Lord if you had been there

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead.  Other than Jesus, there are not many people who can say they died and rose again.  Of course, Jesus is the only one who never died permanently except for two in the Old Testament who never died.  But that is a whole nother subject. 

In John 11 Jesus hears that his "friend" Lazarus is sick.  You would think if Jesus healed a bunch of strangers he would jump at the chance to save his friend's life.  But Jesus hears the news about Lazarus and stays an extra 2 days.  The thing is Jesus knows what he is about to do.  He has a plan but no one else knows about it.   Lazarus' sisters were Mary and Martha and they were very close to Jesus.  One would expect Jesus would heal Lazarus just for them.  I would imagine after Lazarus died their faith was rocked.  They knew Jesus could heal their brother. Finally, Jesus gets there.  Lazarus was in the tomb for 4 days and the Hebrews believed by this point it was impossible for someone to rise from the dead.

I love John 11:32

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Mary and Martha knew Jesus had the power to heal their brother but he didn't.  I've felt that way.  I know Jesus has the power to do things but for whatever reason, He chose not to.   But this story ends well when Jesus heals their brother.  He had the power all along but chose to wait so he could do something greater.  Maybe that will happen soon in my life.

How?

I was reading in Luke 1 this morning.  When Mary heard from the Angel that she would become pregnant she wanted to know how?  She was a virgin so it was impossible for her to be pregnant.  How many times have I asked God how?  How am I going to be a good parent or husband?  How can I pay this bill?  How can I be a minister?  How? The Angel told her that she would become pregnant through the Holy Spirit.  The only way I can do anything in my life is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

He did

We don't read much about Joseph the father of Jesus.  Apparently, he died before Jesus was crucified.  A lot has been said about the faith of Mary and rightly so.  I can't imagine how scary it was for her to become pregnant and to still be a virgin.  I can't imagine the jeers and the whispers she heard.  Then if that is not enough, she had to watch her innocent son be killed.

But Joseph's life isn't mentioned very much.  In Matthew1:19 it says that Joseph was faithful to the law.  When he found out Mary was pregnant, I can't imagine what was in his head.  Rather than get back at her, he was going to dissolve their engagement quietly.  If this happened today in the social media climate, I would imagine some of his friends would have had him post some tough stuff.

Yet, Joseph wanted to protect her.  He cared about her.  Then when he had a dream that explained how Mary got pregnant it all made sense.  However, only he knew that.  It wasn't like he could tell everyone on social media or the evening news that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit.  When Joseph had the dream it says that when he woke up HE DID what the angel commanded him.  Joseph had a choice.  He chose to obey God. 

In Matthew 2 Joseph had another dream to take Mary and Jesus in the middle of the night and go to Eygpt.  In vs 14, it says "HE GOT UP."  In vs 21, he had another dream and was told to take his family back to Galilee.  The scripture says, "HE GOT UP."

Not much is written about Joseph.  But if all that was written about me is "HE DID" and "HE GOT UP" I'm good with that.  Obedience is why Joseph heard from God.  It is why God chose to place his son in the hands of Joseph.