Lazarus Come Out From Your Shame

“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.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”” 

John 11:38-40 NIV 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.11.38-40.NIV)

We aren’t always to blame for what has happened to us. Sometimes we are. Often we are not. 

Jesus dealt with this scenario in a well-known conversation with His disciples: 

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ” 

John 9:1-3 NIV 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.9.1-3.NIV)

While our sins might not be the direct root cause of our suffering, our suffering may expose other sins and weaknesses of character that may be making our suffering worse. 

There have been times when stresses at work have shown up weaknesses in my character I have had to fix, or when unemployment exposed issues with pride and unforgiveness that I needed to fix, or health issues have shown up weaknesses in resilience that I needed to fix. 

All of them had a common denominator – other than me. 

I didn’t like it when these issues came to the surface. It was uncomfortable to look at.

Painful, even. 

When my doctor gave me the verdict that I’d had a Lacunar stroke, which had been exposed in an MRI scan, I was suddenly cold. I shivered. For the first time in two days, I needed to wear a pullover, even though it wasn’t that cold outside. 

Reality chilled me. I had been two hours from disability or death. I would be on medication for the rest of my days.  

I had been really quite seriously ill. 

But I was getting treatment. I was on the mend. That scan had helped the doctors by exposing what had happened and helping them to determine the correct treatment plan for me. 

The reality of what had happened was quite a shock. 

Martha did not want Lazarus’ tomb to be opened. We can understand why. You can’t buy a fragrance with the smell of a four day old body, because the smell is awful.  

The sight would also have been downright unpleasant. Disturbing, even. You won’t find too many people with a framed picture of a four day old corpse on their wall. 

Yet there is a simple truth here we need to understand: 

For Lazarus to be raised from the dead, his tomb needed to be opened. 

As uncomfortable as Mary and Martha would have felt, there simply was no other way. 

It’s the same with our sins and shortcomings. Suffering has a way of exposing them that is thoroughly uncomfortable and can even be downright painful. They may not have caused our suffering, but we may heed to address and resolve them in order to escape our suffering. 

Take a look at what John wrote in some of his most famous words: 

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 

1 John 1:5-10 NIV 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.1.5-10.NIV)

We cannot avoid the inconvenient and uncomfortable truth. If there are issues we need to deal with before God, then let’s deal with them. Let’s open that tomb. Let’s expose that bad smell and rotting flesh to His power, His grace and His glory. 

Lazarus couldn’t be raised without it. Perhaps our suffering won’t end without it too.