Remove the Stone

The story of Lazarus normally sounds to me like other miracles that Jesus had done. But today, it played differently in my head.

John 11:38-42 (MSG)38-39 Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, "Remove the stone." The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, "Master, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead four days!"40 Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"41-42 Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone." They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father, I'm grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."

This message for me today is about opening up our grave of failures, dead hopes and dreams, and crushed spirits.

Sometimes, maybe most of the times, I bury my broken hearts, I dig a little grave for my sorrows, I build a tomb for my disappointments, failures, bitter memories, and sickness, and try to put a tombstone and engrave "do not dig out, open, nor remove the stone, it is going to stink".  

However, like what He did before Lazarus' tomb, Jesus said, twice, "Remove the stone. Open the tomb up!" His disciples and the dead man's sister kept saying, "But, Lord.". But Jesus didn't seem to want to know the buts and the disbelief. He commanded. It has to be opened. It needs to be opened. It doesn't matter how many times He needs to order people around. I guess, if no one would slide away the stone, He would have done it Himself. He wanted the grave to be opened so that life comes out of it.

Isn't this powerful? He wants to take a look at my 'graves' of misery, 'tombs' of lost dreams, 'coffins' of my broken hearts. He doesn't care if it stinks like crazy, looks so disgusting and deformed, maybe worms all around it. He just wants to revive the dead soul inside me. He goes and will go all the way to do just this. Ultimately, He wants to be known and glorified through those resurrected parts of our lives.

I love this. I love this message. I hope and pray that you also let Jesus, only Jesus, to resurrect you. It is a blessing that we are still alive today. We are not inside the tomb, we are outside, and we are able to remove the stones that closes the tomb. So Friends, even though, it might stink or look really bad, please be brave and remove that stone in your heart and let the living proof of God's love come out of it. The living proof is you: with your resurrected heart. 

His peace be upon us!