REVELATIONS – Emmaus, Bethany

They rode out of the village and galloped down the Jericho Road. About an hour later, they reached the outskirts of Jericho near the river. They were about to ford the river when they saw Jesus and his disciples already crossing. There was a crowd waiting for him on their side of the shore. As soon as they waded out of the river, Jesus was quickly surrounded. Jesus started to talk to them and minister to the sick as he waded through them. Cornelius did not want to disturb him. He saw Simon the former Zealot and approached him. As they walked through the crowd, Simon told him what went on the past week.

“We did receive word of Lazarus’ illness about six days ago. We all thought that he was going to drop everything and return right away. But we stayed. We received two other messages. The last one read, ‘Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.’ But when he heard this, he paused from his work, looked toward the direction of Bethany. He was looking a longtime. By the look of his face, I knew he wanted to go. Then he looked at us and said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.’

“We thought that Lazarus was going to be healed. After all Jesus did heal the sick from a distance. Your own young servant was healed this way. Was he not? So, we did not think of it anymore. We stayed two more days, ministering and teaching. The he said, ‘Let us return to Judea.’ Peter and the others tried to sway him saying, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?’

“Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’ We all stayed quiet because we were not sure what he meant. The he said, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.’

“Now, I thought his sickness had caused him to go into a deep sleep. We all thought that. Peter still hoping that he would stay told him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.’ But he just looked at all of us and plainly said, ‘Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.’

As they neared Bethany, Jesus decided not to enter the village. Instead, he went off the road and sat on a stump among a copse of pine trees. He seemed to be waiting expectantly and sure enough, Martha, sister of Lazarus, came to him with a servant. Cornelius could tell that she was slightly angry and disappointed at Jesus. She stood at a distance and said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Sighing deeply she said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Then Jesus approached her and stood before her. Her face was bowed and downcast. “Martha, look into my eyes,” he softly said to her. She slowly raised her teary eyes to meet his. Then he gave her a reassuring smile and said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” She cast her face down again in shame. Jesus ever so gently lifted her chin and asked, “Do you believe this?”

She sobbed loudly and Jesus drew her closer to him so that her face cried on his shoulder. Martha said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even he who comes into the world.”

[note: quotes in italics are from John 11]

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The story continues on in my next post.

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