John 11:17-20
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17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 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.
June 12, 2007 at 9:02 am
I think that it is talking about how u go and see ur friends go out into the world and minister to people and u just sit there and just watch and do nothing. Even though we know that God is always with us we just sit there and just ingore what is going on around us.
June 12, 2007 at 9:39 am
i dont kno if this is exactly right but this says to me that if someone in your family isnt feelin well and you dont want to go church but somebody does want to go then you dont have to fell bad
June 12, 2007 at 10:05 am
So Lazarus had been in the tomb for 4 days, and there were people around trying to comfort his sisters, Martha, and Mary. I think that when they found out that Jesus was coming to the tomb, Martha went to meet him but Mary stayed home. I think that she stayed home because she was mad, or sad…which ever…because she had cleaned Jesus’ feet but yet he let Lazarus die.
June 12, 2007 at 1:52 pm
i agree with erica.
i think mary stayed home because she was torn and angry because jesus let her brother die after she devoted herself to god and washed jesus’ feet n all.
June 12, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Hey ya’ll really quick…i will post more later—but Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet and pouring perfume on His feet happened after Lazarus’ death—Pretty interesting though that in this story she stayed away from JEsus and Martha ran to Him and then when we get to the washing of the feet and perfume, you will see Martha doing all the work and Mary at Jesus’ feet—
For those that may wonder why the Author John doesnt follow timeline…I will be looking into it and seeing what we can develop.
June 12, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Jesus found that Lazarus was in the tomb. the verse said for 4 days. i guess that bethany was less than 2 miles away from Jerusalem. martha and mary wanted to claim the loss of a brother. martha and mary heard that Jesus was coming. But mary stayed at home. But martha went to meet Jesus.
June 12, 2007 at 7:56 pm
i read and put it in my notebook
June 12, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I was going to comment yesterday that Thomas seems to be the Eeyor of the disciples. Sorry that I didn’t get that down.
There’s not a lot of deeper meaning here. It’s mostly recounting what happened; setting the stage for what is going to happen in the next few verses. We should notice that there are lots of close friends there to comfort the sisters already and yet Jesus who was extremely close to this family doesn’t show up till 4 days after Lazurus had been burried. I’m sure that there was some hurt and confusion about why He didn’t come earlier not only as their friend, but also as the one capable of healing their brother. We will see this come out soon.
June 12, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Laz had been dead for 4 days at this point. That is important because it validates that he was very very very dead. Some people think maybe he had just fainted or passed out. That’s not that case though. It’s not like he had been out for a few hours and they said “oh, I guess he’s dead.” Dude had been dead long enough to start smelling funky. This was a legitimate raising from the dead. AWESOME!!!
June 12, 2007 at 8:38 pm
This post is going in lots of directions, but I will try to make sense out of it.
1) The reason that Mary stayed behind is that she did not receive the same news that Jesus was coming that Martha did. Martha intercepted the runner or messenger who brought the news and being an energetic person who could not stay still, she took off running to meet Christ. She wanted to prep HIm and show Him their faith in expectation of a miracle. So, I think that this is more a reflection on Martha’s energy than on Mary’s emotions.
2) Not to steal Ron’s thunder, but I studied this when he and I talked about this last weekend. In the Bible, it is said that “Where-ever the Gospel is preached, the annointing Mary did will be spoken of”. So, this was an especially touching story of devotion to Christ that was spoken of mouth to mouth while the very story of the Gospel was being told. They were part in parcel. So, then when you realize that the Gospel of John was the latest of the Gospels to be written, probably around 90 AD, you realize that this was written almost sixty years after Mary’s annointing gift. And since this act had been told as part of the Gospel for sixty years, John assumes that those reading his letter have already heard of the act and that is why the description of her as the annointer precedes the recount of the story itself.
3) I do think that there is a significant lesson to be learned in this passage. And that is the lesson of God’s perfect timing. Do you remember that Jesus resisted some miracles and acts because He said that it was not yet His time? ANd now, that it was His time from the Father, He wanted to do it in a perfect way. So the fact that He waited four days, and that this gave time for many people to come from Jerusalem is very significant. This timing shows the perfect nature of God’s plan in that it allowed for an increased number of witnesses to the miracle that was to come. The greater the number of witnesses, the greater the recounts of the story, the more people to believe the Deity of Christ, and the more people who would accept His gift to come on the Cross. God chose the time, the location, and the circumstances. If Christ would have given in to HIs human emotions and gone earlier to save Lazurus, the effect on the disciples and the witnesses would have been lessened and could have changed people’s destinies. (assuming the Free Will position)
June 12, 2007 at 10:18 pm
i cant really grasp what rick is saying about the anointing, but im glad he wrote that part about marthas energy rather than marys emotions because i didnt understand why she wouldve purposely stayed away from jesus if she knew she could get ti him but what rick said really cleared that up[ for me…but i think this is where jesus’ first miracles and ministry starts comin together and his fathers will starts comin into focus for the others with him
June 12, 2007 at 10:38 pm
thanks rick for stealing the thunder…I appreciate it…
June 12, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I like your point Rick, about Mary and Martha. I also think that the biggest message in this passage is the perfectness of God’s timing. He (given the chance) will always do more in His time than we ever could without Him, and His more will be best for us, for the situation, for everyone, rather than being limited by our human understanding.
Eph 3:20 says “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us….”
Not only is He able to, but He wants to.
June 13, 2007 at 10:34 pm
well it to me is leaving me questions why did mary stay and martha go? was martha more drawn to jesus or was mary not going cause she knew him and what he did and still does?