1 Corinthians 4:20
The Kingdom of God is More than Just Words
20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
John 11:1-44
The Death of Lazarus
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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have 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 (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
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. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
John 14:6-7
Jesus Says He is Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
We need sacred books in religion, but that alone is not enough...We need something else...There has to be something else to being God than just the words of the Bible...There must be something behind the words...And St. Paul addresses this in his first letters to the Corinthians...Because when we think about God and Jesus and religion for that matter, it has to be more than talk...It has to be more than words...We do need theologians and great writers to write about the stories of God and Jesus, but in the end, God's Plan and how His Story and His Plan affects us has to be more than only talk, as St. Paul puts it...If faith is just a matter of words, we can pick out many of the books in the "Religion Section" in the library or our favorite bookstore and start following a religion or many religions for that matter...Religion must be sacred and holy and have Divinity...It must have this power, in it...IT MUST HAVE POWER...To be Divine, there must be this power...A power to overcome great odds and to help people in the overall plan of the One who writes this Story of the Book of Life and Our Life...And in this power there must be this Great Truth and set of Truths...This is one of the reasons Jesus talked so much about Truth, and stood up one day and said He is Truth...
There are some very interesting things and verses in the story of Lazarus being sick and dying and then Jesus bringing him back to life...One thing is that Jesus is not in any hurry to get to His very, very sick friend...Jesus knows that Lazarus has died but tells the Disciples that he is asleep and that He will go there to wake him up...Another point is that the Disciple Thomas is very brave here and seems to be willing to die with Jesus at this point in his discipleship...Thomas says to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”...Great talk, great words in a Great Story...
Then as Jesus and His Disciples reach the home of Martha and Mary, everyone now realizes that Lazarus had died...In fact, Lazarus has been dead now for four days...The two sisters are still mourning after the four days...And finally, Jesus has arrived to see them and talk to them...When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home...“LORD,” Martha and the first thing she said to Jesus was, “if You had been here, my brother would not have died...But I know that even now God will give You whatever You ask.”...And then Mary arrives and reaches the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “LORD, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”...Mary had just said the exact thing as Martha..."LORD, if You would have been here our brother Lazarus would not have died"...
Jesus had talked to the sisters with words and He wept showing us His humanity and care and concern for the two grieving and sad sisters...
Now the same question has been ask of Him by the two sisters...And Jesus' response to Martha was “Your brother will rise again.”...Then Jesus added, “I AM the resurrection and the life...The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die...Do you believe this?”..And His response to Mary was different...He asks her, “Where have you laid him?”...And then Jesus goes about raising Lazarus, with a power no one has ever seen before...Jesus brings Lazarus back to life...Jesus addresses Martha with His Great Words and says I AM the resurrection and the life...And then He goes about and resurrects Lazarus with His Great Power...Jesus has just raised a dead man, who has now been dead for four days...
The sickness and death of Lazarus was for the Glory of God...Lazarus' death was for Jesus to glorified through it...When death can be conquered there is this glory, this Divinity, this Power...Through all the sadness and talking and all the words, a Great Miracle had happened in the Story of Lazarus...For God to be God, there has to be Divinity...There has to be Almighty...There has to be Power...Jesus proves that He is the Messiah, and that He can bring everlasting life, and even though that we may die, we live, if we believe in the One who is the Resurrection and the Life and the One who sent Him...