Miracles often result from tragedy—an impossible healing. A mangled car that the driver and passengers escape without a mark. Salvation and a turned around life. A man raised from the dead ...
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John 12:10-11
But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.
Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table;
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Lazarus takes up little space in the Bible, but his life carries a big message. The Bible gives no information on Lazarus other than Jesus called him from the tomb. And his crime—living—caused the Sanhedrin (Jewish leaders) to put a price on his head. He embarrassed them. It became harder to deny the power of Christ.
He might have wished the Lord left him in the tomb.
Jesus taught the parable of a rich man and a beggar who sat at his gate. The beggar went to heaven and the rich man entered hell. Jesus’ parables give many lessons. For my purposes, let’s discuss the name the Lord gave the man. He called him Lazarus. Did He refer to the same Lazarus? No other parable names names. Do you know the name of the woman at the well? Or the Good Samaritan?
Lazarus wasn’t a common name. John, Judas, even Jesus had namesakes. Nowhere in the Bible do we see another Lazarus. So, did the Lord prophecy the end of Lazarus’ life? The Chief Priest planned to have Lazarus killed to squelch knowledge of Christ’s miracle. Was Lazarus called out of the tomb to end as a starving beggar? A fugitive?
God honored Mary by allowing her to carry His son—miracle of miracles. Several months later she bounced along behind Joseph to Jerusalem riding a donkey: a miserable trip for a pregnant woman.
God’s perfect will doesn’t assure a perfect life. And miracles by definition are rare.
Sometimes the Lord opens the waters. Sometimes He teaches you to swim. Sometimes He doesn’t.
Dear Lord, thank you for showing us Your power and grace through miracles.
Painting: John Everett Millais (London, 1800s)
