Thursday, April 26, 2012

Thursday, April 26 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Psalm 73, 77-78.
Today's scripture focus is John 11:1-16.

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 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. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
 7 Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
 8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”
 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”
 11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
 14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
 16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”



Of course, I've read this passage many times.  I'm sure most of us have.  But it is interesting to me the things I noticed today when we are reading only this portion of the story, and not the rest, the part of the story that contains the miracle, that we will be reading tomorrow.  Perhaps I've noticed them before, but failed to really TAKE NOTE because then we go on to read about the miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead and we forget all about what led up to it.  Other than the fact that Jesus waited and let Lazarus die on purpose before going to help.  We know it was for the ultimate glory of God and so it stands out as a remarkable example of the difference between our timing and God's timing.

However, I want to look at verse 16 for a minute.  I never really took much note of that verse before.  Basically, the disciples are assuming that when they go back to Judea, Jesus will be killed.  One way or another, whether he is stoned or what have you, the Jews will kill him.  Jesus then says that there are 12 hrs of daylight, meaning, according to John MacArthur, that his time on earth has been set out by God.  He will have the certain amount of time prescribed by God and no one, not the disciples nor the Jews nor anyone else, will make that time any longer or shorter, regardless of where they go or who is there and wants him dead.  So Thomas says, effectively, "Well, if Jesus wants to get himself killed, then I guess we'll all go too."  This is what John MacArthur says about Thomas in this message:


Verse 16, "Then said Thomas who was called Didymus," and that means "twin." He was a twin. "Then said Thomas who was called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with Him." See. He's going to go back to Jerusalem, we might as well go. You know ... it's really kind of an interesting thing. I really admire his love. I can't say much for his faith. He...his love was so strong he was willing to die for Jesus and his faith was so weak he knew he would. You know. Great devotion and great despondency at the same time. Big love, little faith, see.
Well, before you knock his faith, just see if you can match his love. He was saying, we can't let our Savior die by Himself, let's go die with Him. Now that's love, that's love. Before you criticize his lack of faith, see if you can match his love. He loved Jesus.
You say, "Well, when they did crucify Jesus, Thomas didn't die with Him." No, he scattered like the rest of them, but he sure had good intentions. And you know something? Later on he did die for Christ. History tells us he was a martyr. He did die for Jesus if not with Him. No, I really can't say too much for his faith, but I certainly can say something for his love. He was willing to go right back into the teeth of the hostility, into the seething unrest.
You know, I don't know about me and I don't know about you, about whether we'd be willing to die for Christ. But the sad part of it is most of us haven't even been willing to live for Him. You know that? Most of us live for ourselves, for our own goals, our own pleasure, our own material possessions, our awn money, our own desires, our own physical cravings‑whether it's sex, or food, or whatever else it may be‑we live for ourselves. Friends, that is as remote as it can possibly be from dying with Jesus, or for Jesus. That's the antithesis. Thomas says let's go the with Him. We say let's live for ourselves. And we claim to be Christians. And we knock Thomas's faith when our love can't even scratch his.


OUCH.  Anyone else wincing right now?  I know I am.  I'm trying and I think I've been getting better at it, but let's face it... there is quite a bit of time in my day where I'm pursuing my own interests without giving much thought as to whether I'm living for Him or not.  How about you?

Tomorrow's scripture focus:  John 11:17-37.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  1 Chronicles 6.

1 comment:

Tammy said...

He was willing to die with Christ and most of us won't even live for Him.

Ouch is right!