How do you react, what do you do, when your miracle, your Word from God—comes to you seemingly flat, elementary and, more importantly—too late? When it offers you—no tah-dah moment of right now jubilation! No sharp intake of astounded breath—rather it offers, brings along with it—a heavy, still, disappointing silence. It leaves you staring off befuddled, clueless, blank—in that universally recognized, that’s it? Really? Sort-of-way.
You know the look. Certainly you’ve witnessed it? it’s disappointment—unfulfilled expectation. Instead of going left, it goes right—way right!
How do you handle disappointment—along with its plethora of emotional fallout?
We all have expectation—all of us. Even the most spiritual. Try as we might to live minus our faulty human ideals—our faultier still ungrounded expectations, we have them—we do.
We even expect things from Jesus. And, to a certain extent, we’re correct in doing so. We, as His kids should expect things. Things like a certain measure of faith, His protection and provision, His presence and the fulfillment of every promise He has ever made—to name a few. Here’s the catch—they’ll come His way not ours.
That aside—don’t allow, you mustn’t allow, foolish expectations—self-serving expectations to lead you down the wrong path. Proverbs 14:12 makes that abundantly clear, listen: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”
Don’t allow presupposition to pervade your relationship with Jesus—a wrong move—bad! It will cause you, most assuredly, to fall—headlong, into sin. And, following quickly behind that sin—comes its cronies—the perils of disaster and heartache.
By allowing for a—He’s my buddy, He’s got this for me—irreverent way of thinking to creep in, to exist between the two of you—you and Jesus that is—the above mentioned attitude has already spelled-out your demise—Spiritually always, perhaps physically. Think the leaven of the Pharisees here—a little of it in your relationship with Jesus can—will eventually, kill it.
Example, Judas Iscariot. He had a definite, my buddy, mindset. From perhaps the outset of his relationship with Jesus he allowed seeds of irreverence to grow—simmer crock-pot slowly within him. He had Jesus all figured out. He, Jesus had come to do Judas will, Judas’s way. Jesus would raise up an army to demolish the tyrannical, brutal, socially unjust Roman reign over His people Israel. He was going to restore home rule, order, power, and, opulence. And Judas would have a hefty slice of the pie—position, and power all for himself. See he forgot he was only an ingredient, not the finished product.
His expectations were very unwise—sinful.
The polar opposite of his fatal mindset, the life-robber, the bandit of reverence—is selflessness and faith.
Examples—think King David. Talk about unfulfilled expectations—talk about selflessness. Twenty plus years of unfulfilled promises and betrayal at the hands of his mentor, waiting. Saul, the king, one akin to a father to David tries to take him out—kill him. And his own son, David’s own Absalom, heir to his throne—plots not only to over throw his Father and take his throne, but more—to kill him also! Check in out—read 2nd Samuel.
Think also about Joseph—not Mary’s—the other one. The dreamer of dreams and owner of a coat of many colors. Joseph—young Joseph. Jacobs son— inexperienced Joseph. Tells not only his eleven brothers but also his Father—the one who wrestled with God and has a limp to prove it. About his dreams—a bit haughtily. Joseph tells them all that according to his dream the sun, moon and eleven stars will all bow down before him. And though he was correct—his presentation of the facts was a bit naïve, foolish. How we present ourselves—matters.
He’s about seventeen when he has this prophetic dream. And now at thirty-something, some thirteen plus years after being sold into slavery at the hands of his jealous brothers, after being falsely accused of crimes and being imprisoned for them—finally, his dream, his promise, comes to pass. Read it for yourself—Genesis 37-44:9. I’ve skimmed over a lot!
Unlike Judas Iscariot, neither David, nor Joseph, nor our upcoming protagonist Martha, viewed their relationship with Jesus as anything but sacred—cherished. Mind you, they each had their faults—we all do, save Jesus. Yet, each in-turn demonstrated great faith in, and reverence for, God. Each demonstrated deference to His will…
So now—finally, at our close we meet Martha. As disappointed and heartbroken as she was—she remained reverential to Jesus in her grief. Who is Martha you’re asking? She’s a friend of Jesus.
She’s also the eldest sister of Mary and Lazarus, friends of Jesus as well. In fact, you may remember Mary as the one some other friends of Jesus scolded for pouring spikenard, an expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet then wiping it off with her hair?
You see Martha, Mary, and Lazarus followed Jesus—were His disciples. Each believed that if they had faith in Him they would see the Glory of God in the world to come. After all, that is what Jesus taught them—and they believed everything He told them. They would not taste death.
So now standing with Jesus days after she had sent for Him, asking Him to come and heal, touch—save her only brother, His friend, from death—she is confused. Had He forgotten what He had said to them? Did He forget His love for His friend, her brother? Maybe He didn’t hear her say that her brother has been dead for four days now and his body must, well—stink?
That’s it. That must be it. He didn’t hear her. Why else would was He instructing these men to roll away her brothers grave stone? Surely He knows…not in front of all these people…
What will they think? He must be irrational from grief…
What’s the use now? What can come of His being here—too late. It’s too late! Her brother is, in fact—dead. This makes no sense…
Wait! What is He doing? Why is He shouting out Lazarus’ name—as if a dead man can hear…
Before we go forward, I want to remind you here, now, of the question I initially asked—way back in the beginning of this blog. How do you react, what do you do, when your miracle, your Word from God—comes to you seemingly flat, elementary and, more importantly—too late?
Do you like myself—like these brothers and these sisters mentioned above, ever forget that we are not in charge—not our own? We are ingredients in the making of—the construction of something far greater than we will ever know or understand—this side of heaven. And that as ingredients we offer only what it is we created to add to the outcome of the overall product we’re part of—Gods will, His divine plan?
Martha knew that, so did David and Joseph. Unfortunately, Judas didn’t and it cost him—his life.
Never forget that we are mere ingredients—imbibed with power certainly, but ingredients none-the-less. We are not the Maker, the Originator—not the finished product. That is Gods alone—created for, meant for—His glory.
We are but pieces of our Father—of Him, but not Him. We don’t possess His knowledge. We, unlike Him are not omniscient. We can’t possibly see the outcome—the end of anyone journey, or anything’s purpose. Never mind the thousand little reasons why things are allowed in the first place—why their allowed to exist at all!
And so it was with Martha and Mary and most of their little town for that matter. They were all knocked-out by Lazarus’ death. After all, this was their only brother, Martha and Mary’s—and the towns beloved friend. All they saw—could see, was that Lazarus was dead. And the pointlessness of his death.
Martha had sent news to Jesus days before to come right-away—posthaste! So why did He wait days, two in fact—before going to save His friend? Why let Him die? As with every other answer to a believer’s questions, the answers are found in God’s Holy Word.
Since the Second Chapter of John a foundation has been laid by Jesus. Clues left like a proverbial bread-crumb trail that we might see the big picture—the finished product if you will. Yet even when answers are right before us—in our blindness, we miss them. It is not until Jesus opens our eyes that we are able to see what has been before us all along—His purpose for it all.
Where Martha, Mary, and everyone gathered at that tomb saw only death—Jesus saw life. Ingredients are not meant to be the final product—rather their use is to it bring about—a perfect, complete product that is.
Jesus knew what His disciples did not. Lazarus would live—and his physical resurrection would help to usher in Jesus’ own necessary—impending death. Lazarus was one of the necessary final ingredients needed to accomplish a perfect end product—The Cross.
And that—The Cross of Christ, the reason for it all, our only hope, did not look anything like what anyone would expect from a merciful, loving, forgiving Father…
Watch out for your faulty expectations… There’s a saying that goes; things may not always be what they look like!
When you focus on what you see, the tangible—what things seem to be, rather than using eyes of faith, the potential, the possible— you will always—always feel disappointment…
Seldom does anything ever end-up lining up exactly in the fanciful way you’ve expected it to—your visions, your way.
See that’s the thing about this faith—you’re called to walk by it—not by your sight, not your own way. That’s the way of Judas—not Jesus.
In today’s Scripture Jesus opens with a puissant statement of fact. But what is He alluding to specifically?
The Word of God states that unless God build the house, whatever that house may be; a ministry, marriage, business venture or the building of an actual Church. Regardless the endeavor, if the Lord is not fully at its center—it is doomed to enviable failure. The Bible hosts a plethora of just such stories of eventual demise. Down to the mighty King Solomon a figure in today’s text.
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