Three Minute Bible

February 27, 2019February 25, 2019

Conversation – John 11: 19 – 24

…and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
”Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus said to her, ”Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, ”I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Martha is the practical one. She and her sister, Mary, are often contrasted as two very common archetypes; the one with her feet solidly planted in this world’s work, the other with her head and heart on other matters.

In this conversation Martha comes very close to chastising Jesus; “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And then she adds, almost as an aside, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

In response, Jesus speaks comfort to her: “Your brother will rise again.”

February 26, 2019February 24, 2019

Assurance – John 11: 17 – 18a

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem…

At the end of Chapter 10, John tells us that Jesus had gone back to where John the Baptist had been baptizing near the Jordan River. While we do not know with certainty where this was, it appears likely that the place was north of the Sea of Galilee, about twenty some miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies.

If Lazarus had died about the time the news reached Jesus and his disciples, and if the walk back to Bethany was about a two day walk, then the two days that Jesus waited after hearing the news that Lazarus was ill fits with Lazarus being in the tomb for four days.

Why would this be important?

February 25, 2019February 23, 2019

Thomas – John 11: 16

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘’Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Ya gotta love Thomas! If Thomas were an animal he would be Winnie the Pooh’s Eeyore the donkey. You can almost hear his sad, slow, lowing voice say, “Oooookay. We might as well go, too. Probably all end up getting killed anyway.”

February 24, 2019February 22, 2019

So You May Believe – John 11: 11-15

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.”
His disciples replied, ”Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, ”Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Belief is an odd thing. Certain beliefs are accepted without question. In many cases, we believe what our parents believed, for no other reason than wanting to be part of the family. Sometimes, less often, we arrive at a belief as the result of a personal journey; a research project or extended study of some sort.

February 23, 2019February 22, 2019

Jesus Time – John 11: 9-10

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. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Are there twelve hours of daylight? The answer to that is, “… it depends.” It depends on where you are on the planet and what time of year it is. In Anchorage, Alaska there is only about one hour of daylight during the months of December and January. In June and July, there are about twenty-three hours of daylight. Jerusalem is about the same latitude as Ensenada, Mexico; just south of the border. That far south the seasonal shift is much less noticeable, but it is still there.

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

Timing – John 11: 7-8

…and then he said to his disciples, ”Let us go back to Judea.”
”But Rabbi,” they said, ”a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

If I close my eyes and picture myself sitting among the disciples with Jesus, I imagine that we are camped near the bank of the Jordan River, near where John the Baptist appeared out of the wilderness and started preaching. In my mind’s eye, it is morning. The sun is peeking over the eastern horizon and some of the disciples have been up since very early. A fire is going in the middle of the camp and as the few disciples who are still asleep wake-up, they gather around the fire where a breakfast of small fish is cooking. Someone passes around a rough-hewn wood plate with dates on it and I take one to eat and pass the plate on.

February 21, 2019September 22, 2019

Non Sequitur – John 11: 5-6

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,

Ordinarily, these two sentences would not go together. If they were written about anyone else, they would be a contradiction, a joke. Imagine someone writing a story that included the lines:

Dick loved Jane more than life itself. When Dick heard Jane was sick he…

(A) … rushed to her side.
(B) … thought about going to see her. 
(C) … stayed where he was two more days.

Obviously, if Dick loves Jane he is going to want to be there when she needs him. He is not going to be indifferent to her feelings. Yet Jesus operates with a different kind of love and a different kind of viewpoint.

February 20, 2019February 19, 2019

Dying – John 11: 1- 4

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (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.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ”Lord, the one you love is sick.”
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.”

This is the story of the man, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. John begins by giving us a proper introduction to Lazarus; where he lives, who his relations are, and that he is well known to Jesus. Then John tells us that Lazarus is sick.

You and I know what it is like to have a cold or stomach flu. People in Jesus’ day probably suffered from similar ailments. This sickness was different. Lazarus was ill enough that his sisters thought his life was in danger. Why else would they have taken the trouble to send a messenger to Jesus? In short, Lazarus was dying.

February 19, 2019February 18, 2019

Place – John 10: 40-42

Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, and many people came to him. They said, ”Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” And in that place many believed in Jesus.

One of the many things we take for granted is our place in the world. Place, as an abstract concept, is important because it is the reference point for everything that happens to or about a particular person at a particular moment in that particular place.

February 18, 2019February 18, 2019

A Kind of Pill – John 10: 37-39

“Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

What do you look to your father for? Help; guidance; discipline; comfort? What you see in a father probably depends a lot on the kind of father you had, if you were fortunate enough to have a father in your life.

What kind of father is God? In the Old Testament, he is the one who allows Job to be tested, who tells Noah to build the ark and then floods the world, he calls Abraham to the Promised Land, gives him a son in his old age, then tests him by asking that he sacrifice his son. The Old Testament God leads the Israelites into Egypt and then out again. He gives them his law; He gives them a place to live; He is faithful to be patient with them and faithful to punish them.