Do you believe this?

Hi there,

We are closing out this week's encounters with Jesus, with the second encounter with Mary and Martha.

The individual personalities of Mary and Martha are very much on display in both the passage we copied out over the past two days and today's passage.

In both cases it is Martha who does the talking and Mary who shows mute devotion. But today we can see that Martha is both spiritually mature and full of faith.

As before she communicates with Jesus with familiarity and directness, and now with patience as well.

Today's text is Luke John 11:17-27

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now 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.

²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Encouragement

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts. Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.

Oswald Chambers

Andy