May 16 - He Stinketh!

May 16 – He Stinketh!

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:38-44)

The King James version says, “Lord, he stinketh.”  I can’t get through this verse without giggling.  When we were growing up, our cabin didn’t have running water and we had an outhouse.  Every summer we would arrive after the place had been closed for the winter and open everything up.  One of the first buildings that we opened was that outhouse.  Everyone needed to use it and quickly!  Dad wasn’t great about stopping.  That door would open and even though he had used lime before closing it up, mom invariably would turn on him and say, “Frank … it stinketh.”  And it did.

Martha was the sister who believed that Jesus could do anything.  When the reality of the situation hit, though, she figured that things were going to be ugly before they got better.  She was fine with Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead, but not fine with the smell that comes from behind a stone closing a tomb.

All along people around Jesus were confident in His power, but unsure about how this was all going to play out.  On the other hand, Jesus was completely sure!  He had taken an extra two days to get to Bethany.  He spent time with Mary and Martha, comforting them.  He didn’t allow the urgency of the moment to stop Him from being where He needed to be and talking to whom He needed to speak with.  When the time was right, He rolled away the stone and called Lazarus out.

When I see a need, I want God to deal with it immediately.  I want Him to fix it, bring comfort and peace, heal, bring joy … whatever … right now!

Jesus knew that things were going to be ok and He knew that the timing would be perfect.  No urgency, no stress, no pleading … just gratefulness for God’s blessings.

I think there’s a lesson in there for me.  Because when it comes to that … I stinketh.