Some Sundays when none of us have a ministry responsibility, we'll get a dozen Dunkin Donuts and head over to a local lake. There we have a family worship time. Since our church has various services/Sunday school times and we have separate schedules, we rarely get to worship together at church. So we like to take those ministry free Sundays to do something special.
Last Sunday, we got a late start, and we were just too hungry for donuts. We wanted some meat for our bones. So Dad took us to Bojangles and got us some egg and cheese biscuits. We drove down the road a piece, sat in the shade of a tree, and ate our very yummy biscuits.
As we prepared to pull out onto Main Street, our eleven-year-old asked his dad, "which way do you have to turn to go to the park?"
"Left," dad answered. You see, Ben had an expectation at this point—a request of sorts that he just didn't want to ask straight out. He wanted it to be his dad's idea, but surely we couldn't break a tradition. We always have donuts at the park on Family Day. When traffic cleared, dad turned right.
"Why are you going right?" Ben asked. No answer from Dad. Pressing a little further, he asked, "Where are we going now?"
At this point, I step in and say, "Ben, maybe you should just patiently wait to find out what Dad is doing." It was only a few feet down the road when Dad made a right turn into the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. Now the other kids are starting to catch that expectant hope. The comments range from "is he doing what I think he's doing?" to "Nah, they're just getting their coffee." Once we're at the drive-thru, there's no question anymore, they all get it. There's going to be a resurrection of a tradition, if you will. We're going to get our Dunkin Donuts for Family Day.
Once we got to the park, we enjoyed our donuts and orange juice that we'd brought along from home. Mom and Dad enjoyed their coffee, too. Then we opened the scriptures to John 11 (each child has their own copy of the scriptures so that they can read along while Dad reads aloud).
As we read through the chapter, I had some thoughts about Martha that I just couldn't shake. What did Martha know, and when did she know it?
After Lazarus' death, Jesus comes to Bethany, and Martha comes out to meet him. She has some questions for Jesus.
She tells Jesus that she knows he had the power to heal Lazarus. She may even be telling him that she is disappointed that he didn't come sooner. However, Martha tells Jesus something that doesn't sound like a complaint, but instead sounds like a veiled request. "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." She has an expectation, but she doesn't want to push Jesus, don't you think? "I know Lord, that you can raise my brother from the dead if you want to."
Jesus' response further supports this: "Your brother will rise again."
Martha's heart skips a beat—is he really saying what I think he's saying. Do I dare hope?, "I know, Jesus, that he will rise again...at the last day." (but I really want you to raise him up today. Do I dare ask him for such a thing?)
Jesus comforts Martha, "I am the ressurrection and the life. I'm here. You don't have to wait until the Last Day. You see, Lazarus believed in me, and even though he is dead, he will live again. Do you really believe all this Martha?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, God's Son—the promised one who has finally come."
Jesus doesn't weep after his interaction with Martha. Martha runs off, not weeping, but full of expectation. She fetches Mary to send her out to Jesus. Mary arrives. Her response—the one who sat at his feet rather than fussing over the preparation for the meal—is not like Martha's. She starts out the same, but that's where the similarity ends. She fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11: 32, 33).
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
There is a definite contrast here. Martha comes with hope, Mary comes in total grief. Mary had no thought of what Jesus could do, and so she was devastated that he hadn't come to heal Lazarus. Can't you hear her thoughts? "You have healed so many, couldn't you have healed your own friend? Why do you hear the pleas of strangers and just ignore your friends? Why weren't you here for us?"
Jesus sees Mary and all her friends in distress—it deeply troubles him. "They don't get it. Won't they ever get it? Shouldn't they be expecting something?" and he weeps. He weeps at the grip of sin on this world and its consequences. He orders that the stone be moved.
Martha comes back with one more try at Jesus—that sense of "do I dare hope?" Martha says, "He stinks by now, doesn't he? You don't REALLY want that tomb open, do you?" She is like a race horse, anticipating the opening of the gate. Is he about to do what I think he's about to do? Will he really do THIS, HERE?? Jesus' answer to Martha shows that he knows what she's asking, and he gives her the straight answer—"Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
You know, we all remember Martha for her foible at the dinner party. We remember that he scolded her, gently, for being too concerned with earthly things. I think Martha got it. That scolding really hit home. She knew who he was—he was no ordinary man, he was the Messiah, the Son of God. And since she knew who he was, she knew what he could do. She had a confident expectation, just like Abraham when he was about to sacrifice Isaac. She knew that Jesus was not only capable of healing the sick, but also able to raise the dead, and she approaches him with that question. But she doesn't want it to be her idea. She wants what Jesus wants, but still, she wants her dead brother alive. It is here that Jesus gives Martha's song to us—she got it when everyone else didn't!!
Just like Ben wanted his Dad to keep our donut tradition, Martha really wanted Jesus to do something special for her, but she didn't really want to request it. She wanted it to be Jesus' idea. Still, through her questions, she let Jesus know what she was hoping, and He did not disappoint her.
How about us? Are we expectantly waiting for God to do something extraordinary in our lives today? Do we really believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? If so, shouldn't we expect something awesome to happen today?
God may not choose to heal the sick loved one, or raise a dead brother, but He truly has something special for us that will reveal His glory. We may have to wait, like Mary and Martha did, for that glory to be revealed. It may not be a four-day wait—it may be four decades. But don't ever give up hope—keep expecting God to do great things. He will not disappoint us!
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