New Grounds for Believing

They came to the site of the tomb where Lazarus was buried. A swelling procession of mourners; Friends of Lazarus and his Sisters Martha and Mary. As they approached the tomb the Master was again “deeply troubled, angry,” seemingly enraged. The “God/Man,” Creator and Lord of the Universe, felt again that remorse wrenching the heart of God in the days of Noah. Here, now, by the tomb of a Friend, He saw it as only the Creator could. The dust, from which He formed our Race, compressed by the winds and shifting sands of time, now made up the rocky cave and stone imprisoning this Man whom He loved.

“Remove the stone!!” He commanded. Ringing across all time, with cosmic resonance, echoing in the eternal hallways of the Kingdom of the Heavens, the command could be heard from “before time began.” The removal of that stone was to be the greatest stroke of the “finger of God,” since Creation. He forever, through this “Son of God,” become “Son of Man,’ was turning back the tyranny of evil, sin, and death.

But!

The voice of doubt protests yet again. It was Martha’s voice. “Master by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days.”

This time, though, the doubt would be dispelled. “Jesus looked her in the eye. ‘Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’” “You’re about to be given new grounds for believing.” There’d be no protests this time about resuscitation. Lazarus was dead … dead to the point of decomposition. If this stone were to be removed something supernatural would take place and only those unwilling to face the indisputable truth would be able to deny it. Jesus delayed His coming to Bethany for that very reason.

“Go ahead! Take away the stone.”

As Friends “removed the stone, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and prayed, ‘Father, I’m grateful that You have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that You have sent me.”

What happened next would be God’s doing. Jesus repeatedly insisted that His work was the “Father’s” work. He gave credit to the Father for all He did. “If I, by the finger of God, cast out devils then the Kingdom of God is here.” “If, today, I raise a man from the dead, all of you who witness it up close and personal, or those who witness it through your later reports, will know I am here and doing what I do by Divine Decree!

“Lazarus! Come out!”

The shout heard beyond the reach of death startled a decomposing consciousness; shocked alive a lifeless heart; raised a prostrate form erect, and “he came out … wrapped from head to toe, with a kerchief over his face.”

This is the Lazarus we’re eating Dinner with, in Bethany. We, along with many eyewitnesses, John, the Storyteller included, are celebrating these unparalleled, unimaginable “new grounds for believing.”

We’ll resume the Lenten pilgrimage tomorrow. But the Man we follow will be different to us then. We will know that “He is,” without question, “the Christ, the Son of the Living – Most High – God.”

WE WILL FOLLOW HIM WHEREVER HE LEADS US; FOR WHATEVER PURPOSES HE INTENDS TO USE US!