Timing Death (John 11:7-16)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:08.669 Let's turn to John, Chapter Eleven and continue our reading of this amazing event, 2 00:00:08.789 --> 00:00:19.710 the resurrection of Lazarus. John Eleven, versus seventh through sixteen, started 3 00:00:19.710 --> 00:00:26.140 verse five. Actually, John Eleven, verse five. This is God's word. 4 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:32.899 Let's give our attention to it now. Jesus loved Mary, or loved 5 00:00:32.979 --> 00:00:38.329 Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, 6 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:43.130 he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then, 7 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:47.289 after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. 8 00:00:48.289 --> 00:00:53.000 The disciple said to him, rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking 9 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:58.640 to stone you. Are you going there again? Jesus answered, are there 10 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:02.679 not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he 11 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:06.909 does not stumble because he sees the light of the world, of this world, 12 00:01:07.950 --> 00:01:11.030 but if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is 13 00:01:11.150 --> 00:01:15.549 not in him. After saying these things, he said to them, our 14 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:22.219 friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. The disciple 15 00:01:22.340 --> 00:01:25.859 said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll he will recover. 16 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:30.739 Now Jesus had spoken on his death or spoken of his death, but 17 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:34.810 they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. But Jesus told them plainly 18 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:40.530 Lazarus has died, and for your Sake, I am glad that I was 19 00:01:40.609 --> 00:01:44.730 not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him. 20 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:49.319 So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples let us 21 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:56.319 also go that we may die with him, since the reading of God's word, 22 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:00.909 may He bless it to us. So we have this sibling group. 23 00:02:01.989 --> 00:02:07.069 We here as brothers and sisters. Lots of people right, they have a 24 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:13.110 sibling group. But Mary, Martha and Lazarus, two sisters and a brother, 25 00:02:13.669 --> 00:02:20.539 and Lazarus, their dear brother, is sick. He's so sick that 26 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:25.979 he's dying. So Mary and Martha Send Word to Jesus, their friend, 27 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:36.009 and they say, your friend, our brother, he's sick. And then 28 00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:44.210 we have this very striking verse where it says that he loved them in Verse 29 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:46.400 Five, and then verse six it says so when he heard that Lazarus was 30 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:53.800 ill, he stayed to days longer. Now, when you send word to 31 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:00.990 your family members that someone is sick and about to die and you tell your 32 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:07.750 friends it's about to happen, come quickly. We need you. Usually we 33 00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:15.340 don't think of the loving response as staying and waiting, but that's what Jesus 34 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:22.580 did. And to quell any doubts that he might be doing something wrong, 35 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:27.250 we have reminders all over the place in this chapter that there was nothing wrong. 36 00:03:27.330 --> 00:03:30.889 That was Jesus was doing. Knows the connection verse five. Now Jesus 37 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:36.889 loved Martha and her sister, that's Mary, and Lazarus. So when he 38 00:03:36.969 --> 00:03:40.009 heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place that 39 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:46.280 he was. Why did Jesus stay? He stayed because he loved them. 40 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:51.039 Not In spite of his love. Not, it may not be easy to 41 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:54.990 see from Mary and Martha as perspective, or Lazarus as perspective for that matter. 42 00:03:55.629 --> 00:04:00.789 Why Jesus? Why the loving thing was to wait? Why the loving 43 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:08.270 thing was to let him die? And the disciples in this passage that we 44 00:04:08.349 --> 00:04:11.740 have before us this morning, they also struggled to see this as well. 45 00:04:11.819 --> 00:04:15.939 They struggled to understand what's going on. Why is he making the choices he 46 00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:20.139 makes? Because after these two days, what does Jesus say? He says 47 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:29.850 let's go again to Judea and his disciples. Say That also seems like bad 48 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:35.930 timing, because weren't they just trying to kill you there? They were just 49 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:41.040 trying to stone you. And Bethany is in Judea, just a couple miles 50 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.600 outside of Jerusalem, the place where all the leaders and all the people are 51 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:53.149 who are wanting to kill Jesus. So there's this real question about timing and 52 00:04:53.310 --> 00:04:57.670 death that we have in our passage, partly with Lazarus and partly with the 53 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:00.829 disciples fearing for their own death, and then, of course, Christ himself, 54 00:05:01.790 --> 00:05:10.699 who has purposefully not given himself over and is avoided a rest, avoided 55 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:15.779 being stoned, not because he's afraid, but because his time has not yet 56 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:21.649 come. LAZARUSS is timed had come for him to die, at least for 57 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:27.689 a little while. The disciples time had not yet come. Jesus time and 58 00:05:27.810 --> 00:05:31.610 not come, not yet come. God is very concerned about the things of 59 00:05:31.689 --> 00:05:41.279 this world, even our deaths. This passage records these conversations and reminds us 60 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:45.720 that when it comes to death, the timing of these things is all up 61 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.230 to God, even when we don't know and even when we don't understand. 62 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:57.629 So, rather than fearing death, this passage calls us to trust the savior, 63 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:01.870 who has overcome death, who has defeated death, and when we do 64 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:10.779 so, he tells us we will not stumble in this life and we will 65 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:16.500 have eternal life in the life to come. So let's look at the interaction 66 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:24.810 that goes on here between Jesus and his disciples in particular. We've begun this 67 00:06:24.889 --> 00:06:29.170 already, they say in Verse Eight, Rabbi, the Jews were just now 68 00:06:29.209 --> 00:06:33.240 seeking to stone you. Are you going there again? He then gives them 69 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:40.120 this proverb about the day and the hours, and then, after saying these 70 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:45.279 things, he says to them in verse eleven, our friend Lazarus has fallen 71 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:50.069 asleep, but I go to waken him. They respond by saying then, 72 00:06:50.110 --> 00:06:54.709 why do we need to go? You see, they're still trying to get 73 00:06:54.709 --> 00:06:58.189 out of it, right. Why do we need to go to Jerusalem if 74 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:02.339 Lazarus is asleep? Because he'll wake up right, we don't need to go. 75 00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:08.339 It's dangerous. And of course, Jesus says, I'm not talking about 76 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:15.139 sleep, I'm saying Lazarus has actually died. These words for sleep and death 77 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:24.529 have often been interchanged. homer called called sleep the brother of death, because 78 00:07:24.689 --> 00:07:30.079 that looks so similar. Right there is a person I'm lying perhaps their mouth 79 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:34.240 open, not moving, not responding. It looks really similar. And so 80 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:42.439 these words of often interchangeable and in some ways the concepts become interchangeable for Christians, 81 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.910 because even the Lazarus has died because of his trust and his faith in 82 00:07:46.990 --> 00:07:51.509 the Lord and because of the Lord's work, he will rise as though he 83 00:07:51.709 --> 00:08:00.339 were asleep. Our Confessions and catechisms talk about this, that when Christians die 84 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:05.740 true deaths, they truly die, but when they die, their bodies lie 85 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:09.019 in the graves as though they were, their bodies were asleep in their beds, 86 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:13.569 because it will be just as easy for the Lord to rouse them out 87 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:20.209 of the grave as it is for perhaps a member of your family to or 88 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:24.290 maybe even easier for a remember your family, to wake you up out of 89 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:28.879 bed. Of The Lord will say up and we will come up and he 90 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:33.240 will come in. The resurrection will happen. This is us, our great 91 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:39.000 hope, this is this day that we are waiting for. But in this 92 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:41.509 life, in the deaths that we have, the death that we will all 93 00:08:41.669 --> 00:08:48.389 face unless he comes before we die, we find that death is very terrible 94 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:54.149 thing. It's not just like sleep. And it's hard. In many ways, 95 00:08:54.470 --> 00:09:01.299 death tears US apart, death separates us from each other. Death brings 96 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:05.899 great sadness, and I'm sad to say that a lot of times I've seen 97 00:09:07.059 --> 00:09:11.570 that when a person dies in a family, sometimes there's a lot of conflict 98 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:18.129 within families that results a very sad, sad thing. When a person dies, 99 00:09:18.330 --> 00:09:24.240 it forces a change in our world's one that we rarely feel ready for, 100 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.960 and the implications of it go on for the rest of your life. 101 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:35.399 And for this reason we try very hard to have control over our deaths. 102 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.309 We try to end those of those around us, and, of course, 103 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:46.590 in a way we do have control over them. We tend to live longer 104 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:52.110 when we get good sleep and exercise and eat well, but we all know 105 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:58.860 that none of these things are anything else can finally stop death. The only 106 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:05.460 thing, the only one that can actually stop death is God. The only 107 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:09.450 one that can overcome it and cause something that is dead to come to life 108 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:16.929 is God, and so that's why Mary and Martha are exactly right to go 109 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:22.159 to Jesus, who is the son of God, the Christ of God, 110 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:26.799 as we have sung, this Messiah who is promised and who will one day 111 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.080 bring about this great resurrection of the dead. They are right to go to 112 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:37.629 Jesus when they need help, when they see their brother dying. This going 113 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:46.190 to Jesus and following Jesus is very striking when we see the opposite action of 114 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:52.500 the disciples. When Mary and Martha, in their concern and perhaps fear, 115 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:58.139 I don't know, concern over their brother, they go to Jesus and they 116 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:03.820 listen to him and they wait on him. The disciples, however, do 117 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:11.690 not listen to him. They're not hearing his voice. Remember again what happens 118 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:16.330 here. He stays two days and then in verse seven we read then, 119 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:20.679 after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. 120 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:31.039 Let us go to Judea again. Now, when the Lord of Heaven 121 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:39.629 and Earth says let us go anywhere, what's the right response? Yes, 122 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:43.470 master, yes, teacher, yes, rabbi, yes, Lord, I 123 00:11:45.110 --> 00:11:48.299 will go wherever you go. I will follow you wherever you lead me. 124 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:54.019 You might have the words of Ruth come to my mind her. I'm going 125 00:11:54.139 --> 00:12:01.529 to follow Naomi and her God wherever she goes. That's not the reaction of 126 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:09.769 the disciples here. They try to convince God that he's got a bad plan. 127 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:13.769 I won't ask you to raise your hands. Who's ever tried to do 128 00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:18.960 this as well? But I will raise mine. Have you ever felt like 129 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:26.720 God's timing is not good, like you are frustrated and he doesn't seem to 130 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:31.389 be working according to reason? Because it is a reasonable thing what they say. 131 00:12:31.269 --> 00:12:35.350 They were just trying to kill you, Jesus. Why would you go 132 00:12:35.629 --> 00:12:41.190 there again? They're not happy about it and they're scared for their own lives. 133 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:48.980 This seems different than Marian Martha's reaction to me, but there are problem 134 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:54.340 is bigger than fear. It is the bigger problem is their disobedience. Jesus 135 00:12:54.379 --> 00:13:00.250 said let's go, and they say that's not a good idea. But Jesus, 136 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:05.289 his ideas are always good ideas. They are always perfect. They are 137 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:11.490 his plan that has been crafted from all eternity. When Jesus decides not to 138 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:18.360 get arrested, that is exactly the perfect thing to happen. When Jesus says 139 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.720 I'm going to wait two days, perfect, when Jesus says let's go to 140 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:28.309 Judea, perfect. When Jesus calls us to wait until he returns and for 141 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:33.509 us to stay here in the world, but not be of the world, 142 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:39.309 to live as pilgrims and exiles, Resident Aliens, citizens of Heaven. That's 143 00:13:39.549 --> 00:13:48.740 perfect. That's exactly the right thing to happen. Even though there are difficulties, 144 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:52.299 even though there might be people I'm trying to hurt us. We must 145 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:58.730 never forget who he is, and that's what's happening with the disciples here. 146 00:14:00.809 --> 00:14:03.129 Too often, when we need the help of Jesus, we fail to go 147 00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:09.330 to him when he promises to come to us. We wonder if we should 148 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:13.840 really heed that or receive him. When he says things ought to happen in 149 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:18.519 a certain way, or when he doesn't tell us that when and how things 150 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.480 will happen, we doubt him, we doubt his love, we doubt his 151 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:28.029 care, we doubt his timing, his wisdom. But this passage is reminding 152 00:14:28.110 --> 00:14:33.549 us, it's impressing on our hearts again and again and again, he loves 153 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:41.179 you. That's why he does the things he does, that's why he waited 154 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:46.019 to come and that's also why he was going back to Judea, even those 155 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:54.129 disciples were afraid for their lives. One of the ways we see his love 156 00:14:54.330 --> 00:15:00.049 in this passage, let will be later on when he actually causes Lazarus to 157 00:15:00.090 --> 00:15:03.649 rise from the dead. But another a great way we see his love is 158 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:11.000 when we have these words in verse. Eleven after saying these things, he 159 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:20.960 said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. Loved. This word 160 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:30.830 friend is no small thing. It's no small thing. A good friend is 161 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:35.659 worth a lot. Good human friend is worth a lot to have someone that 162 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:39.659 you can rely on and depend on. We don't always have friends in our 163 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:43.299 lives that we wish we did and we long for them and when we have 164 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:46.620 them, we are thankful for them, when we give them presents and we 165 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:54.370 spend time with them. A good friend is a very valuable thing. One 166 00:15:54.409 --> 00:15:58.649 of the things that the ancients used to say about friendship is that friendship was 167 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:03.610 made because of people who are similar to one another. Whether or not that's 168 00:16:03.690 --> 00:16:07.200 true, you can think about that. But one of the interesting comments, 169 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:10.919 I think it's aristotle, but I forget. Don't quote me on this, 170 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:14.720 but I think it was aristotle who said, would you ever is an interesting 171 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:17.399 thing to me. Would you ever want your friend to become a God? 172 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:21.070 Right, that would be a great thing. And his answer is no, 173 00:16:22.350 --> 00:16:27.309 because it couldn't be your friend anymore. The reasoning is you would be so 174 00:16:27.669 --> 00:16:33.419 different from you you couldn't be friends, because friends are people that are similar 175 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:38.019 to each other. What's amazing here, though, is that the god, 176 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:49.210 the one true living God, has become just like us and has become our 177 00:16:49.730 --> 00:16:57.929 friend to do all the things that friends do, accept in a perfect way, 178 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:04.720 to always be there, to always listen, to always guide and always 179 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:10.160 give a good advice, to always bring comfort, to always have a wise 180 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:21.589 word. He is a friend to marry the Martha, the Lazarus and to 181 00:17:21.789 --> 00:17:26.190 us. What an amazing gift that is. And in these things we see 182 00:17:27.349 --> 00:17:33.900 love, friendship being a very particular kind of love. Of course, this 183 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:41.980 love will very quickly grow into Jesus, in his perfect timing, giving his 184 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:52.609 own life, suffering and dying on across under torture, under persecution, under 185 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:56.730 shame, under false trials, all these kinds of things. He does this 186 00:17:56.930 --> 00:18:04.960 willingly, because he loves us. Jesus is our friend. We can go 187 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:15.869 to him, we can trust him, even when we don't understand. This 188 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:18.589 fact is impressed all the more in this final thing I'll mention, and that's 189 00:18:18.789 --> 00:18:26.309 that he is not only our friend, but he's also our Lord. He's 190 00:18:26.390 --> 00:18:32.460 not like our human friends, who are our ownly human friends, who make 191 00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:37.539 mistakes and how limitations and our struggle in their own ways and aren't always able 192 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:42.970 to be there and these kinds of things. Know, this Lord is our 193 00:18:44.210 --> 00:18:49.569 God and we ought to follow him, and when we follow Him we do 194 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:53.170 not stumble, and this is the meaning of the proverb that he gives in 195 00:18:53.329 --> 00:18:59.480 verse nine. Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks 196 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:03.160 in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this 197 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:08.839 world. Augustine and other church fathers say that these twelve hours of the day 198 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:14.549 are like the twelve disciples. Augustine writes this. He says, do the 199 00:19:14.670 --> 00:19:19.069 hours give counsel to the day. Let the hours be lightened by the day 200 00:19:19.750 --> 00:19:25.019 so that, by the preaching of the hours, the world might believe. 201 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:30.579 He says the day is the supreme one, not the hours. What are 202 00:19:30.619 --> 00:19:34.180 the hours saying to the day? We're not going to do this, we're 203 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:40.410 not going to go. If we follow Jesus, if we trust in Jesus, 204 00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:44.490 he is, as he says here, the light of the world. 205 00:19:45.089 --> 00:19:48.809 We will not fail he's our friend. He won't fail us. He's like 206 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:52.680 the Sun. He lights up everything. He is wise, he is perfect, 207 00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:02.440 he loves us. Let us trust him. The final verse of this 208 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:07.269 passage that I want to touch on, his verse sixteen. Thomas called the 209 00:20:07.390 --> 00:20:11.269 twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may 210 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:17.509 die with him. This is one of two things, and I'm not sure 211 00:20:17.670 --> 00:20:22.619 you can debate about it over coffee afterwards. This is either a brave call 212 00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:27.339 to go and die with the Lord. Right. This is Thomas saying, 213 00:20:27.380 --> 00:20:30.339 all right, if we're going to go to Judea, I'm with you, 214 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:37.210 and yet lacking faith. So brave but lacking faith about the resurrection, in 215 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:41.930 Christ's power over death. Right. He's like, we're going to die and 216 00:20:41.009 --> 00:20:45.849 that'll be it. But I'm with you, Jesus Right. So brave but 217 00:20:45.529 --> 00:20:52.680 faulty, faulty understanding and lacking the hope and of the resurrection which will be 218 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:57.200 here demonstrated in a moment in Lazarus's life or death. I'm not sure how 219 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:02.400 to put that at this moment. So that's one option for Thomas. The 220 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:07.230 other option is that this is sarcastic pleading and doubt, like well, I 221 00:21:07.349 --> 00:21:11.750 guess we're all going to die. Then right. So. So Thomas is 222 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:15.230 either saying let us all go that we may die with him, or let 223 00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:18.500 us all go, though we may die with him. I don't know, 224 00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:26.140 I'm not sure, but either way Thomas is doubting. Even early on the 225 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:30.940 we get sort of Thomas's doubting faith on later on in the Gospel, but 226 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:34.970 we see it here as well. Either way you take this, Thomas is 227 00:21:36.170 --> 00:21:40.849 still trying to control things. He's trying to control his own death or the 228 00:21:40.970 --> 00:21:47.680 death of others. He seems to be afraid in some way, not trusting, 229 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:55.720 more than anything else, his friend, his Lord and his God, 230 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:03.589 who has said let's go to Judea. And we're all like this, of 231 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:11.710 course. We're all like Thomas, forgetting about the resurrection, fearing too much 232 00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:21.940 about our deaths or trying to control them by all kinds of ways, when 233 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:27.299 what we really ought to be doing is remembering the mercy, in compassion and 234 00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:34.930 friendship and love of our God in Christ, whether we're talking about Lazarus as 235 00:22:36.009 --> 00:22:40.650 death, the disciples death or our deaths, our job is not to question 236 00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:45.920 God and to figure everything out and to control him and to force his hand 237 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:51.200 under his timing. We don't have to figure out all his ways. We 238 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:59.789 just trust him and his gift of love. For our sake, he says, 239 00:23:00.549 --> 00:23:03.829 he stayed away until it was time, and for our sake he went 240 00:23:04.029 --> 00:23:10.630 to Lazarus. For our Sake, Jesus did not die until the appointed time, 241 00:23:10.750 --> 00:23:14.940 and he waited three days to rise again. And for our sake, 242 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:22.259 he is also waiting to return. This last one is maybe the hardest one 243 00:23:22.380 --> 00:23:27.490 for me. I find myself, like these disciples, longing and waiting. 244 00:23:29.450 --> 00:23:32.970 Why are you not coming, Lord? Are things not bad enough? Can 245 00:23:33.009 --> 00:23:37.089 you please get me out of this situation I'm in. Just come, Jesus, 246 00:23:37.210 --> 00:23:41.119 so take care of it all. Why won't he come now? Why 247 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:45.000 won't he relieve our pain? Why is there still suffering? Why are people 248 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:52.680 still dying? I don't know, but I know that he loves us and 249 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:56.190 I know that he's wise and I know that he's perfect in all that he 250 00:23:56.309 --> 00:24:03.109 does and that when we walk in that light, in his light, we 251 00:24:03.309 --> 00:24:10.940 will not stumble and we will rise again, even from death. So let's 252 00:24:10.940 --> pray.