Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘’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.”
One thing that sets the Bible apart as historically valid is its honesty in presenting unpleasant details. The Gospel writers do not gloss over the aspects of life or, in this case, of death, that might offend the sensitive reader. Death stinks. Literally. Decomposing bodies smell bad, and in the warm climate of Judea, decomposition would start to take place quickly.
(In ancient times, lacking the ability to dig all the graves that were needed in the hard soil around the Sea of Galilee, burial consisted of placing the body in a cave or carved tomb, and leaving it there to decompose. After an appropriate period of time, perhaps a year or two, the bones of the deceased would be retrieved from the tomb and placed in an ossuary where they would be kept as one might keep an urn of someone’s ashes who had been cremated.)
Jesus has arrived on the scene after Lazarus has been dead a long time. Opening a fresh tomb was something that normally wasn’t done for very practical reasons. Yet Jesus is there, everyone is looking to him as the man who could have saved Lazarus from dying, and Jesus says, “Take away the stone.”
What is he going to do? Is he going to go inside to see the body? Jesus, there is going to be a bad smell!
Let’s Discuss: Is there any place on earth or any situation so foul that our Lord would not come to rescue you?
This is absolutely something I love about our Lord. He is holy and perfect and blameless and beautiful. Yet, He does relate to stinky, dirty, disgusting sinners like myself. His gentle and humble heart is remarkable and I am thankful.
Thank you, Rich. Beautifully said!
I’m counting on there being no place.
Amen!
Jeff Englund, thanks so much for the post.Really thank you! Great.
I’m with Robster. No place, even in a place of sin.