Written by Benjamin Parviz
When Jesus arrived at Lazarus’s tomb and told them to remove the stone, he was greeted with some indignation and rebuke. “He has been there for four days!” said Martha. “He will stink!” This interaction took place after Martha had already declared to Jesus her conviction that if Jesus had been there then he would have been able to save Lazarus from his sickness. Mary also separately expressed the conviction that Jesus would have saved Lazarus from death. Jesus said to Martha “Your brother will rise again,” but Martha didn’t know what this could mean.
Martha and Mary seemed to have some imagination about what Jesus could do. Jesus could heal. Jesus could save. Jesus could raise Lazarus on the last day. But none of those things is what Jesus had in mind for his friend. That very day, he who was dead would be alive again. Lazarus, who had been in the tomb for four days, would walk out on his own two feet. Imagine the shock and the wonder on the face of Martha and Mary as they saw all of this happen.
Thomas, too, saw all of this happen. Yet, after Jesus’s own death, Thomas couldn’t imagine that his friend who was dead could be alive again. When told of Jesus’s resurrection, Thomas refused to believe unless he saw and touched Jesus’s wounds for himself.
Why should we expect Martha, Mary, or Thomas to have been able to imagine that their friends who were dead could be alive again that very day? That has never happened to me before, and I have a high degree of confidence that it has never happened to you before, either.
It is so easy to fall into the habit of expecting reality to be regular and predictable. The sun will rise and set today just like it rose and set yesterday and will do so again tomorrow. The problem this presents is that, when we experience difficulty and challenge, the regularity and predictability of reality can become a prison.
“I woke up experiencing chronic pain today, just like I did yesterday, and just like will be the case every day until I die.”
“I woke up today to an empty bed where my wife should be, and she wasn’t there yesterday either, and neither will she be there tomorrow.”
In such experiences, the regularity and predictability of reality can push us toward despair and even toward a wish for death as the only relief from the suffering we endure.
But Lazarus walked out of the tomb, and Jesus entered through the locked doors to show his wounds to Thomas. We have an unimaginable God whose resurrection from the dead shows us that anything is possible. When the difficulties and challenges that you face today tempt you to despair, try to imagine the shock and the wonder on the faces of Mary, Martha, and Thomas. Then cling in hope to the Savior who is greater than you can possibly imagine.
Benjamin Parviz is a philosopher and bioethicist at Saint Louis University. He teaches courses in philosophical and theological ethics in the Christian tradition and works on ethics of despair and hope, particularly with respect to death and how to die well.
He is one of the lecturers for Family Week 9 (August 17-23), alongside Rev. Mark Schulz. There is still room to join us for this retreat – learn more and register by visiting our website.
