In today’s episode, the guys discuss the story of Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead. We read in John 11:1-3, \u201cNow a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, \u2018Lord, the one you love is sick.\u2019\u201d This last verse shows that the relationship Jesus had with His friends and disciples made them feel loved and valuable. This also tells us something about our affection toward other people. Our heart and disposition towards others should be like Jesus, and we too are the ones Jesus loves. Mark also points out the words found in John 17:23, \u201cThen the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me,\u201d which show that God loves us just as much as He loves His son, Jesus.<\/p>\n
The story of Lazarus continues in John 11:5-6, \u201cSo although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.\u201d The sisters thought Jesus would come immediately and without hesitation once He heard that Lazarus was sick. However, Jesus waited two days before He even came to see Lazarus. His intentional delay to stay where He was is an act of love. In this time in history, they usually waited until day three or four until they declared someone to be dead. If Jesus had shown up after only one or two days, then everyone would have simply said Lazarus wasn\u2019t really dead. Jesus wanted to make sure there was no doubt in anyone\u2019s mind that Lazarus was as dead as he could be. To Mary and Martha, those two days of waiting seemed like Jesus didn\u2019t care or wasn\u2019t coming, but He knew better. God works in mysterious ways that don\u2019t necessarily line up with our timing or often don\u2019t make sense. However, God is sovereign and is working all things together for our good and His glory, even when we don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n
This story of Lazarus shows the importance of His timing and that we need to trust the Lord in every circumstance. Nothing allows us to touch people more than being at peace. We are least effective when we are stressed or fretting, so the best way we can freely love each other is to trust our Father. He is weaving a beautiful tapestry over each of our lives, even though we can\u2019t see all the pieces yet. The resurrection of Lazarus is a sign of the future resurrection when all things will be made right, all death will be reversed, and all tears will be wiped away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story of Lazarus paints an exceptional portrait of Christ’s love for his followers and teaches believers to take comfort in God\u2019s tender love for each one of us, even in the hardest of times. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":281384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","tags":[],"post_series":[],"podcast_series":[11425],"speaker":[11188,11189,11190,11187],"podcast_topics":[11542,11315],"class_list":["post-355041","episode","type-episode","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","podcast_series-season-2","speaker-emeal-zwayne","speaker-mark-spence","speaker-oscar-navarro","speaker-ray-comfort","podcast_topics-lazarus","podcast_topics-love","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n