The Dead Man Came Out

A few weeks ago, we did a lesson at the CLC women’s Bible study on John 11, where Jesus raised Martha’s brother Lazarus from the dead. We looked at the story from two points:
- Jesus showed Martha that He was all powerful and had control over everything in her life, even death. We know from other stories considering this family that Martha was a bit of a control freak, struggling to serve Jesus and His disciples and even rebuking Mary for not helping her. In that story, Jesus lovingly taught Martha that spending time with her Lord and Savior was more important than physical labor. In this story, Martha had no control. She sent messages to Jesus long before her beloved brother’s death, but He did not come. Perhaps she felt like in the moment of her life where she needed Jesus the most, He wasn’t there. It wasn’t until four days after her brother’s death that her Lord finally showed up. In fact, when He commanded them to open the tomb she even told Jesus not to do it because of the potential stench.

- Second, even though Jesus was God Himself and the most powerful being on Earth, He exposed Himself to the pain and sorrow Martha and others were suffering. He even probably knew that Lazarus would live again, and yet He cried with them. Some translations say that Jesus sobbed with them. Ours is not a God who sits on His throne in heaven oblivious to our pain. He feels it with us, and felt it when He died for us on the cross.

A few interesting responses resulted from sharing these two points with the women in the study. We asked them, "Has there ever been a moment in your life where you felt like you had prayed and prayed for God’s help, and He just didn’t show up - and then suddenly He answered your prayer at the last hour?"

One of the women who comes consistently told us a beautiful story -one so close to her she couldn’t finish it because she began to cry. A few years ago, when she was pregnant with her youngest child and her husband beat her often, even though he knew she was with child. He rebuked her for going to church and was very spiteful. For a long time she prayed that God would change him, or save her from his violent actions. Time went on and on and God did not answer. She even told us that she felt like God was favoring her husband’s prayers over hers, because He gave her husband the power to beat her.

Then suddenly her husband began going to Hawane CLC church with her. He changed, and has even stopped beating her. To this day he attends regularly.

What an incredible testimony. Like Martha, this woman did not know if God would answer her prayer, but He did. He brought this woman’s husband back from the dead. He cried with her every step of the way when she cried, and in the end, the dead man walked out of the grave.

Please pray that this testimony will be one that inspires the other women in the group. Another woman in the group told us that she did not understand why Jesus would want to experience the pain that she feels in her life. We now have 26 women involved with the group. Not every woman is from Hawane CLC Church; some are from other local churches. Some are strong, some are weak, but God has provided all of us with brothers and sisters to be His hands and feet for us.

~ Stacy Weneck