guess this is the fundamental paradox of Christianity: that you give up short term pleasures in order to obtain long term riches (e.g. Heb. 11:26-27), and this doesn't only refer to abstract heaven concepts.
Rebekah-First, thanks for the reply on my blog. I need to write again soon.
Yeah, this is a big topic. I'll try to be pithy. The kingdom of God does indeed help me with this life. I've seen the good that God is doing and I hope in what He will do. You're right to hope in Christ to make all the bad stuff work for the kingdom.
I'm trying to get at the reality of the kingdom for me outside of church services, spirtual disciplines and the elusive idea of what some have made heaven (synonomous with the kingdom of God for some) to be. I very much think my post on the environment is (or needs to be) an outworking of the reality of the kingdom of God. There are other outworkings like this, like having a concern for the poor and oppressed among us.
One final thing you hit on was the idea of vocation...I'm tired though and I want to go to bed. Perhaps I'll write more later.
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